I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff;
And damn'd be him that first cries, Hold, enough!
[exeunt, fighting.
Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter, with drum and colours,
Malcolm, old Siward, Rosse, Lenox, Angus,
Cathness, Menteth, and Soldiers.

Siw. Then he is dead?

Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field: your cause
of sorrow

Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then
It hath no end.

Siw. Had he his hurts before?

Rosse. Ay, on the front.

Siw. Why then, God's soldier be he!
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death;
And so his knell is knoll'd.

Mal. He's worth more sorrow, And that I'll spent for him.

Siw. Some must go off: and yet, by these I see,
So great a day as this is cheaply bought.

Mal. I would, the friends we miss were safe The usurper's cursed head: the time is free:
arriv'd.
I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,-
Hail, king of Scotland!

Mal. Macduff is missing, and your noble son.
Rosse. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's
He only liv'd but till he was a man; [debt:
The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.

Siw. He's worth no more;

They say, he parted well, and paid his score:
So, God be with him!-Here comes newer comfort.
Re-enter Macduff, with Macbeth's head on a pole.
Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art: Behold,
where stands

All. King of Scotland, hail!

[flourish.
Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time,
Before we reckon with your several loves, [men,
And make us even with you. My thanes and kins-
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour nam'd. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,→→
As calling home our exil'd friends abroad,
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers
Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen;
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life;-this, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place:
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.
[flourish; exeunt.

Claudius, king of Denmark

Hamlet, son to the former, and nephew to the present king.
Polonius, lord chamberlain.
Horatio, friend to Hamlet.
Laertes, son to Polonius.
Voltimand,

Cornelius,

་་་

Give you good night.

Mar. Holla! Bernardo!
Ber. Say,

Francisco on his post.
Ber. WHO's there?
Fran. Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold
Ber. Long live the king!
Fran. Bernardo.

ELSINORE. A PLATFORM BEFORE THE
CASTLE,

Enter to him Bernardo.

Ber. Well, good night.

If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

SCENE, Elsinore.

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; 'tis bitter
And I am sick at heart.

[cold,

Ber. Have you had quiet guard?

Fran. Not a mouse stirring.

ACT I.

The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.
Enter Horatio and Marcellus.

Hor. Tush! tush! 'twill not appear.
Ber. Sit down awhile;

And let us once again assail your cars,
That are so fortified against our story,
your-What we two nights have seen.
[self. Hor. Well, sit we down,

And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.
Ber. Last night of all,

pole,
When yon same 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,

Mar. Peace, break thee off; look, where it
comes again!

Fran. I think, I hear them.-Stand, ho! Who

[is there?

Hor. Friends to this ground.
Mar. And liegemen to the Dane.
Fran. Give you good night.

Mar. O, farewell, honest soldier:
Who hath reliev'd you?

Fran. Bernardo hath my place.

Marcellus,
officers.
Bernardo,
Francisco, a soldier.
Reynaldo, servant to Poloniu
A captain. An ambassador.
Ghost of Hamlet's father.
Fortinbras, prince of Norway.

[exit Francisco.

Gertrude, queen of Denmark and mother of Hamlet.
Ophelia, daughter to Polonius.

What, is Horatio there?

[cellus.

Hor. A piece of him.
Ber. Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Mar-
Hor. What, has this thing appear'd again to-
Ber. I have seen nothing.

[night?

Lords, ladies, officers, soldiers, players, grave-diggers, sal lors, messengers, and other attendants.

Mar. 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;
That, if again this apparition come,
He may approve our eyes, and speak to it.

Enter Ghost.

Ber. In the same figure, like the king that's dead.
Mar. Thou art a scholar, speak to it, Horatio.
Ber. Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio.
Hor. Most like: it harrows me with fear and
Ber. It would be spoke to.

[wonder.

Mar. Speak to it, Horatio.

Hor. What art thou, that usurp'st this time of
Together with that fair and warlike form [night,
In which the majesty of buried Denmark
Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee,
Mar. It is offended.
[speak.

Ber. See! it stalks away.

Hor. Stay; speak: speak, I charge thee, speak.
[exit Ghost.
Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer. [pale:
Ber. How now, Horatio? you tremble, and look
Is not this something more than fantasy?
What think you of it?

Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe,
Without the sensible and true avouch
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 th' ambitious Norway combated;
So frown'd he ouce, when, in an angry parle,

Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of fore'd breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected 'haviour of the visage,
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;
These, but the trappings and the suits of woe.
King. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your
nature, Hamlet,

Now follows, that you know, young Fortin- | Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Holding a weak supposal of our worth; [bras,
Or thinking, by our late dear brother's death,
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Colleagued with this dream of his advantage,
He hath not fail'd to pester us with message,
Importing the surrender of those lands,
Lost by his father, with 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, scarcely hears
Of this his nephew's purpose,-to suppress
His further gait herein; in that the levies,
The lists, and full proportions, are all made
Out of his subjects: and we here despatch
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway;
Giving to you no further personal power
To business with the king, more than the scope
Of these dilated articles allow.
Farewell: and let your haste commend your duty.
Cor. & Vol. In that, and all things, will we
shew our duty.

To give these mourning duties to your father:
But, you must know, your father lost a father;
That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound
In filial obligation, for some term

King. We doubt it nothing: heartily farewell.
[exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius.
And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?
You told us of some suit. What is't, Laertes?
You cannot speak of reason to the Dane,
And lose your voice: what wouldst thou beg, Laer-
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? [tes,
The head is not more native to the heart,
The hand more instrumental to the mouth,
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.
What wouldst thou have, Laertes?

Laer. My dread lord,

Your leave and favour to return to France;
From whence, though willingly I came to Den-
To shew my duty in your coronation; [mark,
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
Polonius?
[leave,
Pol. He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow
By laboursome petition; and, at last,
Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent:
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.—
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,-

Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind.
[aside.

King. How is it, that the clouds still hang on you?
Ham. Not so, my lord, I am too much i'the sun.
Queen. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not, for ever, with thy vailed lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust:
Thou know'st, 'tis common; all, that live, must
Passing through nature to eternity.

[die,

Ham. Ay, madam, it is common.
Queen. If it be,

Why seems it so particular with thee?

[seems.

Ham. Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not

To do obsequious sorrow: but to perséver
In obstinate condolement, is a course

Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief:
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven;
A heart unmortified, or mind impatient;
An understanding simple and unschool'd;
For what, we know, must be, and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we, in our peevish opposition,
Take it to heart? fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reason most absurd; whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
From the first corse, till he that died to-day,
This must be so. 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;
And, with no less nobility of love,

Than that which dearest father bears his son,
Do I impart toward you. For your intent
In going back to school at Wittenberg,
It is most retrograde to our desire:
And, we beseech you, bend you to remain
Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
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, madai.
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: in grace whereof,
No jocund health, that Denmark drinks to-day,
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell;
And the king's rouse the heavens shall bruit again,
Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come, away.
[exeunt King, Queen, Lords, &c. Pol. and Laer.
Ham. O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd

His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this world!

Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, [nature
That grows to seed; things rank, and gross in
Possess it merely. 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: so loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem 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

Hor. Two nights together had these gentlemen,
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,
In the dead waist and middle of the night,
Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father,
Armed at point, exactly, cap-à-pé,

Appears before them, and, with solemn march,

woman!

By what it fed on: and yet within a mouth,-
Let me not think on't;-Frailty, thy name is Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd
By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,
Within his truncheon's length; whilst they,
Almost to jelly with the act of fear, [distill'd
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: I knew your father;
These hands are not more like.

Ham. But where was this?

Hor. My lord, upon the platform where we
Ham. Did you not speak to it? [watch'd.

Hor. My lord, I did;

But answer made it none: yet once, methought,
It lifted up its head, and did address
Itself to motion, like as it would speak:

A little month; or ere those shoes were old,
With which she follow'd my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears;-why she, even she,-
O heaven! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn'd longer,-married with my
uncle,

My father's brother; but no more like my father,
Than I to Hercules: within a month;
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married: O most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to, good;
But break, my heart: for I must hold my tongue!
Enter Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus.

Hor. Hail to your lordship.

Ham. I am glad to see you well: Horatio, or I do forget myself.

[ever.

Hor. The same, my lord, and your poor servant
Ham. Sir, my good friend; I'll change that
name with you.

And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?
Marcellus?

Mar. My good lord,

Ham. I am very glad to see you; good even, sir.
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
Hor. 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 follow'd hard upon.
Ham. Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral bak'd
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. [meats
'Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven,
Or 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.
Ham. He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.

Hor. My lord, I think I saw him vesternight.
Ham. Saw! who?

Hor. My lord, the king, your father.
Ham. The king, my father!

Hor. Season your admiration for a while
With an attent ear; till I may deliver,
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
This marvel to you.

Ham. For God's love, let me hear

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 in our duty
To let you know of it.

Ham. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me,
Hold you the watch to-night?
All. We do, my lord.
Ham. Arm'd, say you?
All. Arm'd, my lord.
Ham. From top to toe?

All. My lord, from head to foot.

Ham. Then saw you not

His face?