Since nor the exterior nor the inward man
Resembles that it was: What it should be,
More than his father's death, that thus hath put

him

So much from the understanding of himself,
I cannot dream of: I entreat you both,

That,-being of fo young days brought up with him:

And, fince, fo neighbour'd to his youth and humour,—

That you vouchfafe your reft here in our court
Some little time: fo by your companies
To draw him on to pleafures; and to gather,
So much as from occafion you may glean,
Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus,
That, open'd, lies within our remedy.

QUEEN. Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you;

8

And, fure I am, two men there are not living,
To whom he more adheres. If it will please you
To show us fo much gentry, and good will,
As to expend your time with us a while,
For the fupply and profit of our hope,"
Your vifitation fhall receive fuch thanks
As fits a king's remembrance.

Both your majefties

Ros. Might, by the fovereign power you have of us,"

• and humour,] Thus the folio. The quartos read— baviour. STEEVENS.

Whether aught, &c.] This line is omitted in the folio.

STEEVENS.

8 To show us fo much gentry,] Gentry, for complaisance.

WARBURTON.

9 For the fupply &c.] That the hope which your arrival has raifed may be completed by the defired effect. JOHNSON.

2

-you have of us,] I believe we should read-'er as, inftead of-of us. M. MASON.

Put your dread pleasures more into command

Than to entreaty.

GUIL.

But we both obey;

And here give up ourselves, in the full bent,'
To lay our service freely at your feet,

To be commanded.

KING. Thanks, Rofencrantz, and gentle Guildenftern.

QUEEN. Thanks, Guildenstern, and gentle Rofencrantz :

And I beseech you inftantly to vifit

My too much changed fon.-Go, fome of you,
And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.

GUIL. Heavens make our prefence, and our practices,

Pleasant and helpful to him!

QUEEN.

Ay, amen!

[Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and Some Attendants.

Enter POLONIUS.

POL. The embassadors from Norway, my good lord,

Are joyfully return’d.

KING. Thou ftill haft been the father of good

news.

POL. Have I, my lord? Affure you, my good liege,

-in the full bent,] Bent, for endeavour, application.

WARBURTON. The full bent, is the utmost extremity of exertion. The allufion is to a bow bent as far as it will go. So afterwards in this play : "They fool me to top of my bent." MALONE.

I hold my duty, as I hold my foul,
Both to my God, and to my gracious king:
And I do think, (or else this brain of mine
Hunts not the trail of policy so sure

4

As it hath us'd to do,) that I have found
The very caufe of Hamlet's lunacy.

KING. O, fpeak of that; that do I long to hear.
POL. Give first admittance to the embassadors;
My news fhall be the fruit' to that great feast.
KING. Thyfelf do grace to them, and bring them
in.
[Exit POLONIUS.
He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found
The head and fource of all your fon's diftemper.

QUEEN. I doubt, it is no other but the main; His father's death, and our o'erhasty marriage.

Re-enter POLONIUS, with VOLTIMAND and CORNE

LIUS.

KING. Well, we shall fift him.-Welcome, my good friends!

Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway?
VOLT. Moft fair return of greetings, and defires.
Upon our firft, he fent out to fupprefs
His nephew's levies; which to him appear'd
To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack;
But, better look'd into, he truly found

It was against your highness: Whereat griev'd,—
That fo his ficknefs, age, and impotence,

the trail of policy-] The trail is the courfe of an animal pursued by the fcent. JOHNSON.

the fruit-] The defert after the meat. JOHNSON.

LIDRARY

Was falfely borne in hand,"-fends out arrets
On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys;
Receives rebuke from Norway; and, in fine,
Makes vow before his uncle, never more
To give the affay' of arms against your majefty.
Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,

Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee;*
And his commiffion, to employ thofe foldiers,
So levied as before, against the Polack:
With an entreaty, herein further shown,

[Gives a paper. That it might please you to give quiet pafs Through your dominions for this enterprize;

6-borne in hand,] i. e. deceived, impofed on. So, in Macbeth, A&t III:

"How you were borne in hand, how crofs'd," &c. See note on this paffage, Vol. VII. p. 456, n. 3. STEEVENS.

To give the affay —] To take the affay was a technical expreffion, originally applied to those who tafted wine for princes and great men. See Vol. XIV. p. 280, n. 4. MALONE.

Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee;] This reading first obtained in the edition put out by the players. But all the old quartos (from 1605, downwards,) read threefcore.

THEOBALD.

The metre is deftroyed by the alteration; and threescore thousand crowns, in the days of Hamlet, was an enormous fum of money. M. MASON.

annual fee;] Fee in this place fignifies reward, recompence. So, in All's well that ends well:

66

Not helping, death's my fee;

"But if I help, what do you promise me?"

The word is commonly used in Scotland, for wages, as we say
Lawyer's fee, phyfician's fee. STEEVENS.

Fee is defined by Minsheu in his Dict. 1617, a reward.

MALONE.

I have reftored the reading of the folio. Mr. Ritfon explains it, I think, rightly thus: the king gave his nephew a feud or fee (in land) of that yearly value. REED.

You must not put another fcandal on him,"
That he is open to incontinency;

That's not my meaning: but breathe his faults fo quaintly,

That they may seem the taints of liberty:
The flash and out-break of a fiery mind;
A favageness in unreclaimed blood,

Of general affault,"

POL.
Marry, fir, here's my drift;
And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant:3
You laying these flight fullies on my son,
As 'twere a thing a little foil'd i'the working,
Mark you,

Your party in converse, him you would found,
Having ever feen, in the prenominate crimes,*
The youth you breathe of, guilty, be affur'd,
He closes with you in this confequence;

7

- another fcandal on bim,] Thus the old editions. Mr. Theobald reads,- -an utter. JOHNSON.

another fcandal-] i. e. a very different and more fcandalous failing, namely habitual incontinency. Mr. Theobald in his Shakspeare Reftored propofed to read-an utter fcandal on him; but did not admit the emendation into his edition. MALONE.

8 That's not my meaning:] That is not what I mean, when I permit you to accufe him of drabbing. M. MASON.

9 A favagenefs-] Savagenefs, for wildness. WARBURTON. Of general affault.] i. e. fuch as youth in general is liable to. WARBURTON.

3 And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant:] So, the folio. The quarto reads, a fetch of wit. STEEVENS.

4

prenominate crimes,] i. e, crimes already nared.

STEEVENS.