If there be any good thing to be done, If thou art privy to thy country's fate, ނ Or, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, [Cock crows. Speak of it:-stay, and speak.-Stop it, Marcellus. Mar. Shall I strike at it with my partizan? Hor. Do, if it will not stand. Ber. Tis here! Hor. 'Tis here! Mar. 'Tis gone! We do it wrong, being so majestical, For it is, as the air, invulnerable, And our vain blows malicious mockery. [Exit Ghost. Ber. It was about to speak, when the cock crew. ་་ 8 [8] Bourne of Newcastle, in his Antiquities of the common People, informs us, it is a received tradition among the vulgar, that at the time of cock. crowing, the midnight spirits forsake these lower regions, and go to their proper places.-Hence it is, says he, that in country places, where the way "of life requires more early labour, they always go cheerfully to work at "that time; whereas if they are called abroad sooner, they imagine every "thing they see a wandering ghost." FARMER. [9] According to the pneumatology of the time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order of spirits, who had dispositions different, according to their various places of abode. The meaning therefore is, that all spirits extravagant, wandering out of their element, whether aerial spirits visiting earth, or earthly spirits ranging the air, return to their station, to their proper limits in which they are confined. We might read, And at his warning "Th' extravagant and erring spirit hies But this change, though it would smooth the construction, is not necessary, and being unnecessary, should not be made against authority. JOHNSON [1] Extravagant, out of bounds. Erring, erratic. STEEVENS This present object made probation. Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock. Hor. So have I heard, and do in part believe it. Mar. Let's do't, I pray ; and I this morning know Where we shall find him most convenient. SCENE II. [Exeunt. The same. A Room of State in the same. Enter the King, Queen, HAMLET, POLONIUS, LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and Attendants. King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature, JOHNSON Holding a weak supposal of our worth; To our most valiant brother.-So much for him. To business with the king, more than the scope Farewell; and let your haste commend your duty. [Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS. And lose your voice: What would'st thou beg, Laertes, The head is not more native to the heart, 3 Laer. My dread lord, Your leave and favour to return to France; From whence though willingly I came to Denmark, Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France, King. Have you your father's leave? What says [3] Formerly the heart was supposed the seat of wisdom, and hence the poet speaks of the close connexion between the heart and head. MALONE. Pol. He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave, By laboursome petition; and, at last, Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent: I do beseech you, give him leave to go. King. Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine, And thy best graces: spend it at thy will.But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son, ---Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind.4 [Aside. King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you? Ham. Not so, my lord, I am too much i'the sun. Queen. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off, And let thine eye look like á friend on Denmark. Do not, for ever, with thy vailed lids, s Seek for thy noble father in the dust : Thou know'st, 'tis common; all, that live, must die, Ham. Ay, madam, it is common. Queen. If it be, Why seems it so particular with thee? Ham. Seems, madam ! nay, it is ; I know not seems. 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath, Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief, King. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, To give these mourning duties to your father: In filial obligation, for some term To do obsequious sorrow : But to perséver Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief: It shows a will most incorrect to heaven; [4] Kind is the Teutonick word for child. If we understand kind in its ancient sense, then the meaning will be,-I am more than thy kinsman, for I am thy step-son; being such, I am less near to thee than thy natural off spring, and therefore not entitled to the appellation of son, which you have now given me. MALONE. [5] With lowering eyes, cast down eyes. JOHNSON. [b] Obsequious, is here for obsequies, or funeral ceremonies, JOHNSD A heart unfortified, or mind impatient; Than that which dearest father bears his son, Queen. Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet ; 8 [Exeunt King, Queen, Lords, &c. POLONIUS, and LAERTES. Ham. O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!! Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! [7] Eminence and distinction of love. HEATH. [8] The king's intemperance is very strongly impressed; every thing that happens to him gives him occasion to drink. JOHNSON. [9] The king's draught of jollity. See Othello, act 2. sc. 3. STEEV. E1] Resolve means the same as dissolve. The word is so used by Ben JonSTEEVENS. 18 son. VOL. VIII. |