Armed at point,1 exactly, cap-à-pe, Appears before them, and, with solemn march, Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill'd Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me And I with them, the third night kept the watch: Form of the thing, each word made true and good, Ham. But where was this? Mar. My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd. Ham. Did you not speak to it ?3 1 Armed at point,] Thus the quartos. The folio: Arm'd at all points. Steevens. 2 with the act of fear,] Fear was the cause, the active cause that distilled them by the force of operation which we strictly call act in voluntary, and power in involuntary agents, but popularly call aet in both. Johnson. The folio reads-bestil'd. Steevens. Did you not speak to it?] Fielding, who was well acquainted with vulgar superstitions, in his Tom Jones, B. XI, ch. ii, observes that Mrs. Fitzpatrick, "like a ghost, only wanted to be spoke to," but then very readily answered. It seems from this passage, as well as from others in books too mean to be formally quoted, that spectres were supposed to maintain an obdurate silence, till interrogated by the people to whom they appeared. The drift therefore of Hamlet's question is, whether his father's shade had been spoken to; and not whether Horatio, as a particular or privileged person, was the speaker to it. Horatio tells us he had seen the late king but once, and therefore cannot be imagined to have any particular interest with his apparition. The vulgar notion that a ghost could only be spoken to with propriety and effect by a scholar, agrees very well with the character of Marcellus, a common officer; but it would have disgraced the Prince of Denmark to have supposed the spectre would more readily comply with Horatio's solicitation, merely because it was that of a man who had been studying at a university. We are at liberty to think the Ghost would have replied to Francisco, Bernardo, or Marcellus, had either of them ventured to question it. It was actually preparing to address Horatio, when the cock crew. The convenience of Shakspeare's play, however, required that the phantom should continue dumb till Hor. My lord, I did; But answer made it none: yet once, methought, Itself to motion, like as it would speak: But, even then, the morning cock crew loud;" Ham. 'Tis very strange. Hor. As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true; And we did think it writ down in our duty, To let you know of it. Ham. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me. Hold you the watch to-night? All. Ham. Arm'd, say you? We do, my lord. Arm❜d, my lord. Hamlet could be introduced to hear what was to remain concealed in his own breast, or to be communicated by him to some intelligent friend, like Horatio, in whom he could implicitly confide. By what particular person, therefore, an apparition which exhibits itself only for the purpose of being urged to speak, was addressed, could be of no consequence. Be it remembered like wise, that the words are not as lately pronounced on the stage,-" Did not you speak to it?"-but"Did you not speak to it?"-How aukward will the innovated sense appear, if attempted to be produced from the passage as it really stands in the true copies! Did you not speak to it? The emphasis, therefore, should most certainly rest on-speak. Steevens. 4 the morning cock crew loud;] The moment of the evanescence of spirits was supposed to be limited to the crowing of the cock. This belief is mentioned so early as by Prudentius, Cathem. Hymn. I, v. 40. But some of his commentators prove it to be of much higher antiquity. It is a most inimitable circumstance in Shakspeare, so to have managed this popular idea, as to make the Ghost, which has been so long obstinately silent, and of course must be dismissed by the morning, begin or rather prepare to speak, and to be interrupted, at the very critical time of the crowing of a cock. Another poet, according to custom, would have suffered his Ghost tamely to vanish, without contriving this start, which is like a start of guilt. To say nothing of the aggravation of the future suspense, occasioned by this preparation to speak, and to impart some mysterious secret. Less would have been expected, had nothing been promised. T. Warton. Ham. From top to toe? Then saw you not All. My lord, from head to foot. Ham. His face. Hor. O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver up. Hor. In sorrow than in anger. Ham. Hor. Nay, very pale. Ham. Hor. Most constantly. A countenance more Pale, or red? And fix'd his eyes upon you? I would, I had been there. Hor. It would have much amaz'd you. Ham. Very like Stay'd it long? Very like, Hor. While one with moderate haste might tell a hun dred. Mar. Ber. Longer, longer. Hor. Not when I saw it. Ham. His beard was grizzl❜d? no? Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life, A sable silver'd. Ham. I will watch to-night; I warrant, it will. Perchance, 'twill walk again. Hor. 5 wore his beaver up.] Though beaver properly signified that part of the helmet which was let down, to enable the wearer to drink, Shakspeare always uses the word as denoting that part of the helmet which, when raised up, exposed the face of the wearer and such was the popular signification of the word in his time. In Bullokar's English Expositor, 8vo. 1616, beaver is defined thus:-" In armour it signifies that part of the helmet which may be lifted up, to take breath the more freely." Malone. So, in Laud's Diary: "The Lord Broke shot in the left eye, and killed in the place at Lichfield—his bever up, and armed to the knee, so that a musket at that distance could have done him little harm." Farmer. • A sable silver'd.] So, in our poet's 12th Sonnet: "And sable curls, all silver'd o'er with white." Malone. VOL. XV. E And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all, All. Our duty to your honour. Ham. Your loves, as mine to you: Farewel. [Exeunt HoR. MAR. and BER. My father's spirit in arms !8 all is not well; I doubt some foul play: 'would, the night were come! Till then sit still, my soul: Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes. SCENE III. A Room in Polonius' House. Enter LAERTES and OPHELIA. Laer. My necessaries are embark'd; farewell: And, sister, as the winds give benefit, And convoy is assistant, do not sleep, But let me hear from you. Oph. Do you doubt that? Laer. For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour, Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood; A violet in the youth of primy nature, Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting, No more. [Exit. 7 Let it be tenable in your silence still;] Thus the quartos, and rightly. The folio, 1623, reads-treble. Steevens. 8 My father's spirit in arms!] From what went before, I once hinted to Mr. Garrick, that these words might be spoken in this manner: My father's spirit! in arms! all is not well; Whalley. 9 The perfume and suppliance of a minute;] Thus the quarto, the folio has it: sweet, not lasting, The suppliance of a minute. Oph. Laer. No more but so? Think it no more: For nature, crescent, does not grow alone It is plain that perfume is necessary to exemplify the idea of sweet, not lasting. With the word suppliance I am not satisfied, and yet dare hardly offer what I imagine to be right. I suspect that soffiance, or some such word, formed from the Italian, was then used for the act of fumigating with sweet scents. Johnson. an The perfume and suppliance of a minute;] i. e. what was supplied to us for a minute; or, as Mr. M. Mason supposes, amusement to fill up a vacant moment, and render it agreeable." This word occurs in Chapman's version of the ninth Iliad, of Homer: 66 by my suppliance given." Steevens. The words-perfume and, which are found in the quarto, 1604, were omitted in the folio. Malone. 1 In thews,] i. e. in sinews, muscular strength. So, in King Henry IV, p. 2: "Care I for the limb, the thewes, the stature," &c. See Vol. IX. p. 102, n. 3. Steevens. 2 And now no soil, nor cautel, doth besmirch The virtue of his will:] From cautela, which signifies only a prudent foresight or caution; but, passing through French hands, it lost its innocence, and now signifies fraud, deceit. And so he uses the adjective in Julius Cæsar : "Swear priests and cowards, and men cautelous.” Warburton. So, in the second part of Greene's Art of Coneycatching, 1592: - and their subtill cautels to amend the statute. To amend the statute, was the cant phrase for evading the law. Steevens. Cautel is subtlety or deceit. Minsheu in his Dictionary, 1617, defines it," A crafty way to deceive." The word is again used by Shakspeare, in A Lover's Complaint: "In him a plenitude of subtle matter, Applied to cautels, all strange forms receives." Malone. Virtue seems here to comprise both excellence and power, and may be explained the pure effect. Johnson. The virtue of his will means, his virtuous intentions. Cautel means craft. So, Coriolanus says: 66 be caught by cautelous baits and practice." M. Mason. |