For like the hectick in my blood he rages", And thou must cure me: Till I know 'tis done, Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin. [Exit. SCENE IV. A Plain in Denmark. Enter FORTINBRAS, and Forces, marching. FOR. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king; Tell him, that, by his licence, Fortinbras 9 Craves the conveyance of a promis'd march 7-like the hectick in my blood he rages,] So, in Love's Labour's Lost: "I would forget her, but a fever, she "Reigns in my blood." MALONE. Scaliger has a parallel sentiment:" Febris hectica uxor, et non nisi morte avellenda." STEEVENS. 8 Howe'er my haps, my joys wILL ne'er BEGIN.] This being the termination of a scene, should, according to our author's custom, be rhymed. Perhaps he wrote: Howe'er my hopes, my joys are not begun.' If haps be retained, the meaning will be, 'till I know 'tis done, I shall be miserable, whatever befal me. JOHNSON. The folio reads, in support of Dr. Johnson's remark: "Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun." Mr. Heath would read: "Howe'er 't may hap, my joys will ne'er begin." STEEVENS. By his haps, he means his successes. His fortune was begun, but his joys were not. M. MASON. "Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin." This is the reading of the quarto. The folio, for the sake of rhyme, reads: "Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun." But this, I think, the poet could not have written. The King is speaking of the future time. To say, till I shall be informed that a certain act has been done, whatever may befal me, my joys never had a beginning, is surely nonsense. MALONE, 9 Craves-] Thus the quartos. The folio-Claims. Claims agrees better with promise. BOSWELL. STEEVENS. Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous. And let him know so. CAP. FOR. Go softly* on. I will do't, my lord. [Exeunt FORTINBRAS and Forces. Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, &c. Good sir, whose powers are these 2? Нам. CAP. They are of Norway, sir. Нам. I pray you ? САР. HAM. How purpos'd, sir, Who Against some part of Poland. Commands them, sir? CAP. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. HAM. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir, Or for some frontier ? CAP. Truly to speak, sir, and with no addition, To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it; A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee. * First folio, safely. We shall express our duty IN HIS EYE,] So, in Antony and Cleopatra : 66 tended her i' the eyes." In his eye, means, in his presence.' The phrase appears to have been formularly. See The Establishment of the Household of Prince Henry, A. D. 1610: “Also the gentleman-usher shall be careful to see and informe all such as doe service in the Prince's eye, that they perform their dutyes," &c. Again, in The Regulations for the Government of the Queen's Household, 1627 ; - all such as doe service in the Queen's eye." STEEVENS. 2 Good sir, &c.] The remaining part of this scene is omitted in the folio. STEEVENS. 66 HAM. Why, then the Polack never will defend it. CAP. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd. HAM. Two thousand souls, and twenty thousand ducats, Will not debate the question of this straw : Ros. [Exit Captain. Will't please you go, my lord? HAM. I will be with you straight. Go a little before. [Exeunt Ros. and GUIL. To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be 5 Of thinking too precisely on the event, A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom, And, ever, three parts coward,-I do not know Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means, 3 chief good, and market of his time, &c.] If his highest good, and that for which he sells his time, be to sleep and feed. JOHNSON. Market, I think, here means profit. MALONE. 4 large DISCOURSE,] Such latitude of comprehension, such power of reviewing the past, and anticipating the future. JOHNSON. 5 some CRAVEN Scruple-] Some cowardly scruple. A craven is a mean spirited cock. So, in The Taming of a Shrew: "No cock of mine, you crow too like a craven.” MALOne. So, in King Henry VI. Part I.: "Or durst not, for his craven heart, say this." STEEVENS. To do't. Examples, gross as earth, exhort me: 6 Rightly to be great, 8 Is, not to stir without, &c.] This passage I have printed according to the copy. Mr. Theobald had regulated it thus: 'Tis not to be great, "Never to stir without great argument; The sentiment of Shakspeare is partly just, and partly romantick. Rightly to be great, Is, not to stir without great argument; " is exactly philosophical. "But greatly to find quarrel in a straw, is the idea of a modern hero. But then, says he, honour is an ar- So, in The Mirror for Magistrates: "Of grounde to win a plot, a while to dwell, HENDERSON. Which is not tomb enough, and continent, SCENE V. Elsinore. A Room in the Castle. QUEEN. Enter Queen and HORATIO. I will not speak with her. [Exit. HOR. She is importunate; indeed, distract; Her mood will needs be pitied. QUEEN. What would she have? HOR. She speaks much of her father; says, she hears, There's tricks i'the world; and hems, and beats her heart; Spurns enviously at straws1; speaks things in doubt, That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing, 9- continent,] Continent, in our author, means that which comprehends or encloses. So, in King Lear: "Rive your concealing continents." Again, in Chapman's version of the third Iliad : 66 66 did take Thy fair form for a continent of parts as fair." See King Lear, Act III. Sc. II. STEEVENS. Again, Lord Bacon, On the Advancement of Learning, 4to. 1633, p. 7: " if there be no fulnesse, then is the continent greater than the content." REED. Spurns ENVIOUSLY at straws;] Envy is much oftener put by our poet (and those of his time) for direct aversion, than for malignity conceived at the sight of another's excellence or happiness. So, in King Henry VIII. : "You turn the good we offer into envy." Again, in God's Revenge against Murder, 1621, Hist. VI.— "She loves the memory of Sypontus, and envies and detests that of her two husbands." STEEVENS. |