That, open'd, lies within our remedy., Queen. Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you; And, sure I am, two men there are not living, To whom he more adheres. If it will please you To show us so much gentry, and good will, Ros. Guil. But we both obey; And here give up ourselves, in the full bent, To be commanded. King. Thanks, Rosencrantz, and gentle Guildenstern. Queen. Thanks, Guildenstern, and gentle Rosen crantz: And I beseech you instantly to visit My too much changed son.--Go, some of you, And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is. Guil. Heavens make our presence, and our practices, Pleasant and helpful to him! Queen. Ay, amen! [Exeunt Ros. GUIL. and some Attendants. Enter POLONIUS. Pol. The embassadors from Norway, my good lord, Are joyfully return'd. King. Thou still hast been the father of good news. 5 To show us so much gentry,] Gentry, for complaisance. Warburton. For the supply &c.] That the hope which your arrival has raised may be completed by the desired effect. Johnson. 7 You have of us,] I believe we should read-o'er us, instead of-of us. M. Mason. 8 in the full bent,] Bent, for endeavour, application. Warburton. The full bent, is the utmost extremity of exertion. The allusion is to a bow bent as far as it will go. So afterwards, in this play: "They fool me to top of my bent." Malone. Pol. Have I, my lord? Assure you, my good liege, Both to my God, and to my gracious king: King. O, speak of that; that do I long to hear. He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found Re-enter POLONIUS, with VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS. King. Well, we shall sift him.-Welcome, my good friends! Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway? Upon our first, he sent out to suppress His nephew's levies; which to him appear'd But, better look'd into, he truly found It was against your highness: Whereat griev'd,— To give the assay of arms against your majesty. 9 the trail of policy -] The trail is the course of an animal pursued by the scent. Johnson. 1 2 the fruit-] The desert after the meat. Johnson. borne in hand,] i. e. deceived, imposed on. So, in Macbeth, Act III: "How you were borne in hand, how cross'd, &c." See note on this passage, Vol. VII, p. 127, n. 5. Steevens. 3 To give the assay-] To take the assay was a technical expression, originally applied to those who tasted wine for princes and great men. See King Lear, Act V, sc. iii, Vol. XIV. Malone. Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy, [Gives a Paper. That it might please you to give quiet pass King. It likes us well; And, at our more consider'd time, we 'll read, Mean time, we thank you for your well-took labour: Go to your rest; at night we'll feast' together: Most welcome home! Pol. [Exeunt VoL. and Cor. This business is well ended. My liege, and madam, to expostulate" 4 Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee;] This reading first obtained in the edition put out by the players. But all the old quartos (from 1605, downwards,) read threescore. Theobald. The metre is destroyed by the alteration; and threescore thousand crowns, in the days of Hamlet, was an enormous sum of money. M. Mason. annual fee;] Fee in this place signifies reward, recompence. So, in All's Well that Ends Well: Not helping, death's my fee; "But if I help, what do you promise me?" The word is commonly used in Scotland, for wages, as we say, lawyer's fee, physician's fee. Steevens. Fee is defined by Minsheu, in his Dict. 1617, a reward. Malone. I have restored the reading of the folio. Mr. Ritson explains it, I think, rightly, thus: the King gave his a nephew a feud or fee (in land) of that yearly value. Reed. 5. At night we'll feast -] The King's intemperance is never suffered to be forgotten. Johnson. 6 My liege, and madam, to expostulate-] To expostulate, for to enquire or discuss. The strokes of humour in this speech are admirable. Poloni us's character is that of a weak, pedant, minister of state. His declamation is a fine satire on the impertinent oratory then in vogue, which placed reason in the formality of method, and wit in the gingle and play of words. With what art is he made to pride himself in his wit: "That he is mad, 'tis true: 'tis true: 'tis pity: What majesty should be, what duty is, "And pity 'tis, 'tis true: A foolish figure; And how exquisitely does the poet ridicule the reasoning in fa- "And then, sir, does he this; "He does-What was I about to say? "I was about to say something-where did I leave?" The Servant replies: At, closes in the consequence. This sets Polonius right, and he goes on "At closes in the consequence. 66 Ay marry, "He closes thus:-I know the gentleman," &c. which shews the very words got by heart which he was repeating. Otherwise closes in the consequence, which conveys no particular idea of the subject he was upon, could never have made him recollect where he broke off. This is an extraordinary instance of the poet's art, and attention to the preservation of character. Warburton. This account of the character of Polonius, though it sufficiently reconciles the seeming inconsistency of so much wisdom with so much folly, does not perhaps correspond exactly to the ideas of our author. The commentator makes the character of Polonius, a character only of manners, discriminated by properties superficial, accidental, and acquired. The poet intended a nobler Why day is day, night, night, and time is time, Queen. More matter, with less art. Mad let us grant him then: and now remains, I have a daughter; have, while she is mine; delineation of a mixed character of manners and of nature. Polonius is a man bred in courts, exercised in business, stored with observation, confident in his knowledge, proud of his eloquence, and declining into dotage. His mode of oratory is truly represented as designed to ridicule the practice of those times, of prefaces that made no introduction, and of method that embarrassed rather than explained. This part of his character is accidental, the rest is natural. Such a man is positive and confident, because he knows that his mind was once strong, and knows not that it is become weak. Such a man excels in general principles, but fails in the particular application. He is knowing in retrospect, and ignorant in foresight. While he depends upon his memory, and can draw from his repositories of knowledge, he utters weighty sentences, and gives useful counsel; but as the mind in its enfeebled state cannot be kept long busy and intent, the old man is subject to sudden dereliction of his faculties, he loses the order of his ideas, and entangles himself in his own thoughts, till he recovers the leading principle, and falls again into his former train. This idea of dotage encroaching upon wisdom, will solve all the phænomena of the character of Polonius. Johnson. Nothing can be more just, judicious, and masterly, than Johnson's delineation of the character of Polonius; and I cannot read it without heartily regretting that he did not exert his great abilities and discriminating powers, in delineating the strange, inconsistent, and indecisive character of Hamlet, to which I confess myself unequal. M. Mason. |