"
V.ii.346 (342,8) That are but mutes or audience to this act] That are
either mere _auditors_ of this _catastrophe_, or at most only _mute
performers_, that fill the stage without any part in the action.
V.ii.375 (344,2) This quarry cries, on havock!] Hanmer reads,
--_cries_ out, _havock!_
To _cry on_, was to _exclaim against_. I suppose, when unfair sportsmen
destroyed more _quarry_ or _game_ than was reasonable, the censure was
to cry, _Havock_.
(346) General Observation. If the dramas of Shakespeare were to be
characterised, each by the particular excellence which distinguishes it
from the rest, we must allow to the tragedy of Hamlet the praise of
variety. The incidents are so numerous, that the argument of the play
would make a long tale. The scenes are interchangeably diversified with
merriment and solemnity; with merriment that includes judicious and
instructive observations, and solemnity, not strained by poetical
violence above the natural sentiments of man. New characters appear from
time to time in continual succession, exhibiting various forms of life
and particular modes of conversation. The pretended madness of Hamlet
causes much mirth, the mournful distraction of Ophelia fills the heart
with tenderness, and every personage produces the effect intended, from
the apparition that in the first act chills the blood with horror, to
the fop in the last, that exposes affectation to just contempt.
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