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Moreover that we much did long to fee you,
The need we have to ufe you did provoke
Our hafty fending. Something you have heard
Of Hamlet's transformation; fo I call it,
Since not the exterior, nor the inward man
Refembles that it was. What it fhould be
More than his father's death, that thus hath put him
So much from the undertanding or himielf,
cannot dream of. I intreat you both,

That being of fo young days brought up with him,
And fince to neighboured to his youth and humour,
That you vouchtafe you reit here in our court
Some little time; fo by your companies

To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather,
So much as from occafions you may glean,
If aught, to us unknown, afllics him thus,
That opened lyes within our remedy.

Queen. Good gentlemen, he hath much talked
of you;

And fure I am two men there are not living,
To whom he more adheres. If it will pleate you
To fhew us fo much gentry and good will,
As to extend your time with us a while,
For the supply and profit of our hope,
Your vifitation fhall receive fuch-thanks
As fits a king's remembrance.

Ref. Both your Majefties

Might by the fovereign power you have of us,
Put your dread pleatures more into command

Than to entreaty.

Guil. But we both obey,

And here give up ourfeives, in the full bent.

To lay our fervice freely at your feet.

King. Thanks, Rofincrantz, and gentle Guildenftern.

Queen. Thanks, Guildenftern, and gentle RofinAnd I befeech you inftantly to vifit

[crantz. My too much changed fon. Go, some of ye, And bring thefe gentlemen where Hamlet is.

Guil. Heavens make our prefence and our pracPleafant and helpful to him!

[tices

[Exeunt Rof. and Guil.

Queen. Amen.

Enter POLONIUS.

Pol. Th' ambaffadors from Norway, my good
Are joyfully returned.
[Lord,
King. Thou ftill haft been the father of good news.
Pol Have I, my Lord? affure you, my good

I hold my duty, as I hold my foul, [liege,
Both to my God, and to my gracious King;
And I do think, (or else this brain of mine
Hunts not the trail of policy so fure

As I have used to do) that I have found
The very caufe of Hamlet's lunacy.

King. Oh, fpeak of that, that do I long to hear.
Pol. Give first admittance to th' amballadors:
My news fhall be the fruit to that great feaft.
King. Thyfelf do grace to them, and bring them
in.
[Exit Pol.
He tells me, my fweet Queen, that he hath found.
The head and fource of all your fon's distemper.

Queen. I doubt it is no other but the main, His father's death, and our o'er-hafty marriage.

Re-enter POLONIUS, with VOLTIMOND, and

CORNELIUS.

King. Well, we fhall fift him.----Welcome, my good friends!

Say, Voltimond, what from our brother Norway?

Vol. Most fair return of greetings and defires.

Upon our firft, he fent out to fupprefs
His nephew's levies, which to him appeared
To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack :
But, better looked into, he truly found
It was against your Highnels: whereat grieved,
That fo his ficknefs, age, and impotence
Was falfely borne in hand, fends out arrefts
On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys,
Receives rebuke from Norway, and, in fine,
Makes vow before his uncle, never more
To give th' affay of arms against your majefty.
Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,
Gives him threefcore thoufand crowns in annual
fea; (27)

(27) Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee;] This reading first obtained in the edition put out by the players. But all the old Quartos (from 1605, downwards) read, as I have reformed the text. I had hinted, that threefcere thousand Crowns feemed a much more fuitable donative from a King to his own nephew, and the general of an army, than fo poor a pittance as three thousand crowns, a penfion fcarce large enough for a dependent courtier. I therefore restored; Gives him thre‹fore thousand crowas.——

To this Mr Pope, (very archly critical, as he imagines) has only replied,· which in his ear is a verfe. I own it is; and I'll venture to prove to this great master in numbers, that two fyllables may, by pronunciation, be refolved and melted into one, as cafily as two notes are flurred in music; and a redundance of a fyllable, that may be so funk, has never been a breach of harmony in any language. We must pronounce, as if 'twere written;

Gi's'm three core thou fand crowns |

But has Mr Pope, indeed, fo long been converfant with verfe, and never obferved the licence of the pes proceleufinaticus, or that an anapaft is equal in time and quantity to a pindée ? A few inftances from the Claflies will convince him, and perfons (if there are any fuch) of fuperior learning. Γαλακτοφάγων, ἀξιων, δικαιοτάτων ἀνθρώπων. Hom. Il.v. v.6. Βορέης κα Ζέφυρος, τώ τε Θρήκηθεν ἂλλον. Νέα μέν μοι κατέαξε Ποσειδάων ἐνοσίχθων. ΟdyΠ. ι. v. 238.

Il. . v. 5.

And his commiffion to employ thofe foldiers,
So levied as before, against the Polack:
With an entreaty herein further fhewn,
That it might pleafe you to give quiet pafs
Through your dominions for this enterprize,
On fuch regards of fafety and allowance
As therein are fet down.

Ἱέρευον δὲ σύκς σιαλες κ βῶν αγελαίνη.

Odyff. p. v. 181.

Κύκλωψ, τῆ, πίε οἶνον, ἐπεὶ φάγες ἀνδρόμεα κρέα. Odyf. ι. 347.
Εφαρι πολεῖν, θέρεος νεωμένη ἐ σ' απατήσει. Hefiod. Εργ. 461.
Capitibus nutantes platanos, rectalque cupreus.
Tenula fputa, minuta, croci contineta colore.
Tenue, cavati oculi, cava temp ra, frigida pellis.
Per terras amnes, atque oppida cooperuiffe.
Vehemens et liquidus, puroque, fimillimus amni.
Parietibusque premunt artis, et quatuor addunt.
Hærent parietibus Scale.-

Fluviorum rex Eridanus.

Arietat in portas et duros objice poftes

Engius.

Lucret.

Idem

Idem.

Horat.

Virgil.

Idem..

Idem.

Idem.

Senec.

Idem.

Idem.

Let us

Ego laticis hauftu fatir? aut ullo furor, &c. Tumet animus ia, fervet immenfum dolor. Vide ut animus ingens lætus audierit necem. But inftances from the Claffics would be endless. now take a fhort view, whether there are not other verfes in our Author which neither can be fcanned nor pronounced, without melting down fome fyllables, and extending others; and yet the verfes will ftand the teft of all judicious cars, that are acquainted with the licences of verfification.

Unholyrood day, the gallant Hotspur there. Henry, IV.
And that the Lord of Weft | morland shall | maintain.
3. Henry VI.
Thy grandfather Roger Mortimer Earl of

March.

I am the fon of Henry the Fifth.

For Henry here is made a trifyllable.

1bid.

Ibid.

Jul. Caf.

As fire drives | out fire, | fo pi | ty pity. And I might amafs a thousand more inftances in proof. To conclude, without this liberty of liquidating fyllables, as we may call it, how would Mr Pope, or any body else, fcan this verfe in Johnfon's Volpone?

But Pără | fites or | sub-pa | rāfites. | And yet, &c.

King. It likes us well;

And at our more confidered time we'll read,
Answer, and think upon this business.

Mean time, we thank you for your well-took labour.

Go to your reft; at night we'll feaft together.

Moft welcome home!

Pol. This bufinefs is well ended.

[Exeunt Ambaf

My Liege, and Madam, to expoftulate (28)
What Majefty fhould be, what duty is,
Why day is day, night night, and time is time,
Were nothing but to wafte night, day and time.
Therefore, fince brevity's the foul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief; your noble fon is mad;
Mad, call I it; for, to define true madness,

(28) My liege, and Madan, to expoftulate] There feems to me in this fpeech most remarkable ftrokes of humour. I never read it without aftonishment at the Author's admirable art of preferving the unity of character. It is fo just a satire on impertinent oratory, (efpecially of that then in vogue) which was of the formal cut, and proceeded by definition, divifion, and fubdivifion, that I think every body must be charmed with it. Then as to the jingles, and play of words, let us but look into the fermons of Dr Donne, (the wittieft man of that age) and we shall find them full of this vein; only, there they are to be admired, here to be laughed at. Then with what art is Polonius made to pride himfelf in his wit?

A foolish figure.-But, farewel it. Again, how finely is he fneering the formal oratory in fa fhion, when he makes this reflection on Hamlet's raving:

Though this be madness, yet there's method in it.

As if method in a difcourfe (which the wits of that age thought the most effential part of good writing) would make amends for the madness of it. This in the mouth of Polonius is exceeding fatirical. Though it was madness, yet he could comfort himself with the reflection that at least it was method. Mr Warburton.

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