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Most holy and religious fear it is,
To keep those many many bodies safe,
That live, and feed, upon your majesty.

Ros. The fingle and peculiar life is bound,
With all the strength and armour of the mind,
To keep itself from 'noyance; but much more
That spirit, upon whose weal + depend and reft
The lives of many. The cease of majefty

cattle, whose powers of being dangerous increase with the growth of their brows. STEEVENS.

The two readings of brows and lunes-when taken in connection with the passages referred to by Mr. Steevens, in The Winter's Tale and The Merry Wives of Windfor, plainly figure forth the image under which the King apprehended danger from Hamlet:-viz. that of a bull, which, in his frenzy, might not only gore, but push him from his throne." The hazard that hourly grows out of his BROWS" (according to the quartos) correfponds to "the SHOOTS from the ROUGH PASH," [that is the TUFTED PROTUBERANCE on the bead of a bull, from whence his horns spring] alluded to in The Winter's Tale; whilft the imputation of impending danger to "his LUNES" (according to the other reading) answers as obvioufly to the jealous fury of the husband that thinks he has detected the infidelity of his wife. Thus, in The Merry Wives of Windfor: "Why woman, your husband is in his old lunes-he so takes on yonder with my husband; so rails against all married mankind; fo curses all Eve's daughters, and so buffets himself on the forehead, crying peer out! peer out! that any madness, I ever yet beheld, feem'd but tameness, civility, and patience, to this distemper he is now in." HENLEY.

Shakspeare probably had here the following passage in The History of Hamblett, bl. 1. in his thoughts: "Fengon could not content himfelfe, but ftill his minde gave him that the foole [Hamlet] would play him fome trick of legerdemaine. And in that conceit seeking to be rid of him, determined to find the meanes to do it, by the aid of a ftranger; making the king of England minifter of his massacrous resolution, to whom he purposed to fend him."

MALONE.

+ That Spirit, upon whose weal-] So, the quarto. The folio gives, That spirit, upon whose spirit. STEEVENS.

Dies not alone; but, like a gulf, doth draw
What's near it, with it: it is a massy wheel,
Fix'd on the summit of the highest mount,
To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things
Are mortis'd and adjoin'd; which, when it falls,
Each small annexment, petty consequence,
Attends the boist'rous ruin. Never alone
Did the king figh, but with a general groan.

KING. Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voy

age; For we will fetters put upon this fear, Which now goes too free-footed.

ROS. GUIL.

We will hafte us.

[Exeunt ROSENCrantz and GUILDENSTERN.

Enter POLONIUS.

POL. My lord, he's going to his mother's closet; Behind the arras I'll convey myself,

To hear the process; I'll warrant, she'll tax him

home :

And, as you faid, and wisely was it said, 'Tis meet, that fome more audience, than a mo

ther,

Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear

5

-it is a maffy wheel,] Thus the folio.. The quarto reads, Or it is &c.

MALONE.

6 Behind the arras I'll convey myself,] See Vol. VIII. p. 481, n. 9. STEEVENS.

The arras-hangings in Shakspeare's time, were hung at such a distance from the walls, that a perfon might easily stand behind them unperceived. MALONE.

1 Since nature makes them partial, &c.]

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Matres omnes filiis

" In peccato adjutrices, auxilii in paterna injuria

"Solent effe." Ter. Heaut. Act V. fc. ii.

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The speech, of vantage. Fare you well, my liege:

I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,

And tell you what I know.

KING.

Thanks, dear my lord.

[Exit POLONIUS.

O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;

9

It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder! - Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will;
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood?
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens,
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy,
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,-
To be forestalled, ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd, being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder!-

of vantage.] By some opportunity of fecret observation.

WARBURTON.

9 Though inclination be as sharp as will ;) Dr. Warburton would

read,

Though inclination be as sharp as th' ill.
The old reading is-as sharp as will. STEEVENS.

I have followed the eafier emendation of Mr. Theobald, received by Sir T. Hanmer: i. e. as 'twill. JOHNSON.

Will is command, direction. Thus, Ecclefiafticus, xliii. 16: " -and at his will the south wind bloweth." The King says, his mind is in too great confufion to pray, even though his inclination were as strong as the command which requires that duty. STEEVENS.

What the King means to say, is, "That though he was not only willing to pray, but strongly inclined to it, yet his intention was defeated by his guilt. M. MASON.

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That cannot be; fince I am still poffefs'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.
May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence?*
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice;
And oft 'tis seen, the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law: But 'tis not so above:
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd,
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try what repentance can: What can it not?
Yet what can it, when one can not repent??
O wretched state! O bosom, black as death!
O limed foul; that, struggling to be free,
Art more engag'd! Help, angels, make afsay!
Bow, ftubborn knees! and, heart, with strings of

steel,

Be soft as finews of the new-born babe;
All may be well!

[Retires, and kneels.

2 May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence?] He that does not amend what can be amended, retains his offence. The King kept the crown from the right heir. JOHNSON.

A fimilar passage occurs in Philafter, where the King, who had ufurped the crown of Sicily, and is praying to heaven for forgivenefs, says,

"

But how can I

"Look to be heard of gods, that must be juft,
" Praying upon the ground I hold by wrong."

M. MASON.

3 Yet what can it, when one can not repent?] What can repentance do for a man that cannot be penitent, for a man who has only part of penitence, distress of confcience, without the other part, refolution of amendment? JOHNSON.

4 O limed foul;] This alludes to bird-lime. Shakspeare uses the fame word again, in King Henry VI. Part II: " Madam, myself have lim'd a bush for her."

STEEVENS.

Enter HAMLET.

HAM. Now might I do it, pat, now he is pray

ing;'

And now I'll do't;-And fo he goes to heaven:
And fo am I reveng'd? That would be scann'd:"
A villain kills my father; and, for that,
I, his fole fon, do this fame villain send1
To heaven.

8

Why, this is hire and falary, not revenge.
He took my father grossly, full of bread;
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May;
And, how his audit stands, who knows, save hea-

ven?

But, in our circumstance and course of thought,

s-pat, now he is praying;) Thus the folio. The quartos read-but now, &c. STEEVENS.

6

-That would be scann'd:] i. e. that should be confidered, eftimated. STEEVENS.

1 1, bis fole fon, do this fame villain send - The folio readsfoule fon, a reading apparently corrupted from the quarto. The meaning is plain. I, his only fon, who am bound to punish his murderer. JOHNSON.

8

-hire and falary,] Thus the folio. The quartos readbafe and filly. STEEVENS.

9 He took my father grossly, full of bread;

With all bis crimes broad blown,] The uncommon expreffion, full of bread, our poet borrowed from the facred writings: “ Behold, this was the iniquity of thy fifter Sodom; pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." Ezekiel, xvi. 49. MALONE.

* And, how his audit ftands, who knows, fave heaven?] As it appears from the Ghoft's own relation that he was in purgatory, Hamlet's doubt could only be how long he had to continue there. RITSON.

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