Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe. Without the sensible 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 the ambitious Norway combated; 'Tis strange. 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, 8 This bodes some strange eruption to our state. Mar. Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows, Why this same strict and most observant watch So nightly toils the subject of the land? And why such daily cast of brazen cannon, Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task Hor. That can I; Our last king, At least, the whisper goes so. Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands, Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same co-mart, [5] He speaks of a prince of Poland whom he slew in battle. Polack was, in that age, the term for an inhabitant of Poland. [6] Jump and just were synonymous in the time of Shakespeare. What particular train of thinking to follow. STEEVENS. [8] Gross and scope,---general thoughts, and tendency at large. POPE. JOHNSON. STEEVENS. JOHNSON. And carriage of the article design'd,' His fell to Hamlet: Now, sir, young Fortinbras, Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there, That hath a stomach in't; which is no other The source of this our watch; and the chief head The grave stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, Re-enter Ghost. But, soft; behold! lo, where it comes again! JOHNSON, [9] Carriage is import: Design'd is formed, drawn up between them. JOHNSON. [2] I believe to shark up means to pick up without distinction, as the shark-fish collects his prey. STEEVENS. [3] The cause and the effect are proportionate and suitable. JOHNSON. [4] The moon. MALONE. [5] Fierce for terrible. WARBURTON. [6] The speech of Horatio to the spectre is very elegant and noble, and congruous to the common traditions of the causes of apparitions. JOHNSON. 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 death, [Cock crows. Speak of it :-stay, and speak.-Stop it, Marcellus. Hor. Do, if it will not stand. Ber. 'Tis here! Hor. 'Tis here! Mar. 'Tis gone! We do it wrong, being so majestical, To offer it the show of violence; For it is, as the air, invulnerable, And our vain blows malicious mockery. [Exit Ghost. Ber. It was about to speak, when the cock crew. Upon a fearful summons. I have heard, The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, [8] Bourne of Newcastle, in his Antiquities of the common People, informs us, "it is a received tradition among the vulgar, that at the time of cock-crowing, "the midnight spirits forsake these lower regions, and go to their proper places.---Hence it is, says he, that in country places, where the way of life re"quires more early labour, they always go cheerfully to work at that time; whereas "if they are called abroad sooner, they imagine every thing they see a wandering "ghost." FARMER. [9] According to the pneumatology of the time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order of spirits, who had dispositions different, according to their vari ous places of abode. The meaning therefore is, that all spirits extravagant, wandering out of their element, whether aerial spirits visiting earth, or earthly spirits ranging the air, return to their station, to their proper limits in which they are confined. We might read, And at his warning "Th' extravagant and erring spirit hies But this change, though it would smooth the construction, is not necessary, and being unnecessary, should not be made against authority. [1] Extravagant, out of bounds. Erring, erratic. JOHNSON. STEEVENS. This present object made probation. Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock. Hor. So have I heard, and do in part believe it. 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. SCENE II. The same. A Room of State in the same. [Exeunt 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; Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature, [2] No fairy strikes with lameness or disease. JOHNSON. Holding a weak supposal of our worth; To our most valiant brother.-So much for him. Farewell; and let your haste commend your duty. [Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS. And now, Laertes, what's the news with you? And lose your voice: What would'st thou beg, Laertes, Laer. My dread lord, Your leave and favour to return to France ; Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France, nius ? [3] Formerly the heart was supposed the seat of wisdom, and hence the poet speaks of the close connexion between the heart and head. MALONE. |