Hamlets, I should say, handfuls of tragicall speeches.' I cannot determine exactly when this Epistle was first published; but, I fancy, it will carry the original Hamlet somewhat further back than we have hitherto done: and it may be observed, that the oldest copy now extant, is said to be enlarged to almost as much againe as it was. Gabriel Harvey printed at the end of the year 1592, Foure Letters and certaine Sonnetts, especially touching Robert Greene:' in one of which his Arcadia is mentioned. Now Nash's Epistle must have been previous to these, as Gabriel is quoted in it with applause; and the Foure Letters were the beginning of a quarrel. Nash replied in Strange News of the intercepting certaine Letters, and a Convoy of Verses, as they were going pri vilie to victual the Low Countries, 1595. Harvey rejoined the same year in Pierce's Supererogation, or a new Praise of the old Asse." And Nash again, in 'Have with you to Saffron Walden, or Gabriell Harvey's Hunt is up; containing a full answer to the eldest sonne of the halter-maker, 1596."— Nash died before 1606, as appears from an old comedy called The Return from Parnassus. STEEVENS. A play on the subject of Hamlet had been exhibited on the stage before the year 1589, of which Thomas Kyd was, I believe, the author. On that play, and on the bl. letter Historie of Hamblet, our poet, I conjecture, constructed the tragedy hefore us. The earliest edition of the prose-narrative which I have seen, was printed in 1608, but it undoubtedly was a republication. Shakspeare's Hamlet was written, if my conjecture be well founded, in 1596. See An Attempt to ascertain the Order of his Plays, MALONE. Page 2, line 3. Hamlet,] i; e. Amleth. The h transferred from the end to the beginning of the STEEVENS. name. P. 3, 1. 9. answer me: i. e. me who am already on the watch, and have a right to demand the watch-word. STEEVENS. P. 3, 1. 11. Long live the King!] This sentence appears to have been the watch-word. STEEVENS. P. 3, 1. 16. 'Tis now struck twelve;] I strongly suspect that the true reading is -new struck, &c. STEEVENS. P. 4, 1. 3. 4. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, ners. The rivals of my watch,] Rivals for part- By rivals the speaker certainly means partners (according to Dr. Warburton's explanation,) or those whom he expected to watch with him. Marcellus had watched with him before; whether as a centinel, a volunteer, or from mere curiosity, we do not learn: but, which ever it was, it seems evident that his station was on the same spot with Bernardo, and that there is no other centinel by them relieved. Possibly Marcellus was an officer, whose business it was to visit each watch, and perhaps to continue with it some time. Horatio, as it appears, watches out of curiosity. But in act II. sc. i. to Hamlet's question, Hold you the watch to-night?" Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo, all answer, "We do, my honour'd Lord." The folio indeed, reads - both, which one may with great propriety refer to Marcellus and Bernardo. If we did not find the latter gentleman in such good company, we might have taken him to have been like Francisco whom he relieves, an honest honest but common soldier. The strange indiscriminate use of Italian and Roman names in this and other plays, makes it obvious that the author was very little conversant in even the rudiments of either language. RITSON. Rival is constantly used by Shakspeare for a partner or associate. In Bullokar's English Expositor, 8vo. 1616, it is defined, "One that sueth for the same thing with another;" and hence Shakspeare, with his usual licence, always uses it in the sense of one engaged in the same employments or office with another. Competitor, which is explained by Bullokar by the very same words which he has employed in the definition of rival, is in like manner (as Mr. M. Mason has observed,) always used by Shakspeare for associate. M. Warner would read and point thus: If you do meet Horatio, and Marcellus because Horatio is a gentleman of no profession, and because, as he conceived, there was but one person on each watch. But there is no need of chauge. Horatio is certainly not an officer, but Hamlet's fellow-student at Wittenberg: but as he accompanied Marcellus and Bernardo on the watch from a motive of curiosity, our poet considers him very properly as an associate with them. Horatio himself says to Hamlet in a subsequent scene, "This to me "In dreadful secrecy impart they did, "And I with them the third night kept the watch." MALONE. P.4, 1. 18. A piece of him.] But why a piece? He says this as he gives his hand. Which direction should be marked. WARBURTON. VOL. XVII. 10 A piece of him, is, 1 believe, no more than a cant expression. It is used, however, on a serious occasion in Pericles. STEEVENS. P. 4, 1. 28. to watch the minutes of this night;] This seems to have been an expression common in Shakspeare's time. STEEVENS. P. 4, 1. 3c. He may approve our eyes,] Add a new testimony to that of our eyes. JOHNSON. He may make good the testimony of our eyes; be assured by his own experience of the truth of that which we have related, in consequence of having been eye-witnesses to it. To approve in Shakspeare's age, signified to make good, or establish. MALONE. P. 5, first 1. What we two nights have seen.} This line is by Sir T. Hanmer given to Marcellus, but without necessity. JoHNSON. P. 5, 1. 14. Thou art a scholar, speak to it, Horatio. It has always been a vulgar notion that spirits and supernatural beings can only be spoken to with propriety or effect by persons of learning. Thus the honest butler in Mr. Addison's Drummer, recommends the steward to speak Latin to the ghost in that play. REED. P. 5, 1. 17. it harrows me-] To harrow is to conquer, to subdue. The word is of Saxon origin. STEEvens. P. 6, 1. 9. parle,] This is one of the affected words introduced by Lyly. STEEVENS. P. 6, 1. 10. sledded-A sled, or sledge, is a carriage without wheels, made use of in the cold countries. STEEVENS. P. 6, 1. 10 mon editions. Polack- Pole-ax in the comHe speaks of a Prince of Polaud He uses the word Po- whom he slew in battle. lack again, Act II. sc. iv. Polack was, in that age, the term for an inhabitant of Poland: Polaque, French. JOHNSON. All the old copies have Polax. Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors read Polack; but the corrupted word shews, I think, that Shakspeare wrote - Polacks. MALONE. With Polack for Polander, the transcriber, or printer, might have no acquaintance; he therefore substituted pole-ax as the only word of like sound that was familiar to his ear. Unluckily, however, it happened that the singular of the latter has the same sound as the plural of the former. Hence it has been supposed that Shakspeare meant to write Polacks. We cannot well suppose that in a parley the King belaboured many, as it is not likely that provocation was given by more than one, or that on such an occasion he would have condescended to strike a meaner person than a Prince. STEEVENS. P. 6, l. 12. and jump at this dead hour,] So, the 4to. 1604. The folio-just. STeevens. The correction was probably made by the author. JOHNSON. --- In the folio we sometimes find a familiar word substituted for one more ancient. MALONE. Jump and just were synonymous in the time of Shakspeare. Ben Jonson speaks of verses made on jump names, i. e. names that suit exactly. STEEVENS. P. 6, 1. 15. In what particular thought to work,] What particular STEEVENS. train of thinking to follow. P. 6, l. 17. thoughts, and tendency at large. JOHNSON. in the gross and scope] General |