That thou, dead corfe, again, in compleat steel,
Revifit'ft thus the glimpfes of the moon,

Making night hideous, and' us fools of nature
So horribly to shake our difpofition

2

With thoughts beyond the reaches of our fouls? Say, why is this? Wherefore? What should we do?

[Ghoft beckons Hamlet. - Hor. It beckons you to go away with it, As if it fome impartment did defire To you alone.

Mar. Look, with what courteous action It waves you off to a removed ground :* But do not go with it.

Hor. No, by no means.

[Holding Hamlet.

Ham. It will not fpeak; then I will follow it.

Hor. Do not, my Lord.

Ham. Why, what fhould be the fear?

I do not fet my life at a pin's fee;

And, for my foul, what can it do to that,

controverfial note, it must be imputed to the contagion of peevifhnefs, or fome refentment of the incivility fhown to the Oxford Editor, who is reprefented as fuppofing the ground caronized by a funeral, when he only meant to fay, That the body was depofited in holy ground, in ground confecrated according to the canon.

I-us fools of nature] The expreffion is fine, as intimating we were only kept (as formerly, fools in a great family) to make fport for nature, who lay hid only to mock and laugh at us, for our vain fearches into her myfteries. WARBURTON. 2-to shake our difpofition:] Difpofuiin, for frame.

WARBURTON.

Being

Being a thing immortal as itself?

It waves me forth again.I'll follow it

Hor. What if it tempt you tow'rd the flood, my
Lord?

Or to the dreadful fummit of the cliff,
That.beetles o'er his Bafe into the fea;
And there affume fome other horrible form,
Which might deprive your fov'reignty of reafon,
And draw you into madness? think of it.
+ The very place puts toys of defperation,
Without more motive, into ev'ry brain,
That looks fo many fathoms to the fea,
And bears it roar beneath.

Ham. It waves me still.-Go on, I'll follow thee,
Mar. You fhall not go, my Lord,

Ham. Hold off your hands.

Mar. Be rul'd, you fhall not go.

Ham. My fate cries out,

And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.

Still am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen

[Breaking from them. By heav'n, I'll make a Ghoft of him that lets me —

· 3 -DEPRIVE your fou'reign

ty of reafon,] i. e. deprive your fov'reignty of its reafon. Nonfenfe. Sav'reignty of reafon is the fame as fovereign or fupreme reafon: Reafon which governs mán. And thus it was ufed by the best writers of those times. Sidney fays, It is time for us both to let reafon enjoy its due Joveraigntic, Arcad. And King Charles, at once to betray the fovéraignty of reafon in my foul. Εἰκων βασιλική. It is evident that Shuk fear wrote,

M 2

I say,

I fay, away.Go on I'll follow thee

[Exeunt Ghoft and Hamlet. Hor. He waxes defp'rate with imagination.

Mar. Let's follow! 'Tis not fit thus to obey him. Hor. Have after. To what iffue will this come? Mar. Something is rotten in the State of Denmark. Hor. Heav'n will direct it.

Mar. Nay, let's follow him.

SCENE

[Exeunt.

VIII.

A more remote Part of the Platform.

Ham.W

Re-enter Ghoft and Hamlet.

HERE wilt thou lead me? fpeak, I'll go no further.

Ghost. Mark me.

Ham. I will.

Ghoft. My hour is almost come,

When I to fulphurous and tormenting flames

Muft render up myself.

Ham. Alas, poor Ghost!

Ghoft. Pity me not, but lend thy ferious hearing To what I fhall unfold.

Ham. Speak, I am bound to hear.

Ghoft. So art thou to revenge, when thou fhalt

hear.

Ham. What?

Ghost. I am thy father's Spirit;

Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,

And, for the day, 'confin'd to fast in fires;

6-confin'd To faft in fires ;] for the fuperlative mft, or very. We fhould read,

TOO faft in fires.

i. e. very clofely confined. The particle too is ufed frequently

WARBURTON. I am rather inclined to read, confin'd to lafting fires, to fires unremitted and unconfumed. The change is flight.

'Till

"Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature, Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid To tell the fecrets of my prifon-house,

I could a tale unfold, whofe lightest word
Would harrow up thy foul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, ftart from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:
But this eternal blazon must not be

To ears of flesh and blood. Lift, lift, oh lift!
If thou did❜ft ever thy dear father love-

Ham. O heav'n!

Ghoft. Revenge his foul and moft unnatural murder.

Ham. Murder?

Ghoft. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this moft foul, ftrange, and unnatural.

Ham. Hafte me to know it, that I, with wings as

fwift

7 As meditation or the thoughts of love,

May sweep to my revenge.

Ghoft. I find thee apt;

And duller fhouldft thou be than the fat weed

7 As meditation or the thoughts

of love,] This fimilitude is extremely beautiful. The word, meditation, is confecrated, by the myftics, to fignify that stretch and flight of mind which afpires to the enjoyment of the fupreme good. So that Hamlet, confidering with what to compare the swiftnefs of his revenge, choofes two of the moft rapid things in nature, the ardency of divine and human paffion, in an enthusiast and a lover. WARBURTON.

That

The comment on the word meditation is fo ingenious, that I hope it is juft.

And duller fhouldst thou be, than the fat weed That roots itself in eafe on Le

the's wharf, &c.] ShakeSpear, apparently through ignorance, makes Roman Catholicks of thefe pagan Danes; and here gives a defcription of purgatory: But yet mixes it with the pagan fable of Lethe's wharf. Whe ther he did it to infinuate, to the M 3 zealous

That roots itfelf in ease on Lethe's wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear.
'Tis given out, that, fleeping in my orchard,

A ferpent ftung me. So the whole ear of Den mark

Is by a forged process of my

death

Rankly abus'd; but know, thou noble Youth,
The ferpent, that did fting thy father's life,
Now wears his crown.

Ham. Oh, my prophetick foul! my uncle?
Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beaft,
With witchcraft of his wit, with trait'rous gifts,
O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power
So to feduce! won to his fhameful luft
The will of my most feeming-virtuous Queen.
Oh Hamlet, what a falling off was there!
From me, whofe love was of that dignity,
That it went hand in hand ev'n with the vow
I made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch, whofe natural gifts were poor
To thofe of mine!

But virtue, as it never will be mov❜d,

Though lewdness court it in a fhape of heav'n;
So luft, though to a radiant angel link'd,
Will fate itself in a celestial bed,

And prey on garbage.

But, foft! methinks, I fcent the morning air-
Brief let me be; Sleeping within mine orchard,
My cuftom always of the afternoon,
Upon my fecret hour thy uncle ftole
With juice of curfed hebenon in a viol,

zealous Protefiants of his time,
that the pagan and popifh pur-
gatory flood both upon the fame
Foting of credibility; or whe
ther it was by the fame kind of

licentious inadvertence that Michael Angelo brought Charon's bark into his picture of the last judgment, is not eafy to decide.

WAR
ARBURTON.

And