o observe further, that the King spurs on his Son to revenge his
foul and unnatural Murder from these two Considerations chiefly, that he
was sent into the other World without having had Time to repent of his
Sins, and without the necessary Sacraments, (according to the Church of
_Rome_,) as Mr. _Theobalds_, (See his Note, _p._ 253.) has well
explained it, and that consequently his Soul was to suffer, if not
eternal Damnation, at least a long Course of Penance in Purgatory;
which aggravates the Circumstances of his Brother's Barbarity. And,
Secondly, That _Denmark_ might not be the Scene of Usurpation and
Incest, and the Throne thus polluted and profaned. For these Reasons he
prompts the young Prince to Revenge; else it would have been more
becoming the Character of such a Prince as _Hamlet's_ Father is
represented to have been, and more suitable to his present Condition, to
have left his Brother to the Divine Punishment, and to a Possibility of
Repentance for his base Crime, which by cutting him off, he must be
deprived of.

His Caution to his Son concerning his Mother, is very fine, and shews
great Delicacy in our Author; as has been observ'd by a great Writer of
our Nation. The Ghost's Interrupting himself (_but soft, methinks, I
scent the Morning Air_, &c.) has much Beauty in it, particularly, as it
complys with the received Notions, that Spirits shun the Light, and
continues the Attention of the Audience by so particular a Circumstance.

The Sequel of this Scene by no Means answers the Dignity of what we have
hitherto been treating of. _Hamlet's_ Soliloquy, after the Ghost has
disappeared, is such as it should be. The Impatience of _Horatio_, &c.
to know the Result of his Conference with the Phantom, and his putting
them off from knowing it, with his Caution concerning his future
Conduct, and his intreating them to be silent in Relation to this whole
Affair; all this, I say, is natural and right; but his light and even
ludicrous Expressions to them; his making them swear by his Sword, and
shift their Ground, with the Ghost's Crying under the Stage, and
_Hamlet's_ Reflection thereupon, are all Circumstances certainly
inferiour to the preceeding Part.

But as we should be very cautious in finding Fault with Men of such an
exalted Genius as our Author certainly was, lest we should blame them
when in reality the Fault lies in our own slow Conception, we should
well consider what could have been our Author's View in s