I had my father's fignet in my purse,

Which was the model of that Danish feal*:

Folded the writ up in form of the other;

Subfcrib'd it; gave 't the impreffion; plac'd it fafely, The changeling never known: Now, the next day Was our fea-fight; and what to this was fequent

Thou know'ft already.

Hor. So Guildenstern and Rofencrantz

go to't.

Ham. Why, man2, they did make love to this employ

ment;

They are not near my confcience; their defeat

Does by their own infinuation 3 grow:

'Tis dangerous, when the bafer nature comes Between the país and fell incenfed points

Of mighty oppofites.

Hor. Why, what a king is this!

Ham. Does it not, think thee, ftand me now upon? He that hath kill'd my king, and whor'd my mother; Popp'd in between the election and my hopes; Thrown out his angles for my proper life,

And with fuch cozenage; is't not perfect confcience, To quit him with this arm? and is't not to be damn'd, To let this canker of our nature come

In further evil?

Hor. It must be fhortly known to him from England, What is the iffue of the business there.

the model of that Danish feal:] The model is in old language the copy. The fignet was formed in imitation of the Danish feal. See Vol. V. p. 58, n. 4, and Vol. VI. p. 568, n. 5. MALONE.

1 The changeling never known :-] A changeling is a child which the fairies are fuppofed to leave in the room of that which they steal. JOHNSON.

2 Why, man, &c.] This line is omitted in the quartos. STEEV. 3-by their own infinuation] By their having infinuated or thrust themselves into the employment. MALONE.

4

think thee,] i. e. bethink thee. MALONE.

5 Thrown out bis angle-] An angle in Shakspeare's time fignified a fishing-rod. So, in Lily's Sapho and Phao, 1591:

"Phao. But he may blefs fifhing, that caught fuch a one in the fea. "Venus. It was not with an angle, myboy, but with a net."MALONE. 6 To quit bim, &c.] To requite him; to pay him his due. JOHNSON. This paffage, as well as the three following fpeeches, is not in the quartos. STEEVENS.

Dd3

Ham

Ham. It will be short: the interim is mine;
And a man's life's no more than to fay, one.
But I am very forry, good Horatio,
That to Laertes I forgot myself;

For by the image of my caufe, I fee

The portraiture of his: I'll count his favours 5:
But, fure, the bravery of his grief did put me

Into a towering paffion.

Hor. Peace; who comes here?

Enter OSRICK.

Of. Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark. Ham. I humbly thank you, fir.-Doft know this waterЯy?

Hor. No, my good lord.

Ham. Thy ftate is the more gracious; for 'tis a vice to know him: He hath much land, and fertile: let a beaft be lord of beafts, and his crib fhall ftand at the king's mefs: 'Tis a chough; but, as I fay, fpacious in the poffeffion of dirt.

Ofr. Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leifure, I fhould impart a thing to you from his majesty.

Ham. I will receive it, fir, with all diligence of spirit: Your bonnet to his right ufe; 'tis for the head.

Ofr. I thank your lordship, 'tis very hot.

Ham. No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is northerly.

Ofr. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed.

8

Ham. But yet, methinks, it is very fultry and hot; or my complexion

Ofr. Exceedingly, my lord; it is very fultry ',—as

5 I'll count bis favours:] I'll count his favours is-I will make account of them, i. e. reckon upon them, value them. STEEVENS. Mr. Rowe for count very plaufibly reads court. MALONE.

11

- Doft know this water-fty] A water-fly fkips up and down upon the turface of the water, without any apparent purpose or reafon, and is thence the proper emblem of a bufy trifler. JOHNSON.

7

- 'Tis a chough;-] A kind of jackdaw. JOHNSON.

8 But yet, methinks, it is very fultry, &c.] Hamlet is here playing over the fame farce with Ofrick, which he had formerly done with Polonius. STEEVENS.

9- my complexion-]The folios read-for my complexion.STEEV. Exceedingly, my lord; it is very fultry,]

igniculum bruma fi tempore pofcas,

Accipit endromidem; fi dixeris æftuo, fudat. Juv. MALONE.

Ofr.

'twere,-I cannot tell how. -My lord, his majesty bade me fignify to you, that he has laid a great wager on your head: Sir, this is the matter,

Ham. I befeech you, remember— 2

[Hamlet moves him to put on his hat. Ofr. Nay, good my lord; for my eafe, in good faith3. Sir, here is newly come to court, Laertes: believe me, an abfolute gentleman, full of most excellent differences", of very foft fociety, and great fhewing: Indeed, to Speak feelingly of him, he is the card or calendar of gentry, for you fhall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would fee 8.

6

2 I beseech you, remember-]" Remember not your courtesy," I believe, Hamlet would have faid, if he had not been interrupted. "Remember thy courtefy," he could not poflibly have faid, and therefore this abrupt fentence may ferve to confirm an emendation which I propofed in Love's Labour's Left, (Vol. II. p. 396, n. 8.) where Armado Tays- ." I do beseech thee, remember thy courtesy-I beseech thee, apparel thy head." I have no doubt that Shakspeare there wrote, “remember not thy courtefy,"-and that the negative was omitted by the negligence of the compofitor. MALONE.

3 Nay, good my lord; for my eafe, in good faith.] This feems to have been the affected phrafe of the time. Thus in Marfton's Malecontent, 1604: "I befeech you, fir, be covered."-" No, in good faith, for my eafe." And in other places. FARMER.

It appears to have been the common language of ceremony in our poet's time. "Why do you stand bare-beaded? (fays one of the fpeakers in Florio's SECOND FRUTES, 1591,) you do yourself wrong. Pardon me, good fir (replies his friend); I do it for my cafe." Again, in A New Way to pay old Debts, by Mallinger, 1633:

Is't for your cafe
MALONE.

"You keep your hat off?

4 Sir, &c.] The folio omits this and the following fourteen fpeeches; and in their place fubftitutes only, Sir, you are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is at his weapon." STEEVENS. 5- full of most excellent differences,-] Full of diftinguishing excellencies. JOHNSON.

6-fpeak feelingly-] The first quarto reads fellingly. STEEVENS. 7 the card or calendar of gentry;] The general preceptor of elegance; the card by which a gentleman is to direct his courfe; the calendar by which he is to choose his time, that what he does may be both excellent and feafonable. JOHNSON.

8

- for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would fee.] You shall find him containing and comprifing every quality which a gentleman would defire to contemplate for imitation. I know not but it should be read, You shall find him the continent. JOHNSON.

Ham. Sir, his definement fuffers no perdition in you; -though, I know, to divide him inventorially, would dizzy the arithmetick of memory; and yet but raw nei, ther, in respect of his quick fail. But, in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a foul of great article2; and his infufion of such dearth 3 and rareness, as, to make true diction of him, his femblable is his mirrour; and, who elfe would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more. Ofr. Your lordship fpeaks moft infallibly of him. Ham. The concernancy, fir? why do we wrap the gentleman in our more rawer breath?

Ofr. Sir?

Hor. Is't not poffible to underftand in another tongue? You will do't, fir, really 4,

Ham,

9 Sir, bis definement, &c.] This is defigned as a fpecimen, and ridicule of the court-jargon amongst the precieux of that time. The fenfe in English is, "Sir, he fuffers nothing in your account of him, "though to enumerate his good qualities particularly would be end

lefs; yet when we had done our best, it would ftill come fhort of him. However, in strictness of truth, he is a great genius, and of " a character fo rarely to be met with, that to find any thing like him "we must look into his mirrour, and his imitators will appear no "more than his fhadows." WARBURTON.

1 -and yet but raw neither, &c.] Raw is a word of great latitude; raw fignifies unripe, immature, thence unformed, imperfect, unskilful. The best account of him would be imperfect, in refpect of his quick fail. The phrafe quick fail was, I fuppofe, a proverbial term for activity of mind. JOHNSON.

210

foul of great article;-] This is obfcure. I once thought it might have been, a foul of great altitude; but, I fuppofe, a foul of great article, means a foul of large comprehenfion, of many contents. The particulars of an inventory are called articles. JOHNSON.

3 of fuch dearth-] Dearth is dearnefs, value, price. And his internal qualities of fuch value and rarity. JOHNSON.

4 Is't not poffible to understand in another tongue? you will do't, fir, really.] Of this interrogatory remark the fenfe is very obfcure. The queftion may mean, might not all this be underford in plainer language. But then, you will do it, fir, really, feems to have no ufe, for who could doubt but plain language would be intelligible? I would therefore read, Is't poffible not to be understood in a mother tongue. You will do it, fir, really. JOHNSON.

Suppose we were to point the paffage thus: Is't not poffible to understand? in another tongue you will do it, fir, really.

The fpeech feems to be addreffed to Ofrick, who is puzzled by Hamlet's imitation of his own affected language. STEEVENS.

Theobald

Ham. What imports the nomination of this gentleman? Ofr. Of Laertes ?

Hor. His purfe is empty already; all his golden words. are spent.

Ham. Of him, fir.

Ofr. I know, you are not ignorant

Ham. I would, you did, fir; yet, in faith, if you did, it would not much approve me 5;—Well, fir.

Cfr. You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is

Ham. I dare not confefs that, left I fhould compare with him in excellence; but, to know a man well, were to know himself.

Ofr. I mean, fir, for his weapon; but in the imputation laid on him by them, in his meed he's unfellow'd. Ham. What's his weapon?

Ofr. Rapier and dagger.

Ham. That's two of his weapons: but, well.

Ofr. The king, fir, hath wager'd with him fix Barbary horfes against the which he has impawn'd, as I take it, fix French rapiers and poniards, with their affigns,

Theobald has filently substituted rarely for really. I think Horatio's fpeech is addreffed to Hamlet. Another tongue does not mean, as I conceive, plainer language, (as Dr. Johnfon fuppofed,) but "language fo fantaftical and affected as to have the appearance of a foreign tongue" and in the following words Horatio, I think, means to praise Hamlet for imitating this kind of babble fo happily. I fufpect, however, that the poet wrote-Is't poffible not to understand in a mother tongue? MALONE.

5-if you did, it would not much approve me;] If you knew I was not ignorant, your esteem would not much advance my reputation. To approve, is to recommend to approbation. JOHNSON.

• I dare not confefs that, left I should compare with bim, &c.] I dare not pretend to know him, left I should pretend to an equality: no man can completely know another, but by knowing himself, which is the utmost extent of human wisdom. JOHNSON.

7- in bis meed In his excellence. JOHNSON.

See Vol. VI. p. 366, n. 6. MALONE.

8 -impawn'd,-]Thus the quarto 1604. The folio reads-impon'd. Pignare in Italian fignifies both to parun, and to lay a wager, MALONE. Perhaps it should be, depon'd. So Hudibras:

"I would upon this caufe depone

"As much as any I have known."

But perhaps imponed is pledged, impawned; so spelt to ridicule the affectation of uttering English words with French pronunciation. JOHNS.

as