That beetles o'er his Bafe into the fea; And there affume fome other horrible form, Ham. It waves me ftill: go on, I'll follow thee- Ham. Hold off your hands. Mar. Be rul'd, you shall not go. And makes each petty artery in this body Still am I call'd: unhand me, gentlemen [Breaking from them. By heaven, I'll make a Ghost of him that lets me -go on I'll follow thee Lfay, away [Exe. Ghoft and Hamlet. Hor. He waxes defp'rate with imagination. Mar. Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him. Mar. Something is rotten in the State of Denmark, Mar. Nay, let's follow him. [Exeunt. SCENE changes to a more remote Part of the Platform. Re-enter Ghoft and Hamlet. Ham. Where wilt thou lead me? fpeak; I'll go no Gboft. Mark me. Ham. I will. Ghost. My hour is almoft come, When I to fulphurous and tormenting flames Muft render up my self. Ham. Alas, poor Ghost! [further, Ghoft. Pity me not, but lend thy ferious hearing To what I fhall unfold, Ham: Ham. Speak, I am bound to hear. Ghoft. So art thou to revenge, when thou fhalt hear. Ghost. I am thy father's Spirit ; Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, I could a tale unfold, whofe lightest word To ears of flesh and blood; lift, lift, oh lift! Ham. Oh heav'n! Ghoft. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murther. Ham. Murther? Ghost. Murther most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, ftrange, and unnatural. Ham. Hafte me to know it, that I, with wings as fwif As meditation or the thoughts of love, May fweep to my revenge. Ghost. I find thee apt; And duiler fhouldft thou be, than the fat weed 18 And, for the Day, confin'd to faft in Fires ;] I once fufpected this Expreffion- to faft in Fires: because tho' Fafting is often a Part of Penance injoin'd us by the Church-Difcipline here on Earth, yet, I conceiv'd, it could be no great Punishment for a Spirit, a Being which requires no Suftenance, to faft, But Mr. Warburton has fince perfectly convinced me that the Text is not to be disturb'd, but that the Expreffion is purely metaphorical. For it is the Opinion of the Religion here reprefented, (i. e. the Roman Catholic) that Fafting purifies the Soul here, as the Fire does in the Purgatory here alluded to: and that the Soul must be purged either by fafting here, or by burning hereafter. This Opinion Shakespeare again hints at, where he makes Hamlet fay; He took my Father grosfly, full of Bread. And we are to obferve, that it is a common saying of the Romish Priests to their People, If you won't faft here, you must faft in Fire. That roots it felf in eafe on Lethe's wharf, Wouldst thou not ftir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: A ferpent ftung me. So, the whole ear of Denmark Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble Youth, Ham. Oh, my prophetick foul! my uncle? Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beaft, But virtue, as it never will be mov'd, Though lewdness court it in a fhape of heav'n; But, foft methinks, Ifcent the morning air All All my fmooth body. Thus was I fleeping, by a brother's hand, Of life, of Crown, of Queen, at once dispatcht; No (19) Unhouzzled, unanointed, unaneal'd ;] The Ghost, having recounted the Procefs of his Murther, proceeds to exaggerate the Inhuma nity and Unnaturalness of the Fact, from the Circumstances in which he was furpriz'd. But thefe, I find, have been ftumbling Blocks to our Editors; and therefore I muft amend and explain these 3 compound Adjectives in their Order. Instead of unhouzzel'd, we must restore, anhoufel'd, ie. without the Sacrament taken from the old Saxon Word for the Sacrament, houfel. So our Etymologifts, and Chaucer write it; and Spencer, accordingly, calls the Sacramental Fire, boufling Fire. In the next place, unanointed is a Sophiftication of the Text: the old Copies concur in reading, difappointed. I correct, Unhoufeld, unappointed, i. e. no Confeffion of Sins made, no Reconciliation to Heaven, no Ap. pointment of Penance by the Church. To this Purpose Othello speaks to his Wife, when he is upon the Point of killing her; If you bethink your felf of any Crime, Unreconcil'd as yet to Heav'n and Grace, Sollicit for it firait. So in Meafure for Measure, when Isabella brings word to Claudio that he is to be inftantly executed, the urges him to this necessary Duty; Therefore your best Appointment make with Speed, To Morrow you fet out. Unaneal'd, I agree to be the Poet's genuine Word; but I must take the Liberty to difpute Mr. Pope's Explication of it, viz. No Knell rung. I don't pretend to know what Gloffaries Mr. Pope may have confulted and trufts to; but whofefoever they are, I am fure, their Comment is very fingular in the Word alledg'd. The Adjective form'd from Knell, muft have been unknell'd or unknoll'd. So, in Macbeth ; Had I as many Sons, as I have hairs, I would not wish them to a fairer Death; There is no Rule in Orthography for finking the k in the Deflexion of any Verb or Compound form'd from Knell, and melting it into a Vowel. What Sense does unaneal'd then bear? SKINNER, in his Lexicon of old and obfolete English Terms, tells us, that Aneal'd is unetus; from the Teutonick Prepofition an, and Ole, i. e. Oil: fo that unaneal'd must confequently fignify, unanointed, not having the extream Unction. So that the Poet's Reading and Explication being afcertain'd, he very finely makes his Ghoft complain of thefe four dreadful Hardships; That he had been difpatch'd out of Life without receiving the Hofte, or Sacrament; without being reconcil'd to Heaven and abfol'd; without the Benefit of ex No reck❜ning made, but fent to my account Adieu, adieu, adieu; remember me. [Exit Ham. Oh, all you hoft of heav'n! oh earth! what elfe? And fhall I couple hell? oh, hold my heart And you, my finews, grow not instant old; Oh villain, villain, fmiling damned villain! -meet it is, I fet it down, tream Unction; or without fo much as a Confeffion made of his Sins. The having no Knell rung, I think is not a Point of equal Confequence to of thefe; especially, if we confider, that the Romish Church admits the Efficacy of praying for the Dead. any (20) Yea, from the Table of my Memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond Records.] Efchylus, I remember, twice ufes this very Metaphor; confidering the Mind or Memory, as a Tablet, or Writing-book, on which we are to engrave Things worthy of ὧν ἐγγράφε Σὺ μνήμοσιν Δέλτοις φρενών. Prometh. That |