Garrick's Alteration of Hamlet

George Winchester Stone Jr.

doi:10.1632/S0030812900031862

Garrick's Alteration of Hamlet

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020

George Winchester Stone Jr.

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George Winchester Stone Jr.*: Affiliation:
The George Washington University

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(This is an exact reproduction of the particular copy of the 1747 text which Garrick used as a foundation for his alteration. All the lines marked by Garrick for elimination are put into the footnotes. All the lines indicated by a quotation mark for excision by Hughs and Wilks which remain in the present text were restored by Garrick. Other Garrick restorations and emendations are italicized.)

Type: Research Article
Information: PMLA , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , September 1934 , pp. 906 - 921

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1632/S0030812900031862 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1934

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^{page 906 note 1} This is Act iv. Scene i in the 1747 Hughs-Wilks edition which Garrick used. The edition will be referred to by letters H.W.

^{page 906 note 2} Garrick's restoration of the Shakespearian text. H.W.—“You must expound them.”

^{page 906 note 3} Garrick restoration for Sea in H.W.

^{page 906 note 4} Garrick change from H.W.—“Whips out his Rapier cries a Rat, a Rat,” G. follows Johnson (1765) and Warburton (1747). Steevens uses the above line (1766).

^{page 906 note 5} Garrick restoration for H.W.—“Should have restrain'd this mad young man.”

^{page 906 note 6} Garrick alteration for H.W.—foul.

^{page 907 note 1} Garrick restoration. Omitted in H.W.

^{page 907 note 2} Garrick restoration for Metal in H.W.

^{page 907 note 3} Garrick restoration. Omitted in H.W.

^{page 907 note 4} Garrick follows Johnson and Warburton in this entrance of R. and G. H. W. makes them enter after King. … skill.

^{page 907 note 5} Following Johnson Garrick has deleted an “I” in the H.W. before “pray you haste,” etc.

^{page 907 note 6} Garrick's conjecture for the antecedent of “whose …” He rejects Theobald's conjecture “For haply Slander …” H.W. has nothing, thus rendering the meaning obscure.

^{page 907 note 7} Garrick restoration. Omitted in H.W.

^{page 907 note 8} Garrick restoration for “whereto it is akin” in H.W.

^{page 908 note 1} One and one-half lines cut: “The Body is with the King, but the King is not with the Body:”

^{page 908 note 2} Garrick restoration for H.W. “Ho, bring in the Lord Hamlet.”

^{page 909 note 1} Garrick cut the following lines, which, as the marks (‘ ‘) indicate had been cut from the stage presentation since the time of Betterton:

'Your Worm is your only Emperor for Diet. We fat

'all Creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves

'for Maggots: your fat King, and your lean Beggar is

'but variable Service: two Dishes but to one Table,

'that's the End.

'King. Alas! Alas!

'Ham. A Man may fish with the worm that hath eat

'of a King, eat of a Fish that hath fed of that Worm.

'King. What dost thou mean by this?

'Ham. Nothing but to shew you how a King may go

‘a Progress thro’ the Guts of a Beggar.'

^{page 909 note 2} Garrick restoration. Omitted in the H.W.

^{page 909 note 3} Garrick restoration for H.W., “sits Fair.”

^{page 909 note 4} Garrick restoration. Omitted in the H.W.

^{page 910 note 1} Garrick's stage direction.

^{page 910 note 2} Garrick cut the following lines, which, as the marks (‘ ‘) indicate had been cut from the stage presentation since the time of Betterton:

‘As my great Power therefore may give thee Sense‘

'Since yet thy Cicatrice looks raw and red

'After the Danish Sword, and thy free Awe

'Pays Homage to us, thou may'st not coldly set

'Our Sov'reign Process, which import as full

‘By letters conjuring to that Effect,‘

The present death of Hamlet; ‘do it England‘

'For like a Hectic in my Blood he rages,

‘And thou must cure me; till I know ‘tis done’

'Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. [Ex.

^{page 910 note 3} Garrick's line from his own edition of 1763, p. 51.

^{page 910 note 4} Garrick's rearrangement of the King's last lines.

^{page 910 note 5} Garrick's alteration for H.W. “Sir.”

^{page 910 note 6} This scene (Act iv, Sc. iv in the original) was never acted after the Restoration, as the marks (‘ ‘) indicate. Garrick left it out in his earlier performances, (see its omission in his edition of 1763) and restored it in his 1772 alteration, leaving out Fortinbras, substituting Guildenstern for the Captain, rearranging one line and adding two of his own. His original edition of 1747 reads as follows (next page)

^{page 911 note 1} Garrick's alteration for H.W., “we.”

^{page 911 note 2} The following line is cut: “Ham. I humbly thank you, Sir. Capt. God be w'ye, Sir.”

^{page 912 note 1} Garrick's alteration, pointing the action which is soon to follow. The original ending is:

My Thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.

Garrick's first draft reads:

My thoughts be bloody: I will fly my keepers

And hie me to Revenge—the game is up—

^{page 912 note 2} Garrick restoration for H.W. “distracted.”

^{page 912 note 3} Garrick restoration for H.W. “and deserves your pity.”

^{page 913 note 1} Four lines cut: and “Let her come in,” restored to Queen.

'Queen. To my sick Soul, as Sin's true Nature is,

'Each Toy seems Prologue to some great Amiss:

'So full of artless Jealousy is Guilt,

‘It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.‘

^{page 914 note 1} Garrick alteration for H.W. “violent.”

^{page 914 note 2} Garrick alteration for H.W. “is in secret come from France.”

^{page 914 note 3} The following lines cut by Garrick:

'Wherein Necessity of Matter beggar'd,

'Will nothing stick our Persons to arraign

'In Ear and Ear. O my dear Gertrude, this,

'Like to a murd'ring Piece, in many Places

‘Gives me superfluous Death.‘

^{page 915 note 1} One line cut by Garrick:

‘The Ratifiers and Props of ev'ry Word,‘

^{page 915 note 2} Queen's speech of two lines cut: (not cut in H.W.)

How chearfully on the false Trail they cry! [A Noise within

O this is counter, you false Danish Dogs!

^{page 915 note 3} One-half line cut by Garrick:

‘Acts little of his Will.‘

^{page 916 note 1} One and one-half lines cut by Garrick:

‘Conscience and Grace to the profoundest Pit, I dare Damnation.‘

^{page 916 note 2} Garrick restoration for H.W. “Let come what will, I'll be reveng'd,”

^{page 916 note 3} Garrick restoration for H.W. “Relieve.”

^{page 916 note 4} Garrick restoration for H.W., “lie.”

^{page 916 note 5} The section between //—// in the original comes after the entrance and exit of Ophelia. Garrick has clipped this portion from another printing of his 1763 text: printed London for H. Woodfall (and others) 1767, p. 55, and has pasted it into this his 1772 alteration.

^{page 917 note 1} Garrick's autograph stage direction.

^{page 917 note 2} Garrick's autograph stage direction.

^{page 917 note 3} The material in this and the next section as indicated //—// are clippings pasted over page 73 of the H.W. which Garrick used as a basis for his alteration. These clippings were cut from H. Woodfall 1767, pp. 54 and 55 respectively. In the original they precede the lines // Go but apart, etc.

^{page 917 note 4} With the introduction of my and the addition of Let her come in in Garrick's autograph, the original line of Horatio, “O poor Ophelia,” is given to Laertes.

^{page 917 note 5} Three lines of the original have been cut from Laertes' speech:

'How now? What Noise is that?

'O Heat, dry up my Brains; Tears sev'n times salt,

‘Burn out the sense and Virtue of mine Eye.‘

^{page 918 note 1} Garrick has here cut the following lines which were not cut in the H.W.:

… Hold off the Earth awhile,

'Till I have caught her once more in my Arms:

[Leaps into the Grave.

Now pile your Dust upon the Quick and Dead,

Till of this Flat a Mountain you have made,

T'o'er-top old Pelion, or the skyish Head

Of blue Olympus.

^{page 918 note 2} Garrick's substitution for H.W. “Hold off the Earth awhile.”

^{page 918 note 3} This is brought forward in Garrick's autograph from Act iv, Sc. 7 and is part of Laertes' reply to the King who has just received and read aloud Hamlet's letter. The tense of the verbs only has been changed. H.W. “It warms … That I shall …”

^{page 919 note 1} Garrick restoration for H.W. “It is I.”

^{page 919 note 2} Garrick alteration for H.W. “Laer. Perdition catch thee!”

^{page 919 note 3} Garrick stage direction.

^{page 919 note 4} One line cut: “Thou pray'st not well.”

^{page 919 note 5} Garrick alteration for H.W. “my Throat.”

^{page 919 note 6} One-half line cut: “Hold off thy Hand.”

^{page 919 note 7} Garrick alteration for H.W. “Pluck.”

^{page 919 note 8} This portion between the marks // Laer. O treble … Crocodile? // is a clipping from the burial scene of Ophelia, Act v, Sc. 1, slightly changed. It is pasted over page 74 of the H.W. which Garrick used as a basis for his alteration and was cut from H. Woodfall, 1767, p. 66.

^{page 919 note 9} The last four lines are in Garrick's autograph but are Shakespeare's words with the exception of 'and More, Sir, and O, which are Garrick's insertions.

^{page 919 note 10} Between “I'll do't …” and “… nay” the following lines are cut by Garrick:

… Dost thou come hither here to whine?

To out-face me with leaping in her Grave?

Be bury'd quick with her, and so will I.

And if you prate of Mountains, let them throw

Millions of Acres on us, till our Ground

Singeing his Pate against the burning Zone

Make Ossa like a Wart:

^{page 920 note 1} This line in the original follows “King. Pluck them asunder.”

^{page 920 note 2} Garrick restoration for H.W. “Forbear him.” In the original it follows “King. O, he is mad …”

^{page 920 note 3} This whole page is in Garrick's autograph. The unitalicized lines, however, are Shakespeare's from Act v, Sc. 5.

^{page 920 note 4} First draft reads,—“Follow my Mother.”

^{page 920 note 5} First draft reads,—“O horror, horror.”

^{page 920 note 6} First draft reads,—“Treason, treason, thus then I revenge my father.”

^{page 921 note 1} Forty-one lines omitted between “rest …,” and, “… Take up.” in which Fortinbras returns and takes over the kingdom, and in which the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are reported. Inasmuch as Fortinbras does not return in Garrick's Alteration, Hamlet commends his kingdom to the care of Horatio and Laertes, the latter of whom does not die as Davies supposes. See Dramatic Miscellanies, iii, 145 ff.

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