P. 153,-154.-533.
Rom. If I may trust the flattering eye of sleep,
My dreams presage some joyful news at hand :
My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne;
And, all this day, an unaccustom'd spirit

Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts. I am persuaded that my bosom’s lord means the heart, and not the god of love.

P. 156.-158.-539.
Rom. Art thou so bare, and full of wretchedness,
And fear'st to die? famine is in thy cheeks,
Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes,

Upon thy back hangs ragged misery. I think with Mr. Ritson that we should read stareth.

P. 163.-163.-548.
Rom. Stay not, be gone ;-live, and hereafter say-
A madman's

mercy

bade thee run away. Par. I do defy thy conjurations,

And do attach thee as a felon here. I think with Mr. Malone that Mr. Steevens's last explanation is the true one.

P. 174.-173.-561. Cap. O, heavens !-0, wife, look how our daughter bleeds! This dagger hath mista'en,--for, lo! his house Is empty on the back of Montague, And it mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom.

I prefer the reading which Mr. Malone has adopted, and is mis-sheathed; the words for lo, &c. must then (as Mr. Malone observes) be considered as parenthetical.

“ glances. If I single out one of these from all the rest, it is

only to gratify the admirers of a certain eminent professor, who,

as an Oxford friend writes me word, hath many delightful “ instances of this sort in his very edifying Discourses on the “ Hebrew Poetry.”

P. 178.-178.-566. Prince. Go hence to have more talk of these sad things; Some shall be pardon'd, and some punish’d: For never was a story of more woe, Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. I incline to agree with Mr. Edwards.

H A M L E T.

J. and S. 1785.

Vol. x.

MALONE.

J. and S. 1793.

Vol. xv.

Vol. IX.

P. 258.-184.-6.
Ber. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.
I
agree with Mr. Malone.

P. 260.-185.-7.
Ber.

Say,
What, is Horatio there?
Hor.

A piece of him.
Mr. Steevens is right.

P. 261.-186.-9.
Ber. Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio.

Hor. Most like:- it harrows me with fear and wonder. I do not think that harrows here signifies subdues. Does Mr. Steevens suppose that to be the meaning of it in the following passage in the last scene of this act, on which there is no note?

I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,

&c. If he does, what is the force of the particle up in this last quoted passage?

P. 262.-187.-11.
Hor. So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle,

He smote the sledded Polack on the ice.
I
agree

with Mr. Steevens.

P. 263.–187.-11.
Mar. Thus, twice before, and jump at this dead hour,

With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. I prefer the reading of the folio, just, and think with Dr. Johnson, that the correction was probably made by the author.

P. 265.–188.-13.
Hor. this Fortinbras, who, by a seal'd compact,
Well ratified by law, and heraldry,
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands,

Which he stood seiz'd of, to the conqueror.
I think Mr. Malone is right.

P. 265.-189.-14.
Hor. Shark'd up a list of landless resolutes,
For food and diet, to some enterprise

That hath a stomach in't. I am not satisfied with Dr. Johnson's explanation of these words, because taking the meaning of stomach here to be what Dr. Johnson says it is, it does not seem to me to make very good sense. I do not know how the words should be explained.

P. 266.–190.-16.
Hor. In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets,
As stars with trains of fire, and dews of blood,

Disasters in the sun. I think with Mr. Steevens that it is highly probable that a verse has been lost.

P. 268.—192.-18.
Hor. And even the like precurse of fierce events,--
As barbingers preceding still the fates,
And prologue to the omen coming on,-
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen.

I think fierce here means violent, terrible.

P. 269.-193.-20.
Hor.

Stop it, Marcellus.
Mar. Shall I strike at it with my partizan ?

Hor, Do, if it will not stand. Mr. Steevens's remarks on the distribution of the speeches are very judicions.

P. 275.–198.-29.
King. But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,-

Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind. I incline to Mr. Steevens's explanation. There is a jingle in Macbeth somewhat similar to this.

The near in blood
The nearer bloody.

P. 276.-199.-30.
King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you?

Ham Not so, my lord, I am too much i' the sun. I doubt whether the commentators have not gone too deep for the meaning of this reply, which is founded on the metaphorical expression used by the king in the preceding speech.

P. 278.-201.-33.
King

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 son,

Do I impart toward you. Nobility of love is, I think rightly explained by Mr. Heath.

Ibid.

Do I impart toward you. It is by no means clear to me that Shakespeare meant that the kingdom of Denmark should be understood in this play to be hereditary. I am aware of the passages cited in Mr. Justice