Ham. I am very glad to see you. [To BER.] Good even, sir. But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?

Hor. A truant disposition, good my lord.

Ham. I would not hear your enemy say so,

Nor shall you do mine ear that violence,
To make it truster of your own report
Against yourself: I know you are no truant.
But what is your affair in Elsinore?

We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
Hor. My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.
Ham. I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student;
I think it was to see my mother's wedding.
Hor. Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.
Ham. Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!
My father! methinks I see my father.
Hor. Where, my lord?

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,
I shall not look upon his like again.
Hor. My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
Ham. Saw? who?

Hor. My lord, the king your father.

Ham.

The king my father!

Hor. Season your admiration for a while
With an attent ear, till I may deliver,
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
This marvel to you.

Ham.

For God's love, let me hear.
Hor. Two nights together had these gentlemen,
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,
In the dead vast and middle of the night,

Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father, Armed at point exactly, cap-à-pié,

Appears before them, and with solemn march Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd

Ham.

By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,

Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill'd
Almost to jelly with the act of fear,

Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me

In dreadful secrecy impart they did;

And I with them the third night kept the watch:
Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time,

Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
The apparition comes: I knew your father;
These hands are not more like.

But where was this?

Mar. My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd.
Ham. Did you speak to it?

Hor.

Ham.

My lord, I did;

But answer made it none: yet once methought
It lifted up its head and did address

Itself to motion, like as it would speak;

But even then the morning cock crew loud,
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away,
And vanish'd from our sight.

'Tis very strange.
Hor. As I do live, my honor'd lord, 't is true;
And we did think it writ down in our duty
To let you know of it.

Ham. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.
Hold you the watch to-night?

Ham. Then saw you not his face?

Hor. Oh, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver up.

Ham. What, look'd he frowningly?

Hor. A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.

Ham. Pale or red?

Hor. Nay, very pale.

Ham.

Hor. Most constantly.

Ham.

And fix'd his eyes upon you?

I would I had been there.

Hor. It would have much amazed you.

Ham. Very like, very like. Stay'd it long?

Hor. While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.

Mar.

Ber.

}Longer, longer.

Hor. Not when I saw 't.

Ham.

His beard was grizzled, -no?

Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life,

Ham.

A sable silver'd.

I will watch to-night;

Perchance 't will walk again.

I warrant it will.

Hor.
Ham. If it assume my noble father's person,

I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,
Let it be tenable in your silence still;
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
Give it an understanding, but no tongue:
I will requite your loves. So, fare you well:
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,
I'll visit you.

DEFINITIONS.Tru'ant, wandering from business, loitering. Trust'er, a believer. At-těnt', attentive, heedful. De-liv'er, to communicate, to utter. Căp-a-pïe' (from the French, pro. kåp-äpee'), from head to foot. Trůn'çheon (pro. trůn'chun), a short staff, a baton. Bēa'ver, a part of the helmet covering the face, so constructed that the wearer could raise or lower it. Těn ́a-ble, capable of being held.

NOTES.-What make you from Wittenberg? i. e., what are you doing away from Wittenberg?

Wittenberg is a university town in Saxony, where Hamlet and Horatio had been school-fellows.

Elsinore is a fortified town on one of the Danish islands, and was formerly the seat of one of the royal castles. It is the scene of Shakespeare's "Hamlet."

Hard upon; i. e., soon after.

Funeral baked meats. This has reference to the ancient custom of funeral feasts.

My dearest foe; i. e., my greatest foe. A common use of the word "dearest" in Shakespeare's time.

Or ever; i. e., before.

Season your admiration; i. e., restrain your wonder.
The dead vast; i. e., the dead void.

Armed at point; i. e., armed at all points.

Did address itself to motion; i. e., made a motion.

Give it an understanding, etc.; i. e., understand, but do not speak of it.

I will requite your loves, or, as we should say, I will repay your friendship.

CX. DISSERTATION ON ROAST PIG.

Charles Lamb (b. 1775, d. 1834) was born in London. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, where he was a school-fellow and intimate friend of Coleridge. In 1792 he became a clerk in the India House, London, and in 1825 he retired from his clerkship on a pension of £441. Lamb never married, but devoted his life to the care of his sister Mary, who was at times insane. He wrote "Tales founded on the Plays of Shakespeare," and several other works of rare merit; but his literary fame rests principally on the inimitable "Essays of Elia" (published originally in the "London Magazine "), from one of which the following selection is adapted.

1. MANKIND, says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend M. was obliging enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat raw, clawing or biting it from the living animal, just as they do in Abyssinia to this day.