SCENE I

Bernardo and Francisco, two Centinels.

Bernardo. Who's there? &c.

Nothing can be more conformable to Reason, than that the Beginning of all Dramatick Performances (and indeed of every other kind of Poesie) should be with the greatest Simplicity, that so our Passions maybe work'd upon by Degrees. This Rule is very happily observ'd in this Play; and it has this Advantage over many others, that it has Majesty and Simplicity joined together. For this whole preparatory Discourse to the Ghost's coming in, at the same Time that it is necessary towards laying open the Scheme of the Play, creates an Awe and Attention in the Spectators, such as very well fits them to receive the Appearance of a Messenger from the other World, with all the Terror and Seriousness necessary on the Occasion. And surely the Poet has manag'd the Whole in such a Manner, that it is all entirely Natural: And tho' most Men are well enough arm'd against all Belief of the Appearances of Ghosts, yet they are forced, during the Representation of this Piece, entirely to suspend their most fixed Opinions, and believe that they do actually see a Phantom, and that the whole Plot of the Play is justly and naturally founded upon the Appearance of this Spectre.

Page 227.

Marcell. HORATIO says 'tis but our Phantasie, And will not let Belief take hold of Him, Touching this dreaded Sight twice seen of Us; Therefore I have intreated him along With us to watch the Minutes of this Night; That if again this Apparition come, He may approve our Eyes, and speak to it.

HORATIO, Tush, Tush, 'twill not appear!

These Speeches help greatly to deceive us; for they shew one of the principal Persons of the Drama to be as incredulous, in Relation to the Appearance of Phantoms, as we can be; but that he is at last convinc'd of his Error by the Help of his Eyes. For it is a Maxim entirely agreeable to Truth, if we consider human Nature, that whatever is supernatural or improbable, is much more likely to gain Credit with us, if it be introduced as such, and talk'd of as such by the Persons of the Drama, but at last prov'd to be true, tho' an extraordinary Thing, than if it were brought in as a Thing highly probable, and no one were made to boggle at the Belief of it. The Reason of this seems to be, that we can for once, upon a very great Occasion, allow such an Incident as this to have happen'd, if it be brought in as a Thing of great Rarity; but we can by no means so suspend our Judgement and Knowledge, or deceive Our Understandings, as to grant That to be common and usual which we know to be entirely Supernatural and Improbable.

Page 227.

Enter the Ghost.

Here it is certain, nothing could be better tim'd than the Entrance of this Spectre; for he comes in and convinces Horatio, to save Marcellos the Trouble of repeating the whole Story, which would have been tiresome to the Spectators, as these Gentlemen were obliged soon after to relate the Whole to Prince Hamlet.

Horatio's Speeches to the Apparition are exceeding Natural, Aweful, and Great, and well suited to the Occasion and his own Character.

What art Thou, that usurpest this Time of Night, Together with that fair and warlike Form, In which the Majesty of buried Denmark Did some Time march? By Heaven, I charge thee speak. Page 227.

The other is Page 130.

—— Stay Illusion! If thou hast any Sound, or Use of Voice, Speak to me! If there be any good Thing to be done, That may to thee do Ease, and Grace to me, Speak to me. If thou art privy to thy Country's Fate, Which, happily, Fore-knowing may avoid, Oh Speak! Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy Life Extorted Treasure in the Womb of Earth, For which, they say, you Spirits oft' walk in Death, Speak of it,—Stay and speak!—Stop it Marcellus.

His desiring Marcellus to stop it, is also much in Nature, because it shews a Perturbation of Mind, very much to be expected at such an Incident. For he must know, being a Scholar, (as they term him) that Spirits could not be stopp'd as Corporeal Substances can.

But to return to Page 228.

Bernardo, How now Horatio! you tremble and look pale, &c.

This is entirely in Nature, for it cannot be supposed, that any Man, tho' never so much endu'd with Fortitude, could see so strange a Sight, so shocking to human Nature, without some Commotion of his Frame, although the Bravery of his Mind makes him get the better of it.

Page 228.

Horatio, Before my God, I might not this believe, Without the sensible and trite Avouch Of mine own Eyes.

This Speech still helps on our Deception, for the Reasons I have already given.

Page 228.

Horatio, Such was the very Armour he had on, &c.

I have heard many Persons wonder why the Poet should bring in this Ghost in complete Armour. It does, I own, at first seem hard to be accounted for; but I think these Reasons may be given for it, viz. We are to consider, that he could introduce him in these Dresses only; in his Regal Dress, in a Habit of Interment, in a common Habit, or in some Phantastick one of his own Invention. Now let us examine which was most likely to affect the Spectators with Passions proper to the Occasion, and which could most probably furnish out great Sentiments and fine Expressions.

The Regal Habit has nothing uncommon in it, nor surprising; nor could it give rise to any fine Images. The Habit of Interment was something too horrible; for Terror, not Horror, is to be raised in the Spectators. The common Habit (or Habit de Ville, as the French call it) was by no Means proper for the Occasion.

It remains then, that the Poet should chuse some Habit from his own Brain: But this certainly could not be proper, because Invention in such a Case, would be so much in Danger of falling into the Grotesque, that it was not to be hazarded.

Now as to the Armour, it was very suitable to a King, who is described as a great Warrior, and is very particular, and consequently affects the Spectators, without being phantastick. Besides, if there were no other Reason, the fine Image which arises from thence, in these Lines, is Reason enough.

Such was the very Armour he had on, When He th' ambitious Norway combated, So frown'd He once, when in angry Parle, He smote the sleaded Polack on the Ice. 'Tis Strange!

There is a Stroke of Nature in Horatio's breaking off, from the Description of the King, and falling into the Exclamation. 'Tis Strange! which is inimitably Beautiful.

Page 228.

Marcellus. Good now sit down, &c.

The whole Discourse concerning the great Preparations making in Denmark is very Poetical, and necessary also towards the introducing of Fortinbrass in this Play, whose Appearance gives Rise to one Scene, which adds a Beauty to the Whole; I mean, That wherein Hamlet makes those noble Reflections upon seeing That Prince's Army. Besides, this Discourse is necessary also to give the Ghost Time to appear again, in order to affect the Spectators still more; and from this Conversation the Interlocutors draw one Reason, why the Spirit appears in Arms, which appears rational to the Audience. It gives also Horatio an Opportunity of addressing the Ghost in that beautiful Manner he does.

Page 229

Stay Illusion! &c.

The Description of the Prefages which happen'd to Rome, and the drawing a like Inference from this supernatural Appearance, is very nervous and Poetical.

Page 230, 231.

Bernardo. It was about to speak when the Cock crew &c.

The Speeches in consequence of this Observation are truly beautiful, and are properly Marks of a great Genius; as also these Lines which describe the Morning, are in the true Spirit of Poetry.

Page 31. But, look, the Morn, in Russet Mantle clad, Walks oe'r the Dew of yon high Eastern Hill.

And as to Shakespeare's complying with the vulgar Notions of Spirits amongst the English at that Time, so far from being low, it adds a Grace and a Naivete to the whole Passage, which one can much easier be sensible of than know how to make others so.

SCENE. The Palace, (p. 231.) And Sequel.

Enter the King, Queen, Hamlet, &c.

It is very natural and apropos, that the King should bring some plausible Excuse for marrying his Brother's Wife so soon after the Decease of his Brother, which he does in his first Speech in this Scene: It would else have too soon revolted the Spectators against such an unusual Proceeding. All the Speeches of the King in this Scene to his Ambassadors Cornelius and Voltimand, and to Laertes, and to Prince Hamlet, are entirely Fawning, and full of Dissimulation, and makes him well deserve the Character which the Prince afterwards gives him, of smiling, damn'd Villain, &c. when he is informed of his Crime.

The King's and Queen's Questions to Hamlet are very proper, to give the Audience a true Idea of the Filial Piety of the young Prince, and of his virtuous Character; for we are hereby informed of his fixed and strong Grief for the Loss of his Father: For it does not appear, that the Usurpation of the Crown from him, sits heavy on his Soul, at least, it is not seen by any Part of his Behaviour.

How his Uncle came to be preferred to him, we are left entirely in the dark, but may suppose it to have been done in the same Manner, as several things of the like Nature have been effected, viz. by Corruption and Violence, and perhaps upon the Pretence of the Prince's being too young.

I can by no Means agree with Mr. Theobalds, (p. 235.) who thinks, that it is necessary to suppose a considerable Number of Years spent in this Tragedy; because Prince Hamlet is said to desire to return to Wittenberg again, and is supposed to be just come from it; and that afterwards, the Grave-Digger lets us know that the Prince is Thirty Years old; my Reasons are, that as Wittenberg was an University, and Hamlet is represented as a Prince of great Accomplishments, it is no wonder that he should like to spend his Time there, in going on in his Improvements, rather than to remain inactive at Elsinoor, or be immers'd in Sottishness, with which he seems to tax his Countrymen; as will appear in the Sequel. Besides, he might well desire to return there, when he found his Throne usurped, and his Mother acting so abominable a Part. And as to the Term of going to School, &c. That does not at all imply literally a School for Boys, but is poetically used for Studying at any Age.

Another Reason may be given why there cannot be supposed to be a great Length of Time in this Play; which is this, That we see in the First Act, Ambassadors dispatch'd to old Norway, concerning his Nephew Fortinbras's Army, which was then ready to march; and in the Fourth Act, we see this Prince at the Head of that Army, which immediately, upon the Embassy from the Danish King to his Uncle, we are naturally to suppose he leads to that other Enterprize which is mentioned in that Scene. Now it is no ways likely, that between the Embassy and the marching of an Army already assembled before that Embassy, there should be a Number of Years. These Reasons and the whole Conduct of the Piece convince me, that this is one of Shakespeare's Plays, in which the least Time is employ'd; how much there is, I cannot pretend to say.

As to the Prolepsis, or in other Words, the mentioning the University of Wittenberg, long before its Establishment, thus antedating its Time, I shall not justify Shakespeare; I think it is a fault in him; but I cannot be of Opinion, that it has any bad Effect in this Tragedy. See Mr. Theobald's Note, (p. 235.)

As to Hamlet's Soliloquy, I shall set down the whole Passage, and shall subjoin the Remarks of a very eminent Author which are in the Spirit of true Criticism.

Oh that this too, too solid Flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve it self into a Dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His Cannon 'gainst Self-slaughter! Oh God! Oh God! How weary, stale, and unprofitable, Seem to me all the Uses of this World! Fie on't! Oh fie! 'tis an unweeded Garden, That grows to Seed; Things rank and gross in Nature, Possess it merely. That it should come to this, But two Months dead! Nay, not so much, not Two! So Excellent a King, that was to this, Hyperion to a Satyr: So Loving to my Mother, That he would not let e'en the Winds of Heav'n Visit her Face too roughly. Heav'n and Earth! Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him, As if Increase of Appetite had grown By what it fed on; yet within a Month! Let me not think. Frailty! Thy Name is Woman. A little Month; e'er yet those Shoes were old, With which she follow'd my poor Father's Body, Like Niobe, all Tears; Why she, even she, (Oh Heav'n, a Beast that wants Discourse of Reason, Would have mourn'd longer) married with mine Uncle, My Father's Brother; but no more like my Father, Than I to Hercules. Within a Month, E'er yet the Salt of most unrighteous Tears Had left the flushing in her gaul'd Eyes, She married. Oh! most wicked Speed, to post With such Dexterity to incestuous Sheets!

It is not, nor it cannot come to Good. But, break my Heart, for I must hold my Tongue.

"The young Prince, (says this Author in the Tatler,) was not yet acquainted with all the Guilt of his Mother; but turns his Thoughts on her sudden Forgetfulness of his Father, and the Indecency of her hasty Marriage. The several Emotions of Mind, and Breaks of Passion in this Speech, are admirable. He has touch'd every Circumstance that aggravated the Fact, and seem'd capable of hurrying the Thoughts of a Son into Distraction. His Father's Tenderness for his Mother, express'd in so delicate a Particular; his Mother's Fondness for his Father, no less exquisitely described; the great and amiable Figure of his dead Parent, drawn by a true Filial Piety; his Disdain of so unworthy a Successor to his Bed: But above all, the Shortness of the Time between his Father's Death, and his Mother's Second Marriage, brought together with so much Disorder, make up as noble a Part as any in that celebrated Tragedy. The Circumstance of Time I never could enough admire. The Widow-hood had lasted two Months. This is his first Reflection: But as his Indignation rises, he sinks to scarce two Months; afterwards into a Month; and at last, into a little Month. But all this so naturally, that the Reader accompanies him in the Violence of his Passion, and finds the Time lessen insensibly, according to the different Workings of his Disdain. I have not mentioned the Incest of her Marriage, which is so obvious a Provocation; but can't forbear taking Notice, that when his Fury is at its Height, he cries, Frailty, thy Name is Woman! as Railing at the Sex in general, rather than giving himself leave to think his Mother worse than Others."

Page 238.

Enter Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus, to Hamlet.

The Greeting between Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus, is very easy, and expresses the benign Disposition of the Prince, and first gives us an Intimation of his Friendship for Horatio.

Page 238.

We'll teach you to drink deep, e'er you depart.

This seems designed to reflect upon the sottish Disposition, then encouraged amongst the Danes by the Usurper, as will appear in the Sequel; and gives us one Reason why Elsinoor was disagreeable to Prince Hamlet; and certainly, much confirms what I before said, as to his going back to Wittenberg.

Page 238.

The Prince's Reflections on his Mother's hasty Marriage, are very natural, and shew That to be one of the principal Causes of the deep fix'd Concern so visible in his Behaviour; and then they serve to introduce the Relation of the Appearance of his Father's Ghost.

Page 238, to the End of the Scene.

Hamlet receives the Account they give him with such a Surprize as is very natural, and particularly his breaking off from the Consequence of his Question, viz. Hold you the Watch to Night? and saying arm'd? that is, returning to the main Question, is exceedingly in Nature.

Their differing in the Account of the Time the Spectre staid, throws an Air of Probability on the Whole, which is much easier felt than described.

The Prince's Resolution to speak to the Phantom, let what will be the Consequence, is entirely suitable to his Heroical Disposition; and his Reflection upon his Father's Spirit appearing in Arms, is such as one would naturally expect from him; and the Moral Sentence he ends his short Speech with, suits his virtuous Temper, at the same Time that it has a good Effect upon the Audience, and answers the End of Tragedy.

Page 241, to the End of the Scene, in p. 246.