SCENE IV.

The Platform.

Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS.

Ham. The air bites shrewdly; it is very
Hor. It is a nipping and an eager air.
Ham. What hour now?

Hor.

Mar. No, it is struck.

cold.

I think, it lacks of twelve.

Hor. Indeed? I heard it not; it then draws near

the season,

Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.

LA Flourish of Trumpets, and Ordnance shot off, within.

What does this mean, my lord?

Ham. The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse,

8

Keeps wassel,' and the swaggering up-spring reels;
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.

Hor.

Ham. Ay, marry, is't:

Is it a custom?

But to my mind, though I am native here,

-

And to the manner born,-it is a custom

More honour'd in the breach, than the observance. This heavy-headed revel, east and west,'

Makes us traduc'd, and tax'd of other nations:

an eager air.] That is, a sharp air, aigre, Fr.

takes his rouse,] A rouse is a large dose of liquor, a

7 Keeps wassel,] i. e. devotes the night to jollity.

8.

8 the swaggering up-spring-] The blustering upstart. 9. This heavy-headed revel, east and west,] This heavy-headed revel makes us traduced east and west, and taxed of other nations.

They clepe us, drunkards, and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition; and, indeed it takes

From our achievements, though perform'd at height,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.1
So, oft it chances in particular men,

That, for some vicious mole of nature in them,
As, in their birth, (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin,)

By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,2

Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason;
Or by some habit, that too much o'er-leavens
The form of plausive manners;3-that these men,—
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect;
Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,+-
Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo,)"

Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault: The dram of base
Doth all the noble substance often dout,"

To his own scandal.

Hor.

Enter Ghost.

Look, my lord, it comes!

The pith and marrow of our attribute.] The most valuable part of the praise that would be otherwise attributed to us.

2

complexion,] i. e. humour; as sanguine, melancholy, phlegmatick, &c.

3

that too much o'er-leavens

The form of plausive manners;] That intermingles too much with their manners; infects and corrupts them. Plausive, in our poet's age, signified gracious, pleasing, popular.

4 - fortune's star,] The word star in the text signifies a scar of that appearance. It is a term of farriery: the white star or mark so common on the forehead of a dark coloured horse, is usually produced by making a scar on the place, RITSON.

5 As infinite as man may undergo,)] As large as can be accumu lated upon man.

6 often dout,] To dout, signified in Shakspeare's time, and yet signifies in Devonshire and other western counties, to do out, to efface, to extinguish.

Ham. Angels and ministers of grace defend us!-
Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd,
Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked, or charitable,

Thou com'st in such a questionable shape,"
That I will speak to thee; I'll call thee, Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me:
Let me not burst in ignorance! but tell,
Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements! why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly in-urn'd,

Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws,

To cast thee up again! What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again, in cómplete steel,'
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,

Making night hideous; and we fools of nature,
So horridly to shake our disposition,'

With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?

7 questionable shape,] Questionable, means here propitious to conversation, easy and willing to be conversed with.

8

tell,

Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death,

Have burst their cerements!] Hamlet, amazed at an apparition, which, though in all ages credited, has in all ages been considered as the most wonderful and most dreadful operation of supernatural agency, enquires of the spectre, in the most emphatick terms, why he breaks the order of nature, by returning from the dead; this he asks in a very confused circumlocution, confounding in his fright the soul and body. Why, says he, have thy bones, which with due ceremonies have been entombed in death, in the common state of departed mortals, burst the folds in which they were embalmed? Why has the tomb, in which we saw thee quietly laid, opened his mouth, that mouth which, by its weight and stability, seemed closed for ever? The whole sentence is this: Why dost thou appear, whom we know to be dead? JOHNSON.

9 in complete steel,] It is probable, that Shakspeare introduced his Ghost in armour, that it might appear more solemn by such a discrimination from the other characters; though it was really the custom of the Danish kings to be buried in that manner. 1 to shake our disposition,] Disposition for frame,

Hor. It beckons you to go away with it,

As if it some impartment did desire

To you alone.

Mar.

It waves you to a more removed ground:2

Look, with what courteous action

No, by no means.

But do not go with it.

Hor.

Ham. It will not speak; then I will follow it.
Hor. Do not, my lord.

Ham.

Why, what should be the fear?

I do not set my life at a pin's fee;3

And, for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?

It waves me forth again;-I'll follow it.

Hor. What, if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,

Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff,
That beetles o'er his base into the sea?

4

And there assume some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason,5
And draw you into madness? think of it:
The very place puts toys of desperation,"
Without more motive, into every brain,
That looks so many fathoms to the sea,
And hears it roar beneath.

Ham.

Go on, I'll follow thee.

3

It waves me still:

Mar. You shall not go, my lord.

a more removed ground:] i. e. remote.
pin's fee;] The value of a pin.

+ That beetles o'er his basc-] That hangs o'er his base, like what is called a beetle-brow. A verb probably of our author's coinage.

5 deprive your sovereignty of reason,] i. e. your ruling power of reason. When poets wish to invest any quality or virtue with uncommon splendour, they do it by some allusion to regal

eminence.

-puts toys of desperation,] Toys, for whims.

Ham.

Hold off your hands.

My fate cries out,

Hor. Be rul'd, you shall not go.
Ham.
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Némean lion's nerve.-

[Ghost beckons.

Still am I call'd;-unhand me, gentlemen;

[Breaking from them. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me :— I say, away:-Go on, I'll follow thee.

[Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET.

Hor. He waxes desperate with imagination.
Mar. Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him.
Hor. Have after:-To what issue will this come?
Mar. Something is rotten in the state of Den-

mark.

Hor. Heaven will direct it.

Mar.

Nay, let's follow him. [Exeunt,

SCENE V.

A more remote Part of the Platform.

Re-enter Ghost and HAMLET.

Ham. Whither wilt thou lead me? speak, I'll go

no further.

Ghost. Mark me.

7

Ham.

that lets me:] To let among our old authors signifies to prevent, to hinder. It is still a word current in the law, and to be found in almost all leases.