Ham. O, throw away the worfer part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Affume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monfter cuftom, who all fenfe doth eat
Of habits evil, is angel yet in this;
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewife gives a frock, or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night;.

And that fhall lend a kind of eafiness

To the next abftinence: the next, more eafy;
For ufe can almost change the ftamp of nature,
And mafter the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency.

As the contrition of Gertrude, and her confequent good intentions were the effect of a fudden emotion, its violence no fooner abates, than her former habits resume their influence. She appears irrefolute: And Hamlet, full of aftonishment and indignation, expreffes himself with keenness, He inveighs with acrimony against his uncle; And the Queen, vanquished by his invective, affures him of her repentance. All the bufinefs of the tragedy, in regard

I 4

gard to the difplay of character, is here concluded. Hamlet, having detected the perfidy and inhumanity of his uncle, and having reftored the Queen to a sense of her depravity, ought immediately to have triumphed in the utter ruin of his enemies, or to have fallen a victim to their deceit. The fucceeding circumftances of the play are unneceffary; they are not effential to the catastrophe: And, excepting the madness of Ophelia, and the scene of the grave-diggers, they exhibit nothing new in the characters. On the contrary, the delay cools our impatience; it diminifhes our follicitude for the fate of Hamlet, and almoft leffens him in our esteem. Let him perish immediately, fince the poet dooms him to perifh: Yet poetical juftice would have decided otherwise.

On reviewing this analyfis, a fenfe of virtue, if I may ufe the language of an eminent philofopher, without profeffing myself of his fect, seems to be the ruling

prin

principle. In other men, it may appear with the enfigns of high authority; In Hamlet, it poffeffes abfolute power. United with amiable affections, with every graceful accomplishment, and every agreeable quality, it embellishes and exalts them. It rivets his attachment to his friends, when he finds them deferving: It is a fource of forrow, if they appear corrupted. It even sharpens his penetration; and, if unexpectedly he difcerns turpitude or impropriety in any character, it inclines him to think more deeply of their tranfgreffion, than if his fentiments were less refined. It thus induces him to fcrutinize their conduct, and may lead him to the discovery of more enormous guilt.. As it excites uncommon pain and abhorrence on the appearance of perfidious and inhuman actions, it provokes and stimulates his refentment: Yet, attentive to juftice, and concerned in the interests of human nature, it governs the impetuofity

of

of that unruly paffion. It difpofes him to be cautious in admitting evidence to the prejudice of another: It renders him diAtrustful of his own judgment, during the ardour and the reign of paffion; and directs him in the choice of affociates, on whofe fidelity and judgment he may depend. If foftened by a beneficent and gentle temper, he hefitates in the execution of any lawful enterprize, it reproves him. And if there is any hope of restoring those that are fallen, and of renewing in them habits of virtue and of felfcommand, it renders him affiduous in his endeavours to ferve them. Men of other difpofitions would think of gratifying their friends by contributing to their affluence, to their amufement, or external honour: But, the acquifitions that Hamlet values, and the happiness he would confér, are a confcience void of offence, the peace and the honour of virtue. Yet, with all this purity of moral fentiment, with eminent abilities,

abilities, exceedingly cultivated and improved, with manners the most elegant and becoming, with the utmost rectitude of intention, and the most active zeal in the exercife of every duty, he is hated, perfecuted, and destroyed.