prince celebrated in the annals of Denmark; and whose name has been rendered familiar in this country, and his story interesting, by being the subject of one of the noblest tragedies of our immortal Shakespeare.—Adjoining to a royal palace, which stands about half a mile from that of Kronborg in Elsinore, is a garden, which, Mr Coxe informs us, is called Hamlet's Garden, and is said by tradition to be the very spot where the murder of his father was perpetrated. The house is of modern date, and is situated at the foot of a sandy ridge near the sea. The garden occupies the side of the hill, and is laid out in terraces rising one above another. Elsinore is the scene of Shakespeare's Hamlet; and the original history from which our poet derived the principal incidents of his play is founded upon facts, but so deeply buried in remote antiquity that it is difficult to discriminate truth from fable. Saxo-Grammaticus, who flourished in the 12th century, is the earliest historian of Denmark that relates the adventures of Hamlet. His account is extracted, and much altered, by Belleforest a French author; an English translation of whose romance was published under the title of the Historye of Hamblet: and from this translation Shakespeare formed the ground-work of this play, though with many alterations and additions. The following short sketch of Hamlet's history, as recorded in the Danish annals, will enable the reader to compare the original character with that delineated by Shakespeare.

Long before the introduction of Christianity into Denmark, Horwendillus, prefect or king of Jutland, was married to Geruthra, or Gertrude, daughter of Ruric king of Denmark, by whom he had a son called Amlethus, or Hamlet. Fengo murders his brother Horwendillus, marries Gertrude, and ascends the throne. Hamlet, to avoid his uncle's jealousy, counterfeits folly; and is represented as such an abhorrer of falsehood, that though he constantly frames the most evasive and even absurd answers, yet artfully contrives never to deviate from truth. Fengo, suspecting the reality of his madness, endeavours by various methods (A) to discover the real state of his mind: amongst others, he departs from Elsinore, concerts a meeting between Hamlet and Gertrude, concluding that the former would not conceal his sentiments from his own mother; and orders a courier to conceal himself, unknown to both,

(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, seemed 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. Hamlet both, for the purpose of overhearing their conversation.

The courtier repairs to the queen's apartment, and hides himself under a heap of straw (b). 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 perforated 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 insanity, deplore your own infamy, and learn to lament the deformity of your own mind (d)." 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 transcendant 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 purposively wounds his fingers in drawing his sword, which the bystanders immediately fall 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 enveloped 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 masterly 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 oppressive 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 monster, 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 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...

(b) 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 feversely and wisely to his mother touching his secret practices he should be understood, and by that means intercepted, used his ordinary manner of disimulation, 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 privy." 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 ejulato quetta praefentis filii socordiam deflere coepisset; 'Quid (inquit) mulierum turpissima gravissimi criminis disimulationem fallo lamenti genere expertis, qua fortior more lacivius nefariam ac detestabilem thori conditionem secuta viri tui interfecitorem pleno incepsit finu amplectelis: et ei qui prolixi tua parentem extinxerat obscenissimis blandimentorum illecebris adularis. Ita nempe equae conjugum suorum victoribus maritantur. Brutorum natura haec est; ut in diversa pallium coniugia rapiantur: hoc tibi exemplo prioris mariti memoriam exolevisse coniat. Ego vero non ab te stolidi spectaculum gerer, cum haud dubitem quin is qui fratrem oppresserit, in affines quoque part crudelitate debaccaturus fit: unde stoliditatis que industriae habitum amplifici praetatat, et incoluntatis praefidium ab extrema deliramentorum specie mutari. In animo tamen paternae ultionis studium perferavit; fed rerum occasiones accupor, temporum opportunitates opperior. Non idem omnibus locus competit. Contra obscenum immemorem animum altiorium ingenii modis uti convenit. Tibi vero supervacuum fit meam lamentari deliciatum, que quam jutius ignominiam deplorare debueras. Itaque non alienae sed propriae mentis vitum deflas necelefit. Caetera filiere memineris." Tali convitio lacerae matrem ad excolendum virtutis habitum revocavit, praterito ignis praetentibus illecebris preferre docuit." Hammer 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.

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 assures him that his daughter is dead, and recommends him to repair to Scotland as his ambassador, and to pay his addresses to the queen Gertrude. 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 assistance 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 afflatusion, 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 Vigleth 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 splendour, and in his actions would have exceeded even the labours of Hercules.