Ham. He will flay till ye come. King. Hamiet, this deed, for thine especial safety, Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve For that which thou haft done) mult fend thee hence Th' affociates tend, and every thing is bent Ham. For England? King So is it, if thou knew'ft our purposes. Ham. I fee a Cherub that fees them; but come, for England! farewel, dear mother. King. Thy loving father, Hamlet. Ham. My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one fleth, and fo, my mother. Come, for England. [Exit. King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard; Delay it not: I'll have him hence to-night. That elfe leans on th' affair; pray you, make haste. (57) And England, if my love thou boideft at aught, As my great power thereof may give thee fenfe, Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red After the Danish fword, and thy free awe Pays homage to us;] This is the only paffage in the play from which one might expect to trace the date of the action of it; but I am afraid our Author, according to his ufual licence, plays fast and loofe with time. England is here fuppofed to have been conquered by the Dane, and to be a homager to that state The chronology of the Danish affais is wholly uncertain, till we come to the reign of Ivarus VOL. XII. L Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red The prefent death of Hamlet. Do it, England: And thou muft cure me; 'till I know 'tis done, Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin. [Exit. SCENE, A Camp on the Frontiers of Denmark. Enter FORTINBRAS, with an Army. For. Go, Captain, from me greet the Danish Tell him, that, by his licence, Fortinbras about the year 870. And 'tis plain from Saxo Grammaticus, that the time in which Amlethus lived, was fome generations earlier than the period of Chriftianity. And the letters which the Danith King's meffengers carried over to England, were wooden tablets. Literas ligno infculptas (nàm ia celebre quondam genus chartarum erat) fecum geftante, quibus Britan norum regi tranfmiffi fibi juvenis occifio mandabatur. Such a fort of mandate implies, that the English King was either linked in the dearest amity to the Dane, or in fubjection to him. But what then fhall we do with our own home-chronicles! They are exprefs, that the Danes never fet footing on our coaft till the eighth century. They infefted us for fome time in a piratical way, then made a descent and conquered part of the country; and about the year 80c, King Egbert is faid to have fubmitted to a tribute, called Dane-gelt; a tax of 12 d. on every hide of land through the whole nation. But our authors differ about this Dane-gelt, whether it was a tax paid to obtain good terms of the Danes, or levied by our Kings towards the charge of defences, to repel the inva fons of the Danes. We fhall express our duty in his eye, Capt. I will do't, my Lord. For. Go foftly on. [Exit Fortinbras, with the Army. Enter HAMLET, ROSINCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, &C. Ham. Good Sir, whose powers are these? Capt. They are of Norway, Sir. Ham. How purposed, Sir, I pray you? Capt. The nephew of old Norway, Fortinbras. Ham. Goes it against the main of Poland, Sir, Or for fome frontier? Capt. Truly to speak it, and with no addition, We go to gain a little patch of ground, That hath in it no profit but the name. Το pay five ducats-five, I would not farm it; Nor will it yield to Norway, or the Pole, A ranker rate, fhould it be fold in fee. Ham. Why, then the Polack never will defend it. Capt. Yea, 'tis already garrifoned. Ham. Two thousand fouls, and twenty thousand Will not debate the queftion of this ftraw; [ducats, This is the impofthume of much wealth and peace, That inward breaks, and fhews no cause without Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, Sir. Capt. God b'w'ye, Sir. Raf. Will't please you go, my Lord? Ham. I'll be with you ftrait, go a little before. Manet HAMLET. [Exeunt. How all occafions do inform against me, If his chief good and market of his time That capability and godlike reason To ruft in us unufed. Now whether it be Of thinking too precifely on th' event, [wifdoni, Sith I have caufe, and will, and strength, and means To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,. Never to ftir without great argument; But greatly to find quarrel in a straw, When honour's at the ftake. How ftand I then, (58) Sure he that made us with fuch large difcourfe, Looking before and after.] This is an expreffion purely Homeric; Οἷς δ' ὁ γέρων μέτεησιν, μα ΠΡΟΣΣΩ, ΟΠΙΣΣΩ Λεύσσει. And again; ὁ γὰν διος δρα ΠΡΟ'ΣΣΩ & ΟΠΙΣΣΩ, Iliad. a. ver, 250. The fhort fcholiaft on the laft paffage gives us a comment that very aptly explains our Author's phrafe. Zuvetä yàp ἀνδρός εσι, τα μελλονία τοῖς γεγενημένοις ἀρμός εσθαι, γ ὕτως ὁρῖν τα επόμενα. "For it is the part of an understanding man to connect the reflection of events to come with fuch have paffed, and fo to forefee what thall follow." This is, as our Author phrafes it, locking before and after. That have a father killed, a mother stained, Go to their graves like beds; fight for a plot, SCENE changes to a Palace. Enter Queen, HORAT10, and a Gentleman. Queen. I will not fpeak with her. Gent. She is importunate, Indeed, distract; her mood will needs be piticd. Queen. What would the have? [hears Gent. She fpeaks much of her father; fays, the There's tricks i' th' world; and hems, and beats her heart; Spurns enviously at ftraws; fpeaks things in doubt That carry but half fenfe; her fpeech is nothing, Yet the unthaped use of it doth move The hearers to collection; they aim at it, And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts; Which as her winks, and nods, and geltures yicki them, Indeed, would make one think there might be Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. Queen. To my fick foul, as fin's true nature is, Each toy feems prologue to fome great amifs, |