Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer.

Re-enter Ghost. Ber. How now, Horatio ? you tremble, and look

But, soft; behold! lo, where it comes again! pale:

I'll cross it, though it blast me.- Stay, illusion! Is not this something more than fantasy ?

If thou hast any sound, or use of voice, What think you of it?

Speak to me: Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe,

If there be any good thing to be done, Without the sensible and true avouch

That may to thee do ease, and grace to me,
Of mine own eyes.

Speak to me:
Mar.
Is it not like the king?

If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Hor. As thou art to thyself:

Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, Such was the very armor he had on,

O speak'
When he the ambitious Norway coinbated;

Or, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle, 3 Extorted treasure in the womb of earth.
Ile smote the sledded' Polacki on the ice.

For which, they say, you spirits ont walk in death, 'Tis strange.

[Cock crows. Mar. Thus, twice before, and jump at this dead Speak of it:--stay, and speak.–Stop it, Marcellus hour,

Mar. Shall I strike at it with my partizan ?8 With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.

Hor. Do, if it will not stand. Hor. In what particular thought to work, I know Ber.

'Tis here! not;

Hor.

'Tis here! But in the gross and scope of mine opinion,

Mar. "Tis gone.

[Exit Ghost. This bodes some strange eruption to our state. We do it wrong, being so majestical, Mar. Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that To ofler it the show of violence; knows,

For it is, as the air, invulnerable, Why this same strict and most observant watch

And our vain blows malicious mockery. So nightly toils the subject of the land;

Ber. It was about to speak, when the cock crew. And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,

Hor. And then it started like a guilty thing And foreign mart for implements of war:

Upon a fearful summons. I have heard, Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task

The cock, that is the trumpet of the morn, Does not divide the Sunday from the week:

Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat What might be toward, that this sweaty haste Awake the god of day; and, at his warning, Doth make the night joint-laborer with the day; Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, Who is t, that can inform me?

The extravagant and erring! spirit hies Hor.

That can I; To his contine: and of the truth herein At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king, This present object made probation.! Whose image even but now appear'd to us,

Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock. Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride, Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, Dared to ihe combat; in which our valiant Hamlet i This bird of dawning singeth all night long:. (For so this side of our known world esteem'd him)

And then they say no spirit dares stir abroad; Did slay this Fortinbras; who, by a seal'd com- The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, páct,

No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, Well ratitied by law and heraldry,

So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. Did forfeit with his life, all those his lands,

Hor. So have I heard, and do in part believe it. Which he stood seis'd of, to the conqueror:

But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, Against the which, a moiety competent

Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill. Was gaged by our king; which had return'd

Break we our watch up; and, by my advice, To the inheritance of Fortinbras,

Let us impart what we have seen to-night Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same comart, Unto young Hamlet : for, upon my life, And carriage of the article design'd,8

This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him: His fell to Hamlet: Now, sir, young Fortinbras,

Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it, Of unimproved mettle hot and full,9

As needful in our loves, fitting our duty ? Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there, Mar. Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know Shark'd' up a list of landless resolutes,

Where we shall find him most convenient. For food and diet, to some enterprise

(Exeunt. That hath a stomach? in't; which is no other, (As it doth well appear unto our state,)

SCENE II.-A Room of State in the same. But to recover of us, by strong hand, And terms compulsatory, those 'foresaid lands Enter the King, QUEEN, HAMLET, POLONICS, So by his father lost: And this, I take it,

LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and Is the main motive of our preparations;

Attendants. The source of this our watch; and the chief head

King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's Of this post-haste and romages in the land.

death Ber. I think, it be no other, but even so:

The memory be green; and that it us befitted Well may it sort, that this portentous figure To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom Comes armed through our watch; so like the king To be contracted in one brow of woe; That was, and is, the question of these wars. Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature,

Hor. A mote it is, to trouble the mind's eye. That we with wisest sorrow think on him, In the most high and palmy, state of Rome, Together with remembrance of ourselves. A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,

Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead The imperial jointress of this warlike state, Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.

Have we, as 'twere, with a defeated joy,

With one auspicious, and one drooping eye; As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,

With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage, Disasters in the sun; and the moist start

In equal scale weighing delight and dole, Upon whose intluence Neptune's empire stands,

Taken to wife : nor have we herein barr'd Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.

Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone And even the like precurse of fierce events,

With this atfair along :-For all, our thanks. As harbingers preceding still the fates,

Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras, And prologues to the omen? coming on,

Holding a weak supposal of our worth; Hlave hearen and earth together demonstrated

Or thinking, by our late dear brother's death, Unto our climatures and countrymen.

Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,

Colleagued with this dream of his advantage, 3 Dispute.

• Sledged.

He hath not fail'd to pester us with message, • Polander, an inhabitant of Poland.

Importing the surrender of those lands . Just.

* Joint bargaia. Lost by his father, with all bands of law, • The covenant to confirm that bargain.

To our most valiant brother.-So much for him. • Full of spirit without experience.

Now for ourself, and for this time of meeting. To reason most absurd; whose common theme
Thus much the business is: We have here writ Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,--

From the first corse, till he that died to-day, Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears This must be so. We pray you, throw to earth of this his nephew's purpose, -to suppress

This unprevailing woe; and think of us His further gait' herein; in that the levies,

As of a father; for let the world take note, The lists, and full proportions, are all made You are the most immediate to our throne; Out of his subject :-and we here despatch

And, with no less nobility of love, You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,

Than that which dearest father bears his son, For bearers of this greeting to old Norway; Do I impart toward you. For your intent Giving to you no further personal power

In going back to school in Witienberg,
To business with the king, more than the scope It is most retrograde to our desire :
Of these dilated articles allow.

And, we beseech you, bend you to remain
Farewell; and let your haste commend your duty. Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Cor. Vol. In that, and all things, will we show Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
our duty.

Queen. Let not thy mother lose her prayers, King. We doubt it nothing: heartily farewell.

Hamlet: (Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS. I pray thee, stay with us ; go not to Wittenberg. And now, Laertes, what's the news with you? Ham. I shall in all my best obey you, madam. You told us of some suit: What is't, Laertes ? King. Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply; You cannot speak of reason to the Dane,

Be as ourselt in Denmark.-Madam, come; And lose your voice: What wouldst thou beg, This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet Laertes,

Sits smiling to my heart: in grace whereof, That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? No jocund health, thal Denmark drinks to-day, The head is not more native to the heart,

But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell; The hand more instrumental to the mouth, And the king's rouse the heaven shall bruits again, Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away. What wouldst thou have, Laertes ?

(Exeunt KING, QUEEN, Lords, &c., POLONIUS, Laer. My dread lord,

and LAERTES. Your leave and favor to return to France;

Ham. O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, From whence, though willingly, I came to Den- | Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! mark,

Or that the Everlasting had not tixed To show my duty in your coronation;

His canon! 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! 0 God! Yet now I must confess, that duty done,

How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France, Seem to me all the uses of this world! And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon. Fye on't! O fye! 'tis an unweeded garden, King. Have you your father's leave? What says That grows to seed; things rank, and gross in nature, Polonius?

Possess it merely. That it should come to this! Pol. He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow But two months dead !-nay, not so much, not two: leave,

So excellent a king ; that was, to this, By laborsome petition; and, at last,

Hyperiona to a satyr: so loving to my mother, Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent:

That he might not beteem3 the winds of heaven I do beseech you, give him leave to go.

Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! King. Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine, Must I remember? why, she would hang on him And thy best graces: spend it at thy will.- As if increase of appetite had grown But now, my c usin Hamlet, and my son,

By what it fed on: And yet, within a month,Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind. Let me not think on't ;--Frailty, thy name is

[ Aside.

woman! King. How is it that the clouds still hang on A little month ; or ere those shoes were old, you ?

With which she follow'd my poor father's body, Ham. Not so, my lord, I am too much i'the sun. Like Niobe, all tears;-why she, even she,Queen. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off,

0 heaven! a beast, that wants discourse of reason, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Would have mourn'd longer,-married Do not, for ever, with thy vailed lids;

uncle, Seek for thy noble father in the dust:

My father's brother; but no more like my father, Thou know'st 'tis common; all, that live, must die, Than I to Hercules: Within a month; Passing through nature to eternity.

Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Ham. Ay, madam, it is common.

Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, Queen.

If it be,

She married :-( most wicked speed, to post Why seems it so particular with thee?

With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! Ham. Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not It is not, nor it cannot come to, good;

But break, my heart: for I must hold my tongue! 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,

Enter HORATIO, BERNARDO, and MARCELLUS. Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,

Hor. Hail to your lordship!

Ham. No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,

I am glad to see you well: Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage,

Horatio,-or I do forget myself. Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief,

Hor. The same, my lord, and your poor servant

ever. That can denote me truly: These, indeed, seem, For they are actions that a man might play:

Ham. Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name But I have that within, which passeth show; These, but the trappings and the suits of woe.

And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio ?-King. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your

Marcellus ? nature, Hamlet,

Mar. My good lord, — To give these mourning duties to your father:

Ham. I am very glad to see you; good-even, But, you must know, your father lost a father; That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound

But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg? In filial obligation, for some term

Hor. A truant disposition, good my lord.

Ham. I would not hear your enemy say so: To do obsequious sorrow: But to perséver In obstinate condolement, is a course

Nor shall you do mine ear that violence, Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief:

To make it truster of your own report It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,

Against yourself: I know, you are no truant. A heart unfortified, or mind impatient;.

But what is your affair in Elsinore ? An uuderstanding simple and unschool'd :

We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart. For what, we know, must be, and is as common Hur. My lord, I came to see your father's funeral. As any the most vulgar thing to sense,

Ham. I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow

student; Why should we, in our peevish opposition, Take it to heart? Fye! 'tis a fauli to heaven,

I think, it was to see my mother's wedding. A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,

• Contrary.

Draught. • Report. • Dissolve. • Way, path. • Lowering eyes.

· Apollo.

ith my

seems.

with you.

sir.

meats

Hor. Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon. And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
Ham. Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral-baked If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,

Lei it be tenable in your silence still:
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables, And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
'Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Give it an understanding, but no tongue;
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio !-

I will requite your loves : So, fare you well:
My father,--Methinks, I see my father.

Upon the platiorm, 'twixt eleven and twelve, Hor.

Where,

i'll visit you. My lord ?

dll.

Our duty to your honor. Hani. In my mind's eye, Horatio.

Ham. Your loves, as mine to you: Farewell. Hor. I saw him once, he was a goodly king.

(Exeunt HoR., Mar., and BER. Ham. He was a man, take him for all in all, My father's spirit in arms! all is not well: I shall not look upon his like again.

I doubt some foul play: 'would the night were Ja Hor. My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.

come! Ham. Saw! who ?

Till then sit still my soul: Foul deeds will rise, Hor. My lord, the king your father.

Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes. Ham. The king my father!

[Erit. Hor. Season your admiration for a while With an attent5 car; till I may deliver,

SCENE III.- A Room in Polonius's House. Upon the witness of these gentlemen, This marvel to you.

Enter LAERTES and OPHELIA. Ham.

For God's love, let me hear. Laer. My necessaries are embark'd; farewell: Hor. Two nights together had these gentlemen, And, sister, as the winds give benefit, Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,

And convoy is assistant, do not sleep, In the dead waist and middle of the night,

But let me hear from you. Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father, Oph.

Do you doubt that? Armed at point, exactly cap-à-pé,

Laer. For Hamlet, and the trilling of his favor,
Appears before them, and with solemn march, Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood;
Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd, A violet in the youth of primy nature,
By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes, Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,
Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill’d The perfume and suppliance of a minute;
Almost to jelly with the act of fear,

No more.
Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me Oph. No more but so?
In dreadful secresy impart they did;

Laer.

Think it no more: And I with them, the third night kept the watch: For nature, crescent, does not grow alone Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time, In thews, and bulk, but, as this temple waxes, Form of the thing, each word made true and good, The inward service of the mind and soul The apparition comes: I knew your father: Grows wide withal. Perhaps, he loves you now; These hands are not more like.

And now no soil, nor cautel,9 doth besmirch! Ham.

But where was this? | The virtue of his will: but, you must fear, Mar. My lord, upon the platforin where we His greatness weigh’d, bis will is not his own; watch'd.

For he himself is subject to his birth: Ham. Did you not speak to it?

He may not, as un valued persons do, Hor.

My lord, I did; Carve for himself; for on his choice depends But answer made it none: yet once, methought, The safety and the health of the whole state; It lifled up its head, and did address

And therefore must his choice be circumscribd Itself to motion, like as it would speak:

Unto the voice and yielding of that body But, even then, the morning cock crew loud; Whereof he is the head: Then it he says he loves And at the sound it shrunk in haste away,

you, And vanish'd from our sight.

It fits your wisdom so far to believe it, Ham.

'Tis very strange. As he in his particular act and place Hor. As I do live, my honor'd lord, 'tis true; May give his saying deed; which is no further And we did think it writ down in our duty, Than the main force of Denmark goes withal. To let you know of it.

Then weigh what loss your bonor may sustain, Ham. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me. If with too creden: ear you list3 his songs: Hold you the watch to-night?

Or lose your heart; or your chaste treasure open All.

We do, my lord. To his unmaster'd' importunity. Ham. Arm'd, say you?

Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister; All.

Arm'd, my lord. And keep you in the rear of your affection, Ham.

From top to toe? Out of the shot and danger of desire. All. My lord, from head to foot.

The chariest maid is prodigal enough, Ham.

Then saw you not If she unmask her beauty to the moon: His face?

Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes : Hor. O, yes, my lord! he wore his beaverá up. The canker galls the infants of the spring, Ham. What, look'd he frowningly?

Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd; Hor.

A countenance more And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
In sorrow than in anger.

Contagious blastments are most imminent.
Ham.
Pale, or red?

Be wary then: best safety lies in fear;
Hor. Nay, very pale.

Youth to itself rebels, though none else near. Ham

And fix'd his eyes upon you? Oph. I shall the effect of this good lesson keep, Hor. Most constantly..

As watchman to my heart : But, good my brother, Ham.

I would, I had been there. Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Hor. It would have much amaz'd you.

Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; Ham.

Very like, Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless libertine, Very like: Stay'd it long?

Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, Hor. While one with moderate haste might tell

And recks not his own read.5 a hundred.

Laer.

O fear me not. Mar. Ber. Longer, longer.

I stay too long ;-But here my father comes.
Hor. Not when I saw il.
Нат.
His beard was grizzl'd ? no?

Enter POLONIUS.
Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life,

A double blessing is a double grace;
A sable silver'd.

Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
Ham.
I will watch to-night;

Pol. Yet here, Laertes ! aboard, aboard, for shame; Perchance, 'twill walk again.

The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, Hor.

I warrant, it will. And you are staid for: There, -my blessing with Ham. If it assume my noble father's person,

you; (Laying his Hand on LAERTES Heach. I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape,

And these few precepts in thy memory • Chiefest.

• Attentive. • Increasing. • Sinews. • Subtlety, deceit. . That part of the helmet which protects the lower part 1 Dincolor. · Believing. 3 Listen to. of the face, and may be lifted up.

• Licentious. • Regards not his own lessons.

Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,

SCENE IV.-The Platform.
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.

Enter HAMLET, HOratio, and MARCELLUS. The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,

Ham. The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold. Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel : Hor. It is a nipping and an eagt.ro air. But do not dull thy palm with entertainment

Ham. What hour now? Of each new-hatch'd, untledg'd comrade. Beware

Hon.

I think it lacks of twelve. Of entrance to a quarrel: but, being in,

Mar. No, it is struck. Bear it, that the opposer may beware of thee.

Hor. Indeed ? I heard it not; it then draws near Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice :

the season, Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judg- Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk. ment.

(A Flourish of Trumpets, and Ordnance shot Costly thy habit, as thy purse can buy,

off within. But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy:

What does this mean, my lord ? For the apparel oft proclaims the man;

Ham. The king doth wake to-night, and takes And they in France of the best rank and station,

his rouse, Are most select and generous, chief in that. Keeps wassel,S and the swaggering up-spring; reels; Neither a borrower, nor a lender be:

And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, For loan oft loses both itself and friend;

The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

The triumph of his pledge. This above all, -To thine ownself be true;

Hor.

Is it a custom ? And it must follow, as the night the day,

Ham. Ay, marry, is't: Thou canst not then be false to any man.

But to my mind, though I am native here, Farewell; my blessing season' this in thee! And to the manner born,--it is a custom

Laer. Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord. More honor'd in the breach, than the observance. Pol. The time invites you; go, your servants

This heavy-headed revel, east and west, tend.2

Makes us traduced and tax'd of other nations: Laer. Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well

They clepel us drunkards, and with swinish phrase What I have said to you.

Soil our addition; and, indeed, it takes Oph.

'Tis in my memory lock’d, From our achievements, though perform dat height, And you yourself shall keep the key of it. The pith and marrow of our attribute. Laer. Farewell!

Exit LAERTES.

So oft it chances in particular men, Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you?

That for some vicious mole of nature in them, Oph. So please you, something touching the As, in their birth, (wherein they are not guilty, lord Hamlet.

Since nature cannot choose his origin.) Pol. Marry, well bethought:

By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,2 'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late

oit breaking down the pales and forts of reason; Given private time on you: and you yourself

Or, by some habit, that too much o'er-leavens Have of your audience been most free and boun- The form of plausive manners ;-that these men,teous:

Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect, If it be so, (as so 'tis put on me,

Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,-And that in way of caution,) I must tell you,

Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace, You do not understand yourself so clearly,

As infinite as man may undergo) As it behoves my daughter, and your honor:

Shall in the general censure take corruption What is between you give me up the truth.

From that particular fault: The dram of base Oph. He hath, my lord, of late, made many tenders Doth all the noble substance often dout,3 of his affection to me.

To his own scandal. Pol. Affection ? Puh! you speak like a green girl,

Enter Ghost. Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.

Hor.

Look, my lord, it comes! Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?

Ham. Angels and ministers of grace defend us !-Oph. I do not know, my lord, what I should think.

Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd, Pol. Marry, I'll teach you; think yourself a

Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from baby;

hell, That you have ta’en these tenders for true pay, Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more

Be thy intents wicked, or charitable,

Thou com’st in such a questionable shape, dearly;

That I will speak to thee; I'll call thee, Hamlet, Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,

King, father, royal Dane : 0, answer me:
Wronging it thus) you'll tender me a fool.

Let me not burst in ignorance! but tell,
Oph. My lord, he hath importun’d me with love Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death,
In honorable fashion.

Have burst their cerements! why the sepulchre,
Pol. Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.
Oph. And hath given countenance to his speech, Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws,

Wherein we saw thec quietly in-urn'd, my lord,

To cast thee up again! What may this mean, With almost all the holy vows of heaven. Pol. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know, Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,

That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul

Making night hideous; and we fools of nature, Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,

So horridly to shake our disposition, Giving more light than heat,--extinct in both,

With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls? Even in their promise, as it is a-making,

Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do? You must not take for fire. From this time Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;

Hor. It beckons you to go away with it, Set your entreatments at a higher rate,

As if it some impartment did desire

To you alone. Than to command a parley. For lord Hamlet,

Mar. Look, with what courteous action Believe so much in him, That he is young; "And with a larger tether may he walk,

It waves you to a more removed ground:

But do not go with it. Than may be given you: In few, Ophelia,

Hor.

No, by no means.
Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers,
Not of that die which their investments show,

Ham. It will not speak; then I will follow it.

Hor. Do not, my lord. But mere implorators of unholy suits,

Ham.

Why, what should be the fear! Breathing like sanctified and pious bonds,

I do not set my life at a pin's fee ; The better to beguile. This is for all,

And, for my soul, what can it do to that,
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,

Being a thing immortal as itself?
Have you so slander any moment's leisure,
As to give words or talk with the lord Hamlet.

It waves me forth again ;-I'll follow it.
Look to't, I charge you; come your ways,

Hor. What, if it tempt you toward the flood, my

lord, Oph. I shall obey, my lord.

(Exeunt.

Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff, • Write. * Opinion. • Noble. • Chiefly. • Sbarp.

* Jovial dranght. • Jollity. 1 Iofix. · Wait. : Untempted. • Company.

Humor • Implorers

me:

That beetlest o'er his base into the sea !

The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen: And there assume some other horrible form, 0, Hamlet, what a falling-off was there! Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, From me, whose love was of that dignity, And draw you into madness? think of it:

That it went hand-in-hand even with the vow The very place puts toys7 of desperation

I made to her in marriage; and to decline Without more motive, into every brain,

Upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor That looks so many fathoms to ihe sea,

To those of mine! And hears it roar beneath.

But virtue, as it never will be mov'd, Ham.

It waves me still: Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven; Go on, I'll follow thee.

So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd, Mar. You shall not go, my lord.

Will sate itself in a celestial bed, Ham.

Hold off your hands. And prey on garbage. Hor. Be ruld, you shall not go.

But soft! methinks I scent the morning air; Ham.

My fate cries out, Brief let me be:-Sleeping within mine orchard, And makes each petty artery in this body

My custom always of the afternoon, As hardy as the Némean lion's nerye.

Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,

(Ghost beckons. With juice of cursed hebenon' in a vial, Still am I call'd ;-unhand me, gentlemen ;

And in the porches of mine ears did pour

[ Breaking from them. The leperous distilment: whose effect By heaven, l'll make a ghost of him that lets Holds such an enmity with blood of man,

That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through I say, away ;-Go on, I'll follow thee.

The natural gates and alleys of the body; (Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET. And, with a sudden vigor, it doth posset Hor. He waxes desperate with imagination. And curd, like eager droppings into milk, Mar. Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him. The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine; Hor. Have after :-To what issue will this come? And a most instant tetter bark'd about, Mar. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust, Hor. Heaven will direct it.

All my smooth body.
Mar.

Nay, let's follow him. Thus was 1, sleeping, by a brother's hand,
(Exeunt. of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatch'd :3

Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
SCENE V.- A more remote Part of the Platform. Unhouseld,+ disappointed, unaneled ,6
Re-enter Ghost and HAMLET.

No reckoning made, but sent to my account Ham. Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak, I'll With all my imperfections on my head:

0, horrible! o, horrible! most horrible!
go no further.

If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Ghost. Mark me.
Ham.
I will.

Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
Ghost.
My hour is almost come,

A couch for luxury and damned incest.
When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames

But, howsoever thou pursuest this act, Must render up myself.

Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive Ham. Alas, poor ghost !

Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven, Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,

To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once! To what I shall unfold. Нат.

Speak, I am bound to hear. The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt

And 'gins to pale his ineffectual fire: hear.

Adieu, adieu, adieu ! remember me. (Erit. Ham. What?

Ham. O all you host of heaven! O earth! What

else ? Ghost. I am thy father's spirit; Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night;

And shall I couple hell !-0 fye!-Hold, hold, my And, for the day, confin'd to fast in fires,

heart; Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature,

And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,

But bear me stilly up!-Remember thee?'
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word

In this distracted globe.7 Remember thee? Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood; | i'll wipe away all trivial fond records,

Yea, from the table of my memory Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their

All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, spheres ; Thy knotted and combined locks to part,

That youth and observation copied there; And each particular hair to stand on end

And thy commandment all alone shall live

Within the book and volume of my brain,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:
But this eternal blazon must not be

Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heaven. To ears of flesh and blood :-List, list, O list!

O most pernicious woman! If thou didst ever thy dear father love,

O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain ! Ham. O heaven!

My tables, 9-meet it is, I set it down, Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;

At least, I am sure, it may be so in Denmark: murder. Ham. Murder?

[Writing. Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is;

So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word; But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.

It is, Adieu, adicu! remember me.

I have sworn't. Ham. Haste me to know it; that I, with wings

Hor. (Within.] My lord, my lord,as swift As meditation, or the thoughts of love,

Mar. Within. Lord Hamlet,May sweep to my revenge.

Hor. (Wilhin.) Heaven secure him.
Ghost.

I find thee apt;
Ham.

So be it.
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed Mar. (Within.) Illo, ho, ho, my lord!
That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,

Nam. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come. Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:

Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS. 'Tis given out, that, sleeping in mine orchard, Mar. How is't, my noble lord ? A serpent stung me: so the whole ear of Denmark

Hor.

What news, my lord ? Is by a forged process of my death

Ham. O wonderful! Rankly abus'd; but know, ihou noble youth,

Hor. The serpent that did sting thy father's life

Good, my lord, tell it.

Ham. Now wears his crown.

No;

You will reveal it.
Ham. O, my prophetic soul! my uncle.
Ghost. Ay, ihat incestuous, that adulterate beast,

Hor. Not I, my lord, by heaven.
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,

i Henbane.

Leprous.

• Bereit (0 wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power

• Without having received the sacrament. So to seduce!) won to his shameful lust

• Upappointed, unprepared.
. Without extreme unction,

Head. • Hangs. 1 Whims. • Hinders. • Display. • Sayings, sentences.

• Memorandum-book.