Time qualifies the fpark and fire of it;
There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick, or fnuff, that will abate it,
And nothing is at a like goodness still;
For goodness growing to a pleurify, (5)
Dies in his own too much; what we would do,
We should do when we would; for this would changes,
And hath abatements and delays as many

As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
And then this should is like a fpend-thrift figh
That hurts by eafing; but to th' quick o'th' ulcer-
Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake
To fhew yourself your father's fon indeed
More than in words?

Laer. To cut his throat i'th'church.

King. No place, indeed, fhould murder fan&tuarife; Revenge fhould have no bounds; but, good Laertes, (65) For goodness growing to a pleurify,

Dies in bis own too much.] Mr. Warburton figaciously observ'd to me, that this is nonfenfe, and untrue in fact; and therefore thinks that Shakespeare must have wrote;

For goodness growing to a plethory, &c.

For the pleurify is an inflammation of the membrane which covers the whole tborax; and is generally occafioned by a ftagnation of the blood; but a plethora, is when the veffels are fuller of humours than is agreeable to a natural ftate, or health: and too great a fullness and floridness of the blood are frequently the causes of fudden death. But I have not difturb'd the text, because, 'tis poffible, our Author himfelf might be out in his phyfics: and I have the more reason to fufpect it, because Beaumont and Fletcher have twice committed the felf-fame blunder.

-You are too infolent;

And those too many excellencies, that feed
Your pride, turn to a pleurify, and kill

That which fhould nourish virtue.

So, again;

-Thou grand decider

Cuftom of the Country.

Of dufty and old titles, that heal'ft with blood
The earth when it is fick, and curft the world
O'th' pleurify of people.

Two Noble Kinfmen.

If I may guess at the accident which caus'd their mistake, it feems this. They did not confider, that pleurify was deriv'd from pleura; but the declination of plus, pluris, crofs'd their thoughts, and fo they naturally suppos'd the diffemper to arise from some fuperfluity.

2

Will you do this? keep clofe within your chamber; Hamlet, return'd, shall know you are come home: We'll put on thofe fhall praife your excellence,

And fet a double varnish on the fame

The Frenchman gave you; bring you in fine together,
And wager on your heads. He being remifs,
Moft
and free from all contriving,
generous,
Will not perufe the foils; fo that with ease,
Or with a little fhuffing, you may chufe
A fword unbated, and in a pafs of practice
Requite him for

your father.

Laer. I will do't;

And for the purpose I'll anoint

my fword:

I bought an unction of a Mountebank,
So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood, no Cataplafm fo rare,
Collected from all Simples that have virtue

Under the moon, can fave the thing from death,
That is but fcratch'd withal; I'll touch my point
With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly,
may be death.

It

King. Let's farther think of this;

Weigh, what convenience both of time and means
May fit us to our shape. If this fhould fail,

And that our drift look through our bad performance,
"Twere better not affay'd; therefore this project
Should have a back, or fecond, that might hold,
If this should blast in proof.-Soft-let me fee-
We'll make a folemn wager on your cunnings;
I ha't--when in your motion you are hot,
(45 make your bouts more violent to that end,)
And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepar'd him
A chalice for the nonce; whereon but fipping,
If he by chance escape your venom'd tuck,
Our purpose may hold there.

Enter Queen.

How now, fweet Queen?

Queen. One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So faft they follow: your fifter's drown'd, Laertes

K 2

Laer

Laer. Drown'd! oh where?

Queen. There is a willow grows aflant a brook, That fhews his hoar leaves in the glaffy ftream: There with fantaftick garlands did the come, Of crow-flowers, nettles, daifies, and long purples, (That liberal fhepherds give a groffer name; But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them) There on the pendent boughs, her coronet weeds Clambering to hang, an envious fliver broke; When down her weedy trophies and herself Fell in the weeping brook; her cloaths fpread wide, And mermaid-like, a while they bore her up; Which time fhe chaunted fnatches of old tunes, As one incapable of her own distress;

Or like a creature native, and indued

Unto that element; but long it could not be,
'Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.

Laer. Alas then, fhe is drown'd!

Queen. Drown'd, drown'd.

Laer. Too much of water haft thou, poor Ophelia, And therefore I forbid my tears: but yet

It is our trick; Nature her custom holds,
Let fhame fay what it will; when these are gone,
The woman will be out: adieu, my Lord!

I have a fpeech of fire, that fain would blaze,
But that this folly drowns it.

King Follow, Gertrude:

How much had I to do to calm his rage!

Now fear, this will give it start again;

Therefore let's follow.

[Exit.

[Exeunt.

ACT

V.

SCENE, A CHURCH.

Enter two Clowns, with Spades and mattocks.

I CLOWN.

S fhe to be buried in chriftian burial, that wilfully feeks her own falvation?

Is

2 Clown. I tell thee, fhe is, therefore make her grave ftraight; the crowner hath fat on her, and finds it christian burial.

1 Clown. How can that be, unless she drowned her felf in her own defence?

2 Clown. Why, 'tis found fo.

1 Clown. It must be fe offendendo, it cannot be elfe. For here lies the point; if I drown mfelf wittingly, it argues an act ; and an act hath three branches; It is to act, to do, and to perform; argal, fhe drown'd herfelf wittingly.

2 Clown. Nay, but hear you, goodman Delver.

1 Clown. Give me leave; here lies the water, good: here ftand the man, good: if the man go to this water, and drown himself, it is, will he, nill he, he goes; mark you that: but if the water come to him, and drown him, he drowns not himself. Argal, he, that is not guilty of his own death, fhortens not his own life.

2 Clown. But is this law?

1 Clean. Ay, marry is't, crowner's queft-law.

2 Clown. Will you ha' the truth on't if this had not been a gentlewoman, fhe fhould have been buried out of chriftian burial.

1 Clown. Why, there thou fay'ft. And the more pity, that great folk fhould have countenance in this world to drown or hang themfelves, more than other chriftians.

K 3

chriftians (66). Come, my fpade; there is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave makers; they hold up Adam's profeffion.

2 Clown. Was he a gentleman?

1 Clown. He was the firft, that ever bore arms.
2 Clown. Why, he had none.

1 Clown. What, art a heathen? how doft thou underftand the Scripture? the Scripture fays, Adam digg'd; could he dig without arms? I'll put another question to thee; if thou answereft me not to the purpose, confefs thyfelf

2 Clown, Go to.

1 Clown. What is he that builds ftronger than either the mafon, the fhip wright, or the carpenter?

2 Clown. The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.

1 Clown. I like thy wit well, in good faith; the gal· lows does well; but how does it well? it does well to thofe that do ill: now thou doft ill, to fay the gallows is built ftronger than the church; argal, the gallows may do well to thee. To't again, come.

2 Clown. Who builds stronger than a mason, a ship. wright, or a carpenter ?

1 Clown. Ay, tell me that, and unyoke.

2 Clown. Marry, now I can tell.

1 Clown. To t.

2 Clown. Mass, I cannot tell.

(66) more than other chriftians.] All the old books read, as Doctor Thirlby accurately obferves to me,their even chriften, i. e. their fellow chriftians. This was the language of those days, when we retain'd a good portion of the idiom receiv'd from our Saxon ancestors. Emne chriften.] Frater in Chrifto. Saxonicum; quod malè intelligentes, even chriftian proferunt: atque ità editur in oratione Henrici VIII. ad parlamentum An. regn. 37. Sed rectè in L. L. Edouardi confeff. ca. 36. fratrem fuum, quod Angli dicunt Emne Cpirten. SPELMAN in his Gloffary. The Doctor thinks this learned antiquary mistaken, in making even, a corruption of emne; for that even or Єpen, and Emne are Saxon words of the fame import and fignification. I'll fubjoin, in confirmation of the Doctor's opinion, what SOMNER fays upon this head. Єfen, Equus, æqualis, par, juftus, eben, equal, alike, &c. Emne, Equus, juftus, æqualis, even, juft, equal. Emne-rcolepe, condifcipulus, a school-fellow.

Enter