Be somewhat scantera of your maiden presence;
Set your entreatments at a higher rate,

b

Than a command to parley. For lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, That he is young;
Teder. 4to. And with a larger * tether may he walk,
Than may be given you: In few, Ophelia,

Do not believe his vows: for they are brokers (75) the eye. Not of that die* which their investments show, But mere implorators of unholy suits,

1623, 32.

e

Breathing like sanctified and pious bonds, (76)
The better to beguile, This is for all,—
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment's leisure,
As to give words or talk with the lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you; come your ways.
OPH. I shall obey, my lord.

[Exeunt.

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?

scanter] More sparing.

cold.

b entreatments] Opportunities of entreating or parley. Johnson derivcs it from entretien, Fr.

larger tether] Rope or license.

d that die, which their investments show] Investments are covering or exterior. That die, instead of the eye, is the reading of the quartos.

⚫slander any moment's leisure] Let in reproach upon.

HOR.

I think, it lacks of twelve.

MAR. No, it is struck."

HOR. Indeed? I heard it not; it then draws near the season,

Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk. (78)

[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, (79)

Keeps wassels 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

b

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;
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.
So, oft it chances in particular men,

e

That, for some vicious mole of nature in them,

it is struck] See I. 1. Barn.

east and west] Every where: from the rising to the setting sun.

• Clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase

Soil our addition] Disparage us by using as characteristic of us, terms that imply or impute swinish properties, that fix a swinish" addition" or title to our names. Clepe, clypian. Sax. to call.

d

at height] To the utmost, topping every thing.

mole of nature] Natural blemish.

"For marks descried in man's nativity

"Are nature's fault, not their own infamy."

Rape of Lucrece. MALONE.

Wassel, 4to.

⚫ease. 4to. eale. 4to.

⚫ of a doubt. 4to.

As, in their birth, (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin,)
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,

b

Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason;
Or by some habit, that too much o'er-leavens
The form of plausive manners; 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 ill*
Doth all the noble substance often dout,
To his own scandal. (80)

d

HOR.

Enter Ghost.

Look, my lord, it comes!

HAM. Angels and ministers of grace defend

us!

Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd, (81)
Bring with thee airs from heaven, (62) or blasts from

hell,

It chances-that for some vicious mole of nature,—

Or by some habit-that these men] To connect the sentence, we must before "that these men" supply "it happens," or something to that effect. The sense of the latter part of the speech is, A little vice will often obliterate all a man's good qualities; and the effect is, that the vice becomes scandalous, i. e. offensive; being taken for his predominating character. In All's Well, &c. plausive has been twice used for admirable. I.2. King. III. 1. Parolles.

b nature's livery, or fortune's star] The vesture or garb in which nature clothes us; the humour innate or complexion born with us: or some casualty or fatality, the influence of the star of fortune or chance.

с

e undergo] Support, possess.

"To undergo such ample grace and honour." M. for M. I. 1. Escal. censure take corruption] Estimate become tainted.

Be thy intents wicked, or charitable,

Thou com'st in such a questionable shape, (83)
That I will speak to thee; I'll call thee, Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me;
Let me not burst in ignorance! (4) 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, (85)
*Revisits 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?
HOR. It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire

To you alone.

MAR.

(86)

Look, with what courteous action

It wafts you to a more removed ground:

But do not go with it.

HOR.

No, by no means.

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; (87)

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,

hearsed in death] Deposited with the accustomed funeral rites: conveyed in the vehicle appropriated to this ceremonial. b cerements] Waxen envelope.

с

disposition] Frame of mind; or affection of body and mind.

• Revisitst.

1632.

Somnet, 4tos. Sonnet.

1623, 32.

That beetles o'er his base into the sea?(88)
And there assume some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, (89)
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. (90)]

HAM.

Go on, I'll follow thee.

It wafts me still:

MAR. You shall not go, my lord.
Нам.

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.-(91)

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

[Breaking from them. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets*

I

me:

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 Denmark.

HOR. Heaven will direct it.

MAR.

Nay, let's follow him.

[Exeunt.

lets] Obstructs.

Have after] Take, or betake yourself, after! follow!

• Heaven will direct it] "The state of Denmark," to health and soundness.