will be in no kind neceffary, where Faults of the Prefs are only to be corrected: Where the Pointing is wrong, perhaps, That may not be alone the Fault of the Printer; and therefore I may fometimes think myself obliged to affign a Reason for my altering it.

As every Author is beft expounded and explain'd in One Place, by his own Ufage and Manner of Expreffion in Others; wherever our Poet receives an Alteration in his Text from any of my Corrections or Conjectures, I have throughout endeavour'd to support what I offer by parallel Passages, and Authorities from himfelf: Which, as it will be my beft Juftification, where my Attempts are feconded with the Concurrence of my Readers; fo, it will be my best Excufe for those Innovations, in which I am not fo happy to have them think with me.

I HAVE likewife all along, for the greater Ease and Pleasure of the Readers, diftinguifh'd the Nature of my Corrections by a fhort marginal Note to each of them, viz. False Pointing, False Print, Various Reading, Paffage omitted, Conjectural Emendation, Emendation, and the like; fo that every body will at once be appriz'd what Subject-matter to expect from every refpective.

Divifion.

THE

Examination and Correction

OF THE

TRAGEDY of HAMLET.

I. Act I. Scene 1. Page 346.

HEN yon fame ftar, that's weftward from the pole,
Had made his course t'illume that part of heav'n
Where now it burns,

SOME of the old Editions read, t'illumine; which feems to be the trueft deriv'd Word, (from illumino in the Latin,) and is

the Word used by our Author in another Place.

TWO GENTLEMEN of VERONA, pag. 195.

If I be not by her fair Influence

Fofter'd, illumin'd,

C

In

In another of his Plays, our Poet has extended this Word to

illuminate.

JULIUS CESAR, pag. 234.

What Trash is Rome?

What Rubbish, and what Offal? when it ferves

For the bafe Matter to illuminate

So vile a Thing as Cæfar?

And I almost think, Mr. POPE was of the Opinion that illumine, rather than illume, in this Place of Hamlet, is the right Word; fince he, in another of the Tragedies, has wrote relumine, tho' one of the old Editions there have it relume.

OTHELLO, pag. 578.

I know not where is that Promethean Heat,
That can thy Light relumine.

But may it not be objected, that if we should read,

Had made his Courfe t'illumine that Part of Heav'n, &c.

this Additional Syllable fpoils the Scanning of the Verfe? In a Word, too nice a Regard must not be had to the Numbers of SHAKESPEARE: Nor needs the Redundance of a Syllable here be any Objection; for nothing is more ufual with our Poet than to make a Dactyl, or allow a fupernumerary Syllable, which is funk and melted in the Pronunciation. It were most easy to produce above a thousand Inftances of this Cuftom in him; but unneceffary, because they lie open to the Obfervation of every discerning Reader.

II. Ibid.

II. Ibid. Page 347.

So frown'd he once, when in an angry Parle [,]

He fmote the fledded Polack on the Ice.

All the old Editions, which I have feen, read it rightly with

out the fecond Comma;

So frown'd be once, when in an angry Parle

He fmote &c.

III. Ibid. Page 350.

Shall I ftrike [] it with my Partizan?

The Verfification manifeftly halts here, without any Neceffity. The second Edition in Folio, printed in 1632, and which is one of those that Mr. POPE profeffes to have collated, makes out the Numbers of this Line by reading,

Shall I ftrike at it with my Partizan?

The cock [] that is the trumpet to the morn,

Doth with his lofty and fhrill-founding Throat &c.

It ought to be pointed, as it is in the Quarto Edition, of 1637; (of which I fhall have Occasion to speak anon.)

V. Ibid.

Falfe Pointing, and

Emenda

tion.

V. Ibid. Page 351.

But look, the morn in ruffet mantle clad [,]
Walks o'er the dew &c.

Here again, either the fecond Comma must be entirely taken away, or this Paffage must be stopp'd thus;

CLAUDIUS, King of Denmark, his Queen, Hamlet, and CourConjectural tiers, coming upon the Stage, the King makes a Speech, apologizing, and giving Reafons, for his hafty Marriage with his Brother's Widow. He then proceeds to acquaint them, that Fortinbras of Norway, fuppofing the State of Denmark to be much weaken'd and disjointed by the Death of the late King, had demanded, with Threats of Invafion, certain Lands loft by his Father to the faid late Danish King; and that therefore he (Claudius, the now King) had wrote Letters to the old King of Norway, defiring him to fupprefs his Nephew Fortinbras's unjust Procedure in that Affair. This is the Business and Import of the Speech; let us now fee how it ftands in the Edition.

Nor have we herein barr'd

Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone

With this affair along [,] (for all, our thanks.)

Now follows [,] that you know [] young Fortinbras,
Holding a mean fuppofal of our worth;

Or thinking by our late dear brother's death

Our flate to be disjoint and out of frame [,]

COLLEAGUED with this dream of his advantage [;]

He hath not fail'd to pefter us with message, &c.

Tho'