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296 COXE’s TRAVELS IN DENMARK.
a courtier to conceal himfelf, unknown to both, for the purpofe of overhearing their
converfation.
The courtier repairs to the Queen’s apartment, and hides himfelf under a heap of
ftraw*. Hamlet, cn entering the cabinet, fufpecting the prefence of fome {py, imitates,
after his ufual affeCtation of folly, the crowing of a cock, and fhaking his arms like
wings, jumpst upon the heap of ftraw, till feeling the courtier, he draws his fword,
kills him, cuts the body to pieces, boils it, and gives it to the hogs. He then avows
to his mother, that he only perfonated a fool; reproaches her for her inceftuous mar-
riage with the murderer of her hufband, and concludes his remonftrances by faying,
“* Inftead, therefore, of condoling my infanity, deplore your own infamy, and learn to
lament the deformity of your own mind.” i
The Queen is filent, but is recalled to virtue by thefe admonitions. Fengo returns to
Elfnore, fends Hamlet to England under the care of two courtiers, and requefts the
King, by a letter, to puthim to death, Hamlet difcovers and alters the letter; and on
their arrival in England, the King orders the two courtiers to immediate execution, and
betroths his daughter to Hamlet, who gives many altonifhing proofs, of a tranfcendent
underftanding.
At the end of the year he returns to Denmark, and alarms the court by his unexpe&-
ed appearance; as a report of his death liad been !pread, and preparations were making
for his funeral.
Having re-affumed his affected infanity, he purpofely wounds his fingers in drawing
his fword, which the by-ftanders immediately falten to the feabbard. He afterwards
invites the principal nobles to an entertainment, makes them intoxicated, and in that
{tate covers them with a large curtain, which he faltens to the ground with wooden
pegs; he then fets fire to the palace, and the nobles, enveloped in the curtain, perifh in
the flames. During this tranfaction he repairs to Fengo’s apartment, and taking the
fword which lay by the fide of his bed, puts his own inits place ; he inftantly awakens
and informs him, that Hamlet is come to revenge the murder of his father. Fengo
{tarts from his bed, feizes the fword, but unable to draw it, falls by the hand of Hamlet.
‘The next morning, when the populace were aflembled to view the ruins of the palace,
Hamlet fummons the remaining nobles, and in a mafierly fpeech, lays open the motives
of bis own conduét; proves his uncle the affaflin of his father, and concludes in the fol-
lowing words:
«< ‘T’read upon the afhes of the monfter, who, polluting the wife of his murdered bro-
ther, joined inceft to parricide, and ruled over you with the moft oppreflive tyranny.
Receive me as the minifter of a juft revenge, as one who felt for the fufferings of his
father and his people. Confider me as the perfon who has purged the difgrace of his
country, extinguifhed the infamy of his mother, freed you from the defpotifm of a mon-
* Straw was formerly fpread over the floors as an article of luxury. :
+ This part ftands thus in the Englifh account: ‘* The counfellor entered fecretly into the Queene’s
chamber, and there hid himfelfe behind the arras, and long before the Queene and Hamlet came thither ;
who being craftie and politique, as foone as he was within the chamber, doubting fome treafon, and fearing,
if he fhould fpeake feverely and wifely to his mother, touching his fecret practices, hee fhould be under-
{tood and by that means intercepted, ufed his ordinary manner of diffimulation, and began to come (r. crow)
like a cocke, beating with his arms (in fuch manner as cockes uled to ftrike with their wings, ) upon the
hangings of the chambers, whereby, feeling fomething ftirring under them, he-cried, a rat! arat! and
prefently drawing his {worde, thrutt it into the hangings, which done, he pulled the counfellor (half deade)
out by the heels, made an end of killing him, and being flain, cut his body in pieces, which he caufed to
be boiled, and then cait it into an open vault or privie.””? Malone’s Supplement, vel. i. p. 357.
i fter,
oo ee SO oe
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