6 through and through the moft fond and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to their trials, the bubbles are out. Enter a Lord. Lord. [My lord, his majesty commended him to you by young Ofrick, who brings back to him, that you attend him in the hall. He fends to know if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that you will take longer time? Ham. I am conftant to my purposes, they follow the king's pleafure; if his fitnefs fpeaks, mine is ready; now, or whenfoever, provided I be fo able as now. Lord. The king, and queen, and all are coming down. Ham. In happy time. Lord. The queen defires you to use some 7 gentle entertainment to Laertes before you fall to play. Ham. She well inftructs me.] [Exit Lord. Hor. You will lofe this wager, my lord. Ham. I do not think fo. Since he went into France, I have been in continual practice: I fhall win at the 66 The meaning is, "thefe men have got the cant of the day, a fuperficial readiness of flight and curfory conversation, a "kind of frothy collection of fashionable prattle, which yet carried them through the moft felect and approved judg"ment. This airy facility of talk fometimes impofes upon "wife men." Who has not feen this obfervation verified? JOHNSON. 6 do but blow them, &c.] Thefe men of how, without folidity, are like bubbles raifed from foap and water, which dance, and glitter, and please the eye, but if you extend them, by blowing hard, feparate into a mitt; fo if you oblige thefe fpecious talkers to extend their compafs of converfation, they at once discover the tenuity of their intellects. JOHNSON. 7 gentle entertainment-] Mild and temperate converfation. JOHNSON. odds. odds. But thou wouldst not think how ill all's here about my heart. But it is no matter. Hor. Nay, my good lord. 8 Ham. It is but foolery; but it is fuch a kind of gain-giving as would, perhaps, trouble a woman. Hor. 9 If your mind diflike any thing, obey it. I will foreftal their repair hither, and fay you are not fit. Ham. Not a whit, we defy augury; there is a special Providence in the fall of a iparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come; the readiness is all. Since no man knows aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes? Let be. Enter 8 a kind of gain-giving-] Gain-giving is the fame as mif-giving. STLEVENS. 9 If your mind diflike any thing, obey it.] With thefe prefages of future evils arifing in the mind, the poet has forerun many events which are to happen at the conclufions of his plays; and fometimes fo particularly, that even the circumftances of calamity are minutely hinted at, as in the inftance of Juliet, who tells her lover from the window, that he appears like one dead in the bottom of a tomb. The fuppofition that the genius of the mind gave the alarm before approaching diffolution, is a very ancient one, and perhaps can never be totally driven out: yet it must be allowed the merit of adding beauty to poetry, however injurious it may fometimes prove to the weak and the fuperftitious. STEEVENS. Since no man HAS OUGHT OF WHAT he leaves, what is't to leave betimes?] This the editors called reafoning. I fhould have thought the premifes concluded juft otherwife: for fince death ftrips a man of every thing, it is but fit he should shun and avoid the defpoiler. The old quarto reads, Since no man, of ought he leaves, KNOWS, what is't to leave betimes? Let be. This is the true reading. Here the premises conclude right, and the argument drawn out at length is to this effect: "It is "true, that, by death, we lofe all the goods of life; yet "feeing this lofs is no otherwife an evil than as we are fenfible "of it; and fince death removes all fenfe of it, what matters "it how foon we lofe them? Therefore come what will, I am prepared." But the ill pointing in the old book hindered the editors from feeing Shakespeare's fenfe, and encouraged them Enter King, Queen, Laertes, and lords, Ofrick, with other attendants with foils, &c. King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me. [King puts the hand of Laertes into the band of Hamlet. Ham. Give me your pardon, Sir. I have done you wrong; But pardon it, as you are a gentleman. This prefence knows, and you must needs have heard, How I am punish'd with a fore distraction. What I have done, That might your nature, honour, and exception And, when he's not himself, does wrong Laertes, them to venture at one of their own, though, as ufual, they are come very lamely off. WARBURTON. The reading of the quarto was right, but in fome other copy the harshness of the tranfpofition was foftened, and the paffage ftood thus: Since no man knows aught of what he leaves. For knows was printed in the later copies has, by a flight blunder in fuch typographers. I do not think Dr. Warburton's interpretation of the paffage the best that it will admit. The meaning may be this, Since no man knows aught of the ftate of life which he leaves, fince he cannot judge what other years may produce, why fhould he be afraid of leaving life betimes? Why fhould he dread an early death, of which he cannot tell whether it is an exclufion of happiness, or an interception of calamity. I defpife the fuperftition of augury and omens, which has no ground in reafon or piety; my comfort is, that I cannot fall but by the direction of Providence. Hanmer has, Since no man owes aught, a conjecture not very reprehenfible. Since no man can call any poffeffion certain, what is it to leave? JOHNSON. 2 Give me your pardon, Sir.-] I with Hamlet had made fome other defence; it is unfuitable to the character of a good or a brave man, to fhelter himself in falfehood. JOHNSON. VOL. X. Hamlet Y Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd; Laer. 3 I am fatisfied in nature, Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most Ham. I embrace it freely, And will this brother's wager frankly play. Laer. Come, one for me. Ham. I'll be your foil, Laertes; in mine ignorance Your fkill fhall, like a ftar i' the darkest night, 4 Stick fiery off indeed. Laer. You mock me, Sir. Ham. No, by this hand. King. Give them the foils, young Ofrick. Coufin Hamlet, You know the wager. Ham. Well, my lord; 5 Your grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker fide. King. 3 I am fatisfied in nature, &c.] This was a piece of fatire on fantaftical honour. Though nature is fatisfied, yet he will afk advice of older men of the fword, whether artificial honour cught to be contented with Hamlet's fubmiffion. STEEVENS. 4 Stick fiery off indeed.] This image is taken from painting, where a dark ground throws off light objects, and makes them appear more forward. STEEVENS. 5 Your grace bath laid upon the weaker fide.] Thus Hanmer. All the others read, Your grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker fide. When King. I do not fear it, I have feen you both: But fince he's better'd, we have therefore odds. Laer. This is too heavy, let me fee another. Ham. This likes me well. Thefe foils have all a [They prepare to play. length? Ofr. Ay, my good lord. King. Set me the ftoups of wine upon that table.-If Hamlet gives the firft, or fecond hit, Or quit in anfwer of the third exchange, The trumpets to the cannoneer without, The cannons to the heavens, the heavens to earth. Now the king drinks to Hamlet.-Come, begin. And you the judges bear a wary eye. Ham. Come on, Sir. Laer. Come, my lord. Ham. One. [They play. When the odds were on the fide of Laertes, who was to hit Hamlet twelve times to nine, it was perhaps the author's flip. JOHNSON. • In fome editions, And in the cup an onyx fhall he throw,] This is a various reading in several of the old copies; but union seems to me to be the true word. If I am not mistaken, neither the onyx, nor fardonyx, are jewels which ever found place in an imperial crown. An union is the fineft fort of pearl, and has its place in all crowns and coronets. Befides, let us confider what the king fays on Hamlet's giving Laertes the first hit. Stay, give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine; Therefore, if an union be a pearl, and an onyx a gem, or stone quite differing in its nature from pearls; the king faying, that Hamlet has earn'd the pearl, I think, amounts to a demonftration that it was an union pearl, which he meant to throw into the cup. THEOBALD. |
