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 smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.

"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,

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,
And foreign mart for implements of war?
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week?
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste
Doth make the night joint labourer with the day?
Who is't, that can inform me?

Hor.

That can I;
Our last king,

At least, the whisper goes so.
Whose image even but now appear'd to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride,
Dar'd to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet

6 the SLEDDED POLACKS-] i. e. the sledged Polanders; "Polacks" (spelt Pollar) was the name by which they were known in Shakespeare's time.

and JUMP at this dead hour,] So every quarto: the folio explains the meaning of "jump" by substituting just. See also Act v. sc. 2. "Jump" was frequently used for just, as in Chapman's " May Day," 1611:

8

"Your appointment was jump at three."

such daily CAST-] Every quarto prints "cast,” cost: the folio, 1623, corrects the probable error.

(For so this side of our known world esteem'd him)
Did slay this Fortinbras; who, by a seal'd compact,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,

Did forfeit with his life all those his lands,
Which he stood seiz'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,

Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same co-mart,
And carriage of the article design'd',

His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved mettle' hot and full,

Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there,
Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes2,

For food and diet, to some enterprize
That hath a stomach in't: which is no other
(As it doth well appear unto our state)
But to recover of us, by strong hand

And terms compulsative, those 'foresaid lands
So by his father lost. . And this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations,
The source of this our watch, and the chief head
Of this post-haste and romage in the land.
Ber. I think, it be no other, but e'en so1:
Well may it sorts, that this portentous figure

9

as by the same CO-MART,

And carriage of the article DESIGN'D,] The folio, 1623, has cor'nant and design, for co-mart" and "design'd." The latter improvement was not made till the folio, 1632. The quartos have "co-mart."

1 Of UNIMPROVED mettle-] The quarto, 1603, reads, inapproved, i. e. unproved; which may have been the true reading, but all the other quartos and folios have "unimproved."

2 — LAWLESS resolutes,] So every quarto, including that of 1603: the folio, probably by an error, gives it "landless resolutes."

3 And terms COMPULSATIVE,] So the folio, 1623, which suits the measure

better than "And terms compulsatory" of the quartos.

* I think, it be no other, but e'en so:] This and the seventeen following lines are not in the folio, nor is any trace of them to be found in the earliest quarto, that of 1603. They are, however, contained in all the subsequent

quarto editions.

5 Well may it SORT,] i. e. agree or accord. See Vol. v. p. 257; and Vol. vi. P. 16.

Comes armed through our watch; so like the king
That was, and is, the question of these wars.

Hor. A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,

The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets:
As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the sun; and the moist star,
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands,
Was sick almost to dooms-day with eclipse:
And even the like precurse of fierce events'-
As harbingers preceding still the fates,
And prologue to the omen coming on-
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen.—

Re-enter Ghost.

But, soft! behold! lo, where it comes again!
I'll cross it, though it blast me.-Stay, illusion!
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,

Speak to me:

If there be any good thing to be done,

That may to thee do ease, and grace to me,

Speak to me:

If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which happily foreknowing may avoid,

6 As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,

Disasters in the sun ;] There is evidently some corruption here, which it is perhaps impossible now to set right. Malone imagined, that a line had been accidentally omitted. We suspect also that "disasters" may be a misprint, the compositor having been misled in some way by the words "as stars" in the line immediately preceding.

7 of FIERCE events] So some of the later quartos: that of 1604 has "feare events," and perhaps the true word was fear'd.

Stay, illusion!] At these words there is a stage-direction in the edition of 1604, copied into the later quartos, which seems to show the action used by the Ghost: the words are, "It spreads his arms." Lower down, just before the Ghost disappears again, the stage-direction in the quartos (likewise omitted in the folios) is, "The Cock crows."

O, speak!

Or, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life

Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,

For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,

[Cock crows.

Speak of it-stay, and speak!-Stop it, Marcellus.
Mar. Shall I strike at it with my partisan?

Hor. Do, if it will not stand.

Ber.

Hor.

Mar. 'Tis gone.

"Tis here!

"Tis here!

[Exit Ghost.

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.

10

Ber. It was about to speak, when the cock crew.
Hor. And then it started, like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard,
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn1o,
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,
Th' 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 stir abroad';

• Shall I strike AT it-] The word "at" is omitted in the quartos ; and in a preceding line they read, " your spirits," for "you spirits."

10-trumpet to the MOKN,] The folio has day for "morn;" but the cock is the trumpet to the "morn," and not to the day; and we have not only "day" just afterwards, but it seems used in such a manner as to show that "morn" (found in all the quartos but that of 1603, which has morning) is the true reading. - no spirit DARES STIR abroad,] So all the quartos, but the first of 1603, which has "dare walk:" the folio, can walk. Lower down, the folio has "the time," for "that time" of the quartos ; but it seems right in substituting "eastern" for eastward.

The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is that 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 yond' 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 conveniently. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The Same. A Room of State.

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,
That we with wisest sorrow think on him,
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore, our sometime sister, now our queen,
Th' imperial jointress of this warlike state',
Have we, as 'twere, with a defeated joy,-
With one auspicious, and one dropping eye,

2 No fairy TAKES.] Talks in the folio. To "take" is to blast or infect.
3 - jointress of this warlike state,] The quartos read to for " of."