like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not crack'd within the ring.Mafters, you are all welcome. We'll e'en to't 3 like French faulconers, fly at any thing we fee: we'll have a fpeech ftraight. Come, give us a tafte of your quality; come, a paffionate fpeech.

1 Play. What fpeech, my good lord?

Ham. I heard thee fpeak me a fpeech once; but it was never acted; or if it was, not above once: for the play, I remember, pleased not the million; 'twas 4 caviare to the general; but it was (as I received it, and others whofe judgment in fuch matters 5 cried in the top of mine) an excellent play; well digefted

in

"I do wish myself one of my miftrefs's Cioppini. Another "demands, why would he be one of his mistress's Cioppini? "third answers, because he would make her higher."

STEEVENS. 2-be not crack'd within the ring.] That is, crack'd too much for ufe. This is said to a young player who acted the parts of women. JOHNSON.

I find the fame phrafe in The Captain, by B. and Fletcher. "Come to be married to my lady's woman "After he's crack'd in the ring."

Again, in Ben Jonfon's Magnetic Lady:

"Light gold, and crack'd within the ring."

STEEVENS.

3-like friendly falconers,-] HANMER, who has much illuftrated the allufions to falconry, reads, like French falconers. JOHNSON. French falconers is not a correction by Hanmer, but the reading of the firft folio. STEEVENS.

Caviare to the general;] Caviare is the fpawn of sturgeon pickled, and is imported hither from Ruflia. HAWKINS.

The Caviare is not the fpawn of the furgeon, but of the fterlett, a fish of the turgeon kind, which feldom grows above 30 inches long. It is found in many of the rivers of Ruffia, but the Volga produces the beft and in the greatest plenty. See Bell's Journey from Petersburgh to Ifpakan.

B. Jonfon has ridiculed the introduction of thefe foreign delicacies in his Cinthia's Revels." He doth learn to eat An"chovies, Macaroni, Bovoli,, Fagioli, and Caviare," &c. STEEVENS.

5-ciel in the top of mine,-] i. e. whofe judgment I had the hight cpinion of. WARBURTON.

I think

in the fcenes, 5 fet down with as much modefty as cunning. I remember one faid, there were no fallets 6 in the lines, to make the matter favoury; nor no matter in the phrase, 7 that might indite the author of affection; but called it, an honeft method [as wholesome as sweet, and by very much more handfome than fine]. One fpeech in it I chiefly loved; 'twas Æneas's tale to Dido; and thereabout of it especially, where he speaks of Priam's flaughter. If it live in your memory, begin at this line, let me see, let me fee-The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beaft-It is not fo;-it begins with Pyrrhus. The rugged Pyrrhus, he, whofe fable arms, Black as his purpofe, did the night refemble When he lay couched in the ominous horfe ;— Hath now his dread and black complexion fmear'd With heraldry more difmal; head to foot, Now is he total gules; horridly trick'd

With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, fons,

I think it means only that were higher than mine. JOHNSON. Whofe judgment, in fuch matters, was in much higher vogue than mine. Revifal.

Perhaps it means only-whofe judgment was more clamouroufly delivered than mine. We fill fay of a bawling actor, that he fpeaks on the top of his voice. STEEVENS.

5-jet down with as much modefty-] Modefty, for fimplicity. WARBURTON.

-there were no fallets, &c.] Such is the reading of the old copies. I know not why the later editors continued to adopt the alteration of Mr. Pope, and read, no falt, &c. STEEV. 7-that might indite the author-] Indite, for convic. WARB. -indite the author of affection:] i. e. convict the author of being a fantastical affected writer. Maria calls Malvolio an affectioned afs, i. e. an affected afs; and in Love's Labour Loft Nathaniel tells the Pedant, that his reafons "have been witty "without AFFECTION." STEEVENS.

8 —but call'd it, an honeft method,-] Hamlet is telling how much his judgment differed from that of others. One faid, there was no falt in the lines, &c. but call'd it an honest method. The author probably gave it, Bat I called it an honest method, &c. JOHNSON.

-an koneft method,-] Honeft, for chale. WARBURTON.

Bak'd

Bak'd and impafted with the parching fires,
That lend a tyrannous and damned light

To their lord's murder. Roafted in wrath and fire,
And thus o'er-fized with coagulate gore,

With eyes like carbuncles, the bellifh Pyrrhus
Old grandfire Priam feeks :-So proceed you.
Pol. 'Fore God, my lord, well spoken; with good
accent, and good difcretion.

1 Play. Anon he finds him,

Striking, too short, at Greeks: his antique fword,
Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,
Repugnant to command: unequal match'd,
Pyrrhus at Priam drives; in rage ftrikes wide;
But with the whiff and wind of his fell fword,
The unnerved father falls. Then fenfeless Ilium,
Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top
Stoops to his bafe; and with a hideous crafh
Takes prifoner Pyrrhus' ear. For, lo, his fword,
Which was declining on the milky head

Of reverend Priam, feem'd i' the air to flick:
So, like a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus ftood;
And, like a neutral to his will and matter,
Did nothing.

But, as we often fee, against some storm,
A filence in the heavens, the rack ftand still,
The bold winds fpeechlefs, and the orb below
As bufh as death: anon the dreadful thunder
Doth rend the region: fo after Pyrrhus' pause,
A roufed vengeance fets him new a-work ́;
And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall
On Mars his armour, forg'd for proof eterne,
With less remorse than Pyrrhus bleeding fword
Now falls on Priam.

Out, out, thou ftrumpet Fortune! all you gods,
In general fynod take away her power:
Break all the fpokes and fellies from her wheel,
And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven,
As low as to the fiends!

VOL. X.

P

Pol.

Pol. This is too long.

Ham. It fhall to the barber's with your beard. Pr'ythee, fay on; he's for a jigg, or a tale of bawdry, or he fleeps. Say on; come to Hecuba.

1 Play. But who, oh! who had feen 9 the mobled queen

Ham. The mobled queen?

Pol. That's good; mobled queen, is good.
1 Play. Run bare-foot up and down, threatning the
flames

'With bison rheum; a clout upon that head,
Where late the diadem ftood; and for a robe
About her lank and all-o'er teemed loins,
A blanket in the alarm of fear caught up;
Who this bad feen, with tongue in venom steep'd,
'Gainft fortune's fate would treafon have pronounc'd;
But if the gods themselves did fee her then,
When fhe faw Pyrrhus make malicious Sport
In mincing with his fword her husband's limbs;
The inftant burst of clamour that she made,
(Unless things mortal move them not at all)
Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven,
And paffion in the gods.

9

the mobled queen] Mobled or mabled fignifies veiled So SANDYS, fpeaking of the Turkish women, fays, their heads and faces are MABLED in fine linen, that no more is to be feen of them than their eyes. Travels. WARBURTON.

Mobled fignifies huddled, grofsly covered. JOHNSON.

the mobled queen-] The folio reads the innobled queen; and in all probability it is the true reading. This pompous but unmeaning epithet might be introduced merely to make her Phrygian majesty appear more ridiculous in the following lines, where he is reprefented as wearing a clout on her head; or, innobled queen may however fignify the queen unnobled, i. e. divefted of her former dignities. Mr. UPTON would read mob-led queen. Magna comitante caterva.

STEEVENS.

With biffon rheum ;-] Biffen or beefen, i. e. blind. A word fill in ufe in fome parts of the north of England. So in Coriolanus. "What harm can your bijon confpe&u"ities glean out of this character ?" STEEVENS.

Pol.

Pol. Look, whe'r he has not turn'd his colour, and has tears in's eyes. Pr'ythee, no more.

Ham. 'Tis well. I'll have thee fpeak out the reft of this foon. Good my lord, will you fee the players well beftowed? Do ye hear, let them be well ufed; for they are the abftract and brief chronicles of the time. After your death, you were better have a bad epitaph, than their ill report while you lived.

Pol. My lord, I will use them according to their defert.

Ham. Odd's bodikin, man, much better. Ufe every man after his defert, and who shall 'scape whipping? Ufe them after your own honour and dignity. The lefs they deferve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in.

Pol. Come, Sirs.

[Exit Polonius. Ham. Follow him, friends: we'll hear a play tomorrow.-Doft thou hear me, old friend, can you play the murder of Gonzago?

Play. Ay, my lord.

Ham. We'll ha't to-morrow night. You could, for a need, study a fpeech of fome dozen or fixteen lines, which I would fet down, and infert in't? could you not?

Play. Ay, my lord.

Ham. Very well. Follow that lord; and, look, you mock him not.-My good friends, [to Rof. and Guild.] I'll leave you 'till night. You are welcome to Elfinour.

Rof. Good, my lord.

Manet Hamlet.

[Exeunt.

Ham. Ay, fo, God be wi' ye.-Now I am alone. Oh, what a rogue and peafant flave am I! Is it not monftrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his foul fo to his own conceit,

P 2

That,