Mar. Thou art a fcholar, fpeak to it, Horatio.
Ber. Looks it not like the King? mark it, Horatio.

Hor. Moft like: it harrows

Ber. It would be spoke to.

Mar. Speak to it, Horatio.

me with fear and

[wonder.

Hor. What art thou, that ufurp'ft this time of night,

Together with that fair and warlike form,

In which the Majefty of buried Denmark

Did sometime march? by Heav'n, I charge thee, speak.

Mar. It is offended.

Ber. See! it ftalks away.

Hor. Stay; fpeak; I charge thee, speak.

Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer,

[Exit Ghoft.

Ber. How now, Horatio? you tremble and look pale,

Is not this fomething more than phantafy?

What think you of it?

Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe, * Without the fenfible and try'd avouch

Of mine own eyes.

Mar. Is it not like the King?

Hor. As thou art to thyfelf.

Such was the very armour he had on,
When he th' ambitious Norway combated:
So frown'd he once, when in an angry parle,
He fmote the fleaded Polack on the ice.

'Tis frange

Mar. Thus twice before, and juft at this dead hour, With martial ftalk, he hath gone by our Watch. Hor. In what particular thought to work, I know

not;

But, in the grofs and scope of my opinion,
This bodes fome ftrange eruption to our State.

Without the fenfible and true arouch] I am inclined to think that Shakespear wrote,try'd avouch.

Warb..

Mar

Mar. Good now fit down, and tell me, he that

knows,

Why this fame flrid and moft obfervant Watch
So nightly toils the Subjects of the Land ?
And why fuch daily caft of brazen Cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of war?
Why fuch imprefs of fhipwrights, whofe fore talk
Does not divide the Sunday from the week?
What might be toward, that this sweaty hafte
Doth make the night joint labourer with the day:
Who is't, that can inform me ?

Hor. That can I ;

At least, the whisper goes fo. Our laft King,
Whole image but even now appeared to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
(Thereto prickt on by a moft emulate pride)
Dar'd to the fight: In which our valiant Hamlet,
(For fo this fide of our known world efteem'd him)
Did flay this Fortinbras: who by feal'd compact,
Well ratified by law of heraldry,

*

Did forfeit (with his life) all thofe his Lands,
Which he flood feized of, to the Conqueror :
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our King; which had Return
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,

Had he been vanquisher; † as by the fame comart, a feal'd compart

*

Well ratified by law and heraldry.] Now law, as diftinguished from Heraldry, fignifying the civil Law; and this feal'd Compact being a Civil-law A&, it is as much as to fay, An Act of law well ratified by law, which is abfurd. Without Doubt Shakespear wrote,

-who by feal'd compact

Well ratified by law of heraldry.

i. e. the Execution of the civil Compact was ratified by the Law of Arms; which, in our Author's Time, was called the Law of Heraldry.

+ -as by that cov'nant,

-The old Quarto reads

-as by the fame Comart;

And this is right. Comart fignifies a Bargain, and Carriage of the Articles, the Covenants entered into to confirm that Bargain.

And

And carriage of the articles defign'd.
His fell to Hamlet. How young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved mettle hot and full,

Hath in the fkirts of Norway, here and there,
Shark'd up a list of landless resolutes,
For food and diet, to fome enterprize
That hath a stomach in't: which is no other,
As it doth well appear unto our State,
But to recover of us by ftrong hand,

* And terms compulfatory thofe forefaid Lands
So by his father loft: and this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations,
The fource of this our watch, and the chief head
Of this poft-hafte and romage in the Land.
Ber. I think, it be no other, but even so:
Well may it fort, that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch fo like the King,
That was, and is the question of these wars.
Hor. A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.
In the most high and palmy State of Rome,
A little ere the mightieft Julius fell

The Graves ftood tenantlefs; the fheeted Dead
Did fqueak and gibber in the Roman ftreets;
Stars thone with trains of fire, Dews of blood fell;
Difafters veil'd the Sun; and the moift Star,
Upon whofe influence Neptune's Empire ftands,
Was fick almoft to dooms-day with eclipfe.
And even the like precurfe of fierce events,
As harbingers preceding ftill the fates,
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heav'n and earth together demonftrated
Unto our climatures and country-men.

Enter Ghoft again.

But foft, behold! lo, where it comes again!

And terms compulfative-] The old Quarto, better, com pulfatory.

And prologue to the omen coming on.] Omen, for Fate.

I'll crofs it, though it blaft me.

Stay illufion! [Spreading his Arms.

If thou haft any found, or use of voice,
Speak to me.

If there be any good thing to be done,
That may to thee do eafe, 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 uphoorded, in thy life

Extorted treasure, in the womb of earth, [Cock crows.
For which, they fay, you Spirits oft walk in death,
Speak of it. Stay, and speak-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 so majestical,
To offer it the shew of violence;
For it is as the air, invulnerable;

And our vain blows, malicious mockery.

[Exit Ghoft.

Ber. It was about to speak, when the cock crew. Hor. And then it started like a guilty thing Upon a fearful Summons. 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 Spirit hies 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 'gainft that feafon comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of Dawning fingeth all night long: And then, they fay, no Spirit walks abroad;

The

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-eastward 'hill";
Break we our watch up; and, by my advice,
Let us impart what we have feen to-night
Unto young Hamlet. For, upon my life,
This Spirit, dumb to us, will fpeak to him:
Do you confent, we fhall 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. [Exeunt.

Enter Claudius King of Denmark, Gertrude the Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Voltimand, Cornelius, Lords and Attendants.

HOUGH yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death

King.

THO

The

memory be green, and that it fitted

To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole Kingdom'
To be contracted in one brow of woe;

Yet fo far hath Difcretion 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 were, 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