The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare

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Title: Hamlet

Author: William Shakespeare

Editor: Charles Kean

Release Date: January 10, 2009 [EBook #27761]

Language: English

Character set encoding: UTF-8

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAMLET ***

Produced by David Starner, Curtis Weyant and the Online

Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber's Note:

This is a heavily edited version of _Hamlet_. It was used

for Charles Kean's 1859 stage production. Phrases printed

in italics in the book are indicated in this electronic

version by _ (underscore). Footnotes originally appeared

at the bottom of each page. For this electronic version

the footnotes are collected at the end of each act. In

Act I, Scene 5, the word Uumix'd has been changed to

Unmix'd. A closing bracket ] was added to Act IV footnote

37 after _Naked on your kingdom_,. A closing bracket ]

was added to Act IV footnote 50 after _Venom'd stuck_,.

The word o'er-crows appears in Act V, Scene 3; in

footnote V.81, o'ercrows appears without a hyphen. Both

are as they appear in the book.

SHAKESPEARE'S TRAGEDY

OF

HAMLET,

PRINCE OF DENMARK.

ARRANGED FOR REPRESENTATION AT THE

Royal Princess's Theatre

WITH

EXPLANATORY NOTES,

BY

CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A.

AS PERFORMED ON

MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1859.

LONDON:

BRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET.

1859.

LONDON:

BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.

Dramatis Personæ

CLAUDIUS (_King of Denmark_) Mr. RYDER.

HAMLET (_son to the former and_

_nephew to the present King_). Mr. CHARLES KEAN.

POLONIUS (_Lord Chamberlain_) Mr. MEADOWS.

HORATIO (_friend To Hamlet_) Mr. GRAHAM.

LAERTES (_son To Polonius_) Mr. J. F. CATHCART.

ROSENCRANTZ } { Mr. BRAZIER.

GUILDENSTERN } (_Courtiers_) { Mr. G. EVERETT.

OSRICK } { Mr. DAVID FISHER.

PRIEST Mr. TERRY.

MARCELLUS Mr. PAULO.

BERNARDO Mr. DALY.

FRANCISCO Mr. COLLETT.

GHOST OF HAMLET'S FATHER Mr. WALTER LACY.

FIRST GRAVEDIGGER Mr. FRANK MATTHEWS.

SECOND GRAVEDIGGER Mr. H. SAKER.

FIRST PLAYER Mr. F. COOKE.

SECOND PLAYER Mr. ROLLESTON.

GERTRUDE (_Queen of Denmark, and_

_mother of Hamlet_) Mrs. CHARLES KEAN.

OPHELIA (_daughter of Polonius_) Miss HEATH.

ACTRESS Miss DALY.

STAGE DIRECTIONS.

R. H. means Right Hand; L. H. Left Hand; U. E. Upper Entrance; R. H.

C. Enters through the Centre from the Right Hand; L. H. C. Enters

through the Centre from the Left Hand.

RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE PERFORMERS WHEN ON THE STAGE.

R. means on the Right side of the Stage; L. on the Left side of the

Stage; C. Centre of the Stage; R. C. Right Centre of the Stage; L. C.

Left Centre of the Stage.

The reader is supposed _to be on the Stage_, facing the audience.

PREFACE.

The play of _Hamlet_ is above all others the most stupendous monument

of Shakespeare's genius, standing as a beacon to command the wonder

and admiration of the world, and as a memorial to future generations,

that the mind of its author was moved by little less than inspiration.

_Lear_, with its sublime picture of human misery;--_Othello_, with its

harrowing overthrow of a nature great and amiable;--_Macbeth_, with

its fearful murder of a monarch, whose "virtues plead like angels

trumpet-tongued against the deep damnation of his taking

off,"--severally exhibit, in the most pre-eminent degree, all those

mighty elements which constitute the perfection of tragic art--the

grand, the pitiful, and the terrible. _Hamlet_ is a history of mind--a

tragedy of thought. It contains the deepest philosophy, and most

profound wisdom; yet speaks the language of the heart, touching the

secret spring of every sense and feeling. Here we have no ideal

exaltation of character, but life with its blended faults and

virtues,--a gentle nature unstrung by passing events, and thus

rendered "out of tune and harsh."

The original story of Hamlet is to be found in the Latin pages of the

Danish historian, Saxo Grammaticus, who died in the year 1208.

Towards the end of the sixteenth century, the French author, Francis

de Belleforest, introduced the fable into a collection of novels,

which were translated into English, and printed in a small quarto

black letter volume, under the title of the "Historie of Hamblett,"

from which source Shakespeare constructed the present tragedy.

Saxo has placed his history about 200 years before Christianity, when

barbarians, clothed in skins, peopled the shores of the Baltic. The

poet, however, has so far modernised the subject as to make Hamlet a

Christian, and England tributary to the "sovereign majesty of

Denmark." A date can therefore be easily fixed, and the costume of

the tenth and eleventh centuries may be selected for the purpose.

There are but few authentic records in existence, but these few

afford reason to believe that very slight difference existed between

the dress of the Dane and that of the Anglo-Saxon of the same period.

Since its first representation, upwards of two centuries and a half

ago, no play has been acted so frequently, or commanded such

universal admiration. It draws within the sphere of its attraction

both the scholastic and the unlearned. It finds a response in every

breast, however high or however humble. By its colossal aid it exalts

the drama of England above that of every nation, past or present. It

is, indeed, the most marvellous creation of human intellect.

CHARLES KEAN.

HAMLET,

PRINCE OF DENMARK.

ACT I.

SCENE I.--ELSINORE. A PLATFORM BEFORE THE CASTLE. NIGHT.

FRANCISCO _on his post. Enter to him_ BERNARDO (L.H.)

_Ber._ Who's there?

_Fran._ (R.) Nay, answer me:[1] stand, and unfold[2] yourself.

_Ber._ Long live the king![3]

_Fran._ Bernardo?

_Ber._ He.

_Fran._ You come most carefully upon your hour.

_Ber._ 'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.

_Fran._ For this relief much thanks:

[_Crosses to_ L.]

'tis bitter cold,

And I am sick at heart.

_Ber._ Have you had quiet guard?

_Fran._ Not a mouse stirring.

_Ber._ Well, good night.

If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

The rivals of my watch,[4] bid them make haste.

_Fran._ I think I hear them.--Stand, ho! Who's there?

_Hor._ Friends to this ground.

_Mar._ And liegemen to the Dane.[5]

_Enter_ HORATIO _and_ MARCELLUS (L.H.)

_Fran._ Give you good night.

_Mar._ O, farewell, honest soldier:

Who hath reliev'd you?

_Fran._ Bernardo hath my place.

Give you good night.

[_Exit_ FRANCISCO, L.H.]

_Mar._ Holloa! Bernardo!

_Ber._ Say,

What, is Horatio there?

_Hor._ (_Crosses to_ C.) A piece of him.[6]

_Ber._ (R.) Welcome, Horatio: welcome, good Marcellus.

_Hor._ What, has this thing appear'd again to-night?

_Ber._ I have seen nothing.

_Mar._ (L.) Horatio says, 'tis but our fantasy,

And will not let belief take hold of him,

Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:

Therefore I have entreated him, along

With us, to watch the minutes of this night;[7]

That, if again this apparition come,

He may approve our eyes,[8] and speak to it.

_Hor._ Tush! tush! 'twill not appear.

_Ber._ Come, let us once again assail your ears,

That are so fortified against our story,

What we two nights have seen.[9]

_Hor._ Well, let us hear Bernardo speak of this.

_Ber._ Last night of all,

When yon same star that's westward from the pole

Had made his course to illume that part of heaven

Where now it burns, Marcellus, and myself,

The bell then beating one--

_Mar._ Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes

again!

_Enter_ Ghost (L.H.)

_Ber._ In the same figure, like the king that's dead.

_Hor._ Most like:--it harrows me with fear and wonder.[10]

_Ber._ It would be spoke to.

_Mar._ Speak to it, Horatio.

_Hor._ What art thou, that usurp'st this time of night,[11]

Together with that fair and warlike form

In which the majesty of buried Denmark

Did sometimes march? By heaven I charge thee, speak!

_Mar._ It is offended.

[Ghost _crosses to_ R.]

_Ber._ See! it stalks away!

_Hor._ Stay!--speak!--speak, I charge thee, speak!

[_Exit_ Ghost, R.H.]

_Mar._ 'Tis gone, and will not answer.

_Ber._ How now, Horatio! You tremble, and look pale:

Is not this something more than fantasy?

What think you of it?

_Hor._ Before heaven, I might not this believe,

Without the sensible and true avouch[12]

Of mine own eyes.

_Mar._ Is it not like the king?

_Hor._ As thou art to thyself:

Such was the very armour he had on,

When he the ambitious Norway combated.

_Mar._ Thus, twice before, and jump at this dead hour,[13]

With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.

_Hor._ In what particular thought to work,[14] I know not;

But in the gross and scope[15] of mine opinion,

This bodes some strange eruption to our state.[16]

In the most high and palmy[17] state of Rome,

A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,

The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead

Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.

_Re-enter_ Ghost (R.H.)

But, (L.C.) soft, behold! lo, where it comes again!

I'll cross it, though it blast me.

[HORATIO _crosses in front of the_ Ghost _to_ R.

Ghost _crosses to_ L.]

Stay, illusion!

If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,[18]

Speak to me:

If there be any good thing to be done,

That may to thee do ease, and grace to me,

Speak to me:

If thou art privy to thy country's fate,

Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,

O, speak!

O, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life

Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,[19]

For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,

Speak of it:--stay, and speak!

[_Exit_ Ghost, L.H.]

_Mar._ 'Tis gone!

We do it wrong, being so majestical,

To offer it the show of violence.

_Ber._ It was about to speak, when the cock crew.

_Hor._ And then it started like a guilty thing

Upon a fearful summons.[20] I have heard,

The cock, that is the trumpet of the morn,

Doth with his lofty[21] and shrill-sounding throat

Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,

Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,

The extravagant and erring spirit[22] hies

To his confine.

But, look, the morn, in russet 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 spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.

[_Exeunt_, L.H.]

SCENE II.--A ROOM OF STATE IN THE PALACE.

_Trumpet March._

_Enter the_ KING _and_ QUEEN, _preceded by_ POLONIUS, HAMLET,

LAERTES,[23] Lords, Ladies, _and_ Attendants.

_King._ (R.C.) Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death

The memory be green;[24] and that it us befitted

To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom

To be contracted in one brow of woe;

Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature,

That we with wisest sorrow[25] think on him,

Together with remembrance of ourselves.

Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,

The imperial jointress of this warlike state,

Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,[26]

Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd[27]

Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone

With this affair along:--For all, our thanks.

And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?

You told us of some suit; What is't, Laertes?

_Laer._ (R.) My dread lord,

Your leave and favour[28] to return to France;

From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,

To show my duty in your coronation,

Yet now, I must confess, that duty done,

My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France,

And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.

_King._ Have you your father's leave? What says Polonious?

_Pol._ (R.) He hath, my lord, (wrung from me my slow leave

By laboursome petition; and, at last,

Upon his will I sealed my hard consent):[29]

I do beseech you, give him leave to go.

_King._ Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,

And thy best graces spend it at thy will![30]

But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,----

_Ham._ (L.) A little more than kin, and less than kind.[31]

[Aside.]

_King._ How is it that the clouds still hang on you?

_Ham._ Not so, my lord; I am too much i'the sun.[32]

_Queen._(L.C.) Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour[33] off,

And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.

Do not for ever with thy vailed lids[34]

Seek for thy noble father in the dust:

Thou know'st 'tis common, all that live must die,

Passing through nature to eternity.

_Ham._ Ay, madam, it is common.

_Queen._ If it be,

Why seems it so particular with thee?

_Ham._ Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not seems.

'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,

Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,

No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,

Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief,

That can denote me truly: These, indeed, seem,

For they are actions that a man might play.

But I have that within which passeth show;[35]

These but the trappings[36] and the suits of woe.

_King._ 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,

To give these mourning duties to your father:

But, you must know, your father lost a father;

That father lost, lost his;[37] and the survivor bound,

In filial obligation, for some term

To do obsequious sorrow:[38] But to perséver[39]

In obstinate condolement,[40] is a course

Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief:

It shows a will most incorrect to Heaven.[41]

We pray you, throw to earth

This unprevailing[42] woe; and think of us

As of a father: for let the world take note,

You are the most immediate to our throne;

Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.

_Queen._ Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet:

I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg.

_Ham._ I shall in all my best obey you, madam.

_King._ Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply;

Be as ourself in Denmark.--Madam, come;

This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet

Sits smiling to my heart:[43] in grace whereof,[44]

No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day,[45]

But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell;

Re-speaking earthly thunder.

[_Trumpet March repeated. Exeunt_ KING _and_ QUEEN,

_preceded by_ POLONIUS, Lords, Ladies, LAERTES, _and_

Attendants, R.H.]

_Ham._ O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt,

Thaw, and resolve itself[46] into a dew!

Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd

His canon[47] 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!

How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable

Seem to me all the uses of this world![48]

Fye on't! O fye! 'tis an unweeded garden,

That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature

Possess it merely.[49] That it should come to this!

But two months dead!--nay, not so much, not two:

So excellent a king; that was, to this,

Hyperion to a satyr:[50] so loving to my mother,

That he might not beteem[51] the winds of heaven

Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!

Must I remember? why, she 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 those shoes were old

With which she follow'd my poor father's body,

Like Niobe, all tears;--she married with my uncle,

My father's brother; but no more like my father

Than I to Hercules.

It is not, nor it cannot come to, good:

But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue!

_Enter_ HORATIO, BERNARDO, _and_ MARCELLUS (R.H.)

_Hor._ Hail to your lordship!

_Ham._ I am glad to see you well:

Horatio,--or I do forget myself.

_Hor._ The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.

_Ham._ Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you:[52]

And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?--

Marcellus?

[_Crosses to_ C.]

_Mar._ (R.) My good lord,

_Ham._ (C.) I am very glad to see you; good even, sir.

[_To_ BERNARDO, R.]

But what, in faith,[53] make you[54] from Wittenberg?[55]

_Hor._ (L.) A truant disposition, good my lord.

_Ham._ I would not hear your enemy say so;

Nor shall you do mine ear that violence,

To make it truster of your own report

Against yourself: I know you are no truant.

But what is your affair in Elsinore?

We'll teach you to drink deep, ere you depart.

_Hor._ My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.

_Ham._ I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student;

I think it was to see my mother's wedding.

_Hor._ Indeed, my lord, it followed hard upon.

_Ham._ Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral bak'd meats

Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.

Would I had met my dearest foe[56] in Heaven

Ere ever I had seen that day, Horatio!

My father,--Methinks, I see my father.

_Hor._ Where,

My lord?

_Ham._ In my mind's eye, Horatio.

_Hor._ I saw him once; he was a goodly king.[57]

_Ham._ He was a man, take him for all in all,

I shall not look upon his like again.

[_Crosses to_ L.]

_Hor._ (C.) My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.

_Ham._ Saw who?

_Hor._ My lord, the king your father.

_Ham._ The king my father!

_Hor._ Season your admiration for a while[58]

With an attent ear; till I may deliver,

Upon the witness of these gentlemen,

This marvel to you.

_Ham._ For Heaven's love, let me hear.

_Hor._ Two nights together had these gentlemen,

Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,

In the dead waste and middle of the night,[59]

Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father,

Arm'd at all points exactly, cap-à-pé,

Appears before them, and, with solemn march

Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd

By their oppress'd and fear-surprisèd eyes,

Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill'd

Almost to jelly with the act of fear,[60]

Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me

In dreadful secrecy 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.

_Ham._ But where was this?

[_Crosses to_ MARCELLUS.]

_Mar._ (R.) My lord, upon the platform where we

watch'd.

_Ham._ (C.) Did you not speak to it?

_Hor._ (L.) My lord, I did;

But answer made it none: yet once methought

It lifted up its head, and did address[61]

Itself to motion, like as it would speak:

But, even then, the morning cock crew loud,

And at the sound it shrunk in haste away;

And vanish'd from our sight.

_Ham._ 'Tis very strange.

_Hor._ As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true;

And we did think it writ down[62] in our duty

To let you know of it.

_Ham._ Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.

Hold you the watch to-night?

_Mar._ We do, my lord.

_Ham._ Arm'd, say you?

_Mar._ Arm'd, my lord.

_Ham._ From top to toe?

_Mar._ My lord, from head to foot.

_Ham._ Then saw you not

His face?

_Hor._ O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver up.[63]

_Ham._ What, looked he frowningly?

_Hor._ A countenance more

In sorrow than in anger.

_Ham._ Pale or red?

_Hor._ Nay, very pale.

_Ham._ And fix'd his eyes upon you?

_Hor._ Most constantly.

_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 haste might tell a hundred.

_Mar._}

} Longer, Longer.

_Ber._}

_Hor._ Not when I saw it.

_Ham._ His beard was grizzl'd, No?

_Hor._ It was, as I have seen it in his life,

A sable silver'd.

_Ham._ I will watch to-night;

Perchance, 'twill walk again.

_Hor._ (C.) I warrant it will.

_Ham._ If it assume my noble father's person,

I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape,

And bid me hold my peace.

[_Crosses to_ L.]

I pray you all,

If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,

Let it be tenable[64] in your silence still;

And whatsoever else shall 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 visit you.

_Hor._ (R.) Our duty to your honour.

_Ham._ Your loves, as mine to you: Farewell.

[_Exeunt_ HORATIO, MARCELLUS, _and_ BERNARDO, R.H.]

My father's spirit in arms! all is not well;

I doubt some foul play: 'would the night were come;

Till then sit still, my soul: Foul deeds will rise,

Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.

[_Exit_, L.H.]

SCENE III.--A ROOM IN POLONIUS'S HOUSE.

_Enter_ LAERTES _and_ OPHELIA (R.H.)

_Laer._ (L.C.) My necessaries are embarked: farewell:

And, sister, as the winds give benefit,[65]

Let me hear from you.

_Oph._ (R.C.) Do you doubt that?

_Laer._ For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour,[66]

Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood;

A violet in the youth of primy nature,

Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,

The pérfume and suppliance of a minute.[67]

_Oph._ No more but so?

_Laer._ He may not, as unvalued persons do,

Carve for himself; for on his choice depends

The safety and the health of the whole state.

Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain,

If with too credent ear you list his songs.

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

And keep within the rear of your affection,[68]

Out of the shot and danger of desire.

The chariest maid[69] is prodigal enough,

If she unmask her beauty to the moon:

Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes:

Be wary, then; best safety lies in fear:

Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.

_Oph._ I shall the effect of this good lesson keep,

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

Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,

Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven

Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,[70]

Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,

And recks not his own read.[71]

_Laer._ O, fear me not.

I stay too long;--but here my father comes.

_Enter_ POLONIUS (L.H.)

_Pol._ Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!

The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,[72]

And you are staid for. There,--my blessing with you!

[_Laying his hand on_ LAERTES' _head_.]

And these few precepts in thy memory--

Look thou charácter.[73] Give thy thoughts no tongue,

Nor any unproportion'd thought[74] his act.

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.

The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,

Grapple them to thy soul with hooks 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 opposer may beware of thee.

Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:

Take each man's censure,[75] but reserve thy judgment.

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

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

For the apparel oft proclaims the man;

And they in France of the best rank and station

Are most select and generous, chief in that.[76]

Neither a borrower nor a lender be:

For loan oft loses both itself and friend;

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.[77]

This above all,--To thine ownself be true;

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Farewell; my blessing season this in thee![78]

_Laer._ Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.

[_Crosses to_ L.]

Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well

What I have said to you.

_Oph._ (_Crosses to_ LAERTES.) 'Tis in my memory lock'd,

And you yourself shall keep the key of it.[79]

_Laer._ Farewell.

[_Exit_ LAERTES, L.H.]

_Pol._ What is it, Ophelia, he hath said to you?

_Oph._ So please you, something touching the lord Hamlet.

_Pol._ Marry, well bethought:

'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late

Given private time to you;[80] and you yourself

Have of your audience been most free and bounteous:

If it be so (as so 'tis put on me,[81]

And that in way of caution), I must tell you,

You do not understand yourself so clearly

As it behoves my daughter, and your honour.

What is between[82] you? give me up the truth.

_Oph._ He hath, my lord, of late, made many tenders

Of his affection to me.

_Pol._ Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,

Unsifted[83] in such perilous circumstance.

Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?

_Oph._ I do not know, my lord, what I should think.

_Pol._ Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby;

That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,

Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;

Or, you'll tender me a fool.

_Oph._ My lord, he hath impórtun'd me with love

In honourable fashion.

_Pol._ Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.

_Oph._ And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,

With almost all the holy vows of heaven.

_Pol._ Ay, springes to catch woodcocks.[84] I do know,

When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul

Lends the tongue vows: This is for all,--

I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,

Have you so slander any leisure moment,[85]

As to give words or talk with the lord Hamlet.

Look to't, I charge you: come your ways.

_Oph._ I shall obey, my lord.

[_Exeunt_, R.H.]

SCENE IV.--THE PLATFORM. NIGHT.

_Enter_ HAMLET, HORATIO, _and_ MARCELLUS (L.H.U.E.)

_Ham._ The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.

_Hor._ It is a nipping and an eager air.[86]

_Ham._ What hour now?

_Hor._ I think it lacks of twelve.

_Mar._ No, it is struck.

_Hor._ (R.C.) Indeed? I heard it not: then it draws near the season,

Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.

[_A Flourish of Trumpets, and Ordnance shot off without._]

What does this mean, my lord?

_Ham._ (L.C.) The king doth wake to-night,[87] and takes his

rouse,[88]

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 custom?

_Ham._ Ay, marry, is't:

[_Crosses to_ HORATIO.]

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 observance.

_Enter_ Ghost (L.H.)

_Hor._ (R.H.) Look, my lord, it comes!

_Ham._ (C.) Angels and ministers of grace defend us!--

Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,

Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,

Be thy intents wicked or charitable,

Thou com'st in such a questionable shape,[89]

That I will speak 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, hearsed in death,[90]

Have burst their cerements;[91] why the sepulchre,

Wherein we saw thee quietly in-urn'd,

Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws,

To cast thee up again! What may this mean,

That thou, dead corse, again, in cómplete steel,

Revisits thus the glimpses of the moon,

Making night hideous; and we fools of nature[92]

So horridly to shake our disposition[93]

With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?

Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?

[Ghost _beckons._]

_Hor._ It beckons you to go away with it,

As if it some impartment did desire

To you alone.

[Ghost _beckons again._]

_Mar._ Look, with what courteous action

It waves you to a more removèd ground:[94]

But do not go with it.

_Hor._ No, by no means.

_Ham._ It will not speak; then I will follow it.

_Hor._ Do not, my lord.

_Ham._ Why, what should be the fear?

I do not set my life at a pin's fee;[95]

And for my soul, what can it do to that,

Being a thing immortal as itself?

[Ghost _beckons._]

It waves me forth again;--I'll follow it.

_Hor._ What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,[96]

Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff

That beetles o'er his base into the sea,[97]

And there assume some other horrible form,

And draw you into madness?

[Ghost _beckons._]

_Ham._ It waves me still.--

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 Némean lion's nerve.[98]

[Ghost _beckons_]

Still am I call'd:--unhand me, gentlemen;

[_Breaking from them._]

By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me:--[99]

I say, away!--Go on; I'll follow thee.

[_Exeunt_ Ghost _and_ HAMLET, L.H., _followed at a distance by_

HORATIO _and_ MARCELLUS.]

SCENE V.--A MORE REMOTE PART OF THE PLATFORM. NIGHT.

_Re-enter_ Ghost _and_ HAMLET (L.H.U.E.)

_Ham._ (R.) Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak; I'll go no further.

_Ghost._ (L.) Mark me.

_Ham._ I will.