HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK. CLAUDIUS, King of Denmark. PERSONS REPRESENTED. FRANCISCO, a Soldier. HAMLET, Son to the former King, and Nephew REYNALDO, Servant to Polonius. to the present King. POLONIUS, Lord Chamberlain. HORATIO, Friend to Hamlet. LAERTES, Son to Polonius. A CAPTAIN.-An AMBASSADOR. FORTINBRAS, Prince of Norway. GERTRUDE, Queen of Denmark, and Mother OPHELIA, Daughter of Polonius. Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Players, SCENE, Elsinore. Ber. "Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco. Frun. For this relief, much thanks: 'tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart. Ber. Have you had quiet guard? Ber. Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste. Enter HORATIO and MARCellus. Ber. Say. What, is Horatio there? Hor. A piece of him. Ber. Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Marcellus. Hor. What, has this thing appear'd again to-night? Ber. I have seen nothing. Mar. Horatio says, 'tis but our fantasy; And let us once again assail your ears, Hor. Well, sit we down, And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. When yon same star, that's westward from the pole, [heaven Had made his course to illume that part of Where now it burns, Marcellus, and myself, Fran. I think, I hear them.-Stand, ho! Who The bell then beating one, 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. Give you good night. Mar. Holla! Bernardo! * Partners. [Exit FRANCISCO. Hor. Most like:-it harrows me with fear, (As it doth well appear unto our state,) 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, Mar. Thus, twice before, and jump|| at this dead hour, With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. Hor. In what particular thought to work, I know not; But, in the gross and scope of mine opinion, Why this same strict and most observant watch Does not divide the Sunday from the week: Hor. That can I; At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king, But to recover of us, by strong hand, Of this post-haste and romage* in the land. That was, and is, the question of these wars. As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse. Re-enter GHOST. But, soft; behold! lo, where it comes again! I'll cross it, though it blast me.-Stay, illu sion! If thou hast any sound, or use of voice, speak to me: If there be any good thing to be done, If thou art privy to thy country's fate, Or, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in cellus. Hor. And then it started like a guilty thing Upon a fearful summons. I have heard, The cock, that is the trumpet of the morn, Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat Awake the god of day; and, at his warning, Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, The extravagant and erring¶ spirit hies To his confine: and of the truth herein This present object made probation.** Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock. Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, This bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then they say no spirit dares știr abroad; + Victorious. Wandering. * Search. + Suit. The moon. | Event. ** Proof. The nights are wholesome; then no planets | And lose your voice: What wouldst thou beg, strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. Hor. So I have heard, and do in part believe But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, [it. Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern 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 I this morning know Where we shall find him most convenient. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-The same.-A Room of Stute in the same. 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 To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom To be contracted in one brow of woe; In equal scale weighing delight and dole,*- Holding a weak supposal of our worth; him. Now for ourself, and for this time of meeting: Of these dilated articles allow. well. [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, + Bonds. + Way, * Grief. Laertes, That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? 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; To show my duty in your coronation; Pol. He hath, my lord, [wrung from me my 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, [mark. And let thine eye look like a friend on DenDo not, for ever, with thy veiled lidst Seek for thy noble father in the dust: Thou know'st, 'tis common; all, that live, must die, not seems. know Passing through nature to eternity. nature, Hamlet, A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, Than that which dearest father bears his son, I pray thee, stay with us, go not to Wittenberg. Ham. I shall in all my best obey you, madam. 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 rouset the heaven shall bruit again, Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away. [Exeunt KING, QUEEN, Lords, &c. POLONIUS, and LAERTES. Ham. O, that this too too solid flesh would Thaw, and resolves itself into a dew! [melt, Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd [God! His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, That grows to seed; things rank, and gross in nature, [this! Possess it merely. That it should come to But two months dead!-nay, not so much, not So excellent a king; that was, to this, [two: 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 As if increase of appetite had grown [him, 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, My father's brother; but no more like my father, Enter HORATIO, BERNARDO, and MARCELLUS. But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg? Ham. I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow student; I 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, shall not look upon his like again. Hor. My lord, I think I saw him yesternight. Hor. My lord, the king your father. Hor. Season your admiration for a while Ham. For God's love, let me hear. men, By their oppress'd and fear-surprized eyes, Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time, |