1

The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain,
That looks so many fathoms to the sea,
And hears it roar beneath.

And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.—

[Ghost beckons.

Still am I called ;-unhand me, gentlemen ;

[Breaking from them. By Heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me :

I say, away;—go on, I'll follow thee.

[Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET. Hor. He waxes desperate with imagination. Mar. Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him. Hor. Have after.-To what issue will this come? Mar. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Hor. Heaven will direct it.

Mar.

Nay, let's follow him.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V. A more remote Part of the Platform.

Enter Ghost and HAMLET.

Ham. Whither wilt thou lead me? speak, I'll go no further.

My hour is almost come,

When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself.

1 i. e. whims.

2 To let, in old language, is to hinder, to stay, to obstruct.

Ham. How say you, then; would heart of man once think it?

But you'll be secret,

Hor. Mar.

Ay, by Heaven, my lord.

Ham. There's ne'er a villain, dwelling in all Den

mark,

But he's an arrant knave.

Hor. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the

grave,

To tell us this.

Ham.

Why, right: you are in the right;

And so, without more circumstance at all,

I hold it fit, that we shake hands, and part;

You, as your business, and desire, shall point you;— For every man hath business, and desire,

Such as it is, and, for my own poor part,

Look you, I will go pray.

Hor. These are but wild and whirling words, my

lord.

Ham. I am sorry they offend you, heartily; yes, 'Faith, heartily.

Hor.

There's no offence, my lord.

Ham. Yes, by saint Patrick,' but there is, Horatio, And much offence too. Touching this vision here, It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you.

For your desire to know what is between us, O'ermaster it as you may. And now, good friends, As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,

Give me one poor request.

Hor.

We will.

What is't, my lord?

Ham. Never make known what you have seen

to-night.

Hor. Mar. My lord, we will not.

Ham.

Nay, but swear't.

1 Warburton has ingeniously defended Shakspeare for making the Danish prince swear by St. Patrick, by observing, that the whole northern world had their learning from Ireland. It is, however, more probable that the Poet seized the first popular imprecation that came to his mind, without regarding whether it suited the country or character of the person to whom he gave it.

Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear.
'Tis given out, that, sleeping in mine orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death

Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life,'
Now wears his crown.

Ham. O my prophetic soul! my uncle!

Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts, (O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power So to seduce!) won to his shameful lust The will of my most seeming virtuous queen. O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there! From me, whose love was of that dignity, That it went hand in hand even with the vow I made to her in marriage; and to decline Upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor To those of mine!

But virtue, as it never will be moved,

Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven;
So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,

Will sate itself in a celestial bed,

And prey on garbage.

But soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief let me be.-Sleeping within mine orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,

Upon my secure 2 hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon3 in a vial,
And in the porches of mine ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man,
That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body;
And with a sudden vigor, it doth posset

1 Quarto, 1603-heart.

2 This is also a Latinism; securus, quiet, or unguarded.

3 Hebenon may probably be derived from henbane, the oil of which, according to Pliny, dropped into the ears, disturbs the brain; and there is sufficient evidence that it was held poisonous by our ancestors.

And curd, like eager1 droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine,
And a most instant tetter barked about,

Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand,

5

Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatched; 2
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled ;
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head.
O horrible! O horrible! most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But, howsoever thou pursu'st this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught; leave her to Heaven,
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glowworm shows the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire ;

Adieu, adieu, adieu! remember me.

6

[Exit.

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

else?

And shall I couple hell?-O fie!-Hold, hold, my

heart;

And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffly up!-Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the tables of my memory

1 In Sc. iv. we have eager air for sharp, biting air.

Baret), sower, sharp; acidus, aigre."

"Eger (says

2 Quarto 1603, deprived. To despatch and to rid were synonymous.

3 Unhouseled is without having received the sacrament.

4 Disappointed is the same as unappointed, and may be explained

unprepared.

5 Unaneled is without extreme unction.

6 Uneffectual, i. e. shining without heat. The use of to pale, as a verb, is rather unusual, but not peculiar to Shakspeare.

7 i. e. in this head confused with thought.

And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,
What company, at what expense; and finding,
By this encompassment, and drift of question,
That they do know my son, come you more nearer
Than your particular demands will touch it.

Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of him;
As thus, I know his father, and his friends,

And, in part, him.-Do you mark this, Reynaldo?
Rey. Ay, very well, my lord.

Pol. And, in part, him;—but, you may say, not well;

But, if't be he I mean, he's very wild ;

Addicted so and so;-and there put on him
What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
As
may dishonor him; take heed of that;
But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips,
As are companions noted and most known
To youth and liberty.

Rey.

As gaming, my lord.

Pol. Ay, or drinking, fencing,' swearing, quarrelling,

Drabbing;-you may go so far.

Rey. My lord, that would dishonor him.

Pol. 'Faith, no; as you may season it in the charge. You must not put another scandal on him,

'That he is open to incontinency;

That's not my meaning. But breathe his faults so quaintly,

That they may seem the taints of liberty;

The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind;

A savageness in unreclaimed blood,

Of general assault.

Rey.

But, my good lord,

Ay, my lord,

Pol. Wherefore should you do this?

Rey.

I would know that.

1 "The cunning of fencers is now applied to quarrelling; they thinke themselves no men, if for stirring of a straw, they prove not their valure uppon some bodies fleshe."-Gosson's Schole of Abuse, 1579.

"A wildness of untamed blood, such as youth is generally assailed by."