From the first corse, till he that died to-day, As of a father: for let the world take note, Than that which dearest father bears his son, ▲ And, with no less nobility of love,] Nobility, for magnitude. Nobility is rather generosity. Johnson. Warburton. By nobility of love, Mr. Heath understands, eminence and distinction of love. Malone. So, afterwards, the Ghost, describing his affection for the Queen: "To me, whose love was that of dignity" &c. Steevens. 5 Do I impart toward you.] I believe impart is, impart myself, communicate whatever I can bestow. Johnson. The crown of Denmark was elective. So, in Sir Ciyomon, Knight of the Golden Shield, &c. 1599: "And me possess for spoused wife, who in election am "To have the crown of Denmark here, as heir unto the same." The king means, that as Hamlet stands the fairest chance to be next elected, he will strive with as much love to ensure the crown to him, as a father would show in the continuance of heirdom to a son. Steevens. I agree with Mr. Steevens, that the crown of Denmark (as in most of the Gothick kingdoms) was elective, and not hereditary; though it must be customary, in elections, to pay some attention to the royal blood, which by degrees produced hereditary succession. Why then do the rest of the commentators so often treat Claudius as an usurper, who had deprived young Hamlet of his right by heirship to his father's crown? Hamlet calls him drunkard, murderer, and villain; one who had carried the election by low and mean practices; had had 66 Popp'd in between the election and my hopes "From a shelf the precious diadem stole, but never hints at his being an usurper. His discontent arose from his uncle's being preferred before him, not from any legal right which he pretended to set up to the crown. Some regard was probably had to the recommendation of the preceding prince, in electing the successor. And therefore young Hamlet had "the voice of the king himself for his succession in Denmark;" and he at his own death prophecies that "the election would light on Fortinbras, who had his dying voice," conceiving that by the death of his uncle, he himself had been king for In going back to school in Wittenberg, Queen. Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet; an instant, and had therefore a right to recommend. When, in the fourth Act, the rabble wished to choose Laertes king, I understand that antiquity was forgot, and custom violated, by electing a new king in the life-time of the old one, and perhaps also by the calling in a stranger to the royal blood. Blackstone. 6 ―to school in Wittenberg,] In Shakspeare's time there was an university at Wittenberg, to which he has made Hamlet propose to return. The university of Wittenberg was not founded till 1502, consequently did not exist in the time to which this play is referred. Malone. Our author may have derived his knowledge of this famous university from The Life of Iacke Wilton, 1594, or The History of Doctor Faustus, of whom the second report (printed in the same year) is said to be "written by an English gentleman, student at Wittenberg, an University of Germany in Saxony." Ritson. - bend you to remain —] i. e. subdue your inclination to go from hence, and remain, &c. Steevens. 8 Sits smiling to my heart:] Thus, the dying Lothario: "That sweet revenge comes smiling to my thoughts." Steevens. Sits smiling to my heart :] Surely it should be: Sits smiling on my heart. Ritson. To my heart, I believe, signifies-near to, close, next to, my heart. Steevens. 9 No jocund health,] The King's intemperance is very strongly impressed; every thing that happens to him gives him occasion to drink. Johnson. 1 the king's rouse - i. e. the king's draught of jollity. See Othello, Act II, sc. iii. Steevens. So, in Marlowe's Tragical Historie of Doctor Faustus: "He tooke his rouse with stoopes of Rhennish wine." Ritson. Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away. [Exeunt King, Queen, Lords, &c. PoL and Laer. d There any blessing; blessing with you th you. these for precepts in the opennes Look the character. Gist thy thought's any unproportioned thought his act thon familiar, but by no means belge." friends thon hast, and their adoption this iple them to thy soul with hooks. Bewan. do crot dull thy palm with entertaine ch new hatched, un fledged comrade. heaven to a guacell; but, being in. France it that the every opposed mand thine may Auch man's censend. 1 beware of Ince. The bora. Hut fero but reservs thy habit as thy purse can_ Лиш . Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away. [Exeunt King, Queen, Lords, &c. PoL. and LAER. Ham. O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew !2 Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fy on 't! O fy! 'tis an unweeded garden, That grows to seed; things rank, and gross in nature, 2 resolve itself into a dew!] Resolve means the same as dissolve. Ben Jonson uses the word in his Volpone, and in the same sense: "Forth the resolved corners of his eyes." Again, in The Country Girl, 1647 : my swoln grief, resolved in these tears." Pope has employed the same word in his version of the second Iliad, 44: “Resolves to air, and mixes with the night." Steevens. 3 Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!] The generality of the editions read-cannon, as if the poet's thought were, Or that the Almighty had not planted his artillery, or arms of vengeance, against self-murder. But the word which I restored (and which was espoused by the accurate Mr. Hughes, who gave an edition of this play) is the true reading, i. e. that he had not restrained suicide by his express law and peremptory prohibition. Theobald. There are yet those who suppose the old reading to be the true one, as they say the word fixed scems to decide very strongly in its favour. I would advise such to recollect Virgil's expression: fixit leges pretio, atque refixit." Steevens. If the true reading wanted any support, it might be found in Cymbeline: 66 'gainst self-slaughter "There is a prohibition so divine, In Shakspeare's time canon (norma) was commonly spelt cannon. Malone. 4 - merely.] is entirely, absolutely. See Vol. II, p. 12, n. 2; and Coriolanus, Act III, sc. i, Vol. XIII. Steevens. 5 So excellent a king; that was, to this, Hyperion to a satyr:] This similitude at first sight seems to |