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S fhe to be buried in chriftian burial, when she wilfully feeks her own falvation?

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2 Clown. I tell thee, fhe is; therefore make her grave d ftraight. The crowner hath fat on her, and finds it chriftian burial.

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1 Clown. How can that be, unless fhe drowned herself in her own defence?

2 Clown. Why, 'tis found fo.

2 With Spades and mattocks, first in- ftian burial, north and south not Chriftian ferted by R. burial: But who ever heard of this dib So the qu's; all the reft read, that ftinction? To be buried in a Chriftian wilfully feck, &c. manner is to be buried in confecrated The fo's and R. read, and there- ground and with the rites of the church

fore, &c.

dftraight.] 7. interprets this, make her grave from east to weft in a direct line parallel to the church, not from north to fouth, athwart the regular line. So according to this, Dr. Jobnen thinks that burying east and west is Chri

So Dr. Jobnfon may take my word that Shakespeare meant; She is to be buried in confecrated ground, therefore make her grave firaight, i. e. forthwith, immediately.

• The 3d q. be.

I Clown.

1 Clown. It must be f fe offendendo, it cannot be elfe. For here lies the point; if I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act; and an act hath three branches; it is to act, to do, and to perform. Argal, fhe drown'd herself wittingly.

2 Clown. Nay, but hear you, good-man Delver.

1

1 Clown. Give me leave; here lies the water; good: here ftands the man; good. If the man go to this water, and drown himself, it is, will he, nill he, he goes; mark you that? But if the water come to him, and drown him, he drowns not himfelf. Argal, he that is not guilty of his own death, fhortens not his own life.

2 Clown. But is this law?

1 Clown. Ay, marry is't, crowner's queft-law.

2 Clown. Will you ha' the truth" an't? If this had not been a gentlewoman, fhe fhould have been buried out o' chriftian burial.

1 Clown. Why, there thou fay'ft. And the more pity, that great folk fhould have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves, more than their ° even christian. Come; my fpade P. There is no ancient gentlemen but

The qu's read fo offended.

The fo's, R. and P.'s q. read, It is an act to do, and to perform, Sc.

The qu's omit and.

The qu's read or all, instead of Argal; this plainly appears to be an error of the prefs; for this clown in his next fpeech fums up his argument again with argal for ergo, and the qu's there read argall.

Before bere, J. inferts, Clown.
The 3d f. reads, bis water.

m The 1ft f. bimfele.

n So the qu's; an't is the clownish pronunciation of on't, and should stand fo; but all other editions alter it to cn't.

o even chriftian.] An old Englife expreffion for fellow chriftians. Dr. Thirlby. W.-R. reads, more than other chriftians; followed by P. T. and H. P Here C. gives direction, Strips, and falis to digging.

gardeners,

gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold up Adam's profeffion,

2 Clown. Was he a gentleman?

1 Clown. He was the firft that ever bore arms,

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1 Clown, What, art a heathen? How doft thou understand the fcripture? the fcripture fays, Adam digg'd; could he dig without arms? I'll put another question to thee; if thou anfwereft me not to the purpose, confess thyfelf

2 Clown. Go to.

I Clown. What is he that builds ftronger than either the mafon, the fhipwright, or the carpenter?

2 Clown, The gallows-maker; for that out-lives a thoufand tenants.

1 Clown. I like thy wit well, in good faith; the gallows does well; but how does it well? it does well to thofe that do ill now thou doft ill, to fay the gallows is built ftronger than the church; argal, the gallows may do well to thee. To't again, come.

2 Clown, Who builds ftronger than a mason, a fhipwright, or a carpenter ?

1 Clown. Ay, tell me that, and " unyoke.

2 Clown. Marry, now I can tell,

1 Clown. To't.

2 Clown. Mafs, I cannot tell,

r What is in italic here, is not in the here, as it is a clown's speech; befides,

qu's.

s W. omits not.

So the qu's; the reft read that frame putlives, &c. Frame was put in (I fuppofe) to make it grammar: but there feems to be no neceffity of grammar

Shakespeare would have hardly put such a word as frame in the fenfe here used, into the mouth of a clown.

u i. e. when you have done that, I'll trouble you no more with thefe riddles. The phrafe taken from husbandry. W.

Enter

Enter Hamlet and Horatio, at a diftance.

1 Clown. Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your dull ass will not mend his pace with beating; and when you are afk'd this queftion next, fay, a grave-maker: the houfes he makes, y laft till dooms-day. Go, get thee in, and fetch me a foope of liquor.

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He digs and fings.

In youth when I did love, did love,
Methought it was very sweet;

2

b

[Exit 2d Clown.

To contract, O, the time for, a, my behove,
O, methought there, fa, was nothing, a, meet.

Ham.

f

Has this fellow no feeling of his bufinefs? he fings in grave-making!

Hor. Custom hath made it in him a property of eafinefs.

Ham. 'Tis e'en fo. The hand of little employment hath the daintier fenfe.

The qu's make Hamlet and Horatio enter after the first stanza of the clown's

fong.

d This direction put in by R.

The 2d, 3d and 4th fo's omit time. f All but the qu's omit thefe a's;

× The fo's and R. read, the houses which are no part of the fong, but only that be makes, &c.

y First q. and three 1ft fo's, lafts. z Second q. tell.

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the breath forced out by the ftrokes of the mattock. H, W. J. and C. read Jo meet.

So the qu's and C; all the rest read, Has this fellow no feeling of bis business, that be fings at grave-making?

h T. P.'s duodecimo, W. and 7. read, to bim, &c.

i The ft q. reads dintier.

Clown

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Ham. That skull had a tongue in it, and could fing once: How the knave jowles it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murther! This might be the pate of a politician, which this afs' now' o'er-reaches; one that would circumvent God, might it not?

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Hor. It might, my lord.

W

Ham. Or of a courtier, which could fay, good-morrow, my lord; how doft thou, fweet lord? This might be my lord fuch-a-one, that prais'd my lord fuch-a-one's horse, when he meant to beg it; might it not?

Hor. Ay, my lord.

This ftanza is evidently corrupted; for it wants what is found in the other two, an alternate rhyme. We may read thus till fomething better occur: But age, with bis stealing fand,

Hath clar'd me in the clutch:
And bath fhifted me into his land,
As though I bad never been fuch. J.
The fo's and R. read caught me.
m C. omits bath.

n The fo's and R. read intill the land. • H. and W. read bis instead of the. P The 3d and 4th fo's, and R. read, as if I never bad, &c. P. and H. as if I ne'er bad, &c.

The fo's and R. read It inftead of

This.

All but the qu's and C. omit now. s All but the qu's and C. read o'eroffices; but o'er-reaches feems preferable, when applied to a politician, not as an infolent officer, but as a circumventing, fcheming man.

The fo's, R. P. and H. read could. u So the 2d and 3d qu's; the 1ft q. and all the other editions read fweet lord.

w So the qu's and C; all the reit read good lord.

x H. and 7. read fucb-a-one's.
y Qu's, a for be.

z The 1ft q. reads went for meant.

Ham.

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