Though inclination be as fharp as 'twill;
My stronger guilt defeats my ftrong intent:
And, like a man to double bufinefs bound,
I stand in pause where I fhall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this curled hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood;
Is there not rain enough in the fweet heavens
To wash it white as fnow? Whereto ferves mercy,
But to confront the vifage of offence?

And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,
To be fore-ftalled ere we come to fall,

Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up';
My fault is paft. But oh, what form of prayer
Can ferve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder!-
That cannot be, fince I am ftill poffefs'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.
9 May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may fhove by juftice;
And oft 'tis seen, the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law: but 'tis not fo above:
There, is no fhuffling; there, the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd,
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence. What then? what refts?
Try, what repentance can: what can it not?

I

Yet what can it, when one cannot repent?

8 Dr. WARBURTON would read,

Though inclination be as fharp as th' ill.

The old reading is as fharp as will. STEEVENS,

I have followed the eafier emendation of THEOBALD received by HANMER. JOHNSON.

May one be pardon'd, and retain the OFFENCE?] He that does not amend what can be amended, retains his offence. The king kept the crown from the right heir. JOHNSON.

1

Yet what can it, when one CANNOT repent?] What can repentance do for a man that cannot be penitent, for a man who has only part of penitence, diftrefs of confcience, without the other part, refolution of amendment. JOHNSON.

Oh wretched ftate! oh bofom, black as death! 9 Oh limed foul; that, ftruggling to be free, Art more engag'd! Help, angels! make assay! Bow, ftubborn knees; and, heart, with ftrings of fteel,

Be foft as finews of the new-born babe!

All may be well.

Enter Hamlet.

[The King kneels.

Ham. Now might I do it, pat, now he is praying; And now I'll do't.-And fo he goes to heaven. And fo am I reveng'd? that would be fcann'd. A villain kills my father; and for that

I

I, his fole fon, do this fame villain fend

To heaven.

Why, this is hire and falary, not revenge.
He took my father grofly, full of bread;
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May;
And, how his audit ftands, who knows, fave heaven?
But in our circumftance and course of thought,
'Tis heavy with him. Am I then reveng'd,
To take him in the purging of his foul,
When he is fit and feafon'd for his paffage?
No.

2 Up, fword, and know thou a more horrid hent; When he is drunk, afleep, or in his rage;

Or

Oh, limed foul;-] This alludes to bird-lime. Shakefpeare ufes the fame again, Henry VI. P. ii,

66

Madam, myself have lim'd a bush for her."
STEEVENS.

I, his fole fon, do this fame villain fend] The folio reads feule fon, a reading apparently corrupted from the quarto. The meaning is plain. I, his only for, who am bound to punish his murderer. JOHNSON.

2 In the common editions,

Up, fword, and know thou a more horrid time.] This is a fophifticated reading, warranted by none of the copies of any authority. Mr. POPE fays, I read conjecturally;

a more horrid bent.

Or in the incestuous pleasures of his bed,
At gaming, fwearing; or about fome act
That has no relifh of falvation in't :

Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven;
And that his foul may be as damn'd and black
3 As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays;
This phyfic but prolongs thy fickly days.

The King rifes.

[Exit.

King. My words fly up, my thoughts remain below;

Words, without thoughts, never to heaven go. [Exit.

Pol, He will come straight. Look, you lay home

to him:

Tell him, his pranks have been too broad to bear

with;

And that your grace hath fcreen'd, and ftood between

I do fo; and why? the two oldest quartos, as well as the two elder folios, read,

-a more horrid hent.

But as there is no fuch English fubftantive, it seems very natural to conclude, that with the change of a fingle letter, our author's genuine word was, bent; i. e. drift, fcope, inclination, purpose, &c. THEOBALD.

This reading is followed by Sir T. HANMER and Dr. WARBURTON; but bent is probably the right word. To bent is ufed by Shakespeare for, to feize, to catch, to lay hold on. Hent is, therefore, hold, or feizure. Lay bold on him, fword, at a more horrid time. JOHNSON.

3 As hell, whereto it goes.-] This fpeech, in which Hamlet, reprefented as a virtuous character, is not content with taking blood for blood, but contrives damnation for the man that he would punish, is too horrible to be read or to be uttered.

JOHNSON.
Much

Much heat and him. 4 I'll filence me e'en here:
Pray you, be round with him.

Ham. [within.] Mother, mother, mother!.
Queen. I'll warrant you; fear me not.

Withdraw, I hear him coming.

[Polonius hides himself.

1

Enter Hamlet.

Ham. Now, mother; what's the matter? Queen. Hamlet, thou haft thy father much offended?

Ham. Mother, you have my father much offended. Queen. Come, come, you answer with an idle

tongue.

Ham. Go, go, you queftion with a wicked tongue.
Queen. Why, how now, Hamlet?

Ham. What's the matter now?
Queen. Have you forgot me?

Ham. No, by the rood, not fo:

You are the queen, your hufband's brother's wife. And, 'would it were not fo!-you are my mother. Queen. Nay, then I'll fet thofe to you that can speak.

Ham. Come, come, and fit you down; you shall not budge.

You go not, 'till I fet you up a glass

Where you may fee the inmoft part of you.

Queen. What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?

Pray you, be round with him.] Sir T. HANMER, who is followed by Dr. WARBURTON, reads,

-I'll fconce me here.

Retire to a place of fecurity. They forget that the contrivance of Polonius to overhear the conference, was no more told to the queen than to Hamlet.-I'll filence me even here, is, I'll ufe no more words. JOHNSON.

Pol. What ho! help!

[Behind.

Ham. How now, a rat 5? Dead, for a ducat, dead. [Hamlet ftrikes at Polonius through the arras.

Pol. Oh, I am slain.

Queen. Oh me, what haft thou done?

Ham. Nay, I know not: is it the king?
Queen. Oh, what a rafh and bloody deed is this!
Ham. A bloody deed;-almost as bad, good mo-
ther,

As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
Queen. As kill a king?

Ham. Ay, lady, 'twas my word.

Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!

[When he fees it is Polonius.

I took thee for thy better; take thy fortune:

Thou find'ft, to be too bufy, is fome danger.Leave wringing of your hands: peace; fit you down, And let me wring your heart: for fo I fhall,

If it be made of penetrable ftuff;

If damned cuftom have not braz'd it fo,

That it is proof and bulwark against sense.

Queen. What have I done, that thou dar'ft wag thy

That blurs the grace and blufh of modefty;
Calls virtue, hypocrite; 6 takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love,
And fets a blifter there; makes marriage-vows
As falfe as dicers' oaths: Oh, fuch a deed,
As 7 from the body of contraction plucks

How now, a rat?] This (as Mr. FARMER has obferved) is an expreffion borrowed from The Hyftorye of Hamblet, a tranflation from the French of Belleforest. STEEVENS. takes off the rofe] Alluding to the custom of wearing rofes on the fide of the face. See a note on a paffage in King John. WARBURTON.

7 from the body of contraction-] Contraction, for marriage-contract. WARBURTON.

The