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Prince. A glooming peace this morning with it brings;

The fun, for forrow, will not shew his head: Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;

Some shall be pardon'd, and fome punished:
For never was a story of more woe,
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. [Excunt ommes.

2 Mr. Steevens says, that this line has reference to the novel from which the fable is taken. Here we read that Juliet's female attendant was banished for concealing her marriage; Romeo's fervant fet at liberty because he had only acted in obedience to his master's orders; the apothecary taken, tortured, condemned, and hanged; while Friar Lawrence was permitted to retire to a hermitage in the neighbourhood of Verona, where he ended his life in penitence and peace.

HAMLET.

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Lords, Ladies, Players, Grave diggers, Sailors, Messengers, and other Attendants,
SCENE, Elfinour.

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• The original story on which this play is built, may be found in Saxo Grammaticus the Danish niftorian. 2 i. e me who am already on the watch, and have a right to demand the watch-word. • Rivals for partners, according to Warburton. Hanmer says, that by rivals of the watch are meant hose who were to watch on the next adjoining ground. Rivals, in the original fenfe of the word, were proprietors of neighbouring lands, parted only by a brook, which belonged equally to both. He

He may approve our eyes, and speak to it.
Hor. Tush! tush! 'twill not appear.
Ber. Sit down a while:

And let us once again affail your ears,
That are fo fortified against our story,
What we two nights have seen.

Hor. Well, fit we down,

And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.

Ber. Last night of all,
[pole,
When yon fame star, that's westward from the
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus, and myself,
The bell then beating one, -

So nightly toils the fubject of the land?
And why fuch daily caft of brazen cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of war?
Why fuch impress of ship-wrights, whose fore taik
Does not divide the Sunday from the week?
What might be toward, that this fweaty hafte
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day;
Who is't, that can inform me ?

Hor. That can 1;

At least the whisper goes so. Our last king,
Whose image even but now appear'd to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride,

Mar. Peace, break thee off; look where it Dar'd to the combat; in which, our valiant Hamlet

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Hor. What art thou, that ufurp'ft this
Together with that fair and wartike form
In which the majesty of bury'd Denmark
Did fometime march? By heaven I charge thee,

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Mar. It is offended.

Ber. See! it stalks away.

[fpeak.

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

[Exit Gboff.

Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not anfwer.

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

Is not this fomething more than phantasy ?
What think you of it?

Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe,
Without the fenfible and true 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 the ambitious Norway combated
So frown'd be once, when, in an angry parle,
He finote the fledded Polack on the ice.

'Tis strange.

[hour, Mar. Thus, twice before, and just at this dead With martial stalk he hath gone by our watch.

His fell to Hamlet: Now, fir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved 7 mettle hot and full,
Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there,
Shark'd up & a lift of landless refolutes,
For food and diet, to some enterprize

That hath a ftomach 9 in't; which is no other
(As it doth well appear unto our ftate)
But to recover of us, by strong hand,

And terms compulfatory, those 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 10 in the land.

Ber. I think, it be no other, but even to:
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 11 state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves ftood tenantless, and the sheetel dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman ftreets ;
Stars shone with trains of fire; dews of blood fell;
Difafters 12 veil'd the fun; and the moift star,

Hor. In what particular thought to work 4, I Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands, know not;

But, in the grofs and scope 5 of mine opinion,
This bodes fome strange eruption to our flate.

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

Why this same strict and most obfervant watch

Was fick almoft to dooms-day with eclipse.
And even the like precurse of fierce 15 events,-
As harbingers preceding still the fates,
And prologue to the omen 14 coming on,-
Have heaven and earth together demonftrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen.-

i. e. add a new teftimony to that of our eyes. 2 To harrow is to conquer, to fubdue. The word is of Saxon origin. 3 He fpeaks of a primce of Poland whom he flew in battle. Polack was, in that age, the term for an inhabitant of Poland Polaque, French. Afied, or fledge, is a carriage imade use of in the cold countries. 4 i. c. what particular train of thinking to follow. Si. e. general thoughts, and tendency at large. 6 Carriage is import: design'd, is formed, drawn up be

7 Unimproved, for unrefined. 8 To shark up may mean to pick up without diftinc110u, as the shark-fith colicets his prey. 9 Stomach, in the time of our author, was used for conflancy, refolution. 10 1. e. tumultuous hurry. 11 Palmy for victorious, flourishing. 12 Difafters is kere finely ufed in its original fignification of evil conjunction of stars. 13 burce, for corfficuous, glavirg. *4 Onen, for Lite.

teren them.

Re-enter

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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, haply, foreknowing may avoid,
O, fpeak!

- Or, if thou haft uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treafure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you fpirits oft walk in death,

[Cock crows.

Speak of it:-ftay, and speak.-Stop it, Marcellus.
Mar. Shall I ftrike at it with my partizan ?
Hor. Do, if it will not stand,

Ber. 'Tis here!

Hor. 'Tis here!

Mar. 'Tis gone!

We do it wrong, being so majeftical,
To offer it the thew of violence;

For it is, as the air, invulnerable,

SCENE II.

A Room of State.

Enter the Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Volti-
mand, Cornelius, Lords and Attendants.
King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's

death

The memory be green; and that it us befitted
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,
The 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 scale weighing delight and dole,-
Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd
[Exit Ghoft. 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 ftate to be disjoint and out of frame,-
Colleagued with this dream of his advantage 6,
He hath not fail'd to pefter us with message
Importing the furrender of those lands
Loft by his father, with all bands of law,

And our vain blows malicious mockery.

Ber. It was about to speak, when the cock crew.
Hor. And then it started 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 1,
The extravagant 2 and erring spirit hies
To his confine 3: and of the truth herein
This prefent object made probation.

Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock 4.
Some fav, that ever 'gainst that feason comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
This bird of dawning fingeth all night long:
And then, they fay, no fpirit dares ftir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets itrike,
No fairy takes 5, nor 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 feen to-night
Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,
This fpirit, dumb to us, will fpeak 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

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, scarcely hears
Of this his nephew's purpose, -to fupprefs
His further gait 7 herein; in that the levies,
The lifts, and full proportions, are all made
Out of his fubject:-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 business with the king, more than the scope
Of these dilated articles allows.
Farewel; and let your hafte commend your duty.
Vol. In that and all things will we shew 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 reason to the Dane,
And lose your voice: What would'it thou beg,

Laertes,

Where we shall find him most convenient. [Exeunt. That shall not be my offer, not thy afking?

the

for

According to the pneumatology of that time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order 2 i. c. got of spirits, who had difpofitions different, according to their various places of abode. 3 Bourne of Newcastle, in his Antiquities of the Common People, informs us, " It out of its bounds. the time of cock-crowing at midnight fpirits f is a received tradition among the vulgar, that 4 This is a very ancient fuperftition. fake these lower regions, and go to their proper places." 6 The meaning is, He goes to war fo indifcreetly, 5 No fairy strikes with lamenets or difcafes. and unprepared, that he has no allies to fupport bim but a dream, with which he is colleagued or confederated. 7 Gate or gait is here used in the northern fenfe, for proceeding, paffuge. articles w hon dilated.

8 i. e. the

The The head is not more native to the heart,

The hand more inttuumental to the mouth,
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father 1.
What would'it thou have, Laertes?

Laer. My dread lord,

Your leave and favour to return to France; [mark,
From whence though willingly I came to Den-
To shew my duty in your coronation;

Yet now, I must confefs, that duty done,

But, you must know, your father loft a father:
That father loft, loft his 5; and the furvivor bound
In filial obligation, for fome term.

To do obfequious forrow: but to perfever
In obftinate condolement 7, is a course

Of impious ftubbornness: 'tis unmanly grief:
It shews a will mott incorrect to heaven;
A heart unfortify'd, or mind impatient;
An understanding fimple and uníchool'd:

My thoughts and withes bend again toward France, For what, we know, must be, and is as common And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon. As any the most vulgar thing to fenfe,

King. Have you your father's leave? What Why should we, in our peevish oppotition, [flow leave, Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fau't to heaven,

fays Polonius?

Pol. He hath, my lord, wrung from me my A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
By labourtome petition and, at laft,
Upon his will I feal'd my hard confent:
I do befeech you, give him leave to go.

To reafon most abfurd, whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cry'd,
From the first corfe, 'till he that died to-day,

King. Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be This must be fo. We pray you throw to earth thine,

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; And, with no lefs nobility 9 of love [elfide. Than that which dearest father bears his fon, King. How is it that the clouds still hang on Do I impart to toward you. For your intent you? [fun 3. In going back to school in Wittenberg, Ham. Not fo, my lord, I am too much i' the It is most retrograde to our defire :

And thy best graces spend it at thy wil! -
But now, my coufin Hamlet, and my ton,
Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind 2.

Queen. Good Hamlet, caft thy nighted colour
oft,

And let thine eve look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not, for ever, with thy vailed lids
Seek for the noble father in the duft:
Thou know'it, 'tis common: all, that live, mutt I pray thee, stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.

Pafling through nature to eternity.

Ham. Av, madam, it is common.

And, we beseech you, bend you to remain
Here, in the chear and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefeit courtier, coufin, and our fon.

[die,

Queen. Let not thy mother lote her prayers,
Hamlet;

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Queen. If it be,

Why feems it so particular with thee?

Ham. Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary fuits of folemu black,
Nor windy fufpiration of forc'd breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,

Nor the dejected haviour of the vifage,

Together with all forms, modes, thews of grief,
1 hat can denote me truly: These, indeed, teem,
For they are actions that a man might play:
But I have that within, which palleth show;
There, but the trappings and the fuits of woe.

Manet Hamlet.

[Exeunt.

Ham. O, that this too too folid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and refolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 12 'gainft felf-flaughter! O God! O God!

King. 'Tis tweet and commendable in your na- How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
ture, Hamlet,

To give those mourning duties to your father :

Seem to me all the utes of this world!
Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,

The sense is, The head is not formed to be more useful to the heart, the hand is not more at the fervice of the mouth, than my power is at your father's fervice. 2 Hanmer obferves, It is not unreafonable to fuppofe that this was a proverbial expreffion, known in former times for a relation fo coniufed and blended, that it was hard to define it. Dr. Johnfon afferts hind to be the Teutonick word for child: Hamlet therefore, he add, answers with propriety, to the titles of coujin and fon, which the king had given him, that he was fomewhat more than cousin, and less than Jon. Mr. Steevens fays, that a jingle of the fame fort is found in another oid play, and seems to have been proverbial, as he has met with it more than once. 3 Mr. Farmer questions whether a quibble between fun and fon be not here intended. 4 With lowering eves, cait-down eyes. Your father test a father, i. e, your grandfather, which left grandfather also lost his father.

Y qursus is here from obfequies or funeral ceremonies. urtuto 'd.

9 Nobility here means generopty.

That is, 600 7 Condolement, for forrow. 8 Incorrect, for 10 i. e. communicate whatever I can bestow.

11 Refolte means the fame as diffolve. 12 i. e. that he had not restrained fuicide by his expreis law and peremptory prohibition.

That

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