HAMEL, or Hampsel (from the Saxon ham, domus, and the German let, membrum), signifies a little village, or part of a village or parish. According to Spelman, there is a difference between villam integram, villam diademata, and hamletam, which, according to Stow, means the seat of a freeholder. Several county-towns have hamlets, as there may be several hamlets in a parish; and some particular places may be out of a town or hamlet, though not out of the county.

prince celebrated in the annals of Denmark, and whose name has been rendered familiar in this country, by forming the subject of one of the noblest tragedies of Shakspeare. Adjoining to a royal palace, which stands about half a mile from that of Cronberg, in Elsinore, is a garden, which, Mr Coxe informs us, is called Hamlet's Garden, and, according to tradition, is 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 Shakspeare'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 twelfth century, is the earliest historian of Denmark who 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 Shakspeare formed the groundwork of his play, though with many alterations and additions.