I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape,' All. Our duty to your honor. Ham. Your loves, as mine to you: Farewell. [Exeunt HORATIO, MARCELLUS, and BERNARDO. My father's spirit in arms! all is not well; I doubt some foul play: 'would, the night were come! H III. 159. SCENES FROM HAMLET. PART SECOND. Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS. AMLET. The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold. Hor. Mar. No, it is struck. I think, it lacks of twelve. Hor. Indeed? I heard it not; then it draws near the season, Wherein the spirit held his wont2 to walk. [A 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,' And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out The triumph of his pledge. Hor. Is it a custom? * Rouse, (rouz), a carousal; a fes. tival; a drinking frolic. But to my mind,-though I am native here, And to the manner born,-it is a custom More honored in the breach, than the observance. Hor. Look, my lord, it comes! Ham. Angels and ministers of grace defend us! 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 : With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls? As if it some impartment did desire To you ǎlone. Mar. Look, with what courteous' action It waves you to a more removed ground; Ham. It will not speak; then I will follow it. Ham. Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life at a pin's fee ; And, for my soul, what can it do to that, It waves me forth again;-I'll fōllōw it. 1 Corteous, (kêrt' e ůs), of court-like or elegant and condescending manners; well-bred; complaisant. 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? And there assume some other horrible form, And draw you into mădnèss? And makes each petty artery in this body [GHOST beckons. [Breaking from them. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets' me :I say, away!-Go on, I'll fōllōw thee. [Exeunt GHOST and HAMLET, followed by HORATIO and MARCELLUS. Re-enter GHOST and HAMLET. Ham. Whither wilt thou lead me? speak, I'll go no further. Ghost. Mark me. Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold. Ham. Speak, I am bound to hear. Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. Ham. What? Ghost. I am thy father's spirit ; Doomed for a certain term to walk the night, And, for the day confined to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature, Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word 1 Lěts, retards; hinders. Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood; And each particular hair to stand on 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 heaven! Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange, and unnatural, Ham. Haste me to know it; 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 should'st thou be than the fat weed That rots itself in ease on Lethe' wharf, Would'st thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: "Tis given out, that sleeping in mine orchard, A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth, Now wears his crown. Ham. O, my prophetic soul! my uncle! Ay, With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts, The will of my most seeming virtuous queen : 1 Lē' the, a river of Africa, watering the city of Berenice, which, because it runs many miles under ground, was fabled by the poets to be one of the rivers of hell, and be cause the name signifies oblivion, was feigned to cause forgetfulness of all that was past to those who drank of its waters; oblivion; forgetfulness. Upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor But, soft! methinks, I scent the morning air; Ham. O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible! And you my sinews, grow not instant old, But bear me stiffly up!-Remember thee! Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, [Exit. |