HOR. Have after:-To what issue will this

come?

MAR. Something is rotten in the state of Den

HAM. Where wilt thou lead me? Speak, I'll go. Whether.

4tos. & 1603.

no further.

My hour is almost come,

Нам.

Alas, poor ghost!

When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames

Must render up myself.

GHOST. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold.

Нам.

Speak, I am bound to hear.

GHOST. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt

hear.

HAM. What?

GHOST. I am thy father's spirit;

Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night;

And, for the day, confin'd to fast in fire,(95)
Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature,

Are burnt and purg'd away.(96) But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word

"Have after] i. e. take, or betake yourself, after! follow!

b Heaven will direct it] i. e. " the state of Denmark," to health and soundness.

D

Would harrow up thy soul;" freeze thy young blood; Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres; (97)

* knotted. Thy knotty* and combined locks to part, 4tos. And each particular hair to stand on end," + porpen- Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:+ tine. O. C. But this eternal blazon must not be

list, list, To ears of flesh and blood: (98)-List, Hamlet,‡ O list!

O list. 4tos.

§ God. 4tos. & 1603.

|| So 4tos. Haste, baste &c.

If thou didst ever thy dear father love,

HAM. O heaven! §

GHOST. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

HAM. Murder?

GHOST. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.

HAM. Haste me to know it; that I, with || wings as swift

that with. As meditation, or the thoughts of love,(99) with. 1632. May sweep to my revenge.

1623, & I

GHOST.

I find thee apt;

And duller should'st thou be than the fat weed ¶ rootes. That rots¶ itself in ease on Lethe wharf,(100)

4tos. &

1603.

** So 4tos.

& 1603.

Its. 1623,

32.

с

Would'st thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis ** given out, that sleeping in mine orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death

Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble youth, ++heart. The serpent that did sting thy father's life,†† Now wears his crown.

1603.

HAM. O, my prophetick soul! my uncle!

a harrow up thy soul] i. e. agitate and convulse. Horat.

See I. 1.

bhair to stand on end] A common image of that day.

Standing as frighted with erected haire."

Drayton's Moses his Birth, B. II. 4to. 1633. e orchard] i. e. garden. See Jul. Cæs. II. Orchard the scene. d forged process] i. e. report of proceedings.

GHOST. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,(101)

* So 4tos.

32.

+ So 4tos. this. 1623,

32.

With witchcraft of his wits, with* traitorous gifts, hath. 1623,
(O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!) won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming virtuous queen:
O, Hamlet, what a falling off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity,
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor

To those of mine!

But virtue, as it never will be mov'd,

Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven
So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.(102)

But, soft! methinks, I scent the morning § air;
Brief let me be:-Sleeping within mine orchard,
My custom always in || the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon (103) in a vial,
And in the porches of mine ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with the blood of man,
That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body;
And, with a sudden vigour, it doth posset
And curd, like eager¶ droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
And a most instant tetter bark'd** about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand,

с

So 1623, 32. would sate-from. 4to. 1603.

sort. 4tos.

So 4tos. morning's. 1623, 32.

I of. 4tos.

¶ So 4tos. & 1603. Aygre. 1623, 32.

** So 4tos. bak'd.1623,

32. And all my smooth body, barked,and tetter'd over. 1603.

Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatch'd:+††† depriv

a Decline upon a wretch] i. e. with degradation stoop to. See Tr. & Cr. IV. 5. Nestor.

b secure] i. e. unguarded.

ed. 1603.

с

e eager droppings into milk] i. e. sharp, acid. Aigre, Fr.

d despatch'd] i. e. " quickly bereaved, despoiled."

Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd ; (104)
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But, howsoever thou pursu'st this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven,
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire :(105)

* adieu. Adieu, adieu, Hamlet!* remember me.

4tos:

[Exit.

HAM. O all you host of heaven! O earth! What

else?

And shall I couple hell?-O fye!"-Hold, my heart!
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffly up!-Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory(106)
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,

All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,d
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, yes, by heaven.
O most pernicious woman!

O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!

My tables, my tables-meet it is, I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain ;

a

luxury] i. e. lasciviousness. See Tr. & Cr. V. 2. Thersit. b And shall I couple hell?-0 fye!-] i. e. mend thy thought! stain not thy mind with an association so unfit and unworthy.

с

saws of books] i. e. maxims, sayings. See song at the end of L. L. L.

d pressures past] i. e. impressions heretofore made.

At least, I am sure, it may be so in Denmark:

[Writing. So, uncle, there you are, Now to my word; (107) It is, Adieu, adieu!* remember me.

* Adew. 4tos. adue." 1623, 32.

Heaven secure him!

So be it! + HAML.

4tos.

HOR. [Within] Illo, ho, ho, my lord!

HAM. Hillo, ho, ho, boy!(108) come, bird, come. (109) ‡ and,

Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS,

4tos.

HAM. How say you then; would heart of man

once think it?

But you'll be secret,

HOR. MAR.

Ay, by heaven, my lord.

HAM. There's ne'er a villain, dwelling in all

Denmark,

But he's an arrant knave.

HOR. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave,

To tell us this,

Нам.

Why, right; you are in the right;
And so, without more circumstance at all,

I hold it fit, that we shake hands, and part:
You, as your business, and desire, shall point you;
every man has § business, and desire,

For

hath, 4tos.