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Line 299. and unnatural sleep ;] Shakspeare alludes to the sleep of Juliet, which was unnatural, being brought on by drugs.

STEEVENS.

Line 396. I will be brief,] It is much to be lamented, that the poet did not conclude the dialogue with the action, and avoid a narrative of events which the audience already knew. JOHNSON. Line 396. my short date of breath

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Is not so long as is a tedious tale.] So, in the 91st Psalm: " -when thou art angry, all our days are gone; we bring our years to an end, as it were a tale that is told." MAL. Line 467. Have lost a brace of kinsmen :] Mercutio and Paris : Mercutio is expressly called the prince's kinsman in Act III. sc. iv. and that Paris also was the prince's kinsman, may be inferred from the following passages. Capulet, speaking of the count in the fourth Act, describes him as " a gentleman of princely parentage," and, after he is killed, Romeo says:

66

-Let me peruse this face;

"Mercutio's kinsman, noble county Paris."

MALONE.

Line 482. Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished:] This seems to be not a resolution in the prince, but a reflection on the various dispensations of Providence: for who was there that could justly be punished by any human law? EDWARDS'S MSS.

END OF THE ANNOTATIONS ON ROMEO AND JULIET.

ANNOTATIONS

ON

HAMLE T.

ACT I. SCENE I.

LINE 4. Long live the king!] This sentence appears to have

been the watch-word.

MALONE.

Line 17. The rivals of my watch,] Rivals for partners.

63.

WARBURTON.

-it harrows me &c.] To harrow is to conquer, to

STEEVENS.

subdue. Line 89. He smote the sledded Polack on the ice.] Polack was, in that age, the term for an inhabitant of Poland: Polaque, French. Sled, is a sledge, and a carriage without wheels used in the cold countries.

gross and scope-] General thoughts, and ten

JOHNSON.

Line 96. dency at large. Line 118. -by law, and heraldry,] i. e. to be well ratified by the rules of law, and the forms prescribed jure feciali; such as proclamation, &c.

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MALONE.

And carriage of the article design'd,] Co-mart is,

I suppose, a joint bargain, a word perhaps of our poet's coin

age.

Line 125. And carriage of the article design'd,] import design'd is formed, drawn up between them.

MALONE.

Carriage is
JOHNSON.

Line 131. That hath a stomach in't :] Stomach, in the time of

our author, was used for constancy, resolution.

JOHNSON.

JOHNSON.

Line 140. Well may it sort,] The cause and effect are proportionate and suitable. Line 144.

149.

-palmy state of Rome,] Palmy, for victorious.

and the moist star, &c.] i. e. the moon.

РОРЕ.

MALONE.

— 152. And even-] Not only such prodigies have been seen in Rome, but the elements have shown our countrymen like forerunners and foretokens of violent events. JOHNSON.

Line 159. If thou hast any sound,] The speech of Horatio to the spectre is very elegant and noble, and congruous to the common traditions of the causes of apparitions. JOHNSON.

Line 186. Whether in sea, &c.] According to the pneumatology of that time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order of spirits, who had dispositions different, according to their various places of abode. The meaning therefore is, that all spirits extravagant, wandering out of their element, whether aërial spirits visiting earth, or earthly spirits ranging the air, return to their station, to their proper limits in which they are con fined. JOHNSON, Line 187. The extravagant-] i. e. got out of his bounds.

of wandering. Line 196. or diseases.

WARBURTON.

-erring spirit,] Erring is here used in the sense
STEEVENS.
No fairy takes,] No fairy strikes with lameness
This sense of take is frequent in this author.

Line 240.

ACT I. SCENE II.

-to suppress

JOHNSON.

His further gait herein,] Gate or gait is here used

in the northern sense, for proceeding, passage.

PERCY.

די

Line 247. -more than the scope-] More is comprized in the general design of these articles, which you may explain in a more diffused and dilated style. JOHNSON.

Line 281. Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind.] Kind is the Teutonick word for child. Hamlet therefore answers with propriety, to the titles of cousin and son, which the king had given him, that he was somewhat more than cousin, and less than son. JOHNSON.

Line 284.

-too much the sun.] I question whether a

quibble between sun and son be not here intended. FARMER. -vailed lids-] With lowering eyes, cast down

Line 288.

eyes.

Line 314.

JOHNSON.

JOHNSON.

obsequious sorrow:] Obsequious is here from obsequies, or funeral ceremonies. Line 334. Do I impart toward you.] I believe impart is, impart myself, communicate whatever I can bestow. JOHNSON. Line 348. No jocund health,] The king's intemperance is very strongly impressed; every thing that happens to him gives him occasion to drink. JOHNSON.

Line 353.

same as dissolve.

Line 361.

—resolve itself into a dew!] Resolve means the

—merely.] is entirely, absolutely. 364. So excellent a king; that was, to this,

STEEVENS.

STEEVENS.

Hyperion to a satyr:] This similitude at first sight seems to be a little far-fetched; but it has an exquisite beauty. By the Satyr is meant Pan, as by Hyperion, Apollo. Pan and Apollo were brothers, and the allusion is to the contention between those gods for the preference in musick. WARBURTON. Line 392. I'll change that name-] I'll be your servant, you shall be friend. JOHNSON.

Line 394.

you doing.

Line 411.

my

-what make you—] A familiar phrase for what are JOHNSON. the funeral buk'd meats-] It was anciently the

general custom to give a cold entertainment to mourners at a funeral.

COLLINS.

-dearest foe in heaven-] Dearest for direst, JOHNSON.

Line 414.

most dreadful, most dangerous.

Line 427. Season your admiration.—] That is, temper it. JOHNS.

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