Have heav'n and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen.
But foft, behold! lo, where it comes again!
I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illufion!
[Spreading bis arms.
If thou haft any found, or use of voice,
If there be any good thing to be done,
That may to thee do cafe, and grace to me;
Speak to me.
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,
Oh fpeak!
Or, if thou haft uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they fay, you fpirits oft walk in death,
Speak of it. Stay, and fpeak-Stop it, Marcellus,
Mar. Shall I ftrike at it with my partizan?
Hor. Do, if it will not ftand,
Ber. 'Tis here
Hor. 'Tis here
Mar. 'Tis gone.
We do it wrong, being fo majestical,
To offer it fhew of violence;
For it is as the air, invulnerable;
And our vain blows, malicious mockery.
Ber. It was about to fpeak when the cock crew.
Hor. And then it ftarted like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful fummons. I have heard,
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth with his lofty and fhrill-founding throat
Awake the God of day; and, at his warning,
Whether in fea or fire, in earth or air,
Th' extravagant and erring fpirit hies
But the Poet means, that these strange phenomena are prologues, and forerunners, of the events prefag'd by them: and fuch fenfe the flight alteration, which I have ventur'd to make by a fingle letter added, very aptly gives.
To his confine: and of the truth herein
This prefent object made probation.
Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock.
Some fay, that ever 'gainst that seafon comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning fingeth all night long:
And then they fay no fpirit walks abroad;
'The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, no witch hath power to charm;
So hallow'd, and fo gracious is the time.
Hor. So have I heard, and do in part believe it.
But look the morn, in ruffet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill;
Break we our watch up; and, by my advice,
Let us impart what we have seen to-night
Unto young Hamlet. For, upon my life,
This fpirit, dumb to us, will speak to him:
Do you confent, we shall acquaint him with it,
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?
Mar. Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know Where we shall find him moft conveniently.
SCENE changes to the Palace.
Enter Claudius King of Denmark, Gertrude the Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Voltimand, Cornelius, Lords and attendants.
King. The memory be green, and that it fitted T
Hough yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe;
Yet fo far hath discretion fought with nature,
That we with wifeft forrow think on him,
Together with remembrance of ourselves,
Therefore our fometime fifter, now our Queen,
Th' imperial jointrefs of this warlike State,
Have we, as 'twere, with a defeated joy,
With one aufpicious, and one dropping eye,
With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage,
In equal fcale weighing delight and dole,
Taken to wife.- -Nor have we herein barr'd
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along: (for all, our thanks.)
Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,
Holding a weak fuppofal of our worth;
Or thinking by our late dear brother's death
Our state to be disjointed and out of frame;
Colleagued with this dream of his advantage,
He hath not fail'd to pefter us with meffage,
Importing the furrender of thofe lands
Loft by his father, by all bands of law,
To our most valiant brother. So much for him.
Now for ourself, and for this time of meeting:
Thus much the business is. We have here writ
To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,
(Who, impotent and bed-rid, fcarcely hears
Of this his nephew's purpose) to fupprefs
His further gate herein; in that the levies,
The lifts, and full proportions are all made
Out of his fubjects: and we here dispatch
You, good Cornelius, and you Voltimand,
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway;
Giving to you no further perfonal power
To hufinefs with the King, more than the scope
Which thefe dilated articles allow.
Farewel, and let your hafte commend your duty.
Vol. In that, and all things, will we fhew our duty.
King. We doubt it nothing; heartily farewel.
[Exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius.
And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?
You told us of fome fuit. What is't, Laertes?
You cannot speak of reafon to the Dane,
And lofe your voice. What would'ft thou beg, Laertes
That fhall not be my offer, not thy asking?
The head is not more native to the heart,
The hand more inftrumental to the mouth,
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father..
What would't thou have, Laertes ?
Laer. My dread lord,
Your leave and favour to return to France;
From whence, though willingly I came to Denmark
To fhew my duty in your coronation;
Yet now I muft confefs, that duty done,
My thoughts and wishes bend again tow'rd France:
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
King. Have you your father's leave? what fays Polonius? Pol. He hath, my lord, by labourfome petition, Wrung from me my flow leave; and, at the last, Upon his will I feal'd my hard confent.
I do beseech you, give him leave to go.
King. Take thy fair hour, Laertes, time be thine; (3) And thy beft graces spend it at thy will. But now, my coufin Hamlet, and my fon
Ham. A little more than kin, and lefs than kind.
[Afide. King. How is it that the clouds ftill hang on you? Ham. Not fo, my Lord, I am too much i'th' fun. Queen. Good Hamlet, caft thy nighted colour off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Do not, for ever, why thy veiled lids,
Seek for thy noble father in the duft;
Thou know'ft, 'tis common: all, that live, muft die; Paffing through nature to eternity.
Ham. Ay, Madam, it is common.
Why feems it fo particular with thee?
Ham. Seems, Madam? nay, it is; I know not seems: 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor cuftomary fuits of folemn black,
Nor windy fufpiration of forc'd breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
(3) Take thy fair bour, Laertes, time be thine,
And thy fair Graces; spend it at thy will.] This is the pointing in both Mr. Pope's editions; but the Poet's meaning is loft by it, and the close of the fentence miferably flatten'd. The pointing, I have reftor'd, is that of the beft copies; and the fenfe, this; "You have as my leave to go, Laertes; make the fairest ufe you please of your time, and fpend it at your will with the faireft graces you are "mafter of."
Nor the dejected 'haviour of the vifage,
Together with all forms, moods, fhews of grief,
That can denote me truly. These indeed feem,
For they are actions that a man might play;
But I have that within, which paffeth fhew:
Thefe, but the trappings, and the fuits of woe.
King. 'Tis fweet and commendable in your nature,
Hamlet,
To give these mourning duties to your father:
But you must know, your father loft a father; (4)
That father loft, loft, his; and the surviver bound
In filial obligation, for fome term,
To do obfequious forrow. But to perfevere
In obftinate condolement, is a course
Of impious stubbornness, unmanly grief.
It fhews a will most incorrect to heav'n,
A heart unfortify'd, a mind impatient,
An understanding fimple, and unfchool'd:
For, what we know muft be, and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we, in our peevish oppofition,
Take it to heart? fie! 'tis a fault to heav'n,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reafon moft abfurd; whofe common theme
Is death of fathers, and who ftill hath cry'd,
From the firft corfe, till he that died to-day,
"This must be fo." We pray you, throw to earth
This unprevailing woe, and think of us
As of a father: for let the world take note,
You are the most immediate to our throne;
(4) But you must know, your father loft a father;
That father bis.- -] This fuppos'd refinement is from Mr. Pope; but all the editions elfe, that I have met with, old and modern, read, That father loft, loft, bis ;
The reduplication of which word here gives an energy and an elegance, which is much eafier to be conceiv'd, than explain'd in terms. And every judicious reader of this Poet muft have obferv'd, how frequent it is with him to make this reduplication; where he intends either to affert or deny, augment or diminish, or add a degree of vebemence to his expreffion.
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