That grows to feed; things rank, and grofs in na

ture,

Poffefs it merely. That it fhould come to this!
But two months dead!—nay, not fo much, not two:
So excellent a king; that was to this,

Hyperion to a fatyr: fo loving to my mother,
That he might not let e'en the winds of heaven
Vifit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Muft I remember? Why, the would hang on him,
As if increase of appetite had grown

By what it fed on: And yet, within a month,-
Let me not think on't:-Frailty, thy name is

woman!

A little month; or ere thofe fhoes were old,
With which the follow'd my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears why she, even the,-
O heaven! a beaft, that wants difcourfe of reafon
Would have mourn'd longer,-marry'd with my
uncle,

Hor. I faw him once, he was a goodly king.
Ham. He was a man, take him for all in all,
I fhall not look upon his like again.

Hor. My lord, I think I faw him yefternight.
Ham. Saw! who?

Hor. My lord, the king your father.

Him. The king my father!

Hor. Seafon your admiration for a while
With an attent ear; 'till I may deliver,
Upon the witnefs of thete gentlemen,
This marvel to you.

Ham. For heaven's love, let me hear.
Hor. Two nights together had thefe gentlemen,
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,

In the dead waste and middle of the night,
Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father,
Arm'd at all points, exactly cap-à-pé,
Appears before them, and, with folemn march,
Goes flow and ftately by them: thrice he walk'd

My father's brother; but no more like my father, By their oppreft and fear-furprized eyes,
Than I to Hercules: Within a month;

Ham. I am very glad to see you; good even,
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
Hor. A truant difpofition, good my lord.
Ham. I would not hear your enemy say fo;
Nor fhall you do mine ear that violence,
To make it trufter of your own report
Against yourself: I know you are no truant.
But what is your affair in Elfinour?
We'll teach you to drink deep, ere you depart.
Hor. My lord, I came to fee your father's fune-
ral.
[ftudent;

Ham. I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-
I think it was to fee my mother's wedding.

Hɔr. Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.
Ham. Thrift, thrift, Horatio! The funeral bak'd
meats 3

Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
'Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven,
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!-
My father, Methinks, I fee my father.

Hər. O where, my lord?

Ham. In my mind's eye, Horatio.

This to me

Within his truncheon's length; whilft they, diftill'd
Almoft to jelly, with the act of fear,
Stand dumb and fpeak not to him.
In dreadful fecrefy impart they did ;
And I with them, the third night, kept the watch:
Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time,
Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
The apparition comes: I knew your father;
Thefe hands are not more like.

Hor. As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true;
And we did think it writ down in our duty,
To let you know of it.

Ham. Indeed, indeed, firs, but this troubles me.
Hold you the watch to-night?

All. We do, my lord.
Ham. Arm'd, fay you?
All. Arm'd, my lord.
Ham. From top to toe?

All. My lord, from head to foot.
Ham. Then faw you not his face?

Hor. O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver up.
Ham. What, look'd he frowningly?

Hor. A countenance more

In forrow than in anger.

Ham. Pale, or red?

Hor. Nay, very pale.

Ham. And fix'd his eyes upon you?
Hor. Moft conftantly.

21. e. I'll be your fer

1 By the Satyr is meant Pan, as by Hyperion, Apollo. Pin and Apollo were brothers, and the allu fion is to the contention between those gods for the preference in mufic. vant, you shall be my friend. 3 It was anciently the general custom to give a cold entertainment to mourners at a funeral. In distant counties this practice is continued among the yeomanry. 4 Dearest is most immediate, confequential, important. 5 That is, temper it.

1

Ham. I would, I had been there.
Hor. It would have much amaz'd you.
Ham. Very like,

Very like Stay'd it long?

Hor. While one with moderate hafte

Might tell a hundred.

Beth. Longer, longer.

Hor. Not when I faw it.

Ham. His beard was grizzl'd? no?

Her. It was, as I have feen it in his life,

A fable filver'd.

Ham. I will watch to-night;
Perchance, 'twill walk again.
Hor. I warrant, it will.

Ham. If it affume my noble father's perfon,
I'll fpeak to it, though hell itself should gape,
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
If have hitherto conceal'd this fight,
you

Let it be tenable in your filence ftill;
And whatfoever elfe fhall hap to-night,
Give it an understanding, but no tongue;
I will requite your loves: So, fare you well:
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,
I'll vifit you.

All. Our duty to your honour.

Ham. Your loves, as mine to you: Farewel.

[Exeunt.

My father's fpirit in arms! all is not well;
I doubt fome foul play: 'would, the night were
come !

'Till then fit ftill, my foul: Foul deeds will rife
(Though all the earth o'erwhelm them) to men's

eyes.

SCENE III.

An Apartment in Polonius' Houje.
Enter Laertes and Ophelia.

[Exit.

Laer. My neceffaries are embark'd; farewel:
And, fifter, as the winds give benefit, .
And convoy is afliftant, do not fleep,

But let me hear from you.

Oph. Do you doubt that?

His greatnefs weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himself is fubject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalued perfons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
The fafety and the health of the whole state;
And therefore muft his choice be circumfcrib'd
Unto the voice and vielding of that body,
Whereof he is the head: Then if he fay, he
loves you,

It fits your wifdom fo far to believe it,
As he in his particular act and place

May give his faying deed; which is no further,
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what lofs your honour may furtain,
If with too credent ear you lift his fongs;
Or lofe your heart; or your chafte treasure open
To his unmafter'd 5 importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear fister;
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the fhot and danger of defire.
The charieft maid is prodigal enough,
If the unmask her beauty to the moon :
Virtue itself fcapes not calumnious strokes :
The canker galls the infants of the spring,
Too oft before their buttons be difclos'd;
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blaftments are moft imminent.
Be wary then: beft fafety lies in fear;
Youth to itself rebels, though none elfe near.

Opb. I fhall the effect of this good leffon keep,
As watchman to my heart: But, good my brother,
Do not, as fome ungracious pastors do,
Shew me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whilft, like a puft and reckless libertine,
Himfelf the primrofe path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own read 7.

Laer. O, fear me not.

I ftay too long;-But here my father comes.
Enter Polonius.

A double bleffing is a double grace;
Occafion fmiles upon a fecond leave.

Pol. Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for
fhame;

Lacr. For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour, The wind fits in the shoulder of your fail,

Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood;

A violet in the youth of primy nature,
Forward, not permanent, fweet, not lafting,
The perfume and fuppliance of a minute;

For nature, crefcent, does not grow alone

In thews 2, and buik; but, as this temple waxes,
The inward fervice of the mind and foul
Grows wide withal. Perhaps, he loves you now;
And now no foil, nor cautel 3, doth befmirch
The virtue 4 of his will: but, you must fear,

And you are ftaid for: There,-my bledings with
you; [Laying bis band on Laerter blad.
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
The friends thou haft, and their adoption trv'è,
Grapple them to thy foul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd unfledg'd comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear it that the oppofer may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:

1 i. e. what is fupplied to us for a minute. The idea feems to be taken from the fhort duration 2 i. c. in linews, mufcular ftrength. 3 i. e. no fraud, deceit. Garifu of vegetable perfumes. si. e. itTeems here to comprise both excellence and power, and may be explained the pure effect. 7 That is. heeds not his own leffons. 8 The literal fente is, centious. 6 Chary is cautious. Do not make thy palm callous by fhaking every man by the hand. The figurative meaning may be, Do not by promifcuous converfation make thy mind infenfible to the difference of charačicis.

Take

Take each man's cenfure, but referve thy judg-|

ment.

Coftly thy habit as thy purfe can buy,
But not exprefs'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;

And they in France, of the best rank and ftation,
Are moft felect, and generous chief 2 in that.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be:
For loan oft lofes both itfelf and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of hutbandry.
This above all,-To thine ownfelf be true;
And it muft follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be falfe to any man.
Farewel; my blefling feafon 3 this in thee!
Laer. Moit humbly do I take my leave, my
lord.
[tend 4.
Pol. The time invites you; go, your fervants
Laer. Farewel, Ophelia; and remember well
What I have faid to you.

Oph. 'Tis in my memory lock'd,
And you yourself thall keep the key 5 of it.
Laer. Farewel.

[Exit Laertes. Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath faid to you? Oph. So please you, fomething touching the lord Hamlet.

Pol. Marry, well bethought:

'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you; and you yourself
Have of youraudience been moft free and bounteous:
If it be fo, (as fo 'tis put on me,

And that in way of caution) I must tell you,
You do not understand yourself fo clearly,
As it behoves my daughter, and your honour:
What is between you? give me up the truth.
Opb. He hath, my lord, of late made many
[tenders

Of his affection to me.

Pol. Affection? puh! you fpeak like a green girl,

Unfifted

in fuch perilous circumftance.

Do you believe his tenders, as you call them ? Oph. I do not know, my lord, what I fhould think.

[baby; Pol. Marry, I'll teach you: think yourfelf a That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay, Which are not fterling. Tender yourfelf more dearly;

Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase)
Wronging it thus 7, you'll tender me a fool.

Oph. My lord, he hath importun'd me with love,
In honourable fashion.

When the blood burns, how prodigal the foul
Lends the tongue vows: Thefe blaze, daughter,
Giving more light than heat,-extinct in both,
Even in their promife, as it is a making,-
You must not take for fire. From this time,
Be fomewhat fcanter of your maiden prefence;
Set your entreatments 10 at a higher rate,
Than a command to parley. For lord Hamlet,
Believe fo much in him, That he is young;
And with a larger tether 11 may he walk,
Than may be given you: In few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows: for they are brokers;
Not of that dye which their investments fhew,
But meer implorators of unholy fuits,
Breathing like fanctified and pious bonds,
The better to beguile 12. This is for all,-
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so flander any moment's leifure,
As to give words or talk with the lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you; come your ways.
Opb. I fhall obey, my lord.

[Exeunt,

Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus.

Ham. The air bites fhrewdly; it is very cold.
Hor. It is a nipping and an eager air.
Ham. What hour now?

Hor. I think, it lacks of twelve.
Mar. No, it is ftruck.

Hor. Indeed? I heard it not: it then draws
near the feafon,

Wherein the fpirit held his wont to walk.
[Noife of mufic within.
What does this mean, my lord?

Ham. The king doth wake to-night, and takes
his roufe 43,
[reels;

Keeps waffel 14, and the fwaggering up-fpring 15
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
The kettle-drum, and trumpet, thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.

Hor. Is it a cuftom?
Ham. Ay, marry, is't:

4 i. c.

1 Cenfure is opinion. 2 Chief is an adjective used adverbially, a practice common to our author. Chiefly generous. 3 That is, infix it in fuch a manner as that it never may wear out. your fervants are waiting for you. 5 The meaning is, that your counfels are as fure of remaining locked up in my memory, as if you yourfelf carried the key of it. 6 Unfifted, for untried. Untried fignifies either not tempted, or Lot refined; unfifted, fignifies the latter only, though the fenfe requires the former. 7 That is, if you continue to go on thus wrong. 8 She ules fashion for manner, and he for a tranfient practice. 9 A proverbial faying. 10 Entreatments here means company, converfation, from the French entrétien.

11 Tether is that ftring by which an animal, fet to graze in 12 Do not believe (fays Polonius to grounds uninclofed, is confined within the proper limits. his daughter) Hamlet's amorous vows made to you; which pretend religion in them (the better to beguite like thofe fanctified and pious vows [or bonds] made to heaven. 13 A roufe is a large dofe of 14 See Macbeth, Act I. 15 That is, the bluftering upftart, according to Dr. liquor, a debauch. Johnfon; but Mr. Steevens Lays, that up-pring was a German dance; and that the Spring was alfo anciently the name of a tune.

But,

But, to my mind,-though I am native here,
And to the manner born,-it is a custom
More honour'd in the breach, than the obfervance.
This heavy-headed revel, eaft and weft,
Makes us traduc'd, and tax'd of other nations:

They clepe us, drunkards, and with fwinith phrafe
Soil our addition; and, indeed, it takes

And for my foul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself ?
It waves me forth again ;—I'll follow it.
Hor. What, if it tempt you toward the flood,
my lord?

Or to the dreadful fummit of the cliff,
That beetles o'er his bate into the fea?

From our atchievements, though perform'd at height, And there affume fome other horrible form,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.
So, oft it chances in particular men,

That, for fome vicious mole of nature in them,
As, in their birth, (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot chute his origin)
By the o'er-growth of fome complexion',
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reafon ;
Or by fome habit, that too much o'er-leavens
The form of plaufive manners;--that thefe men,
Carrying, I fay, the ftamp of one defect;
Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,-
Their virtues elfe (be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo)
Shall in the general cenfure take corruption
From that particular fault: The dram of base
Doth all the noble fubftance of worth out 2,
To his own fcandal.

Enter Gloft.

Hor. Look, my lord, it comes!

Ham. Angels and minifters of grace defend us!
Be thou a fpirit of health, or goblin damn'd, [hell,
Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blafts from
Be thy intents wicked, or charitable,
Thou com'ft in fuch a questionable shape 3,
That I will fpeak to thee; I'll call thee, Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance! but tell,
Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearted in death,
Have burft their cearments? why the fepulchre,
Wherein we faw thee quietly in-urn'd,
Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws,
To caft thee up again? What may this mean,-
That thou, dead corfe, again, in complete fteel +,
Revifit'it thus the glimpies of the moon,
Making night hideous; and we fools of nature 5
So horridly to thake our difpofition ",
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our fouls ?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what thould we do?

Hor. It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it fome impartment did defire

To you alone.

Mar. Look, with what courteous action It waves you to a more removed ground:

But do not go with it.

Hor. No, by no means.

Which might deprive 8 your fovereignty of reafon,
And draw you into madness? think of it:
The very place puts toys 9 of defperation,
Without more motive, into every brain,
That looks fo many fathoms to the fea,
And hears it roar beneath.

Ham. It waves me ftill :-
Go on, I'll follow thee.

Mar. You shall not go, my lord.
Ham. Hold off your hands.
Hor. Be rul'd, you shall not go.
Ham. My fate cries out,
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.
Still am I call'd-unhand-me, gentlemen;-
[Breaking from them,

By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets 1° me:
I fay, away :-Go on,- -I'll follow thee.

[Exeunt Gboy, and Hamlet.
Hor. He waxes defperate with imagination.
Mar. Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him.
Hor. Have after:-To what iffue will this come?
Mar. Something is rotten in the Itate of Den-
Ho. Heaven will direct it.
Mar. Nay, let's follow him.

[m.rk. [Excant.

Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night;

Ham. It will not fpeak; then I will follow it. And, for the day, confin'd to faft in fires,

Hor. Do not, my lord.

Ham. Why, what should be the fear?

I do not fet my life at a pin's fee 7;

'Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature, Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid To tell the fecrets of my prifon-houte,

I i. e. humour; as fanguine, melancholy, phlegmatic, &c. 2 The dram of last means the leaft alloy of baseness or vice. To do a thing out, is to extinguish it, or to ciface or obliterate any thing painted or written. 3 ise. in a fhape or form capable of being converfed with. To queftion, certainly, in our author's time fignified to converfe. 4 It was the cultom of the Danish kings to be buried in that manuer. 5 The expreflion is fine, as intimating we were only kept (as formerly, fools in a great family) to make port for nature, who lay bid only to mock and laugh at us, for our vain fearches into her myfteries. • Difpeftion, for frame. 7 i. c. the value of a pin. 8 i. e. take away. 9 Toys for whims. 10 i. c. hinders, or prevents me.

I could

I could a tale unfold, whofe lightest word
Would harrow up thy foul; freeze thy young blood;
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start_from_their
fpheres ;

Thy knotty and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to ftand on end
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:
But this eternal blazon muft not be

That, fwift as quick-filver, it courfes through
The natural gates and alleys of the body;
And, with a fuddea vigour, it doth pollet
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholefome blood: to did it mine;
And a mott initant tetter bark'd about,
Moft lazar-like, with vile and loathiome cruft,
At my fmooth body.

To ears of flesh and blood:-Lift, lift, O lift !- Thus was I, fleeping, by a brother's hand,
If thou did't ever thy dear father love,-

Ham.. O heaven!

[der.

Ghof. Revenge his foul and most unnatural mur-
Ham. Murder?

Ghofi. Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this moft foul, itrange, and unnatural.

Ham, Haite me to know it; that I, with wings
as fwift

As meditation ', or the thoughts of love,
May fweep to my revenge.

Ghost. I find thee apt;

Of life, of crown, of queen, at once difpatch'd 4:
Cut off even in the bloffoms of my fin,
Unhoufell'd 5, difappointed, unancal'd 7;
No reckoning made, but fent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
O horrible! O horrible! moft horrible!
If thou haft nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned inceft.
But, how foever thou purfu ft this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy foul contrive
Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven,
And to thofe thorns that in her bofom lodge,
To prick and fting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm thews the matin to be near,

8

And duller fhould't thou be than the fat weed
That rots itfelf in eafe on Lethe's wharf,
Wouldst thou not ftir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis given out, that, fleeping in my orchard,
A ferpent ftung me; fo the whole ear of Den-And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire?:
[mark Adieu, adieu, adieu! remember me.

Is by a forged procefs of my death

Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble youth,
The ferpent, that did fting thy father's life,
Now wears his crown.

Ham. O, my prophetick foul! my uncle?
Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beaft,
With withcraft of his wit, with traiterous gifts,
(O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power
So to feduce!) won to his thameful luit
The will of my moft feeming-virtuous queen :
O, Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whofe 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, whole natural gifts were poor
To thofe of mine!

But virtue, as it never will be mov'd,
Though lewdnefs court it in a thape of heaven;
So luft, though to a radiant angel link'd,
Will fate ittelf in a celeftial bed,

And prey on garbage.

But, foft! methinks, I fcent the morning air

Brief let me be :-Sleeping within mine orchard 2,
My cuftom always of the afternoon,
Upon my fecure hour thy uncle ftole,
With juice of curfed hebenon 3 in a vial,
And in the porches of mine ears did pour
The leperous diftilment; whofe effect
Holds fuch an enmity with blood of man,

[Exit.

Ham. O all you hoft of heaven! O earth! What
elie ?
[heart:
And fhall I couple hell?-O fie!-Hold, hold, my
And you, my finews, grow not instant old,
But bear me ftiffly up !-Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghoit, while memory holds a feat
In this distracted globe 10. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All faws of books, all forms, all preffures paft,
That youth and obfervation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone fhall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with bafer matter: yes, by heaven.
O molt pernicious woman!

O villain, villain, failing, damned villain !
My tables,--meet it is, I fet it down,
That one may imile, and fmile, and be a villain:
At least, I am fure, it may be io in Denmark :

5 i. c. without the facrament

1 This fimilitude is extremely beautiful. The word meditanon is confecrated, by the mylics, te fignify that itretc and flight of mind which atpires to the enjoyment of the fupreme good. So that Hamlet, couldering with what to compare the witnefs of his revenge, chooses two of the moftrapid things in nature, the ardency of divine and human pathon, in an enthuseft and a lover. 2 Orchard for garden. 3 That is, henbane. 4 Difpatch'd for her ft. taken; froin the old Saxon word for the ficrainent, houfel. Difappointed is the fame as unat pointed, and may be properly explained unprepared. 71. e. unanointed, not having the extreme unciion. 1. e. for lewdness. 9i.e. fire that is no longer feen when the light of morning approaches. 15. e. in this head confufed with thought. 11 Hamiet alludes to the watch-word given every

day in the military.e.vice, which at this time he says is, Adieu, adicu, remember me.