POL.

Ay, my lord,

Marry, sir, here's my drift;
And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant :
You laying those slight sullies on my son,
As 't were a thing a little soil'd i' the working,
Mark you, your party in converse, him you would
sound,

Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes
The youth you breathe of guilty, be assur'd,
He closes with you in this consequence;
Good sir, or so; or friend, or gentleman,—
According to the phrase or the addition,
Of man, and country.

Very good, my lord.

REY. POL. And then, sir, does he this, he doesWhat was I about to say? By the masst I was about to say something:-where did I leave? REY. At closes in the consequence.

At friend, or so, and gentleman.

POL. At, closes in the consequence,―ay, marry ;
He closes with you thus:-I know the gentleman;
I saw him yesterday, or t'other day, [you say,
Or then, or then; with such, or* such; and, as
There was he gaming; there o'ertook in's rouse ;
There falling out at tennis; or perchance,
I saw him enter such a house of sale,-
Videlicet, a brothel,—or so forth—
See you now;

Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth:
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
With windlaces, and with assays of bias,
By indirections find directions out:
So, by my former lecture and advice,

Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?
REY. My lord, I have.
POL.

God be wi' you; fare you well.

REY. Good my lord!

POL. Observe his inclination in yourself. REY. I shall, my lord.

Enter OPHELIA.

How now, Ophelia! what's the matter?
ОPH. Alas, my lord, I have been so affrighted!
POL. With what, i' the name of God?*
ОPн. My lord, as I was sewing in my chamber,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd;
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved" to his ancle;
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport,

As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors, he comes before me.
POL. Mad for thy love!
ОРН.

But, truly, I do fear it.

POL.

My lord, I do not know;

What said he?

ОPH. He took me by the wrist, and held me

hard;

Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face,
As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;
At last, a little shaking of mine arm,
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,-
He rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound,
That it did seem to shatter all his bulk,"
And end his being: that done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his shoulder† turn'd,
He seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For out o' doors he went without their help,
And, to the last, bended their light on me.

POL. Come, go with me; I will go seek the king.

This is the very ecstasy of love;
Whose violent property fordoes itself,
And leads the will to desperate undertakings,
As oft as any passion under heaven
That does afflict our natures.
I am sorry,
What, have you given him any hard words of late?
OPH. No, my good lord; but, as you did com-

mand,

I did repel his letters, and denied

His access to me.

POL.

That hath made him mad. I am sorry that with better heed § and judgment, I had not quoted him : I fear'd || he did but trifle, And meant to wreck thee; but, beshrew my jealousy!

(*) First folio, Heaver.. (1) First folio omits, Come.

(+) First folio, shoulders. (§) First folio, speed.

Beating her bulk, that his hand shakes withal."

quoted him:] To quote, as we have seen, was not un frequently used by Shakespeare and his contemporaries in the sense of to look into, to scan, to mark, &c.

HAM.

It waves

me still :

Go on; I'll follow thee.
MAR. You shall not go, my lord.
HAM.
Hold off your hands!‡
HOR. Be rul'd; you shall not go.
НАМ.
My fate cries out,
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 ;-
By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets
me!-
[Breaking from them.
I say, away!-Go on, I'll follow thee.

[Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET.

HOR. He waxes desperate with imagination.
MAR. Let's follow; 't is not fit thus to obey

him.

GHOST. I am thy father's spirit; Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confin'd to fast in fires,

Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young
blood;
[spheres ;
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand an end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine ;+
But this eternal blazon must not be

To ears of flesh and blood.-List, list, O, list!—§
If thou didst ever thy dear father love,—
HAM. O, God!||

[murder. GHOST. Revenge his foul and most unnatural HAM. Murder !

GHOST. Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
HAM. Haste me to know 't, that I,¶ with wings
as swift

As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge.

GHOST.

I find thee apt;

And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,

a Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason,-] Gifford was mistaken in assuming that "your sovereignty" was here merely a title of respect like "your lordship," applied to Hamlet. To deprive your sovereignty of reason, means to dethrone or displace your powers of reason. Warburton cites a passage from Eixov Bariλkin, where the precise expression occurs: "At once to betray the soveraignty of reason in my own soul."

b And hears it roar beneath.] This and the three preceding lines are not found in the folio.

But, better look'd into, he truly found
It was against your highness: whereat,-griev'd
That so his sickness, age, and impotence,
Was falsely borne in hand,-sends out arrests
On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys;
Receives rebuke from Norway; and, in fine,
Makes vow before his uncle, never more

To give the assay of arms against your majesty.
Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,
Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee;
And his commission to employ those soldiers,
So levied as before, against the Polack:
With an entreaty, herein further shown,

[Gives a paper.

That it might please you to give quiet pass
Through your dominions for this enterprise;
On such regards of safety and allowance
As therein are set down.

KING.
It likes us well;
And at our more consider'd time we'll read,
Answer, and think upon this business.

Meantime we thank you for your well-took labour:

(*) First folio, his.

Go to your rest; at night we'll feast together: Most welcome home!

[Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS. POL. This business is well ended.My liege, and madam,-to expostulate What majesty should be, what duty is, Why day is day, night night, and time is time, Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time. Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit," And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief: your noble son is mad: Mad call I it; for, to define true madness, What is 't, but to be nothing else but mad? But let that go.

QUEEN. More matter, with less art. POL. Madam, I swear I use no art at all. That he is mad, 't is true: 't is true 't is pity; And pity 't is 't is true: † a foolish figure; But farewell it, for I will use no art.