That shall not be my offer, not thy afking? LAER. My dread lord, Your leave and favour to return to France; From whence though willingly I came to Denmark, 'To fhow my duty in your coronation; Yet now, I muff confefs, that duty done, My thoughts and wifhes bend again toward France, KING. Have you your father's leave? What fays POL. He hath, my lord, [wrung from me my flow By labourfome petition; and, at last, KING. Take thy fair hour, Laértes; time be thine, 2 The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more inftrumental to the mouth, Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.] The fenfe feems to be this: The head is not formed to be more useful to the heart, the hand is not more at the service of the mouth, than my power is at your father's fervice. That is, he may command me to the utmoft, he may do what he pleases with my kingly authority. STEEVENS. By native to the heart Dr. Johnson understands," natural and congenial to it, born with it, and co-operating with it." Formerly the heart was fuppofed the feat of wisdom; and hence the poet fpeaks of the clofe connection between the heart and head. See Vol. XVI. p. 12. n. 7. MALONE. 3 wrung from me my flow leave,] These words and the two following lines are omitted in the folio. MALONE. And thy beft graces: fpend it at thy will.4 HAM. A little more than kin, and lefs than kind.s [Afide. 4 Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine, And thy beft graces: Spend it at thy will.] The fense is,— You have my leave to go, Laertes; make the faireft ufe you please of your time, and fpend it at your will with the faircft graces you are mafter of. THEOBALD. and bear the inventory "Of your best graces in your mind." STEEVENS. I rather think this line is in want of emendation. I read: time is thine, And my befi graces: Spend it at thy will. JOHNSON. 5 Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind.] Kind is the Teutonick word for child. Hamlet therefore answers with propriety, to the titles of coufin and fon, which the king had given him, that he was fomewhat more than cousin, and less than Jon. JOHNSON, In this line, with which Shakspeare introduces Hamlet, Dr. Johnfon has perhaps pointed out a nicer diftinction than it can justly boast of. To establish the fenfe contended for, it should have been proved that kind was ever ufed by any English writer for child. A little more than kin, is a little more than a common relation. The King was certainly fomething less than kind, by having betrayed the mother of Hamlet into an indecent and inceftuous marriage, and obtained the crown by means which he fufpects to be unjuftifiable. In the fifth Act, the prince accufes his uncle of having popp'd in between the election and his hopes, which obviates Dr. Warburton's objection to the old reading, viz. that "the king had given no occafion for fuch a reflection." A jingle of the fame fort is found in Mother Bombie, 1594, and feems to have been proverbial, as I have met with it more than once: 66 -the nearer we are in blood, the further we must be from love; the greater the kindred is, the less the kindness muft be." Again, in Gorboduc, a tragedy, 1561: "In kinde a father, but not kindelyness." In the Battle of Alcazar, 1594, Muly Mahomet is called As kind, however, fignifies nature, Hamlet may mean that KING. How is it that the clouds ftill hang on you? HAM. Not fo, my lord, I am too much i'the fun." QUEEN. Good Hamlet, caft thy nighted colour off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Do not, for ever, with thy vailed lids? 1 his relationship was become an unnatural one, as it was partly founded upon inceft. Our author's Julius Cæfar, Antony and Cleopatra, King Kichard II. and Titus Andronicus, exhibit inftances of kind being used for nature; and fo too in this play of Hamlet, A&t II. fc. the laft: "Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain." Dr. Farmer, however, obferves that kin, is ftill used for coufin in the midland counties. STEEVENS. Hamlet does not, I think, mean to fay, as Mr. Steevens fuppofes, that his uncle is a little more than kin, &c. The King had called the Prince-" My coufin Hamlet, and my fon."His reply, therefore, is," I am a little more than thy kinfman, [for I am thy ftep-fon ;] and fomewhat lefs than kind to thee, [for I hate thee, as being the perfon who has entered into an inceftuous marriage with my mother.] Or, if we understand kind in its ancient sense, then the meaning will be,-I am more than thy kinfman, for I am thy Step-fon; being fuch, I am lefs near to thee than thy natural offspring, and therefore not entitled to the appellation of fon, which you have now given me. 6 MALONE, too much i'the fun.] He perhaps alludes to the proverb, "Out of heaven's blefling into the warm fun." JOHNSON. Meaning probably his being fent for from his ftudies to be exposed at his uncle's marriage as his chiefeft courtier, &c. STEEVENS. I queftion whether a quibble between fun and fon be not here intended. FARMER. 7 vailed lids-] With lowering eyes, caft down eyes. So, in The Merchant of Venice: "Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs." JOHNSON. See Vol. XII. p. 17, n. 9. MALONE. STEEVENS. Seek for thy noble father in the duft: Thou know'ft, 'tis common; all, that live, must die,8 Paffing through nature to eternity. HAM. Ay, madam, it is common. Why feems it fo particular with thee? If it be, HAM. Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Together with all forms, modes, fhows of grief,9 Thou know'ft, 'tis common; all, that live, muft die,] Perhaps the femicolon placed in this line, is improper. The fenfe, elliptically expreffed, is,-Thou knoweft it is common that all that live, muft die.-The first that is omitted for the fake of metre, a practice often followed by Shakspeare. STEEVENS. 9 fhows of grief,] Thus the folio. The first quarto reads-chapes-I fuppofe, for Shapes. STEEVENS. But I have that within, which paffeth Show; Thefe, but the trappings and the fuits of woe.] So, in King Richard II: 66 my grief lies all within ; "And thefe external manners of lament "Are merely thadows to the unfeen grief "That fwells with filence in the tortur'd foul." To give these mourning duties to your father: To do obfequious forrow :3 But to perséver Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief: 2 your father loft a father; That father loft, loft his;] Mr. Pope judiciously corrected the faulty copies thus: your father loft a father; That father, his ; On which the editor Mr. Theobald thus defcants :-This fuppofed 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 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 loft 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 fo much of our author's manner, that I find no temptation to recede from the old copies. JOHNSON. The meaning of the paffage is no more than this,-Your father loft a father, i. e. your grandfather, which loft grandfather, alfo loft his father. The metre, however, in my correction fhould be adopted. preffed, will still be the fame. opinion, fhows that Mr. Pope's The fenfe, though elliptically exSTEEVENS. 3-obfequious forrow:] Obfequious is here from obfequies, or funeral ceremonies. JOHNSON, So, in Titus Andronicus: "To fhed obfequious tears upon his trunk." See Vol. XIV. p. 282, n. 4. STEEVENS. S In obftinate condolement,] Condolement, for forrow. WARBURTON. ------- a will most incorre&t-] Incorrect, for untutored. |