204 THEATRE AT I»AftiS* 



the latter is now come to herfelf ; perturbation afrd i$t» 

 ward remorfe opprefs her ; fhe cannot be prevailed upon 

 to rob her fon Hamlet of the crown, as fhe has already 

 robbed him of a father* She commands her lover to 

 obey him as his king ; and, till he confents to this, 

 refufes him her hand. He now enters into a confpiracy 

 againf: Hamlet, to take from him by force what he 

 finds is not to be given him. by confent." 



By this means the character of Clodius is in a great 

 meamre divefted of that loathfomenefs which attached 

 to the perpetrator of incefl, the murderer, the ufurper, 

 of Shakefpeare. The declaration of the queen, which 

 muft appear to him a complete rupture between them, 

 draws after it all the confequences of affronted love, 

 indignation and rage. In France what is. not forgiven 

 to love ? M. Ducis has no lefs properly employed the 

 like circumftances which fubfift in the character of the 

 nation, than Shakefpeare has the predilection of hit 

 contemporaries for poifon, blood-fhed, and — ghofb. 

 When the queen has imparted the dreadful fecret of' 

 the murder to her bofom friend, on his urging her to 

 reveal the caufe of this crime afFreux, fhe turns afide 

 with uplifted hands, with her head reclined on her 

 fhoulder and her eyes directed towards the earth, and 

 fays, in a feeble d ying voice, nothing more than l'amour ! 

 — The public pronounced her abfolution with burfts 

 of applaufe ; and I could not help clapping the fenfe 

 of the nation with a fmile on my face. X. never in my 

 life could be fevere againfl thefe children of fimplicity* 



66 Hamlet receives information of the whole proce- 

 dure ; and indeed was already in polfeffion of it at the 

 opening of the piece. Accordingly there is nothing 



feen 



