KING. How is it that the clouds still hang on you?

HAM. Not so, my lord, I am too much i'the fun. QUEEN. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour

off,

And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not, for ever, with thy vailed lids +
Seek for thy noble father in the dust:

Thou know'st, 'tis common; all, that live, must

die,s

Passing through nature to eternity.

HAM. Ay, madam, it is common.

that his uncle is a little more than kin, &c. The King had called the prince" My cousin Hamlet, and my fon." His reply, therefore, is," I am a little more than thy kinsman, [for I am thy stepfon;] and somewhat less than kind to thee, [for I hate thee, as being the person who has entered into an incestuous marriage with my mother). Or, if we understand kind in its ancient sense, then the meaning will be, I am more than thy kinsman, for I am thy step-fon; being such, I am less near to thee than thy natural offspring, and therefore not entitled to the appellation of fon, which you have now given me. MALONE.

3

- too much i'the fun.] He perhaps alludes to the proverb,

"Out of heaven's blessing into the warm sun." JOHNSON.

- too much i'the fun.) Meaning probably his being fent for from his ftudies to be exposed at his uncle's marriage as his chiefeft courtier, &c. STEEVENS.

I question whether a quibble between fun and fon be not here intended. FARMER.

4

-vailed lids-) With lowering eyes, cast down eyes.

So, in The Merchant of Venice:

JOHNSON.

Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs." STEEVENS. See Vol. IX. p. 17, n. 4. MALONE.

s Thou know'st, 'tis common; all, that live, muft die,] Perhaps the femicolon placed in this line, is improper. The sense, elliptically expressed, is,-Thou knowest it is common that all that live, must die. The first that is omitted for the fake of metre, a practice often followed by Shakspeare. STEEVENS.

QUEEN.

Why seems it so particular with thee?

If it be,

HAM. Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not

feems.

'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary fuits of folemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,
Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief,
That can denote me truly: These, indeed, seem,
For they are actions that a man might play:
But I have that within, which passeth show;
These, but the trappings and the suits of woe."
KING. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your na-
ture, Hamlet,

To give these mourning duties to your father:
But, you must know, your father loft a father;

That father loft, lost his; and the survivor bound

6

-shows of grief,] Thus the folio. The first quarto reads

chapes-I suppose for shapes. STEEVENS.

1 But I have that within, which passeth show;

These, but the trappings and the fuits of woe.] So, in King Richard II:

-my grief lies all within;

"And these external manners of lament

"Are merely shadows to the unfeen grief

"That swells with filence in the tortur'd foul."

-your father lost a father;

MALONE.

That father left, lost his ;) Mr. Pope judicioufly corrected the faulty copies thus:

- your father lost a father;

That father, his;.

On which the editor Mr. Theobald thus descants :- This supposed refinement is from Mr. Pope, but all the editions elfe, that I have met with, old and modern, read,

That father loft, loft his;

The reduplication of which word here gives an energy and an

In filial obligation, for some term
To do obfequious forrow: But to perféver
In obstinate condolement, is a corufe
Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief:
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven;
A heart unfortified, or mind impatient;
An understanding fimple and unschool'd':
For what, we know, must be, and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we, in our peevish oppofition,
Take it to heart? Fie! "tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,

elegance, WHICH IS MUCH EASIER TO BE CONCEIVED THAN EXPLAINED IN TERMS. I believe fo: for when explained in terms it comes to this:-That father after he had lost himself, loft his father. But the reading is ex fide codicis, and that is enough. WARBURTON.

I do not admire the repetition of the word, but it has so much of our author's manner, that I find no temptation to recede from the old copies. JOHNSON.

The meaning of the passage is no more than this, -Your father loft a father, i. e. your grandfather, which loft grandfather, also loft his father.

The metre, however, in my opinion, shows that Mr. Pope's correction should be adopted. The sense, though elliptically exSTEEVENS. Obfequious is here from obfequies, or

pressed, will still be the fame.

9

obsequious forrow:]

funeral ceremonies. JOHNSON. So, in Titus Andronicus:

"To shed obfequious tears upon his trunk."

See Vol. X. p. 471, n. z.

3

STEEVENS.

In obftinate condolement, Condolement, for forrow.

WARBURTON.

a avill most incorrect] Incorrect, for untutor'd.

WARBURTON.

Incorrect does not mean untutored, as Warburton explains it; but ill-regulated, not fufficiently fubdued. M. MASON.

Not fufficiently regulated by a fenfe of duty and fubmiffion to the difpenfations of providence. MALONE.

To reason most abfurd; whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cry'd,
From the first corse, till he that died to-day,
This must be fo. We pray you, throw to earth
This unprevailing woe; and think of us
As of a father: for let the world take note,
You are the most immediate to our throne;
And, with no less nobility of love,
Than that which dearest father bears his fon,
Do I impart toward you.

6

5

For your intent

To reason most abfurd;] Reason is here used in its common sense, for the faculty by which we form conclufions from arguments.

JOHNSON.

$ And, with no less nobility of love,] Nobility, for magnitude.

Nobility is rather generofity. JOHNSON.

WARBURTON.

By nability of love, Mr. Heath understands, eminence and diftinction of love. MALONE.

So, afterwards, the Ghost, describing his affection for the Queen: "To me, whose love was that of dignity" &c. STEEVENS.

Do I impart toward you.] I believe impart is, impart myself, communicate whatever I can bestow. JOHNSON.

The crown of Denmark was elective. So, in Sir Clyomon Knight of the Golden Shield, &c. 1599:

" And me possess for spoused wife, who in election am

"To have the crown of Denmark here, as heir unto the same." The king means, that as Hamlet stands the fairest chance to be next elected, he will strive with as much love to ensure the crown to him, as a father would show in the continuance of heirdom to a fon. STEEVENS.

I agree with Mr. Steevens, that the crown of Denmark (as in most of the Gothick kingdoms) was elective, and not hereditary; though it might be customary, in elections, to pay fome attention to the royal blood, which by degrees produced hereditary fucceffion. Why then do the rest of the commentators so often treat Claudius as an ufurper, who had deprived young Hamlet of his right by heirship to his father's crown? Hamlet calls him drunkard, murderer, and villain; one who had carried the election by low and mean practices; had

Popp'd in between the election and my hopes"
D.

VOL. XV.

1

In going back to school in Wittenberg,1
It is most retrograde to our defire :
And, we beseech you, bend you to remain
Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefeft courtier, cousin, and our fon.

QUEEN. Let not thy mother lose her prayers,
Hamlet;

I pray thee, stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
HAM. I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
KING. Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply;
Be as ourself in Denmark. -Madam, come;
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet

had

" From a fhelf the precious diadem stole,
"And put it in his pocket:"

but never hints at his being an usurper. His discontent arose from
his uncle's being preferred before him, not from any legal right
which he pretended to fet up to the crown. Some regard was
probably had to the recommendation of the preceding prince, in
electing the fuccessor. And therefore young Hamlet had "the
voice of the king himself for his succession in Denmark;" and he
at his own death prophecies that "the election would light on
Fortinbras, who had his dying voice," conceiving that by the
death of his uncle, he himself had been king for an inftant, and
had therefore a right to recommend. When, in the fourth act, the
rabble wished to choose Laertes king, I understand that antiquity
was forgot, and custom violated, by electing a new king in the
life-time of the old one, and perhaps also by the calling in a
stranger to the royal blood. BLACKSTONE.

7

- to school in Wittenberg,] In Shakspeare's time there was an university at Wittenberg, to which he has made Hamlet propose

to return.

The university of Wittenberg was not founded till 1502, confequently did not exist in the time to which this play is referred. MALONE.

Our author may have derived his knowledge of this famous university from The Life of lacke Wilton, 1594, or The History of Doctor Faustus, of whom the second report (printed in the fame year) is faid to be "written by an English gentleman, student in Wittenberg, an University of Germany in Saxony." RITSON.

8 bend you to remain-] i. e. fubdue your inclination to go from hence, and remain, &c. STEEVENS.