given in all the folios as part of her ballad; but it is marked by the old corrector as spoken, and not sung. Again, the same authority tells us that the lines on p. 311,— "No, no, he is dead; Go to thy death-bed," ought to run, as we may very well believe,— "No, no, he is dead, Gone to his death-bed, He never will come again." It has always hitherto been printed, "Go to thy death-bed," and we can scarcely think the proposed change merely arbitrary. For "His beard was as white as snow," the correction in manuscript is, "His beard was white as snow." In the folios it is, "His beard as white as snow," and the variation may be deemed immaterial. When Ophelia makes her exit, it is stated that she goes out dancing distracted, although she had sung such a melancholy ditty just before, and had taken such a sad farewell. It is the last we see of her. P. 321. A very absurd misprint found its way into the folio, 1623, where the Queen describes the death of Ophelia : the quartos properly read, "Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay;" which in the folio, 1623, stands, "Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious buy;" and in the folio, 1632,— "Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious by." Perhaps "lay," substituted in the margin of the folio, 1632, was obtained from the quartos; but it is not impossible, if the emendation were not guessed at, that it was introduced from accurate recitation of the passage on the stage: nobody could imagine buy or by right. ACT V. SCENE I. P. 322. Two small portions of the Grave-diggers' Scene are struck through with a pen: the first relates to Adam being a gentleman: and the second to the length of time the First Grave-digger had filled his office, and the motive for sending Hamlet into England. If William Kemp played the part of the First Grave-digger, as has been conjectured (Chalmers's "Apology," p. 457), we need not be surprised at any expedient to keep such a favourite before the audience; but when he was gone, some reduction of the dialogue may have been held desirable, on account of the great length of the play. However, it is more than doubtful whether Kemp belonged to the same company as Shakespeare when Hamlet was produced. (See "Memoirs of the Actors in Shakespeare's Plays," pp. 105. 115.) P. 329. The four lines in rhyme which follow Hamlet's prose introduction, Imperial Cæsar, dead, and turn'd to clay," &c., are distinguished in the folio, 1632, as a quotation in the usual way and they seem to have occurred to the speaker, as extremely apposite to what he had himself just said respecting the "dust of Alexander." We have no notion from whence the passage was taken. P. 332. When Hamlet tells Laertes, as the line is printed every where, "I'll do't.-Dost thou come here to whine?" the line clearly wants two syllables; and the corrector of the folio, 1632, makes Hamlet emphatically repeat, "I'll do't," which perfects the measure: "I'll do't: I'll do't.-Dost thou come here to whine?" This repetition was probably omitted by the printer accidentally. The whole speech, beginning, "This is mere madness," is given to the King in the folios; but it is evident that at least part of it could not have been uttered by him: a new prefix, in the margin of the second folio, assigns the three last lines to the Queen, while the two first are continued as before. In the quartos the Queen delivers all five lines; but it seems more likely that the King should interpose to tell the spectators of the funeral, "This is mere madness; And thus a while the fit will work on him." In consistency with this view, the King, just afterwards, desires Horatio to follow Hamlet, who had rushed out. SCENE II. P. 336. The compositor of the folio, 1623, was guilty of a careless blunder when he printed "Sweet lord, if your friendship were at leisure," instead of "if your lordship were at leisure" it was, notwithstanding, copied into the folio, 1632, where it is set right in the margin. We need not say that from all modern editions the corruption has been excluded. Precisely the same course was pursued with a lapse on p. 340, where, in all the folios, tongue is misprinted for "turn," and "hurt my mother" for "hurt my brother." This part of the tragedy is extremely ill-represented in both the earliest folio impressions; but the most minute inaccuracy did not elude the attention of the old amender of the second folio. P. 343. The printed stage-directions are extremely frequent in this last scene; but, nevertheless, the additions to them in manuscript in the folio, 1632, are many. Thus, no printed note being given when the Queen drinks the poison, the proper place is duly marked, as well as when she dies. When Horatio snatches the cup in order to poison himself, and when Hamlet strives and gets it from him, the necessary information is furnished in the margin. It should seem that the directions were not all added at the same time, but, perhaps, as the writer became aware of their importance, for the ink is not always alike. P. 344. During the fencing-match, the Queen interposes that Hamlet may take breath: in the quartos, her words are, "He's fat and scant of breath.Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows." In the folios, the passage is merely this: "He's fat and scant of breath. Here's a napkin, rub thy brows." The second line is obviously defective, and the corrector of the folio, 1632, does not, in this instance, cure it by adopting the text of the quartos, but that of some independent authority: perhaps his emendation here, as in some other places, represents the passage as it was delivered by the player of the part of the Queen :— "He's fat and scant of breath. Here is a napkin, rub thy brows, my son." P. 347. The drama, abridged, as far as we can judge, for, or from, representation some time after the appearance of the folio, 1632, concludes with the two lines spoken by Horatio over the dead body of Hamlet: all the rest, including "Why does the drum come hither," is crossed out, so that nothing is seen of Fortinbras, or of the English ambassadors. The lines put into the mouth of Horatio are these, as they stand in every edition, Hamlet having just expired : "Now cracks a noble heart.-Good night, sweet prince, However, it seems to have been thought, about the time the abbreviations were made, that the tragedy ought to end with a rhyming couplet, and we may infer that the alteration we meet with in the folio, 1632, was made for the purpose: "Now cracks a noble heart.-Good night, be blest, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest." This couplet is followed by the word Finis, in manuscript, to show that it was the conclusion of the piece. Nevertheless, the necessary changes of the text, as we find it in the second folio, are continued, as if what follows the entrance of Fortinbras, &c., had not been erased. The first is merely "This" for His, when Fortinbras says, "This quarry cries on havock," &c. It is "His quarry," &c., in the folios, and certainly wrong. P. 348. Fortinbras, seeing that the throne of Denmark is vacant, puts in his claim to it :: "I have some rights of memory in this kingdom, Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me." These are the terms in the quartos; the folios, 1623 and 1632, nonsensically have "Which are to claim," &c. When Horatio replies, according to the correct text, "Of that I shall have also cause to speak," the folio, 1623, gives the line thus inaccurately : "Of that I shall have always cause to speak;" which the folio, 1632, makes still worse : "Of that I shall always cause to speak." These careless errors are corrected in manuscript in the later folio, where we also find in the margin an emendation which appears to be of considerable value. Horatio, in reference to the funeral of Hamlet, observes, as the line has invariably been printed, "But let this same be presently perform'd." Same sounds poorly and awkwardly, and the old corrector states that it was not the poet's word, but one that might easily be mistaken for it: he puts it, "But let this scene be presently perform'd," viz. the scene of the funeral, at which, while Hamlet's body was placed "high on a stage," Horatio was to explain the cause of his death: the mention of "stage," both before and afterwards, and the use of the word "performed," afford confirmation, if needed, that Shakespeare's language was scene, and not "same." This may have been only a guessed at misprint, but nobody else has ever guessed it. F f |