2807
7 3 <
0
5
6
2
3
6
5
Plumptre
Observations on
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
HAMLET.
PRICE TWO SHILLINGS.
ENTERED AT STATIONER'S HALL,
Lately publiflied,
BY THE SAME AUTHOR,
O S W A Y:
A T R A G E D T.
FRICE TWO SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE.
AND
THE COVENTRY ACT;
A C 0 M E D T
PRICE ONE SHILLING AND SIXPENCE.
OBSERVATIONS
O N
HAMLET;
AND ON THE MOTIVES WHICH MOST PROBABLY INDUCED
SfrAKSPEARE
TO FIX UPON THE STORY OF
FROM THE DANISH CHRONICLE OF
6AXO GRAMMATICUS,
FOR THE PLOT OF THAT TRAGEDY:
BEING AN ATTEMPT TO PROVE THAT HE DESIGNED IT AS
AN INDIRECT CENSURE ON
£lueen of
BY JAMES PLUMPTRE, M. A.
SEASON YOUR ADMIRATION FOR AWHILE,
TILL I MAY DELIVER THIS MARVEL TO YOU.
HAMLET*
CAMBRIDGE,
PRINTED BY J. SURGES PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY;
AND SOLD BY W. H. LUNN AND J. DEIGHTON, CAMBRIDC*;
CROUSB, STEVENSON, AND MATCHETT, NORWICH
G. G. J. AND J. ROBINSON, PATER-NO3TER-ROW
T. HOOKHAM, BOND-STREET; AND T.ECERTO.'V
WHITE-HALL, LONDON.
MDCCXCVJ.
PR
.2*07
ADVERT IS EMENT.
1 HE Author of thefe Obfervations
is aware that hafte is in general a badexcufe for incor-
rectnefs ; yet he hopes (bme allowances will be made
him on that account in the prefent publication. Hav-
ing inadvertently mentioned, what he deemed a difco-
very before he had invefligatecJ the fubject, or intended
publifhing his Obfervations on k% a fear of being antici-
pated has induced him to hurry the work through the
prefs as faft as poflible. Some improvements might be
made in the arrangement of the Arguments; but
many of them have been added while the work was
going through the prefs, and after the parts to which
they more properly belonged were printed off.
CLARE HALL,
FEJ5. 22, 1796.
869799
ERRATA.
i'age 3, Note 3, Line ai, for conclude read conclude,
., . - 6, No.te 6, for Jutora.m read Jutor\iim»
. . 2^> Line 9, for row£ read cime.
. • 29, Note, for allusion read allukon.
— 30, Line 1 5, for improbabilities read inconftftcnrics*
OBSERVATIONS
O N
HAMLET, &c.
WHEN we confider the immenfe bulk to which
the later editions of the works of our immor-
tal Dramatift are fwelled, it naturally leads us to
imagine that Jnduftry muft have exhaufted all her
patience, and Ingenuity her conjectures, in attempting
to elucidate his unrivalled compofitions. Yet the
contrary appears to be the real flate of the cafe, and
the prefs ftill teems with new Shakfpeares and frefli
Shakfpeariana. This " vaft garden of criticifm" ftill
puts forth its flowers and its weeds, and invites the
attention of the labourer and the florift. A foli-
tary wanderer, in cafually pafling through this delight-
ful fpot, has accidentally difcovered a flower, which
appears to have hitherto efcaped the notice of its more
ftudious admirers.
A When
When the Author of thefe Obfervations was read-
ing lately, in Mr. Tyder's " Inquiry into the Evidence
again!! Mary Queen of Scots1," the account of the
various artifices ufed by Queen Elizabeth to blacken the
fame of that unfortunate Princefs; it occurred to him,
from the fimilarity of the flories, that Shakfpeare had
perhaps written his Tragedy of Hamlet to flatter the
prejudices of his miftrefs, and exhibit to the world an
indirect crimination of her injured rival j what, at
that time, appeared to him to be a probable conjecture,
an invefligation of the fubject has ripened into con-
viction.
Lord Orford has fhewn *, with equal ingenuity and
probability, that our incomparable Bard wrote his
Winter's Tale as an indirect apology for Anne Boleyn,
the mother of Elizabeth. He who could write an
allegorical apology, would well know how to write an
allegorical cenfure.
In the Midfummer Night's Dream, written in
1592, he has paid a compliment to Elizabeth at the
expence of Mary 3. It is certain then that he had
no
i A book which for depth of refearch, foundnefs of reafoning,
and humanity and candour of fentiment, (hews the author to be
at once the gentleman, and the fcholar.
|[a Hiftoric Doubts, p. 114.
3 Thou remember'ft
Since once I fat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back.
Uttering fuch dulcet 'and harmonious breath,
That
[ 3 1
no fcruples of delicacy towards her, even after her
death4. And he, who could write thus in 1592,
would
That the nide Tea grew civil at the fong ;
And certain ftars (hot madly from their fpheres,
To hear the fea-maid's mufick.
That very time I faw, (but thou could'ft not)
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
- Cupid all arm'd : a certain aim he took
At a fair veftal, throned by the weft;
And loos'd his love-fhaft fmartly from his bow,
As it fhould pierce an hundred thoufand hearts:
But I might fee young Cupid's fiery (haft
Quench'd in the chafte beams of the watery moon ;
And the imperial votrefs patted on,
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
" The firft thing obfervable on thefe words (fays Dr. Warburton)
is, that this action of the mermaid is laid in the fame time and place
with Cupid's attack upon the <vejial. By the vejlal every one
knows is meant Queen ElLsabeth. It is very natural and rea-
fonable then to think that the mermaid Hands for fome eminent
perfonage of her time. And, if fo, the allegorical covering, in
which there is a mixture of fatire and panegyric, will lead us to
couclude, that this perfon was one of whom it had been inconvenient
for the author to fpeak openly, either in praife or difpraife. All
this agrees with Mary Queen of Scots, and with no other. Queen
Elizabeth could not bear to hear her commended ; and her fuccefibr
would not » >rgive her fatyrift. But the Poet has fo well marked
out every diftinguifhed circumftance of her life and charader ia
this beautiful allegory, as will leave no room to doubt about his
fecond meaning. She is called a mermaid, \ . to denote her reign
ovej- a kingdom fituate in the fea, and 2. her beauty, and intempe-
rate luft :
" ! -Ut turpiter atrum
" Definat in pifceni mulierforniofafuperne"
for as Elizabeth, for her chaftity, is called a ve/ial, this unfortunate
lady, on a contrary account, is called a mermaid. 3. An ancient
ftory may be fappoied to be here alluded to. The emperor Julian
A 2-
[ 4 ]
would not hefitate four years after (1596, the year
Hamlet
tells us, Epiftle 41. that the Sirens (which, with all the modern
poets, are mermaids] contended for precedency with the Mufes,
who overcoming them took away their wings. The quarrels
between Mary and Elizabeth had the fame caufe and the fame iflue.
on a dolphin's back,] This evidently marks
out that diftinguiftiing circumftance of Mary's fortune, her mar-
riage with the Dauphin (formerly fpelt Dolphin) of France, fon of
Henry II.
Uttering fuch dulcet and harmonious breath, ~\ This alludes to her
great abilities of genius and learning, which rendered her the
moft accompliflied princefs of her age. The French writers tell
us, that, while me was in that court, me pronounced a Latin oration
in the great hall of the Louvre, with fo much grace and eloquence,
as filled the whole court with admiration.
That the rude fea grew civil at her fong ;] By the rude fea is
meant Scotland encircled with the ocean ; which rofe up in arms
againft the regent, while (he was in France. But her return home
prefently quieted thefe diforders : and had not her ftrange ill con-
duel afterwards more violently inflamed them, me might have parted
her whole live in peace. There is the greater juftnefs and beauty
in this image, as the vulgar opinion is, that the mermaid always
fmgs in ftorms :
And certain Jiar s Jhot madly from their fpheres
To hear the feu-maid's mujifk.~\ Thus concludes the defcrip-
tion, with that remarkable circumftance of this unhappy lady's
fate, the deftruftion me brought upon feveral of the Englifti nobi-
lity, whom me drew in to fupport her caufe. This, in the boldeft
expreffion of the fublime, the poet images by certain Jiars Jhooting
madly from their fpheres : By which he meant the Earls of Northum-
berland and Weftmorland, who fell in her quarrel ; and principally
the great Duke of Norfolk, whofe projected marriage with her
was attended with fuch fatal confequences. Here again the reader
may obferve a peculiar juftnefs in the imagery. The vulgar
opinion being that the mermaid allured men to deltru&ion by her
fongs. To which opinion Snakfpeare alludes in his Comedy of
Errors*
« O train
[ 5 1
Hamlet was written5) flill farther to flatter his mif-
trefs by adding his drop to the flood of calumny
poured out againft her rival.
Shakfpeare had a ftory at hand, moil admirably
adapted for this purpofe, in the Danim Chronicle of
Saxo Grammaticus : a ftory which was, in many re-
fpects, fo exactly the counterpart of the calumnies
circulated againft Mary, that it feemed, as Mr. Ma-
lone obferves of that of Doraflus and Fawnia, which
furnimed the plot for the Winter's Tale, alm'oft to
force the fubject upon him ; and, where he has made
alterations, they appear to be for the purpofe of adapt-
ing the ftory ftill farther to his defign. The ftory
indeed is fo extremely pointed, that, unlefs Shak-
fpeare wifhed to apply it to Mary, its fimilarity would
have been a fufficient reafon for rejecting it.
It
" O train me not,fweet mermaid, with thy note,
" To drown me in thy ftfter' 's flood of tears."
On the whole, it is the nobleft and jufteft allegory that was ever
written. The laying it in fairy land, and out of nature, is in
the chara&er of the fpeaker. And on thefe occafions Shakfpeare
always excels himfelf. He is born away by the magic of his en-
thufiafm, and hurries his reader along with him into thefe ancient
regions of poetry, by that power of verfe, which we may well
fancy to be like what :
• dim Fauni Vatefque canebant."
This very able note is given at full length, as its own merit and
its happy illuftration of our author's mode of allegorizing will
throw a farther light on thefe pages*
4 She was beheaded Feb. 8. 1587.
§ Vide " Malone's Attempt." Vol. I. p. 304.
L 6 ]
It will be advifeable to take a view of the refpeo
tive ftories, and then to coniider them as tending to
eftabliih or overthrow this hypothefis.
A brief abftract of the (lory of AMLETH, taken
from the 3d and 4th books of the Danifh Chronicle
of Saxo Grammaticus.
In the reign of Roderic, King of Denmark, Hor-
wendillus and Fengo, fons of Gerwendillus, had the
garrifon of Jutland committed to -their care6. Hor-
wendillus, who was the braved pirate on the feas, was
envied by Coller, King of Norway, for the glory of
his actions. Coller failed in purfuit of him, engaged
him, and was ilain ; Horwendillus put to death the
King of Norway's fitter, Sela; and, having given
proofs of his valour for three years, he prefents his
fpoils to Roderic to fecure his friendfhip. After liv-
ing fome time in intimacy with him, he obtains the
King's daughter Geruth in marriage, and had a fon,
named Amleth, by her.
Fengo, fired with envy at his brother's . happineft,
refolves to ruin him by treachery. An opportunity
offers, and he embrues his hands in his blood 7. He
wins
6 Eodem tempore Horwendillus et Fengo, quorum pater
Gerwendillus Jutoram prsefe&us extiterat, eldem a Roderico La
Jutiae prsiidium furrogantur. At Horwendillus triennio tyran-
nide gefta, .&c.
7 At ubi datas parricidio locus, cruenta manu fune{la,m mentis
libidinem fatiavit.
[ 1 ]
\vins over, his brother's wife by diffembling the motives
of his villainy, and adds inceft to the horrid crime ot"
fratricide.
Amleth feigns madnefs, that he may not awaken
fufpicions in his uncle's breaft by an over-prudent care
for his fafety, and covers his real defigns by that ar-
tifice.
Amleth's madnefs being fufpeclied as feigned, va-
rious flratagems are tried to afcertain the truth of it,
but without fuccefs. It is at laft fuggefted to Fengo
that he fliould withdraw himfelf, under the pretence
of bufinefs of importance, and Amleth be fhut up
with his mother in her apartment ; firft taking care
to have fome one concealed in a fecret place, un-
known to either of them, who mould over-hear all
their converfation, thinking Amleth would difcover
his real ftate to his mother.
Fengo acquiefces in the plot, and the framer of it
conceals himfelf in the chamber where Amleth and
his mother meet. Amlerh fufpectin-g the deiign, dif-
covers and kills him.
Fengo at length refolves to deftroy Amleth, but
being afraid, on account of his grandfather Roderic
and his mother, he purpofes to have him put to death
by weans of the King of Britain.
Amleth,
[ 8 ]
Amleth, defiring his mother to report him dead at
the end of a year, and to celebrate his obfequies in
the hall, which he directs to be hung with hangings
for that purpofe ; and, promifing to return at the time,
departs with two of Fengo's officers, who carry with
them letters to the King of Britain, defiring him to
make away with the young man in queftion.
Amleth difcovers thefe letters while they are fleep-
ing, and fubftitutes others in their place, defiring the
death of the attendants, and that the King of Britain
would give his daughter in marriage to Amleth.
The King complies with the purport of the letters,
difpatches the attendants, and gives his daughter in
marriage to Amleth.
After a year, Amleth returns to Jutland, and enters
the hall, while his obfequies are celebrating. He plies
the nobles with wine, till they fall afleep with the ex-
cefs, when he fecures them all by means of the hang-
ings, which are let down upon them and fattened, and
fetting fire to the room, deftroys them all, except
Fengo, who had retired to his apartment ; he follows
him, and there ftabs him with a fword.
Amleth convenes the nobles, juftifies his conduct
to them, and is proclaimed King8.
Let
8 Rex alacri cun&orum acclamatione cenfetur.
[ 9 1
Let us now compare the leading circumftanpes of
this ftory with the fallhoods circulated of Mary
It was faid that fhe had concurred ia the murder of
her hufband, and immediately married his murderer,
the Earl of Both well. By her former hufband me had
a fon, James the Sixth, who married the Princefs
Anne of Denmark. After James's return from this
marriage, he was conlpired againft by many of the
nobles.
if'
The plot of Shakfpeare's Play, 'as far as regards the
principal characters, is as follows :
Hamlet, King of Denmark, was poiibned. by his
brother Claudius, who ufurps his throne and marries
his widow. The ghoft of the deceafed King appears
to his fon Hamlet, informs him that he was poifoned
in his garden by his brother, who " won to his fhame-
ful luft the will of his moft feem ing-virtuous Queen,"
and was at once bereft " of life, of crown, of Queen."
Hamlet {wears to revenge the murder; and, the
better to conceal his defigns, 'feigns madnefs, which
the King fufpecting, and being offended likewife with
a reprefentation of his wickednefs, which Hamlet
caufes to be played before him, refolves to fend him to
England to demand the payment of the tribute
which had been neglected.
B Polo-
Polonius, in the mean time, advifes that the Queen
mall fend for Hamlet, and queftion him in private as
to his behaviour, while he conceals himfelf to over-
hear the conveffation. On Hamlet's behaving with
fonie harfhnefs to his mother, me cries out, Polonius
anfwers her, and Hamlet ftabs him while behind the
arras,
Hamlet then fets off for England* accompanied by
two lords, who carry letters to fhe K^ng requesting him
to put Hamlet to death on his arrival. Hamlet difco-
vers thefe, and fubftitutes others in their place, defir-
.ing the King of England to put the bearers to death.
/
Hamlet, falling into the hands of. pirates, is fet on
fhorc in Denmark at his own requeft, and returns to
the King, who incites Laertes to murder him by
treachery in a fencing-match. Both fall in the en-
counter ; the Queen dies by poifon, which the King
intended for her fon, and he himfelf is (lain by Hamlet,
The firft obfervation to be made on the difference
of thefe (lories is, that there is fome obfcurity refpect-
ing the nature of the poft which Horwendillus held
in Jutland. It appears that he was only prjfeflus and
a pirate, but we fee immediately- after the words " ty-
rannlde gefta," as if it was a kingdom. And after the
murder
t II ]
murder of Fen^o, Amleth te cenfetur rex" It appears
firft, that the garrifon of Jutland was given to the
brothers by Roderic, King of Denmark, in whofe do-
minions it was. It does not appear that Horwendil-
Jus fucceeded Coller after he had ilain him, for Fengo
ufurped Horwendillus* poft, whatever it was, and
the hiftory exprefsly fays that Amleth returned from
England to Jutland. Amleth's mother, it is true,
was daughter of Roderic, but her hufband was not a
King by her means, for when Fengo was murdered,
Roderic was King of Denmark, and was, at his death,
fucceeded by Viglet, who ufurped the kingdom from
Amleth. The mother in the Chronicle is never
called regina, nor Fengo rex.
Thefe obfervations are made becaufe Shakfpeare
has put it beyond a doubt, and makes his characters
a King and a Queen : no doubt to bring the flory
nearer to his purpofe.
In the Hyjlone of Hamblett, quoted by Mr. Malone,
from which he fuppofes this Play to be taken, we find,
" The counfellour entered fecretly into the §>ueen's
chamber." This book, whence the quotation is
taken, is dated 1608, but was a ^publication, ac-
cording to Mr. Malone : the author has not had an
opportunity to confult the book, and therefore has
taken his extracts from Mr. Malone's. But, as this
is undoubtedly borrowed, and, in the extracts he has
feen, nearly copied from the Chronicle, which is fo
B 2 obfcure,
C « ]
obfcure, it mightperhaps be altered andpublifhed from
the fame motives as he fuppofes Shakfpeare to have
been actuated by ; or it might be publimed after the
firft appearance of the play, as being a popular tale,
and while the tragedy was not yet publimed. We
have feen in later times the ufe of republifhing
old ftories, and extracts from old books, to ferve the
purpofe of party.
He has alfo removed the Empire from Jutland to
Denmark, as no doubt Denmark was uppermofl in
his mind ; the fon of his Queen having married a
princefs of that country.
Another obfervation is, that in the play fcene
Hamlet fays, " Gonzago is the Duke's name," which
is the reading of all the old copies. In the ftage direc-
tion for the dumb-mew and the fubfequent entrance it
is " Enter a King and Queen,'* and that Shakfpeare
meant the characters mould be fo called throughout I
have no doubt. For when Hamlet is informed that the
players are coming, he fays " he that plays the King
fhall be welcome," as it was his intention to have a
play reprefented before the King his uncle', the pic-
ture of his own villainy, to " catch his confcience."
For
9 One fcene of it comes near the circumftance,
Which I have told thee, of my father's death.
• • • *
Obferve my uncle : if his acculted guilt
Do not itfelf unkennel in one fpeech,
It is a damned ghoft that we have feen.
[ '3 ]
For this purpofe, Hamlet fuperintends the perform-
ance, and " has a fpeech of fome dozen or fixteen
lines inferted in it," to make it the more applicable.
Mr. Malone makes no doubt but there was a play,
of the fame nature with this, introduced in the old
play of Hamlett, which is now loft ; and that Shak-
fpeare took his idea from that. This conjecture is
extremely probable, and alfo that the character in the
main, as well as the fecondary play of that, was per-
haps a Duke, which Shakfpeare, for his own purpofe,
altered to a King, but, in the copying or tranfcribing,
overlooked this place j and let the old word ftand.
In the chronicle the mother is reprefented as not
being acceffary to the murder of her hufband. The
Hyftorie likewife appears to exculpate her x. Shaklpeare
has
1 Vide Mr. Malone's note upon " As kill a king !" Vol. 9.
p. 331. Where he feems to think, from the following pafTage,
that the Queen is reprefented as guilty.
«' The unfortunate and wicked woman that had received the ho-
nour to be the wife of one of the valianteft and wifeft princes in
the north, imbafed herfelf in fuch vile fort as to falfifie her faith
unto him, and, which is worfe, to marrie him that had bin the
tyrannous murtherer of her lawful hufband ; -which made diverfe
men think that Jhe had bin the caufer of tht mutther, thereby to
live in her adulterie without controls."
But it rather mould feem from this that the Htftorian thought her
not guilty, as he only gives the opinion of others ; that " diverfe
men thought {he had bin the caufer of the murther," becaufe fl me
had married the murderer of her lawful hufband." And the fol-
lowing paflage favours this idea, or elfe the two paflages contradict
each other :
'• —much
[ 14 ]
has therefore unnecefTarily deviated from thefe,unlefs he
meant to join the general accufation againft the injured
Queen. For that he has reprefented her as acceffary
appears not to admit a doubt j and the following lines
feem particularly levelled againft JMary ; the player
Queen fays
In fecond hufband let me be accurft !
None wed the fecond, but who kill'd the firft.
To which Hamlet— -who had ordered the play as a
trial of innocence — replies " that's wormwood" and
afks his mother pointedly afterwards
" Madam how like you this play ?"
by which he plainly meant to criminate her ; and, in
the clofet fcene which follows, after he has killed Po-
lonius, and the Queen exclaims againft it as a " bloody
deed," he replies,
A bloody deed ! almoft as bad, good mother,
As kill a King, and marry with his brother.
Which immediately convicting her guilty confcience,
in furprize that her guilt is difcovered, me exclaims,
" As kill a King I" When Hamlet perfeveres and
anfwers " Ay, Lady, 'twas my word."
The ghoft tells Hamlet that his brother " won to
his fhameful luft the will of his moft feeming-virtuous
Queen," before his murder ; and, though he dcfires
him
" " ••••much lefs offer me that wrong tofufpett that ever thy
mother Geruth once ccnfented to the death and murther of her hujband :
fwearing unto thee by the majefty of the Gods, that if it had layne
in me to have refilled the tyrant, although it had beene with the
lofle of my bloode, yea and of my life, I would furely have faved
the life of my lord and hufband."
t '5 1
him not to " contrive aught againft her, but leave
her to Heaven and to thole thorns that in her bofom
lodge to prick and fling her," yet he never exculpates
her from the murder ; a plain argument, that (he was
guilty. Nor does me ever attempt to clear herfelf.
See alfo Hamlet's exclamation after the ghoft has
left him : " O moil pernicious woman !"
Alfo, af ter the. play > when Guildenflern fays to Ham-
let that " The Queen, your mother, in moft great
affliction of fpirity hath fent me to you." He replies,
•' You are welcome," as if he deligned it to touch her.
It is alfo obfervable that the chronicle does not
reprefent the mother as being depraved till after the
murder of her hufband. Mary was accufed of adul-
tery with Bothwell before the death of Lord Darnley.
In the chronicle no direct mention is made of the
means by which Fengo affected the murder of his
brother. It rather appears by cruenta manu that he
ftabbed him.
Some time before the death of Lord Darnley, he
was feized with a very dangerous and violent dif-
temper, which was imagined to be trie effed ofpoifon :
he however got the better of it. The manner of his
death was myflerious : the houfe in which he lodged
was blown up at night with gunpowder, and his body
was found lying in an adjacent garden, untouched by
3 fire,
fire, and with no bruife or mark of violence about
him.
How much nearer is Shakfpeare's account of the
murder of the King to this circumftance than to the
chronicle:
'Tis given out, that Jleeping in my orchard^
A ferpent ftung me.
Jleeping within mine orchard,
My cuftom always of the afternoon,
Upon my fecure hour thy uncle ftole,
"Withjuicf of turfed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of mine ears did pour
The leperous diftillment.
Act. i. Scene 4.
He poifons himi'the GARDEN for his eftate.
Ad 3. S. 2.
To a Shakfpearian mind no doubt there is already
fufficient evidence whereon to reft the hypothefis ;
bur, as fome readers will perhaps require further proof,
it may be ufeful, in addition to the fketch of the Danim
Chronicle, the calumnies circulated againft Mary and
the plot of the play, already given, to fubjoin the
ftory of Doraftus and Fawnia, on which the Winter's
Tale is founded, and from which, (as no one refufes to
acknowledge) Shakfpeare has adapted an indirect apo-
logy for Anne Boleyn j and ihew that the parallel in
that
t -7 1
that is neither fo obvious, nor the (lory fo much al-
tered for the particular purpofe as the one in queflion.
After that, fome additional arguments in favour
of the hypothecs mail be fubjoined.
A brief ABSTRACT of the
STORY OF DORASTUS AND FAWNtA,
WRITTEN BY ROBERT GREENE.
Pandofto, King of Bohemia, married Bellaria, a
princefs of great beauty and virtue. In due time me
was delivered of a fon, to whom the King gave the
name of Garrinter. Pandofto had from his youth
cultivated a friendfhip with Egiftus King of Sicily.
Egiflus, eager to mew his regard for Pandofto, paid
him a vifit to congratulate him upon his marriage and
the birth of his fon.
Bellaria received him with great kindnefs and atten-
tion at the requeft of Pandofto ; who, notwithftand-
ing it was his own delire, looked upon thefe marks of
favour with a jealous eye, and, conceiving a violent
hatred for Egiftus, employed his cup-bearer Franion
to poifon him. Franion acquaints Egiftus with the
plot again his life, and, laying a plan for his efcape,
fled with him into Sicily.
On the flight of Egiftus, Pandofto accufed Bellaria
of adultery, who was foon after delivered of a female
C child,
child, which Pandofto determined to murder together
with her mother. His lords obtained from him a pro-
mife not to deftroy the infant, and the Queen perfuaded
him to confult the Oracle at Delphos on her fufpe&ed
infidelity. Pandoflo caufed the child to be expofed
in a boat at fea, and the Oracle foon after declared
Bellaria innocent. Garrinter, at this time, died, and
the contending pafllons in Bellaria, of joy for the de-
claration of her innocence and grief for the death of
her fon, put a period to her life.
Bellaria's infant daughter was carried by the waves
to the coaft of Sicily, where flie was found by a fhep-
herd, and brought up as his own, giving her the name
of Fawnia. Doraftus, fon to Egiftus, when Faw-
nia was grown up, fell in love with her, and, fearing
his father's oppofition in his wifh to marry a fhepherd's
daughter, determined to carry her off to Italy and there
marry her. The fhip in which he failed was driven
by a ftorm to the coaft of Bohemia, where, fearing
the rage of Pandoflo, fhould he difcover his real con-
dition, he panned by a feigned name. But the fame
of Fawnia's beauty reaching the King's ears, he fent
for them to court, and, accufmg them of being fpies,
imprifoned Doraftus, and folicited Fawnia to comply
with his brutal defires, which fhe rejected.
Egiftus hearing from fome merchants that his fon
and Fawnia were in Bohemia, fent ambafladors to de-
mand him, and to defire the death of Fawnia, an
attendant who accompanied them, and Porrus, her
fuppofed
I «9 1 •
fuppofed father, whom Doraftus had carried off with
them. Pandoflo, wifhing to conciliate the friendmip
of Egiftus, whom he was now convinced he had in-
jured, and fired with refentment againft Fawnia for
rejecting his addrefles, refolved to comply with the
requeft Porrus, to fave his fofter-chiid, difclofed the
manner in which he found her, and difplayed the
chain and jewels me wore. Pandoflo recognized his
long loft child, and with Doraftus and Fawnia fet fail
for Sicily, where he was welcomed by Egiftus, who was
made happy in the nuptials of his fon with the daugh-
ter of his friend. But Pandofto, reflecting on his paft
enormities, put an end to his life, and Doraftus and
Fawnia fucceeded him in the throne of Bohemia.
Whoever will take the trouble to compare this
(lory with the plot of the Winter's Tale, will find that
Shakfpeare has made as many or more alterations in
treating it, as in the play now in queftion ; and yet,
take them all together, there are not fo many circum-
ftances to fuit his allegorical meaning, as have been
here pointed out. Yet furely there cannot be any
doubt but that Shakfpeare defigned the Winter's Tale
as an indirect apology for Anne Boleyn, and ftill lefs
thai he defigned Hamlet as an indirect cenfure on
Mary,
" It may not be unentertaining to obferve, (fays
Lord Orford) that there is another of Shakfpeare's
plays, that may be ranked among the hiftoric, though
C 2 not
• r *o ]
not one of his numerous critics and commentators
have difcovered the drift of it ; I mean The Winter
.Evening's Tale, which was certainly intended (in com-
pliment to Queen Elizabeth) as an indirect apology
for her mother Anne Boleyn. The addrefs of the
Poet appears no where to more advantage. The fub-
ject was too delicate to be exhibited on the ftage
without a veil ; and it was too recent, and touched
the Queen too nearly, for the bard to have ventured fo
home an allufion on any other ground than compli-
ment. The unreafonable jealoufy of Leontes, and
his violent conduct in confequence, form a true por-
trait of Henry the Eighth, who generally made the
law the engine of his boifterous pafiions. Not only
the general plan of the flory is moft applicable, but
feveral paffages are fo marked, that they touch the
real hiftory nearer than the fable. Hermione on her
trial fays,
-for honour,
'Tis a derivative from me to mine,
And only that I ftand for.
This (earns to be taken from the very letter of Anne
Boleyn to the King before her execution, where me
pleads for the infant princefs his daughter. Mamil-
lius, ihe young prince, an unneceflary character, dies
in his infancy ; but it confirms the allufion, as Queen
Anne, before Elizabeth, bore a ftill-born fon. But
the moft ftriking paffage, and which had nothing to
do in the Tragedy, but as it pictured Elizabeth, is,
where
[ 21 ]
where Paulina, defcribing the new-born princefs, and
her likenefs to her father, fays, /Jie has the very trick
of his frown. There is one ientence indeed fo appli-
cable, both to Elizabeth and her father, that I fhould
fufpect the poet inserted it after her death. Paulina,
fpeaking of the child, tells the King,
*Tis yours;
And, might we lay the old proverb to your charge,
So like you, 'tis the worle.
The Winter Evening's Tale was therefore in reality
a fecond part of Henry the Eighth.'*
Hiftoric Doubts, p. 114.
" This conjecture (Mr. Malone obferves) muft be
acknowledged to be extremely plaufible. With re-
fpect, however, to. the death of the young prince
Mamillius, which is fuppofed to allude to Queen
Anne's having had a ftill-born fon, it is but fair to
obferve, that this circumftance was not an invention
of our poet, being founded on a fimilar incident in
Lodge's Doraftus and Fawnia, in which Garanter, the
Mamillius of the Winter's 3Vf, likewife dies in his
infancy. But this by no means diminishes the force
of the hypothecs which has been juft now ftated ; it
only (hews, that Shakfpeare was not under the neceffity
of twitting the ftory to his purpofe, and that this, as
well as the many other correfponding circumflances
between the fictitious narrative of Bellaria, (the Her-
mione of the prefent play) and the real hiftory of the
mother
mother of Elizabeth, almofl forced the fubjed upon
him."
Vol. I. parti. p. 350.
In the additional arguments fome> paffages will be
brought forward to fhew that Shakfpeare had the un-
fortunate Queen direttly in mind when he wrote them ;
and in others, that though he did not perhaps ^in-
tentionally make the kind of parallel there is ; yet
his mind was fo full of them, that her {lory involuntarily
gave him ideas *.
In this place it is fcarce pofftble to refrain from
again remarking thefe lines :
In fecond Hufband let me be aecurft !
None wed the fecond, but who kill'd the firfl.
And
» * # *
The inftances, that fecond marriage move,
Are bafe refpecls of thrift, but none of love.
. S.2.
Which appear to be fo ftrongly marked, as almofl
of thetnfelves to eftablifh the hypothefis.
The
a Whoever has read Mr. Winter's ingenious " Attempt to ex-
plain and illuflrate variaus paflages of Shakfpeare, on a new princi-
ple of criticifm, derived from Mr. Locke's doftrine of the ajfii
elation of ideas"— will know in what manner to apply fuch in-volun-
tary combinations.
The next point to call the reader's attention to is
the flrefs Hamlet lays on the Queen's hafte to marry
the murderer of her hufband, and the time which
elapfed between the murder and her marriage.
But two month dead !— nay, not fo much, not two:
O moft wicked fpeedy to pojl
JPitbfucb dexterity to inccftuous fheets.
A<2 i. S.2.
Ham. What is your affair in Elfineur ?
Hor. My lord, I come to fee your father's funeral.
Ham. I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow- ft udent;
I think it was to fee my mother's wedding*
Hor. Indeed, my lord, it follow' d hard upon.
Adi. S.2.
Queen. I doubt it is no other but the main ;
His father's death and our o'erbafly marriage.
A&2. S. 2
Ham. Look you, how cheerfully my mother looks, and
my father died within thefe two hours*
Oph. Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord.
Ham. O Heavens ! die two months ago, and not forgotten
yet? A&3. S. 2.
Lord Darnley was murdered on the iol;h of Feb.
1567, and Mary was married to Both well the i4th of
May following, a fpace of time but juft exceeding
three months. Shakfpeare perhaps did not know the
exaft time between the death of Lord Darnley and
Mary's marriage with Bothwell ; and, wilhing to ag-
gravate
gravate the guilt of the Queen as much as pofiible, he
makes Hamlet reduce it from two months to a lift Id
month.
Hamlet's reproach to his mother for not mourning
for her hufband is worthy notice.
Queen. Good Hamlet, caft thy nighted colour off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not forever with thy veiled lids
Seek for thy noble father in the duft ;
Thouknoufft 'tis common; all that live muftdie,
Pafling thro' nature to eternity.
Ham. Ay, madam, it is common.
Queen. If it be,
Why feems it fo particular with thee ?
Ham. Seems-) Madam! nay, ;/ is ; /know not feems;.
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, &c.
•" Tbefey indeed, feem:
For they are aftions that a man might. play:
But I have that within that pajfith Jhew.
A&I. S. 2.
Obferve too the following lines :
King. Therefore our fometime fifter, now Our Queen,
Have we — &c.
Taken to wife : nor have we herein barr'd
YOUR better wifdom^ which have freely gone
With this affair along.
Aft i. S. 2.
Bothwell was recommended to Mary by the Nobles as
a fit hufband for her This is an addition of Shak-
fpeare's,
fpeare's, no mention being made of it in the Chro-
nicle.
Mary's (pretended, as it is called) love to Lord
Darnley was notorious.
She would hang on him
As if encreafe of appetite had grown
With what it fed on.
AcVi. S. 2.
That adulterate beaft,
..... -won to his fhameful luft
The will of my mo&feetning-virtuous £>ueen.
" i. s. 5.
The pidures given of the Queen's two hulbands,
and the contraft between them, is remarkable.
So excellent a King ; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a SATYR.
. s. 2,
* * # *
0 Hamlet, what a falling off was there !
From me, whofe love was of that dignity,
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
1 made to her in marriage ; and to decline
Upon a wretch, whofe natural gifts were poor
To thofe of mine.
But virtue, as it never will be mov'd,
Tho' lewdnefs court it in the ftiape of Heaven ;
So luft, tho* to a radiant angel link'd,
P WiJl
[ 26 ]
Will fate itfelf in a celeftial bed,
And prey on garbage.
Ad i. S. 5.
* * * #
See what a grace was feated on this brow:
Hyperion's curls j the front of Jove himfelf ;
An eye like Mars to threaten and command -t
A ftation like the Herald Mercury,
New lighted on a Heaven-kifling hill j
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did feem to fet hisfeal,
To give the world aflurance of a man.
— — --- Have you eyes
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor ?
A MURDERER, and a villain :
A Slave 3, that is not twentieth part the tythe
Of your precedent lord : — a vice of Kings j
A Cut-purfe of the empire and the rule ;
That from the fhelf the precious diadem Jlole
And put it in his POCKET*: A King
Of fhreds and patches.
8.4.
Shakfpeare in this defcription appears to have had
the two hufbands of Mary in view rather than of the
Queen in the play.
Claudius was younger than Hamlet's father, that,
unlefs he' was deformed, (which it it does not appear
he
3 Bothwell's birth was more difproportioned to Mary's than was
Lord Darnley's : this has more force in the allegorical, than in the
direft application.
4 Bothwell nevet wore the crown.
he was) having youth in his favour, the contrafl could
not be fo very great. Old Hamlet had a fon s thirty
years of age at this time, and -other paffages in the
play lead us to fuppofe both the King and
Queen were certainly paft the prime 'of life, not to
fay old6.
Lord Darnley was the handfomeft young man in
the kingdom, but of a weak mind : it is remarkable
that no compliment is made to the deceafed King's
intellectual qualifications. Bothwell was twenty years
older
5 I have been fexron here, man and boy, thirty years.
I came to't the very day that young Hamlet was born.
AS. 5. S. i.
6 Player Queen to P. King — whom I confider as the reprefenta-
tives of Claudius and Gertrude —
But, woe is me, you are fo feck of late,
So far from cheer, and from your former ftate,
That I diilruft you.
P. King. Faith, I muft leave thee, love, and fhortly too ;
My oper ant powers their functions leave to do.
Aft 3. S. a.
Ham.— of the Queen — At your age,
The hey- day in the blood is tame.
* * *
O fliame ! where is thy blufh ? Rebellious hell,
If thou can'ft mutiny in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
* * *
Since/re/? itfelf as aflively doth burn,
And reafon pander's will.
Aft 3. S. 4,
D*
L *« ]
older than Mary, and is represented by the Hiflorians
of that time as an ugly man,
Bothwell was likewife noted for his debauchery
and drinking 7, two circumftances which Shakfpeare
feems never to lofe fight of in his character of Clau-
dius.
No jocund health, that Denmark drinks to-day ,
But the great cannon to the clouds {hall tell ;
And the King's roufe the Heaven ftiall bruit again,
Refpeaking earthly thunder.
i. S. 2.
* Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to feed ; things rank and grofs in nature
Poflefs it merely :
Acli. S.2.
No doubt alluding to Claudius.
Ham. to Horatio. We'll teach you to drink deep, ere you
depart.
Aft i. S. 2.
The King doth wake to-night and takes his roufe,
Keeps waffeli and the fwaggering upfpring reels -,
And,
7 The adventure of the Marquis of Elbeuf and Bothwell at the
houfe of Alifon Craig is well known.
Bothwell's fupper is notorious, where, animis omnium ad hilari-
tatemfoluth, the bond was figned for taking off Lord Darnley.
Vide Sir James Balfour's attefted copy of the bond.
" Bothwell was brought up in the Biftiop of Murray's palace,
a maift corrupt houfe in drunkennefs m&nvhoredome}"
BUCHANAN.
Bothwell alfo, at the time of his former marriage, lived with
I*ady Reres, his kept miftrefs.
* This world.
And, as he drains bis draughts of rbenijh downt *
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.
i. S. 4.
King. When Voltimand and Cornelius leave him—
Go to your reft j at night we'll feajl together.
2. S. 2.
Ham. Ere this
I mould have fatted all the region kites
With this Jlave's offal. Bloody, bawdy villain!
A&2. S. 2.
Guild. The King, fir,
Is, in his retirement, marvelloufly diftempered.
Ham. With drinky fir ?
Aa 3. S. 2.
When he is drunky &c. A&. 3. S. 3.
The bloat King tempt you again to bed.
Aa3. 8.3.
And let him for a pair of reechy kifles.
Aa 3. s. 3.
King. Give me thsjlaups of wine upon that table:
• -- Give me the cups j
And let the kettle to the trumpet fpeak,
The trumpet to the cannoneer without,
The cannons to the Heavens, the Heavens to earth,
Rew the King drinks to Hamlet*.
Aa 5. s. 2. -
Shak-
8 Perhaps the following fpeech of Ophelia's is an alluffion to the
King's intemperance ;
lord,
[ 3° 1
Shakfpeare makes mention likewife of the Queen's
beauty.
Oph. Where is the beauteous majefty of Denmark.
A&4. 8.5.
This is incompatible with what has been faid be-
fore of this Queen's age, but applies mofljuftlyto
Mary, who was celebrated for her exquilite beauty,
and was only forty-five when {he was beheaded : Her
fon James was nineteen. In the beginning of the
play Hamlet is reprefented as very young, one who
defigned going back to School, to the Univerfity of
Wittenberg : And we have before feen that the Grave-
digger makes Hamlet thirty : James was juft thirty at
the writing of this play. In fhort, Shakfpeare feems
to have been fo blinded by the circumftances he wiilied
to introduce, that he has fallen into many impro-
babilities between his two plans.
Shakfpeare more than once mentions the King hav-
ing been taken off" in the bloffom of his fin," which
is incompatible with the ideas we have of the King's
age in' the play, but moft truly applicable to Lord
Darnley :
Thus was I, fleeping, by a brother's hand,
Of life, of crown, of £>ueen, at once difpatch'd ;
Cut off even in the blojj'oms of my fin,
UnhoufellM
Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.
God be ztycur TABLE.
Aft 4. S. 5.
That is, May you have the fear of God before you, while at
your table, and not give into excefs.
Unhoufell'd, difappointed, unanel'd ;
No reckoning made, but fentto my account
With all my imperfections on my bead.
Aft i. S. 4.
He took my father grofsly, full of bread j
With all bis crimes, full blown, as flufh as May.
Aa3. S. 3.
Lord Darnley's religious principles might fuggeft
the following lines :
Ghoft. I am thy father's fpirit j
Doonfd for a certain time to walk the night ;
And, for the day, confin'd to fafl in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are BURNT and PURG'D away.
Ad i. S. 5.
Ham. He poifons him i'the garden for his eftate. His
name's Gonzago : the ftory is extant, and writ-
ten in very choice Italian.
Act 3. S. 2.
This may perhaps allude to the letters faid to have
been written from Mary to Bothwell.
The delay of revenge in Hamlet is worfe managed
in the play than in the chronicle : perhaps Shak-
fpeare had in mind the backwardnefs of James to
revenge
[ 3* ]
revenge his father's murder. Hamlet at lad kfils
Claudius not to revenge his father's, but his own,
caufe. Bothwell died about the time this tragedy
was written.
Yet I
A dull and muddy-mettled rafcal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my caufe,
And can fay nothing ; no, not fora King,
Upon whofe property, and moft dear life,
A damn'd defeat was made.
Aa 2. s. 2.
How all occafions do inform againft me,
And fpur my dull revenge.
I do not know
Why yet I live to fay, " This thing's to do ;"
Sith I have caufe, and will, and ftrength, and means,
Todo't.
How ftand I then
That have a father kill'd, a mother ftain'd,
Excitements of my reafon and my blood,
And let all deep.
A&4. 8.4.
Great and various were the exertions made by Eli-
zabeth in the courfe of her reign for the augmentation
of her warlike refources. The art of making gun-
powder was introduced, brazen cannon were caft, and
many JJiips were built9.
Eliza-,
9 Camden, p. 388. Stryp.e, Vol i. p. 230—336—337,
[ 33 ]
Elizabeth was likewife involved in wars and trou-
bles, which had their origin in the death of Lord
Darnley. Thefe circumftances, no doubt, were
in the Poet's mind when he wrote the following lines:
Tell me, &c.
why fuch daily toft of brazen cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of war?
Why fuch imprefs ofjbip-wrights ? &c.
* * *
• • --- this portentous figure
Comes armed thro' our watch ; fo like the King
That was and is the qtiejlion of tbefe wars.
Elizabeth interfered both in the marriages of Mary
and of her fon James. She broke off the intended
match between Mary and the Arch-duke Charles, that
between James and the eldeft daughter of the King
of Denmark, and wifhed to have prevented the mar-
riage of James and the Princefs Anne of Denmark :
thefe marriages fuited not the policy of Elizabeth, and
the following lines, as fpoken of Hamlet, would then
exadly fuit her fentiments :
His greatnefs weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himfelf is fubject to his birth :
He may not, as unvalued perfons do,
Carve for himfelf ; for on his choice depends
The fafety and the health of the whole ftate ;
And therefore mufl his choice be circumfcrib'd
Unto the voice and yielding of that body,
Whereof he is the head : Then if he fays he loves you,
E It
[ 34 ]
It fits your wifdom fo far to believe it,
As he, in his particular ac~l and place,
May give his faying deed; which is no further,
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Nor would the following lines be unpleafing to the
car of her, who had failed in her endeavours to pre-
vent James's marriage, and was difpleafed with the
court of Denmark :
•Meet it is I fet it down,
That one may fmile, and fmile, and be a villain ;
At leaft I'm fure it may be fo in Denmark.
The manner of Hamlet's return, and the King's
pradtifing on him after his return from the projected
embafly to England, is the alteration and introduction
of the Poet.
James on his return from Denmark was confpired
againft by many of the Nobles.
Here again are traces of the ftrong impreffion which
all the circumftances relative to Mary, and thofe con-
cerned in her tragic (lory, had made upon the mind
of the poet.
Among other remarkable coincidences between the
plot of Hamlet and the circumftances attendant on
Mary and James, we may enumerate that of Dr.
3 Wotton
[.35 ]
Wotton being fent into Scotland by Elizabeth as a
fpy upon the actions of James, and who afterwards
entered into a confpiracy to deliver him into her.hands.
This is pretty much the part which Rofencrantz and
Guildenftern play againft Hamlet, Yet this fimila-
rity appears too palpable for Shakfpeare to have in-
troduced defignedly, as it muft have given offence to
Elizabeth, and it is likewife too obvious to have been
introduced without his obferving it *.
There is one circumftance attending the publication
of this play, and which belongs to this alone of all our
Author's dramas publifhed in his life time : viz. that
- it
i The outlines of the character of Horatio may be found in the
Chronicle and Hyftorie of Hamblett, but it was perhaps finifhed and
coloured from the Duke of Lenox, James's favourite- during his
minority in Scotland. Of James's friendfhip for this nobleman
Dr. Robertfon gives the following account :
" As he was the earlieft, and beft beloved, he was, perhaps, the
moft deferving, though not the moft able of all James's favourites.
The warmth and tendernefs of his matter's afFeftion for him was
not abated by death itfelf. By many a&s of kindnefs and gene-
rofity towards his polterity, the King not only did great honour to
the memory of Lenox, but fet his own character in one of its moft
favourable points of view."
Hift. of Scotland, Vol. 2. p. 99. 1 4th Ed".
If thefe inftances prove nothing elfe, they at leaft point out the
remarkable coincidences of the Hiftory and Tragedy, and the ex-
treme aptnefs of the former for the conftrudiion of the latter.
It may be obferved likewife that the incident of Polonius being
murdered in the prefence of the Queen in her clofet, bears a re-
femblance to the murder of Rizzio in Mary's apartment.
Ez
[ 36 ]
it was augmented to near as much again in thefecondas
in the firft edition, which is fuppofed to have been pub-
limed in 1 602. Unfortunately there is no copy of that
known to be extant. The fecond, publimed in 1 604,
fets forth in the title-page that it was " newly imprinted,
and enlarged to almofb as much again as it was, according
to the true and perfett copy." No doubt there was fome
particular reafon, for either fuppreffing a part of the
original at the firft publication, or enlarging his defign
at the fecond, whichever it was that caufed this dif-
ference between the two editions ; and, could the firft
edition he difcovered, it would moft probably throw
fome new light on this hypothefis.
The laft circumftance to be noticed, trifling as it
is, is the Queen in the play dying by poifon, of which
her hufband is the involuntary adminifterer. He is
the caufe and punifher of her guilt : another hit of the
poet's.
Bothwell had poifoned Mary's cup of happinefs,
and it was her marriage with him which was the caufe
of her forrows and her death.
A remark may be here made upon a note of Mr.
Malone's. which may perhaps be confidered as favour-
ing this hypothefis. He fuppofes the Winter's Tale to
have been planned before, but not written till after,
the death of Elizabeth.
" Sir
[ 37 3
ct Sir William Blackftone (fays he) has pointed out
a paffage in the firft act of this play, which had efcaped
my obfervation, and which, as he juftly obferves, fur-
nifhes a proof that it was not written till after the
death of Queen Elizabeth :
— — If I could find example
Of thoufands, that had ftruck anointed Kings,
And flourilh'd after, I'd not do it; but fmce
Nor brafs, nor ftone, nor parchment, bears not one,
Let villainy itfelf forfvvear it.
Thefe lines (he adds) could never have been in-
tended for the ear of her who had deprived the Queen
of Scots of her life. To the fon of Mary they could
not but have been agreeable."
"0*
To this it may be replied that perhaps the paflage
was levelled againfl Mary, who had attempted to re-
cover her own rights by cutting off her perfecutor,
and it applies as well, or better to her, having fuffered
by it, than to Elizabeth. Some paflages in Hamlet
of the fame nature with this, and which were cer-
tainly written after Mary's death, and while Elizabeth
was alive, may tend to firengthen this opinion :
The fingle and peculiar life is bound,
With all the ftrength and armour of the mind,
To keep itfelf from 'noyance j but much more,
That fpirit,upon whofe weal depend and reft
The lives of many. The ceafe of majefty
Dies not alone j but, like a gulph, doth draw
What's
[ 38 ]
What's near it, with it: it is a mafiy wheel,
Fix'd on the fummit of the higheft mount,
To whofe huge fpokes ten thoufand letter things
Are mortis'd and adjoin'd ; which, when it falls,
Each fmall annexment, petty confequence,
Attends the boifterous ruin. Never alone
Did the King figh, but with a general groan.
Ad 3. S. 3.
There's fuch divinity doth hedge a King,
That treafon can but peep to what it would,
Acls little of his will.
. 8.5.
The Author has now gone through the arguments
he purpofed in favour of his hypothefis ; fome of
them are ftrong, fome {lighter, and fome perhaps
merely the arguments of one wifhing to eftablilh an
hypothefis ; yet, taken together, they form fuch a
body of proof, that the readers, muft, furely, by this
time, be as fully convinced of the truth of it as the
Author himfelf. They muft. at leaft allow— if they
will not aflent to Shakfpeare's having an intention to
cenfure Mary — that the coincidences of what the
Poet added, as well as the incidents of the original
ftory, are uncommon.
Shakfpeare, it is well known, was a court poet.
He took every opportunity of flattering Elizabeth.
He complimented her, at the expence of her rival, in
the Midfummer Night's dream :
He
[ 39 ]
He wrote his Richard the Third with all the pre-
judices, and agreeable to all the legends of the Lan-
caftrians :
His Merry Wives of Windfor is faid to have been
written exprefsly at her defire :
His Henry the Eighth is profufe in flattery,
And the Winter's Tale is written to exculpate her
mother.
It is plain therefore that Shakfpeare would have
been happy in any opportunity of flattering his Queen,
by feeding her hatred againft Mary. Yet afterwards,
when James came to the throne, he paid his court to
him :
He apologized for his unbending manner in Meafure
for Meafure, and inlerted a compliment to him in
Henry the Eighth, at the very time he was heaping
praifes upon the murderer of his mother. We can-
not then fuppofe him to have been reflrained from
calumniating Mary either from motives of delicacy or
confiftency.
Thefe obfervations, before they went.to the prefs,
were (hewn to a gentleman, for whofe abilities and
critical acumen the author entertains the highefl re-
fped. He gave it as his opinion, " That Shakfpeare
had
[ 40 ]
had no defign of cenfuring Mary when he wrote this
Tragedy. A ftory and play, he obferved, had already
been taken from the fame fubjed, and, being popular,
naturally induced him to fix upon it for the plot of a
Tragedy. From the limilarity of the ftories, the cir-
cumftances attached to the incidents of Mary's life,
being fo frefli in remembrance, naturally fuggefted
themfelves, and he perhaps drew his characters from
thofe concerned in her ftory, without any intention of
affixing reproach to her name, Had he defigned to
criminate her, he would have made the Queen both a
more prominent, and a more depraved character.
That if any particular allufion was defigned, it muft
have been rather to exculpate than blame her. The
natural benevolence of his difpoiition would reftrain
him from cenfure, and the tendernefs* with which he
has
a I am far from thinking that Shakfpeare has treated the Queen
with tendernefs. In the clofet fcene Hamlet treats her with un-
common feverity for a fon, and nothing but the Queen's accumu-
lated guilt can juftify fuch bitter reproaches. This fcene may be
confidered as a reprefentation of the difference between Mary and
her fon.
Ham. Leave wringing of your hands : peace, fit you down,
And let me wring your heart : for fo I (hall,
If it be made of penetrable ftnfF;
If damned cuftom have not braz'd it fo,
That it be proof and bulwark againft fenfe.
Queen. What have I done, that thou dar'ft wag thy tongue
In noife fo rude againft me ?
Ham. Such an aft,
That Hun the grace and blufli of modefty:
Calls virtue, HYPOCRITE; takes off the rofe
From
[ 41 ]
has treated the chara&er of the Queen, and by not re-
prefenting her as accefTary to the murder of her
huf-
From the fair forehead of an innocent love,
Andfets a blifter there ; makes marriage vows
Asfalfeas DICERS' OATHS. O, fuch a deed,
As from the body of CONTRACTION plucks
THE VERY SOUL; and facet RELIGION makes
A rhapfody of words : &c.
Queen. Ay me, what aft,
That toatsfo loud, and thunder i in the index ?
Aft 3. 8.4.
This laft fpeech of the Queen looks as if me expelled fome NEW
accufaiion. Her inceftuous marriage was publicly known and re-
probated, and ftie could not be furprized at Hamlet's reproving her
for that. But, from this tremendous index, me expects fome more
aggravated guilt to be charged againft her.
Hamlet proceeds to his accufation.
Look here, upon this picture, and on this, &c*
And is only interrupted in this bitter reproof by the appearance
of his Father's Ghoft, who comes to remind him of his promifed
revenge on his murderer, and to bid him " ftep between his mother
and her fighting foul." Perhaps it is this interference alone which,
amid this "whirlwind of his paffion," prevents him charging his
mother with his father's murder.
A further confirmation of Hamlet's firm perfuafion of his mo-
ther's guilt— if proof be yet wanting— may be had from his foli-
loquy at the end of S. 2. Act 3.
Unlefs he was fully perfuaded of her being acceflary to his fa-
ther's murder, he need not fear left his " heart mould lofe its nature,"
and, " the foul of Nero enter his firm bofom :" her inceftuous mar-
riage he had tamely fubmitted to, and, if it deferred his punifhing,
it mould have been done long before. But now, having difcovered
a more flagrant crime than the former, and being in fuch a difpo-
fition of mind that hs
F cou!4
[ 4* ]
hufband, appears rather like an apology than a cen-
fure."
In reply to this it may be faid that of all Shak-
fpeare's indirect allufions, whether complimentary or
fevere, this is the molt pointed. Hermione is a far
lefs prominent character than Gertrude, and lefs pains
are taken to prove her innocence than to expofe the
criminality of our Queen. With regard to the Queen's
being acceflary to the murder, as there are different
opinions refpecting it, thofe who fuppofe her guilty
will fide with this hypothefis, thofe who believe her
innocent will incline to the more favourable fide,
The circumftance attending the great difference in
the firffc and fecond editions of this play, may be ac-
counted for, perhaps, in fome meafure between thefe
two opinions. Shakfpeare might defign it originally
as an undifguifed crimination and publifh it as fuch
in 1 602, but, when James came to the crown in 1 603,
the fear of his difpleafure would induce him to alter
it, and the prefent character from the edition of 1 604,
if
could drink hot blood,
And do fuch bufmefs as the bitter day
Would quake to look on,
It requires all his fortitude to refrain from executing the juft pu-
niftiment ihe merits, and which his nature, and the interdiction of
his father confpire to prevent. He determines therefore only to
fpeak DAGGERS to her, not toufeany;
My tongue and foul in this be hypocrites :
How in my words foever {he be (hent,
To give them feals never, my foul, confent.
4
[ 43 )
if reprefented as innocent of the murder of her huf-
band, may be foftened down from an original, where
the Queen was to " fee the inmoft part of her." And
the reafon that no copy of the firft edition is now ex-
tant, may be from a ftudious care taken to fupprefs a
work which would give fo much offence.
The following paffage may be a part of what was
added as a compliment to James :
The cour tier's foldier's, fcholar's, eye, tongue, fword ;
The expectancy and rofe of the fair ftate,
The glafs of faftiion and the mould of form,
The obferv'd of all obfervers.
. S. i.
It does not appear that Hamlet was a foldier, he was
a ftudent only at Wittenberg : James was a Soldier.
This " glafs of fafhion and mould of form" is like-
wife reprefented in Act 5.8. 2. as " fat and fcant of
breath." Vide Mr. Steevens' note upon this paflage,
Malone, Vol. 9, p. 419.
Upon the whole, however opinions may vary re-
fpecting fome circumftances, the Author flatters him-
felf that no one will doubt, but that Mary (whether
Shakipeare thought her guilty or innocent) was the
original of his Queen.
He makes no doubt but much more might be
brought in favour of the hypothefis, were he to fearch
F 2 after
[ 44 ]
after arguments ; but he is little read in the books of
that period, and thinks fufficient time and pains have
been already bellowed upon the fubjecl;.
Let not the reader .of thefe pages think that the
Author wimes to detract from the blazonry of fame,
which mufl ever t>e infeparable from the name of
Shakfpeare. As a man he was fubject to human fail-
ings, as a poet his imperfections, like foils, but let off
the brilliancy of his beauties :
His eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Could glance from Heaven to earth, from earth to Heaven ;
And, as imagination bodied forth
The forms of things unknown, his magic pen
Turn'd them to fhapes, and gave to airy nothing
A local habitation and a rame..
F I N I S.
TTNTVl
University of California
SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388
Return this material to the library
from which it was borrowed.
MAY » 1 REC'D
APR 1 8 1994
1PHLET BINDER
Syracuse, N. Y.
' Stockton, Calif.
A 000 562 365 7
•
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11