Since nor the exterior nor the inward man
Refembles that it was: What it fhould 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 hu

mour,

That you vouchsafe your reft here in our court
Some little time: fo by your companies
To draw him on to pleasures; 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;

And, fure I am, two men there are not living,
To whom he more adheres. If it will pleafe you
To fhow 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.

Ros.

Both your majesties

Might, by the fovereign power you have of us,'

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

7 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 fhould read-o'er us, 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 fervice freely at your feet,

To be commanded.

KING. Thanks, Rofencrantz, and gentle Guildenstern.

QUEEN. Thanks, Guildenstern, and gentle Ro

fencrantz:

And I beseech you instantly to visit

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

GUIL. Heavens make our prefence, and our practices,

Pleafant and helpful to him!

QUEEN.

Ay, amen!

[Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and fome Attendants.

Enter POLONIUS.

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

KING. O, speak of that; that do I long to hear.

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

in.

QUEEN. I doubt, it is no other but the main; His father's death, and our o'erhafty 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. Most fair return of greetings, and defires. Upon our first, 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 fickness, age, and impotence,

4the trail of policy-] The trail is the courfe of an animal pursued by the fcent. JOHNSON.

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

LIBRARY

Was falfely borne in hand,"-fends out arrefts
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 majesty.
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 band,] 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 thofe 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 threefcore 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:

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 fay lawyer's fee, phyfician's fee. STEEVENS.

Fee is defined by Minfheu 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.

On fuch regards of fafety, and allowance,
As therein are fet down.

It likes us well;

KING.
And, at our more confider'd time, we'll read,
Anfwer, and think upon this business.

Mean time, we thank you for your well-took la

bour:

Go to your reft; at night we'll feaft' together:
Moft welcome home!

POL.

[Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS. This bufinefs is well ended.

My liege, and madam, to expoftulate *

9 at night we'll feaft-] The king's intemperance is never fuffered to be forgotten. JOHNSON.

2

My liege, and madam, to expoftulate-] To expoftulate, for to enquire or difcufs.

The ftrokes of humour in this fpeech are admirable. Polonius's character is that of a weak, pedant, minister of state. His declamation is a fine fatire on the impertinent oratory then in vogue, which placed reafon in the formality of method, and wit in the gingle and play of words. With what art is he made to pride himself in

his wit:

"That he is mad, 'tis true: 'tis true, 'tis pity:
"And pity 'tis, 'tis true: A foolish figure;

"But farewell it,

And how exquifitely does the poet ridicule the reasoning in fashion, where he makes Polonius remark on Hamlet's madness:

"Though this be madness, yet there's method in't:” As if method, which the wits of that age thought the most effential quality of a good difcourfe, would make amends for the madness. It was madnefs indeed, yet Polonius could comfort himself with this reflection, that at leaft it was method. It is certain Shakspeare excels in nothing more than in the prefervation of his characters; To this life and variety of character (fays our great poet [Pope] in his admirable preface to Shakspeare) we must add the wonderful preJervation. We have faid what is the character of Polonius; and it is allowed on all hands to be drawn with wonderful life and spirit, yet the unity of it has been thought by fome to be grofsly violated in the excellent precepts and inftructions which Shakspeare makes his statesman give his fon and fervant in the middle of the firft, and