Ber. Have you had quiet Guard?
Fran. Not a moufe ftirring.

Ber. Well, good night.

"4

If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

2

The rivals of my Watch, bid them make hafte.

Enter Horatio and Marcellus.

Fran. I think, I hear them. Stand, ho! Who is there?

Ilor. Friends to this ground.

Mar. And liege-men to the Dane.

Fran. Give you good night.

Mar. Oh, farewel, honeft foldier. Who hath reliev'd you?

Fran. Bernardo has my place.

night.

Mer. Holla! Bernardo.

Give you good [Exit Francifco.

Ber. Say, what, is Horatio there?

2 Hor. A piece of him.

Ber. Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Mar

cellus.

Mar. What, has this thing appeared again to night?

The rivals of my Watch,-] Rivals, for partners. WARB. By Rivals of the Watch are meant thofe who were to watch on the next adjoining ground. Rivals, in the original fenfe of the word, were proprietors of

Ber. I have feen nothing.

Mar. Horatio fays, 'tis but our phantafy,
And will not let belief take hold of him,
Touching this dreadful fight, twice feen of us;
Therefore I have intreated him along.
With us, to watch the minutes of this night,

neighbouring lands, parted only by a brook, which belonged equally to both. HANMER. Hor. A piece of him] But why a piece? He fays this as he gives his hand. Which direction fhould be marked. WARB. That

3

That if again this apparition come,
He may approve our eyes, and fpeak to it.
Hor. Tuh! tufh! 'twill not appear.
Ber. Sit down a while,

And let us once again affail your ears,
That are fo fortified againft our story,
* What we two nights have feen.-
Hor. Well, fit we down,

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

Enter the Ghoft.

When yon fame ftar, that's weftward from the pole,
Had made his courfe t'illume that part of heav'n
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The bell then beating one,

Mar. Peace, break thee off;

Look, where it comes again.

Ber. In the fame 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. Moft like. It harrows me with fear and

fpeak. Mar. It is offended.

Ber. See! it ftalks away.

wonder.

Ber. It would be spoke to.

Mar. Speak to it, Horatio.

Hor. What art thou, that ufurp'ft this time of night,

Together with that fair and warlike form,
In which the Majefty of buried Denmark
Did fometime march? By Heav'n, I charge thee,

3 •approve our eyes,] Add a new testimony to that of our eyes.

K 2

4 What we tavo nights have feen.] This line is by Hanmer given to Marcellus, but without neceffity,

Hor.

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

Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer. 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 thyself.

Such was the very armour he had on,
When he th' ambitious Norway combated;
So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle,

• He fmote the fleaded Polack on the ice.

'Tis ftrange

Mar. Thus twice before, and just at this dead hour,

With martial ftalk, he hath gone by our Watch,
Ilor. In what particular thought to work, I know

not,

But, in the grofs fcope of my opinion,
This bodes fome ftrange eruption to our State,

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

Why this fame ftrict and moft obfervant Watch
So nightly toils the Subjects of the Land?
And why fuch daily caft of brazen Cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of war?
Why fuch imprefs of fhipwrights, whofe fore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week?
What might be toward, that this sweaty hafte
Doth make the night joint labourer with the day,
Who is't, that can inform me?

Hor. That can I;

At least, the whifper goes fo. Our laft King,
Whose image but even now appear'd to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto prickt on by a moft emulate pride,
Dar'd to the fight: In which our valiant Hamlet
(For fo this fide of our known world esteem'd him)
Did flay this Fortinbras, who by feal'd compact,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,

7- who by fear'd compat, Well ratified by law AND beraldry, The fubject spoken of is a duel between two monarchs, who fought for a wager, and entered into articles for the juft performance of the terms agreed upon. Two forts of law then were neceffary to regulate the decifion of the affair; the Civil Law, and the Law of Arms; as, had there been a wager without a duel, it had been the civil law only; or a duel without a wager, the law of arms only. Let us fee now how our

K

Did

Did forfeit, with his life, all thofe his Lands,
Which he ftood feiz'd of, to the Conqueror;
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our King; which had return'd
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,

8

Had he been vanquisher; as by that cov❜nant,
And carriage of the articles defign'd,
His fell to Hamlet. Now young Fortinbras,
'Of unimproved mettle hot and full,
Hath in the fkirts of Norway, here and there,
Shark'd up a lift of landlefs refolutes,
For food and diet, to fome enterprize

That hath a ftomach it; which is no other,
As it doth well appear unto our State,

But to recover of us by ftrong hand,

3 And terms compulfative, thofe 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 post-hafte and romage in the Land.

I conclude Shakespear wrote, who by fear'd compact Well ratified by law of beraldry.

i. e. the execution of the civil
compact was ratified by the law
of arms; which in our author's
time, was called the law of he
raldry. So the best and exactest
fpeaker of that age: In the third
kind, [i. e. of the Jus gentium]

the LAW OF HERALDRY in war
is pofuive, &c. Hooker's Ecclefi-
aftical Polity.
WARB.
--AS by THAT COV'NANT,
And carriage of the articles de-
fign'd,] The old quarto reads,
as by the fame COMART;
and this is right. Comart figni-
fies a bargain, and Carriage of fatory.

the articles, the covenants entered into to confirm that bargain. Hence we fee the common reading makes a tautology. WARB. 9 And carriage of the articles

defign'd.] Carriage, is import: defigned, is formed, drawn up between them.

Of unimproved mettle] Unimproved, for unrefined. WAR.

Full of unimproved mettle, is full of fpirit not regulated or guided by knowledge or experience.

2 That hath a stomach in't :- -} Stomach, in the time of our authour, was used for conftancy, reSolution.

V

3 And terms compulfative,-] The old quarto, better, compul WARBURTON. Ber.