girdle, hangers, and so: Three of the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy, very responsive to the hilts, most delicate carriages, and of very liberal conceit.

Ham. What call you the carriages?

Hor. I knew, you must be edified by the margent, ere you had done.

Osr. The carriages, sir, are the hangers.

Ham. The phrase would be more german' to the matter, if we could carry a cannon by our sides; I would, it might be hangers till then. But, on: Six Barbary horses against six French swords, their assigns, and three liberal-conceited carriages; that's the French bet against the Danish : Why is this impawned, as you call it?

Osr. The king, sir, hath laid, that in a dozen passes between yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits; he hath laid, on twelve for nine; and it would come to immediate trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe the

answer.

Ham. How, if I answer, no?

Osr. I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in trial.

Ham. Sir, I will walk here in the hall; If it please his majesty, it is the breathing time of day with me: let the foils be brought, the gentleman willing, and the king hold his purpose, I will win for him, if I can; if not, I will gain nothing but my shame, and the odd hits.

Osr. Shall I deliver you so?

Ham. To this effect, sir; after what flourish your nature will.

Osr. I commend my duty to your lordship.

[Exit.

hangers,] Under this term were comprehended four graduated straps, &c. that hung down in a belt on each side of its receptacle for the sword.STEEVENS.

you must be edified by the margent,] Dr. Warburton very properly observes, that in the old books the gloss or comment was usually printed on the margent of the leaf.-STEEVENS.

-german-] i. e. Akin.

The king, sir, hath laid,] As three or four complete pages would scarcely hold the remarks already printed, together with those which have lately been communicated to me in MS. on this very unimportant passage, I shall avoid both partiality and tediousness, by the omission of them all. I therefore leave the conditions of this wager to be adjusted by the members of Brookes's or the Jockey-Club at Newmarket, who on such subjects may prove the most enlightened commentators, and most successfully bestir themselves in the cold unpoetick dabble of calculation.-STEEVENS.

Ham. Yours, yours. He does well, to commend it himself; there are no tongues else for's turn.

Hor. This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.'

Ham. He did comply with his dug, before he sucked it. Thus has he (and many more of the same breed, that, I know, the drossy age dotes on,) only got the tune of the time, and outward habit of encounter;" a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions ;P and do but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out.

Enter a Lord.

Lord. My lord, his majesty commended him to you by young Osric, who brings back to him, that you attend him in the hall: He sends to know, if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that you will take longer time.

Ham. I am constant to my purposes, they follow the king's pleasure: if his fitness speaks, mine is ready; now, or whensoever, provided I be so able as now.

Lord. The king, and queen, and all are coming down. Ham. In happy time.

Lord. The queen desires you, to use some gentle entertainment to Laertes, before you fall to play.

Ham. She well instructs me.

Hor. You will lose this wager, my lord.

[Exit Lord.

Ham. I do not think so; since he went into France, I have been in continual practice; I shall win at the odds."

This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.] i. e. Is prematurely hasty— starts away almost before he has means, ere he has found legs or means to carry or be carried.-Specimen of a New Edition of Shakspeare, 1819.

m

comply-] For compliment.

outward habit of encounter ;] i. e. Exterior politeness of address; in allusion to Osric's last speech. -HENLEY.

a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions;] The meaning is, "these men have got the cant of the day, a superficial readiness of slight and cursory conversation, a kind of frothy collection of fashionable prattle, which yet carries them through the most select and approving judgments. This airy facility of talk sometimes imposes upon wise men." Who has not seen this observation verified ?—— JOHNSON. Fond is foolish; winnowed is sifted, examined.-STEEVENS.

P

q

· gentle entertainment-] Mild and temperate conversation.-JOHNSON. I shall win at the odds.] I shall succeed with the advantage that I am allowed.-MALONE.

But thou would'st not think, how ill all's here about my heart but it is no matter.

Hor. Nay, good my lord,

Ham. It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gaingiving,' as would, perhaps, trouble a woman.

Hor. If your mind dislike any thing, obey it: I will forestal their repair hither, and say, you are not fit.

Ham. Not a whit, we defy augury; there is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all: Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows, what is't to leave betimes? Let be.

Enter King, Queen, LAERTES, Lords, OSRIC, and
Attendants with Foils, &c.

King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me. [The King puts the Hand of LAERtes

into that of HAMLET.

Ham. Give me your pardon, sir:" I have done you

wrong;

But pardon it, as you are a gentleman.

This presence knows, and you must needs have heard, How I am punish'd with a sore distraction.

What I have done,

That might your nature, honour, and exception,
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.

gain-giving,] The same as misgiving.-STEEVENS.

If your mind dislike any thing, obey it:] With these presages of future evils arising in the mind, the poet has fore-run many events which are to happen at the conclusions of his plays; and sometimes so particularly, that even the circumstances of calamity are minutely hinted at, as in the instance of Juliet, who tells her lover from the window, that he appears like one dead in the bottom of a tomb. The supposition that the genius of the mind gave an alarm before approaching dissolution, is a very ancient one, and perhaps can never be totally driven out: yet it must be allowed the merit of adding beauty to poetry, however injurious it may sometimes prove to the weak and superstitious. STEEVENS.

- Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows, what is't to leave betimes?] The meaning may be, "It is true, that, by death, we lose all the goods of life; yet seeing this loss is no otherwise an evil than as we are sensible of it, and since death removes all sense of it, what matters it how soon we lose them? Therefore come what will, I am prepared."-WARBURTON.

" Give me your pardon, sir:] I wish Hamlet had made some other defence; it is unsuitable to the character of a good or a brave man, to shelter himself in falsehood.-JOHNSON.

Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never, Hamlet:
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away,

And, when he's not himself, does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.
Who does it then? His madness: If't be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
Sir, in this audience,

Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil

Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot my arrow o'er the house,

And hurt my brother.

Laer.
Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most
To my revenge: but in my terms of honour,
I stand aloof; and will no reconcilement,
Till by some elder masters, of known honour,
I have a voice and precedent of peace,
To keep my name ungor'd: But till that time,
I do receive your offer'd love like love,

I am satisfied in nature,*

And will not wrong it.

Ham.

I embrace it freely ;

And will this brother's wager frankly play.—
Give us the foils; come on.

Laer.

Come, one for me.

Ham. I'll be your foil, Laertes; in mine ignorance

Your skill shall, like a star i̇'the darkest night,

Stick fiery off indeed.

Laer.

You mock me, sir.

Ham. No, by this hand.

King. Give them the foils, young Osric.- Cousin You know the wager?

Ham.

Very well, my lord;

Your grace hath laid the odds o'the weaker side.

[Hamlet,

* I am satisfied in nature, &c.] This was a piece of satire on fantastical honour. Though nature is satisfied, yet he will ask advice of older men of the sword, whether artificial honour ought to be contented with Hamlet's submis sion.-STERVENS.

y Your grace hath laid the odds o'the weaker side.] When the odds were on the side of Laertes, who was to hit Hamlet twelve times to nine, it was, perhaps, the author's slip. Sir T. Hanmer reads, Your grace hath laid upon the weaker side. JOHNSON.

King. I do not fear it: 1 have seen you both :But since he's better'd, we have therefore odds. Laer. This is too heavy, let me see another.

Ham. This likes me well: These foils have all a length? [They prepare to play.

Osr. Ay, my good lord.

King. Set me the stoups' of wine upon that table :If Hamlet give the first or second hit, Or quit in answer of the third exchange, Let all the battlements their ordnance fire; The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath; And in the cup an union shall he throw, Richer than that which four successive kings In Denmark's crown have worn; Give me the cups; And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,

The trumpet to the cannoneer without,

The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth,
Now the king drinks to Hamlet.-Come, begin;-
And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.

Ham. Come on, sir.

King. Stay, give me drink: Hamlet, this pearl is thine;b

Here's to thy health.-Give him the cup.

[Trumpets sound; and Cannon shot off within.

Ham. I'll play this bout first, set it by awhile.

Come. Another hit; What say you?

Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess.

[They play.

He's fat, and scant of breath.

King. Our son shall win.

Queen.

Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows:

The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.

2

a

b

stoups-] i. e. Flagons.

an union-] A very precious pearl.-MALONE.

this pearl is thine ;] Under pretence of throwing a pearl into the cup, the king may be supposed to drop some poisonous drug into the wine. Hamlet seems to suspect this, when he afterwards discovers the effects of the poison, and tauntingly asks him," Is the union here?"-STEEVENS.

carouses-] i. e. Drinks success to you.