The prefent death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
For like the hectick in my blood he rages,"
And thou muft cure me: Till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin.2

[Exit.

The verb to conjure (in the fenfe of to fupplicate,) was formerly accented on the first fyllable. So, in Macbeth:

"I conjure you, by that which you profefs,
"Howe'er you come to know it, anfwer me."

Again, in King John:

"I conjure thee but flowly; run more fast.” Again, in Romeo and Juliet:

"I conjure thee, by Rofaline's bright eyes,”—. Again, in Measure for Measure:

9

"O prince, I cónjure thee, as thou believ'ft," &c.

MALONE.

-like the hectick in my blood he rages,] So, in Love's Labour's Loft:

"I would forget her, but a fever, she,

"Reigns in my blood." MALONE.

2 Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin.] This being the termination of a scene, fhould, 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 fball be miferable, whatever befal me. JOHNSON.

The folio reads, in fupport 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 fucceffes. 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 fake of rhyme, reads:

Howe'er my baps, my joys were ne'er begun.

But this, I think, the poet could not have written. The king is fpeaking of the future time. To fay, till I shall be informed that a certain act has been done, whatever may befall me, my joys never bad a beginning, is furely nonfenfe. MALONE.

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
Craves the conveyance of a promis'd march
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
If that his majefty would aught with us,

We fhall exprefs our duty in his eye,*
And let him know fo.

CAP.

FOR. Go foftly on.

I will do't, my lord.

[Exeunt FORTINBRAS and Forces.

Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, &c.

HAM.

Good fir, whofe powers are these?'

3 Craves-] Thus the quartos. The folio-Claims.

STEEVENS. 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 prefence. The phrafe appears to have been formulary. See The Establishment of the Household of Prince Henry, A. D. 1610: "Alfo the gentleman-ufher fhall be careful to fee and informe all fuch as doe fervice in the Prince's eye, that they performe their dutyes" &c. Again, in The Regulations for the Government of the Queen's Household, 1627: " -all fuch as doe fervice in the Queen's eye." STEEVENS.

5 Good fir, &c.] The remaining part of this scene is omitted in the folio. STEEVENS.

CAP. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. HAM. Goes it against the main of Poland, fir, Or for fome frontier?

CAP. Truly to fpeak, fir, and with no addition, We go to gain a little patch of ground,

That hath in it no profit but the name.
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;
Nor will it yield to Norway, or the Pole,
A ranker rate, fhould it be fold in fee.

HAM. Why, then the Polack never will defend it.
CAP. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd.

HAM. Two thousand fouls, and twenty thousand ducats,

Will not debate the queftion of this straw:
This is the impofthume of much wealth and peace;
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without
Why the man dies.—I humbly thank you, fir.

CAP. God be wi'you, fir.

Ros.

[Exit Captain.

Will't please you go, my lord?

HAM. I will be with you straight. Go a little

before.

[Exeunt Ros. and GUILD.

How all occafions do inform against me,

And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good, and market of his time,

• chief good, and market of his time, &c.] If his highest good, and that for which he fells his time, be to fleep and feed.

Market, I think, here means profit. MALONE.

JOHNSON.

Be but to fleep, and feed? a beaft, no more.
Sure, he, that made us with fuch large discourse,"
Looking before, and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reafon

8

To fuft in us unus'd. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or fome craven scruple
Of thinking too precifely on the event,-
A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part
wisdom,

And, ever, three parts coward,-I do not know
Why yet I live to fay, This thing's to do;

Sith I have caufe, and will, and ftrength, and means,
To do't. Examples, grofs as earth, exhort me:
Witness, this army, of fuch mass, and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince;
Whofe fpirit, with divine ambition puff'd,
Makes mouths at the invisible event;
Expofing what is mortal, and unfure,
To all that fortune, death, and danger, dare,
Even for an egg-fhell. Rightly to be great,
Is, not to ftir without great argument;"

7

-large difcourfe,] Such latitude of comprehenfion, fuch power of reviewing the paft, and anticipating the future. JOHNSON. 8 -fame craven fcruple-] Some cowardly fcruple. See Vol. VI. p. 454, n. 4. MALONE.

So, in King Henry VI. Part I:

"Or durft not, for his craven heart, fay this." STEEVENS. Rightly to be great,

Is, not to ftir without &c.] This paffage I have printed according to the copy. Mr. Theobald had regulated it thus:

Tis not to

be

great,

Never to ftir without great argument;

But greatly &c.

The fentiment of Shakspeare is partly just, and partly romantick.

Rightly to be great,

Is, not to fir without great argument;

is exactly philofophical.

But greatly to find quarrel in a firaw,
When bonour's at the ftake,

But greatly to find quarrel in a straw,

When honour's at the ftake. How ftand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain❜d,
Excitements of my reason, and my blood,*
And let all fleep? while, to my shame, I fee
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantafy, and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds; fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the caufe,
Which is not tomb enough, and continent,*
To hide the flain?-O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

[Exit.

is the idea of a modern hero. But then, fays he, honour is an argument, or subject of debate, fufficiently great, and when honour is at flake, we must find caufe of quarrel in a ftraw. JOHNSON.

2 Excitements of my reason, and my blood,] Provocations which excite both my reafon and my paffions to vengeance. JOHNSON.

3

a plot.] A piece, or portion. See Vol. XII. p. 145, n. 5.

So, in The Mirror for Magiftrates:

"Of grounde to win a plot, a while to dwell,

"We venture lives, and send our fouls to hell.”

REED.

HENDERSON,

— continent,] Continent, in our author, means that which

comprehends or encloses. So, in King Lear:

"Rive your concealing continents.”

See Vol. XIV. p. 148, n. 7. STEEVENS.

Again, Lord Bacon On the Advancement of Learning, 4to. 1633, P. 7: " -if there be no fulnesse, then is the continent greater then the content." REED.