Than that which dearest father bears his son,
Do I impart toward you. (42) For your intent
In going back to school in Wittenberg,
It is most retrograde to our desire:
And, we beseech you, bend you to remain
Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
QUEEN. Let not thy mother lose her

Hamlet;

prayers,

I pray thee, stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
HAM. I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
KING. Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply;
Be as ourself in Denmark.-Madam, come;
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet
Sits smiling to my heart: in grace whereof,
No jocund health, that Denmark drinks to-day,
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell;
And the king's rouse the heaven shall bruit
again,

Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away.

(43)

[Exeunt King, Queen, Lords, &c. POLONIUS, and LAERTES.

HAM. O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself (45) into a dew!

Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd

His canon (46) 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O
God!

How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!

Fye on't! O fye! 'tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank, and gross in

nature,

Possess it merely." That it should come to this! But two months dead!-nay, not so much, not two:

⚫ bend you] Dispose, incline.

b Sits smiling to my heart] To is at: gladdens.
e in grace whereof] Respectful regard or honour.
* merely] Wholly. See Tempest, I. 1. Anton.

So excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr: (47) so loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem (48) the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,
As if increase of appetite had grown

By what it fed on. And yet, within a month,----Let me not think on't;-Frailty, thy name is woman!

A little month; or ere those shoes were old,
With which she follow'd my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears;-why she, even she,-
O heaven! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn'd longer,-married with my
uncle,

My father's brother; but no more like my father,
Than I to Hercules: Within a month;

Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married :-O most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to, good;

But break, my heart: for I must hold my tongue!

HOR. The same, my lord, and your poor servant

ever.

HAM. Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you.

* Discourse of reason] Faculty of discussing and reasoning. See Tr. & Cr. II. 2, Hect. & infra IV. 4. Haml.

I'll change that name with you] Reciprocally use: I'll put myself upon an exact level with.

And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?— Marcellus?

MAR. My good lord,

HAM. I am very glad to see you; good even, (*)

sir.

But what, in faith,a 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 followed hard upon. HAM. Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral bak'd meats (51)

Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
Would I had met my dearest foe (52) in heaven
Ere I had ever seen that day, Horatio!-
My father, Methinks, I see my father.

HOR. My lord?

HAM. In my mind's eye,(53) Horatio.

Where,

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.

in faith] Faithfully and honestly, in pure and simple verity. But what make you] Is your object? Are you doing. See M. W. of W. IV. 2. Mrs. Page.

goodly king] See "goodliest," H. VIII. IV. 2. 3 Gent.

HAM. Saw! who?

HOR. My lord, the king your father.

HAM.

The king my father!
HOR. Season your admiration for a whilea
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 Barnardo, on their watch,

In the dead waste (54) and middle of the night,
Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father,
Arm'd at all points (55) exactly, cap-à-pé,

Appears before them, and, with solemn march,
Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd,
By their oppress'd and fear-surprized eyes,
Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, be-
still'd

Almost to jelly with the act of fear,(56)

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.

HAM.

But where was this?

MAR. My lord, upon the platform where we

watch'd.

HAM. Did you not speak to it ? (57)

HOR.

My lord, I did;

But answer made it none: yet once, methought,

It lifted up its head, and did address"

a Season your admiration for a while

With an attent ear] By close attention qualify or restrain

the expression of your astonishment.

b

address] Make ready. See M. N. Dr. V. 1. Phil.

Itself to motion, like as it would speak:

But, even then, the morning cock crew loud; (58) And at the sound it shrunk in haste away,

And vanish'd from our sight.

HAM.

'Tis very strange.

HOR. As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis 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?

up.

ALL. My lord, from head to foot.

HOR. O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver (59)

HAM. What, look'd he frowningly?

Very like,

HOR. It would have much `amaz'd you.

HAM.

Very like: Stay'd it long?

HOR. While one with moderate haste might

tell a hundred.

MAR. BER. Longer, longer.

• writ down] Prescribed by.

C