paunch, as he exclaims,

'Oh! that this _too too solid flesh_ would melt.
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.'

We are not to suppose Hamlet speaks metaphorically, but physically; and
his corporeal appearance should be an illustration of his words. He is
already weary of the world--he wishes to die--but 'the Everlasting has
fixed his canon against _self_-slaughter,' and, therefore, he prays for
natural dissolution, by any wasting disease, which may 'thaw' and
dissolve his 'too too solid flesh.' This, perhaps, you will consider
merely conjectural criticism: plausible, but not demonstrative. I own it
has a higher character in my eyes; and, unless I am greatly mistaken,
even the ghost of his own father glances at his adipose tendency, when he
says,

'I find thee apt
But duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That roots itself in ease on Lethe's wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this.'

That is, according to my reading, 'fat as thou art, thou wouldst be
duller than the fat weed of Lethe if you did not bestir yourself in this
business.' Observe, too, with what propriety Shakspeare has here employed
the word 'stir,' it being a well-known fact that corpulent persons have a
strong disinclination to locomotion. And Hamlet himself, (in his
interview with _Rosencrantz_ and _Guildenstern_,) makes a pointed
allusion to the indolence and lethargy which so commonly accompany
obesity. 'I have of late,' he says, 'but wherefore I know not, _lost all
my mirth_, foregone all _custom of exercises_, and, indeed, it goes so