Hamel, or Hampfel, (from the Saxon ham, i.e. domus, and the German let, i.e. membrum), signifies a little village, or part of a village or parish; of which three words the first is now only used, though Kitchen mentions the two last. By Spelman there is a difference between villam integram, villam dimidiam, N° 148.

(a) Among other attempts, Fengo orders his companions to leave him in a retired spot, and a young woman is placed in his way, with a view to extort from him a confession that his folly was counterfeited. Hamlet would have fallen into the snare, if a friend had not secretly conveyed to him intelligence of this treachery. He carries the woman to a more secret place, and obtains her promise not to betray him; which she readily consents to, as she had been brought up with him from her infancy. Being asked, upon his return home, if he had indulged his passion, he answers in the affirmative; but renders himself not believed by the most artful subterfuges, which, though true, seem evidently to mark a disordered understanding, and by the positive denial of the woman. "Upon this woman," as Capell observes, "is grounded Shakespeare's Ophelia; and his deliverance from this snare by a friend suggested his Horatio;"—“the rude outlines,” as Mr Malone remarks, “of those characters. But in this piece there are no traits of the character of Polonius: there is indeed a counsellor, and he places himself in the queen's chamber behind the arras; but this is the whole. The ghost of the old Hamlet is likewise the offspring of our author's creative imagination.” See Capell's School of Shakespeare, vol. iii. p. 20.; and Malone's Supplement, p. 353. and orders a courtier to conceal himself, unknown to both, for the purpose of overhearing their conversation.

The courtier repairs to the queen's apartment, and hides himself under a heap of straw (a). Hamlet, upon entering the cabinet, suspecting the presence of some spy, imitates, after his usual affectation of folly, the crow of a cock, and, shaking his arms like wings, jumps (c) upon the heap of straw; till, feeling the courtier, he draws his sword, and instantly dispatches him. He then cuts the body to pieces, boils it, and gives it to the hogs. He then avows to his mother that he only personated a fool, reproaches her for her incestuous marriage with the murderer of her husband; and concludes his remonstrances by saying, "Instead, therefore, of condoling my infancy, deplore your own infamy, and learn to lament the deformity of your own mind (b)." The queen is silent; but is recalled to virtue by these admonitions. Fengo returns to Elsinore, sends Hamlet to England under the care of two courtiers, and requests the king by a letter to put him to death. Hamlet discovers and alters the letter; so that, upon their arrival in England, the king orders the two courtiers to immediate execution, and betroths his daughter to Hamlet, who gives many astonishing proofs of a most transcendent understanding. At the end of the year he returns to Denmark, and alarms the court by his unexpected appearance; as a report of his death had been spread, and preparations were making for his funeral. Having reassumed his affected insanity, he purposely wounds his fingers in drawing his sword, which the bystanders immediately fasten to the scabbard. He afterwards invites the principal nobles to an entertainment, makes them intoxicated, and in that state covers them with a large curtain, which he fastens to the ground with wooden pegs: he then sets fire to the palace; and the nobles, being imprisoned in the curtain, perish in the flames. During this transaction he repairs to Fengo's apartment; and, taking the sword which lay by the side of his bed, puts his own in its place: he instantly awakens and informs him, that Hamlet is come to revenge the murder of his father. Fengo starts from his bed, seizes the sword; but, being unable to draw it, falls by the hand of Hamlet. The next morning, when the populace were assembled to view the ruins of the palace, Hamlet summons the remaining nobles; and in a matterly speech, which is too long to insert in this place, lays open the motives of his own conduct, proves his uncle to have been the assassin of his father; and concludes in the following words: "Tread upon the ashes of the monster, who, polluting the wife of his murdered brother, joined incest to parricide; and ruled over you with the most opprobrious tyranny. Receive me as the minister of a just revenge, as one who felt for the sufferings of his father and his people. Consider me as the person who has purged the disgrace of his country; extinguished the infamy of his mother; freed you from the despotism of a moniter, whose crimes, if he had lived, would have daily increased, and terminated in your destruction. Acknowledge my services; and if I have deserved it, present me with the crown. Behold in me the author of these advantages: no degenerate person, no parricide; but the rightful successor to the throne, and the pious avenger of a father's murder. I have rescued you from slavery, restored you to liberty, and re-established your glory: I have destroyed a tyrant, and triumphed over an assassin. The recompense is in your hands: you can estimate the value of my services, and in your virtue I rest my hopes of reward." This speech has the desired effect: the greater part of the assembly shed tears, and all who are present unanimously proclaim him king amid repeated acclamations.

(a) The reader will recollect, that straw used formerly to be spread over the floors as an article of great luxury.

(c) This part stands thus in the English account: "The counsellor entered secretly into the queen's chamber, and there hid himself behind the arras, and long before the queen and Hamlet came thither: who being crafty and politic, as soon as he was within the chamber, doubting some treason, and fearing if he should speak severely and wisely to his mother touching his secret practices he should be understood, and by that means intercepted, used his ordinary manner of dissimulation, and began to come (r. crow) like a cock, beating with his arms (in such manner as cockes used to strike with their wings) upon the hangings of the chambers; whereby feeling something stirring under them, he cried, A rat! a rat! and presently drawing his sword, thrust it into the hangings; which done, he pulled the counsellor (half dead) out by the heels, made an end of killing him; and, being slain, cut his body in pieces, which he caused to be boiled, and then cast it into an open vault or privie." Malone's Supplement, vol. i. p. 357.

(d) The closet-scene, which is so beautiful in Shakespeare's Hamlet, is thus concisely, but not less finely, described by the Danish historian: "Cumque mater magno ejulatu quætae praesentis filii socordiam desitæ capitit: 'Quid (inguit) mulierum turpissima gravissimi criminis dissimulationem fallo lamenti genere expetis, qua scorti more lascivius nefariorum ac detestabilium thorii conditionem fecuta viri tui interfectorum pleno incepsit finu amplecteris: et ei qui proles tuae parentem extinxerat obsecernifimus blandimentorum illecebris adularis. Ita nempe equæ conjugatæ fuorum victoribus maritantur. Brutorum natuæ haec est; ut in diversa paßim coniugia rapiantur: hoc tibi exemplo prioris mariti memoriam exolcvisse confiat. Ego vero non ab re stolidi spe-ciem gero, cum haud dubitem quin e qui fratrem oppreisset, in affines quoque pari crudelitate debaccaturus fit: unde stoliditas que inducitæ habitum amplècti præstat, et incolumitatis praesidium ab extremâ deliramentorum specie mutuari. In animo tamen paternæ ulctionis studium perseverat; fed rerum occasiones aucupor, temporum opportunitates opperit. Non idem omnibus locus competit. Contra obfcurum immitemque animum aliòribus ingenii modis uti convenit. Tibi vero papervacum fit meam lamentarii defipientiam, qua tuam 'ultimæ ignominiam depolare debueras. Itaque non alienæ sed proprie mentis vitium desistas necesse est. Cætera filiere'mineris.' Tali convitio lacertam matrem ad excolendum vitutis habitum revocavit, præteritosque ignes praesentibus illecebris præferre docuit." Hamlet soon after his elevation fails to England, and orders a shield to be made on which the principal actions of his life are represented. The king receives him with feigned demonstrations of joy, falsely affirms him that his daughter is dead, and recommends him to repair to Scotland as his ambassador, and to pay his addresses to the queen Hermetruda. He gives this insidious advice with the hopes that Hamlet may perish in the attempt; as the queen, who was remarkable for her chastity and cruelty, had such an aversion to all proposals of marriage, that not one of her suitors had escaped falling a sacrifice to her vengeance. Hamlet, in opposition to all difficulties, performs the embassy; and, by the affluence of his shield, which inspires the lady with a favourable opinion of his wisdom and courage, obtains her in marriage, and returns with her to England. Informed by the princes to whom he had been betrothed that her father meditates his affluence, Hamlet avoids his fate by wearing armour under his robe; puts to death the king of England; and sails to Denmark with his two wives, where he is soon afterwards killed in a combat with Vigletus son of Ruric. Hamlet, adds the historian, was a prince, who, if his good fortune had been equal to his deserts, would have rivalled the gods in splendor, and in his actions would have exceeded even the labours of Hercules.