That are but mutes or audience to this act, So 4tos. Thou liv'st; report me and my cause* aright causes right. 1623, 32. + So 4tos. good. 1623, 32. see Stat. Jac. 1. I am more an antique Roman than a Dane, Нам. As thou'rt a man, Give me the cup; let go; by heaven I'll have it. If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, с To tell my story.- [March afar off, and Shot within. OSR. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come To the ambassadors of England gives This warlike volley. The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit ;(64) That are but mutes or audience to this act] i. e. that are either auditors of this catastrophe, or at most only mute performers, that fill the stage without any part in the action. blive behind me] i. e. survive me. JOHNSON. • If thou didst ever—to tell my story] There is hardly a bosom that can be unmoved by the interest and feeling excited in this passage but it is its ease, that constitutes its felicity; it is its unlaboured, simple beauties that give the character of sublimity to this solemn and dignified farewell. Kent, though not indeed with so high an interest and such exquisite feeling, utters a similar sentiment, when Lear expires. "Would not upon the rack of this tough world "Stretch him out longer." End of the play. d the news from England] i. e. the fate of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. But I do prophecy the election lights On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice; HOR. Now cracks a noble heart :(66)—Good night, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest! Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and FORT. Where is this sight? HOR. What is it, you would see? If aught of woe, or wonder, cease your search. FORT. This quarry cries on havock!-O proud⚫ So 4tos. death! What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,(67) That thou so many princes, at a shot, So bloodily hast struck? 1 AMB. The sight is dismal; And our affairs from England come too late: That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead: Where should we have our thanks? HOR. Not from his mouth, you; Had it the ability of life to thank a the occurrents, more or less, which have solicited] i. e. which have importunately and irresistibly urged on-he would have said, "this sad catastrophe." This quarry cries on havock] i. e. this heap of prey (see quarry, Macb. I. 2. Sold. & IV. 3. Rosse, and Coriol. I. 1. Marc.) exclaims, and as with an unceasing voice proclaims that, which is the signal of desolation in war, havoc. The phrase, cries on, is much in the same way applied to murder in Othel. ; с "Whose noise is this, that cries on murder?" V. 1. Iago. His. 1623, 32. He never gave commandment for their death." Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters; for no. Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc'd* cause; And, in this upshot, purposes mistook 4tos. Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I And call the noblest to the audience. + So 4tos. For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune; rites. 1623, I have some rights+ of memory in this kingdom, Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me. 32. ↑ So 4tos. arc. 1623, 32. HOR. Of that I shall have always cause to speak, And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more:* Not from his mouth, Had it the ability of life— He never gave commandment for their death] i. e. " had it the means, that life affords, not from the mouth of the king; from whom they, as the creatures and spies of his villanies, would have received protection, and whose more atrocious aims, when disclosed to them, would appear to have been directed against the life of his nephew, Hamlet." This obscure intimation, this mystery thrown over the transaction, would heighten curiosity and the interest of the communications, presently expected from Horatio. b jump upon this bloody question] i. e. "close upon, and as if by a spring or bound reaching it." "Just or jump at this dead hour," are the different readings of the folios and quartos in I. 1. Marc. e put on by cunning] i. e. produced, prompted. See Mach. IV. 3. Mal. d rights of memory, &c.] i. e. borne in memory, not forgotten; and thence to have effect given them. e I shall have always cause-whose voice shall draw on more] i. e. " from Hamlet's, whose dying voice or suffrage will produce or draw in its train many more. For always, the quartos read also. The fo. of 1632 gives the line Of that I shall alwayes cause to speak." But let this same be presently performd, Even while men's minds are wild, lest more mis chance, On plots, and errors, happen." FORT. To have prov'd most royally: and, for his passage, Take up the body:* Such a sight as this [A dead March. [Exeunt, bearing off the dead Bodies; after b On plots and errors happen] i. e. in consequence, the effect of. put on] i. e. put to the proof, tried. d for his passage] i. e. as to order taken for the ceremony of conveying him. bodies. 4tos. EXAMINATION OF THE OPINIONS OF MESSRS. JOHNSON, MALONE AND STEEVENS RESPECTING THE CONDUCT OF SOME PARTS OF THIS DRAMA, OR RATHER SUCH AS RESPECT THE CHARACTER AND CONDUCT OF HAMLET. "If the dramas of Shakespeare were to be characterised, each by the particular excellence which distinguishes it from the rest, we must allow to the tragedy of Hamlet the praise of variety. The incidents are so numerous, that the argument of the play would make a long tale. The scenes are interchangeably diversified with merriment and solemnity: with merriment that includes judicious and instructive observations; and solemnity not strained by poetical violence above the natural sentiments of man. New characters appear from time to time in continual succession, exhibiting various forms of life and particular modes of conversation. The pretended madness of Hamlet causes much mirth, the mournful distraction of Ophelia fills the heart with tenderness, and every personage produces the effect intended, from the apparition that in the first Act chills the blood with horror, to the fop in the last, that exposes affectation to just contempt. "The conduct is perhaps not wholly secure against objections. The action is indeed for the most part in continual progression, but there are some scenes which neither forward nor retard it. Of the feigned madness of Hamlet there appears no adequate cause, for he does nothing which he might not have done with the reputation of sanity. He plays the madman most, when he treats Ophelia with so much rudeness, which seems to be useless and wanton cruelty. a It would be no very easy matter to reconcile with reason his drawing his sword in the midst of a grave discussion with his mother for the sole purpose of destroying a rat; an act, the consequences of which he excuses, as proceeding from madness; and he must have further meant, that the murder of his uncle, an act of premeditated revenge, should have been covered by this plea; and that, instead of being considered as such, or an act of treason, it was the hasty dictate of wild and guileless insanity. |