1

Possess it merely. That it should come to this! But two months dead!-nay, not so much, nct

two:

So excellent a king, that was, to this,

2

Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother,

That he might not beteeme 3 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;—why she, even she,—
(O heaven! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn'd longer) married with my

uncle,

father

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

1 Intirely.

• Apollo.

8 Suffer.

Enter HORATIO, BERNARDO, and MARCELLUS.

Ho. Hail to your lordship!

Ham.

I am glad to see you well

Horatio, or I do forget myself.

Ho. The same, my lord, and your poor servant

ever.

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?
Ho. 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.

Ho. My lord, I came to see your father's funerai. Ham. I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student;

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

Ho. Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.

Ham. Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked

meats

Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.

Would I had met my dearest 1 foe in heaven
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!-
My father;--methinks, I see my father.
Ho. O, where, my lord?

In my mind's eye,

Horatio.

Ham.
Ho. 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.

Ho. My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
Ham. Saw, who?

Ho. My lord, the king your father.

Ham.

The king my father? Ho. Season your admiration for awhile 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.

Ho. 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
Armed at point, exactly, cap-à-pé,

father.

Appears before them, and, with solemn march,
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, distill'd
Almost to jelly with the act of fear,
Stand dumb, and speak not to him.

This to re

! Alost inveterate.

? For attentive.

In dreadful secresy 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.

But answer made it none: yet once, methought,

It lifted up its head, and did address

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.

Ho. As I do live, my honor'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?

Ho. O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver 1
Ham. What, look'd he frowningly ?
Ho.

In sorrow than in anger.

Ham.

Ho. Nay, very pale.

Ham.

up.

A countenance more

Pale, or red?

And fix'd his eyes upon you?

Ho. Most constantly.

Ham.

I would, I had been there.

Very like,

Ho. It would have much amazed you.
Ham.

Very like stay'd it long?

Ho. While one with moderate haste might tell a

hundred.

Mar. Ber. Longer, longer.

Ho. Not when I saw it.

Ham.

His beard was grizzled? no?

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

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. I pray you all,
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,
Let it be tenable in your silence still;

That part of the helmet which protects the lower part of the face, and may be lifted up.