And then, they say, no spirit can walk
abroad;

The nights are wholesome; then no planets
strike,

No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to
charm,

So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

Hor. So have I heard and do in part believe it.
But look, the Morn, in russet mantle clad,

Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern
朝日
あかいろ

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.

Do you consent we shall acquaint him

with it,

As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?

Mar. Let's do 't, I pray; and

know

165

170

this morning

175

[Exeunt.

Where we shall find him most conveniently.

161. can walk] F, dare sturre Q, dare walke Q 1. 163. takes] talkes F. 164. the] F, that Q1, Q. 175. conveniently] Qi, F; convenient

161. walk] The Q "stir" has not the special ghostly significance of "walk," which is frequent in Shakespeare, e.g. Winter's Tale, v. i. 63: were I the ghost that walk'd."

162. strike] blast, especially of planetary influence. Coriolanus, II. ii. 117: "struck Corioli like a planet." Furness quotes Florio's Dict.: "As

167. eastern] F, eastward Q.

siderare: to blast or strike with a planet, to be taken."

163. takes] affects with malignant influence. Merry Wives, IV. iv. 32 (of Herne the Hunter):

"And there he blasts the tree and takes the cattle."

So "taking airs" in Lear, II. iv. 166.

SCENE II.—A Room of State in the Castle.

Flourish. Enter the KING, QUEEN, HAMLET, POLONIUS
LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and
Attendants.

King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
The memory be green, and that it us befitted 3
To bear our hearts in grief and our whole king-
dom

To be contracted in one brow of woe,

Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature

5

That we with wisest sorrow 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,

ΙΟ

With one auspicious 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

Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone

15

With this affair along: for all, our thanks.

Flourish] Q, omitted F; the stage direction here is Malone's. Q after "Gertrad the Queene" has "Counsaile: as Polonius " F names Ophelia as present. 8. sometime] Q, sometimes F. 9. of] F, to Q.

one] F, an... a Q.

9. jointress] Schmidt explains as dowager. Clar. Press joint possessor. Hudson: heiress-"the Poet herein follows the history, which represents the former King to have come to his throne by marriage."

10. defeated] disfigured, marred, as

II. one

in Othello, 1. iii. 346; or destroyed, undone, as in Othello, IV. ii. 160: "his unkindness may defeat my life."

11.] Steevens notes the same thought in Winter's Tale, v. ii. 80. Grant White reads "drooping.”

Now follows that you know: young Fortinbras,
Holding a weak supposal of our worth,
Or thinking by our late dear brother's death
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Colleagued with the 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 bonds of law,

=

20

To our most valiant brother. So much for him. 25
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 subject: and we here dispatch 93
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,

30

For bearers of this greeting to old Norway,

35

Giving to you no further personal power

To business with the king more than the scope

17. know: young] Walker; no comma after know Q, F; comma after follows F. 21. the] F, this Q. 24. bonds] F, bands Q and many editors. 25.] Enter Voltemand and Cornelius F. 26. meeting:] F 4, meeting, Q, meeting F. 35. For bearers] Q1, Q; For bearing F.

Of these delated articles allow.

Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.

Cor., Vol. In that and all things will we show our

duty.

King. We doubt it nothing: heartily farewell.

40

[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 would'st thou beg,

Laertes,

That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?

45

Laer.

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 would'st thou have, Laertes ?

Dread my lord, 5c

Your leave and favour to return to France,

From whence though willingly I came to Den

mark,

To show my duty in your coronation,

Yet now, I must confess, that duty done,

My thoughts and wishes bend again toward

France

Cor., Vol.] Q, Volt. F.

55

41.

38. delated] Q, dilated F, related Q 1. Exeunt] F, omitted Q. 49. is.. to]Q, F; to... is Warburton and other editors. 50. Dread my] F, My dread Q.

55. toward] Q, towards F. 47. native] cognate, connected by nature or birth, as in All's Well, i. i. 238: "To join like likes, and kiss like native things."

53. coronation] In QI Laertes asks permission to leave "Now that the funerall rites are all performed."

And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon. King. Have you your father's leave?

Polonius ?

What says

Pol. He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave

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,

60

Ham. [Aside.] A little more than kin, and less than kind. 65 King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you?

Ham. Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.

57. Have... Polonius ?] Q, two lines F. 58. He hath] F, Hath Q. 58-60. wrung. consent] Q, omitted in F. 64.] Exit Q 1. 64. son] sonne Q, sonne? F, son- Rowe. 65. [Aside]] added by Theobald. 67. so] F, so much Q; ? the sun] Capell, i' th' Sun F, in the sonne Q.

56. pardon] permission to depart, as in III. ii. 332.

64. cousin] kinsman (exclusive of parent, child, brother, and sister); used elsewhere in Shakespeare for uncle, niece, grandchild.

65.1 It can hardly be doubted that this- Hamlet's first word-is spoken aside. Does it refer to the King or to himself? If to himself, it may mean a little more than a kinsman (for I am, incestuously, a stepson), and less than kind, for I hate the King. So Malone. Knight says 'little of the same nature" with Claudius. More probably it refers to the King, meaning: My step-father (more than cousin), but in less than a natural relation. Compare II. ii. 619: "lecherous, kindless (i.e. unnatural) villain." To "go" or 'grow out of kind" is found in Baret's Alvearie and Cotgrave's French. Dict., meaning to degen

erate or dishonour kindred. The play upon kin or kindred and kind or kindly is found in Gorboduc, in Lyly's Mother Bombie, and in Rowley's Search for Money. "Kind for nature occurs several times in Shakespeare.

67. the sun.] Hamlet's delight in ambiguous and double meanings makes it probable that a play is intended on "sun" and "son." He is too much in the sunshine of the court, and too much in the relation of son-son to a dead father, son to an incestuous mother, son to an unclefather. It was suggested by Johnson that there is an allusion to the proverbial expression (see Lear, II. ii. 168): "Out of heaven's blessing into the warm sun," which means to be out of house and home; Hamlet is deprived of the throne. Schmidt takes it to mean merely, "I am more idle and careless than I ought to be."