I do not think Dr. Warburton's interpretation of the passage the best that it will admit. The meaning may be this, Since no man knows aught of the state of life which he leaves, since he cannot judge what other years may produce, why should he be afraid of leaving life betimes? Why should he dread an early death, of which he caunot tell whether it is an exclusion of happiness,

or au interception of calamity? I despise the super

stition of augury and omens, which has no ground in reason or piety; my comfort is, that I cannot fall but by the direction of Providence.

Sir T. Hanmer bas, Since no man owes aught, a conjecture not very reprehensible. Since no man' can call any possession certain, what is it leave? JoHNSON.

to

Dr. Warburton has truly stated the reading of the first quarto, 1004. The folio reads, Since no man has ought of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes?

In the late editions neither copy has been followed. MALONE.

P. 131, last 1. Ham. Give me your pardon, Sir: I have done you wrong:

I wish Hamlet had made some other defence; is unsuitable to the character of a good or a brave man, to shelter himself in falsehood. JOHNSON.

P. 132, 1. 20. I am satisfied in nature,] This was a piece of satire ou fantastical honour. Though nature is satisfied, yet he will ask advice of older men of the sword, whether artificial honour ought to be contended with Hamlet's submission.'

P. 132, 1. 23 -26.

STEEVENS.

and will no reconcile

ment,

Till by some older masters, of known honour,

I have a voice and precedent of peace,

To keep my name ungor'd:] 'This is said in allusion to an English custom. I learn from an ancient MS. of which the reader will find a more particular account in a note to The Merry Wives of Windsor, that in Queen Elizabeth's time there were "four ancient masters of defence," in the city of London. They appear to have been the referees in mady affairs of honour, and exacted tribute from all inferior practitioners of the art of fencing, &c. STEEVENS.

Our poet frequently alludes to English customs, and may have done so here, but I do not believe that gentlemen ever submitted points of honour to persons who exhibited themselves for money as prize-fighters on the publick stage; though they might appeal in certain cases to Raleigh, Essex, or Southampton, who from their high rank, their course of life, and established reputation, might with strict propriety be styled, "elder masters, of known honour." MALONE.

P. 133, 1. 7. Your Grace hath laid the odds o'the weaker side.] When the odds were on the side of Laertes, who was to hit Hamlet twelve times to nine, it was perhaps the author's slip. Sir T. Hanmer reads

Your Grace hath laid upon the weaker

side. JOHNSON.

I see no reason for altering this passage. Hamlet considers the things impon'd by the King, as of more value than those impon'd by Laertes; and therefore says, "that he had laid odds on the weaker side." M. MASON.

Hamlet either means, that what the King had laid was more valuable than what Laertes staked; or that the King hath made his bet, an advan

tage being given to the weaker party. I believe the first is the true interpretation. In the next line but one the word odds certainly meaus an advantage given to the party, but here it may.. have a different sense. This it not an uncommon practice with our poet. MALONE.

The King had wagered, on Hamlet, six Barbary horses, agaiust a few rapiers, poniards, &c. + that is, about twenty to one. These are the odds here meant. RITSON.

P. 133, 1. 9. we have therefore odds.] These odds were twelve to nine in favour of Hamlet, by Laertes giving him three. RITSON

P. 153, 1. 14. Set me the stoups of wine upon that table: A stoup is a kind of flaggon. STEEVENS. Containing somewhat more than two quarts.

MALONE,

Stoup is a common word in Scotland at this day, and denotes a pewter vessel, resembling our wine measure; but of no determinate quantity that being ascertained by an adjunct, as, gallonstoup, pint-stoup, mutchkin-stoup, &c. The vessel in which they fetch or keep water is also called the water-stoup. A stoup of wine is therefore equivalent to a pitcher of wine. RITSON. P. 133, 1. 20. And in the cup an uuión shall he throw,] In some

editions,

And in the cup an onyx shall he throw. This is a various reading in several of the old copies; but union seems to me to be the true word. If I am not mistaken, neither the onyx, nor sardonyx, are jewels which ever found place in an imperial crown. An union is the finest sort of pearl, and has its place in all crowns,

and coronets. Besides, let us consider what the King says on Hamlet's giving Laertes the first bit: Stay give me drink.

Hamlet, this pearl is thine;

"Here's to thy health.' Therefore, if an union be a pearl, and an onyx a gem, or stone, quite differing in its nature from pearls: the King saying, that Hamlet has earn'd the pearl, I think, amounts to a demonstration that it was an union pearl, which he meant to throw into the cup. THEOBALD.

Thus the folio rightly. In the first quarto by the carelessness of the printer, for union, we have -unice, which in the subsequent quarto copies was made onyx. An union is a very precious pearl.

MALONE.

To swallow a pearl in a draught seems to have been equally common to royal and mercantile prodigality. So, in the Second Part of If you know not Me, you know Nobody, 1666, Sir Thomas Gresham says:

"Here 15,000 pound at one clap goes. "Instead of sugar, Gresham drinks this pearle

"Unto his Queen and mistress."

It may be observed, however, that pearls were supposed to possess au exhilarating quality.

STEEVENS.

P. 134, first 1. Hamlet, this pearl is thine ;] Under pretence of throwing a pearl into the cup, the King may be supposed to drop some poisonous drug into the wine. Hamlet seems to suspect this, when he afterwards discovers the effects of the

poison, and tanntingly asks him, "Is the union

here?" STeevens.

1. 13, 1. 9. He's fat, and scant of breath.]

It seems that John Lowin, who was the original Falstaff, was no less celebrated for his perform auce of Henry VIII. and Hamlet. See the Historia Histrionica, &c. If he was adapted, by the corpulence of his figure, to appear with propriety in the two former of these characters, Shakspeare might have put this observation into the mouth of her Majesty, to apologize for the want of such elegance of person as an audience might expect to meet with in the representative of the youthful Prince of Denmark, whom Ophelia speaks of as the glass of fashion aud the mould of form." This, however, is mere conjecture; as Joseph Taylor likewise acted Hamlet during the life of Shakspeare. STEEVENS.

The author of Historia Histrionica, and Downes the Prompter, concur in saying, that Taylor was the performer of Hamlet. Roberts the player alone has asserted, (apparently without any authority,) that this part was performed by Lowin. MALONE. P. 134, 1. 11. The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.] i. e.

(in humbler language) drinks good luck to you. STEEVENS.

P. 154, 1. 19. Come, let me wipe thy face.] These very words (the present repetition of which might have been spared) are addressed by Doll Tearsheet to Falstaff, when he was heated by his pursuit of Pistol. STEEVENS. 7

-2T. 134, l. 27. I am afeard, you make a wanton of me.] A wanton was a man feeble and effeminate. JOHNSON. Rather, you trifle with me as if you were playing with a child. RITSON,

A passage in King John shows that wanton