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With open out-cry, toward our monument.
Prince. What fear is this, which ftartles in our
ears?

Watch. Sovereign, here lies the county Paris flain;
And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before,
Warm and new kill'd.

To help to take her from her borrow'd grave,
Being the time the potion's force should cease.
But he which bore my letter, friar John,
Was ftaid by accident; and yefternight
Return'd my letter back: Then all alone,
At the prefixed hour of her waking,

Prince. Search, feek, and know how this foul Came I to take her from her kindred's vault; Meaning to keep her closely at my cell,

murder comes.

Watch. Here is a friar, and slaughter'd Romeo's "Till I conveniently could fend to Romeo :

man;

With inftruments upon them, fit to open
There dead men's tombs.
Cap. O, heaven !

But, when I came, (fome minute ere the time
Of her awaking) here untimely lay

The noble Paris, and true Romeo, dead.

-O, wife! look how our She wakes; and I entreated her come forth,

daughter bleeds!

This dagger bath miftalen, for, lo! his house
Lies-empty on the back 3 of Montague,
And it mif-theathed in my daughter's bofom.
La. Cap. Ome this fight of death is as a bell
That warns my old age to a fepulchre.

Enter Montague, and others.

Prince. Come, Montague, for thou art early up, To fee thy fon and heir more early down.

Mon. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night; Grief of my ton's exile hath stopp'd her breath : What further woe confpires against my age?

Prince. Look, and thou shalt fee.

Mon. Otrov untaught! what manners is in this, To prefs before thy father to a grave?

And bear this work of heaven with patience:
But then a noife did fcare me from the tomb,
And the, too defperate, would not go with me,
But (as it feems) did violence on herself.
All this I know: and to the marriage
Her nurfe is privy: And, if aught in this
Mifcarry'd by my fault, let my old life
Be facrific'd, fome hour before his time,
Unto the rigour of fevereft law.

Prince. We ftill have known thee for a holy

man.

Where's Romeo's man? what can he fay to this? Balth. I brought my mafter news of Juliet's death;

And then in poft he came from Mantua,

Prince. Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while, To this fame place, to this fame monument.
This letter he early bid me give his father;

'Till we can clear thefe ambiguities,

And know their spring, their head, their true de- And threaten'd me with death, going in the vault,

fcent;

And then will I be general of your woes,
And lead you even to death: Mean time forbear,
And let mifchance be flave to patience.-
Bring forth the parties of fufpicion.

Lan. I am the greatest, able to do least,
Yet moft fupected, as the time and place
Doth make against me, of this direful murder;
And here I ftand, both to impeach and purge
Myfelf condemned and myfelf excus'd.

Priace. Then fay at once what thou doft know
in this.

If I departed not, and left him there.

Prince. Give me the letter, I will look on it. Where is the county's page that rais'd the watch?-Sirrah, what made your master in this place?

Fuge. He came with flowers to ftrew his lady's
grave;

And bid me stand aloof, and so I did:
Anon, comes one with light to ope the tomb;
And, by and by, my mafter drew on him ;
And then I ran away to call the watch.
Prince. This letter doth make good the friar's
words,

Lau. I will be brief, for my fhort date of breath Their course of love, the tidings of her death: Is not fo long as is a tedious tale.

Romeo, there dead, was hufband to that Juliet ;
And the, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife:
I married them; and their ftolen marriage-day
Was Tyhalt's dooms-day, whofe untimely death
Banith'd the new-made bridegroom from this city;
For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pin'd.
You-to remove that fiege of grief from her
Betroth'd, and would have married her perforce,
To county Paris :-Then comes the to me ;
And, with wild looks, bid me devife fome means
To rid her from this fecond marriage,
Or, in my cell, there would the kill herself.
Then gave I her, fo tutor'd by my art,

A fleeping potion; which fo took effect

As I intended, for it wrought on her

The form of death: mean time I writ to Romeo,
That he should hither come as this dire night,

And here he writes-that he did buy a poison
Of a poor 'pothecary, and therewithal
Came to this vault to die, and lie with Juliet.-
Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague!-
See, what a fcourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!
And I, for winking at your difcords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen :—all are punish'd.

Cap. O, brother Montague, give me thy hand :
This is my daughter's jointure, for no more
Can I demand.

Mon. But I can give thee more;
For I will raife her ftatue in pure gold;
That, while Verona by that name is known,

There shall no figure at fuch rate be fet,

As that of true and faithful Juliet.

Cap. As rich fhall Romeo by his lady lie;
Poor facrifices of our enmity!

It appears that the dagger was anciently worn behind the back.

8643

Prince.

Prince. A glooming peace this morning with

it brings;

The fun, for forrow, will not fhew his head: Go hence, to have more talk of these fad things;

Some shall be pardon'd, and fome purished'.
For never was a story of more woe,
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. [Exeunt

Mr. Steavens fays, that this line has reference to the novel from which the fable is taken. H we read that Juliet's female attendant was banished for concealing her marriage; Romeo's fera.. fet at liberty because he had only acted in obedience to his master's orders; the apothecary take tortured, condemned, and hanged; while Friar Lawrence was permitted to retire to a hermiagra the neighbourhood of Verona, where he ended his life in penitence and peace.

HAMLET

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QSTRICK, a Courtier.

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MARCELLUS,

BERNARDO,

} Officers,

FRANCISCO, a Soldier.

REYNALDO, Servant to Polonius.
A Captain; An Ambassador.
Ghoft of Hamlet's Father.

GERTRUDE, Queen of Denmark, and Mother to

Hamlet.

OPHELIA, Daughter to Polonius.

Lords, Ladies, Players, Giave-diggers, Sailors, Messengers, and other Attendants,
SCENE, Elfineur.

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Fran. You come most carefully upon your hour.
Ber. 'Tis now ftruck twelve; get thee to bed,
Francifco.

Fran. For this relief, much thanks: 'tis bitter
cold,

And I am fick at heart.

Ber. Have you had quiet guard?

Fran. Not a mouse stirring.

Ber. Well, good night.

If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

The rivals of my watch 3, bid them make hafte.

Enter Horatio, and Marcellus.

Fran. I think, I hear them.-Stand, ho! Who

is there ?

Hor. Friends to this ground.

Mar. And leigemen to the Dane.

Fran. Give you good night.

Mar. O, farewel, honest foldier;

Who hath reliev'd you ?

Fran. Bernardo hath my place,
Give you good night.

Mar. Holla! Bernardo!

Ber. Say,

What, is Horatio there?

Hor. A piece of him.

[Exit Francifco

Ber. Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Mar

cellus.

[night?

Mar. What, has this thing appear'd again to.
Ber. I have feen nothing.

Mar. Horatio fays, 'tis but our phantafy;
And will not let belief take hold of him,
Touching this dreaded fight, twice feen of us :
Therefore I have intreated him along,

With us to watch the minutes of this night;
That, if again this apparition come,

The original ftory on which this play is built, may be found in Saxo Grammaticus the Danish hiftorian. 2 i. e me who am already on the watch, and have a right to demand the watch-word, 3 Rivals for partners, according to Warburton. Hanmer says, that by rivals of the watch are meant those who were to watch on the next adjoining ground. Rivals, in the original fenfe of the word, were proprietors of neighbouring lands, parted only by a brook, which belonged equally to both.

He

He may approve our eyes, and speak to it.
Hor. Tufh! tufh! 'twill not appear.
Ber. Sit down a while:

And let us once again affail your ears,
That are fo fortified against our story,
What we two nights have seen.

Hor. Well, fit we down,
And let us hear Bernardo ipeak of this.

Ber. Laft night of all,

[pole,
When yon fame ftar, that's weftward from the
Had made his courfe to illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus, and myfelf,
The bell then beating one,-

So nightly toils the fubject of the land?
And why fuch daily caft of brazen cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of war?
Why fuch imprefs of fhip-wrights, whofe fore tak
Does not divide the Sunday from the week?
What might be toward, that this fweaty hafte
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day;
Who is't, that can inform me ?

Hor. That can I;

At least the whifper goes fo. Our laft king,
Whofe image even but now appear'd to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride,

Mar. Peace, break thee off; look where it Dar'd to the ombat ; in which, our vahint Heniet comes again!

Enter Ghaft.

Ber. In the fame figure, like the king that's dead.
Mar. Thou art a scholar, fpeak to it, Horatio.
Ber. Looks it not like the king? mark it, He-
ratio.
wonder.
Hor. Moft like it harrows 2 me with fear and
Ber. It would be spoke to.
Mar. Speak to it, Horatio.

:

[night, time of

Hor. What art thou, that ufurp'ft this
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of bury'd Denmark [fpeak.
Did fometime march? By heaven I charge thee,
Mar. It is offended.

Ber. See! it ftalks away.

Hor. Stay; fpeak; I charge thee, speak.

(For fo this fide of our known world esteem'd him
Did flay this Fortinbres; who, by a feal'd com pati,
Well ratify'd by law, and heraldry,

Did forfeit, with his life, all thofe his lands,
Which he stood feiz'd of, to the conqueror :
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our king; which had return'd
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,

Had he been vanquisher; as, by that covenant,
And carriage of the articles design'd “,

His fell to Hamlet: Now, fir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved 7 mettle hot and full,
Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there,
Shark'd up a list of landless refolutes,
For food and diet, to fome enterprize

That hath a ftomach 9 in't; which is no other [Exit Ghoft.(As it doth well appear unto our flate)

Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer.
Ber. How now, Horatio? you tremble,
look pale:

Is not this fomething more than phantasy ?
What think you of it?

But to recover of us, by strong hand, and And terms compulfatory, thote forefaid lands So by his father loft: And this, I take it,

Is the main motive of our preparations;

The fource of this our watch; and the chief head

Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe, Of this post-hafte and romage 10 in the land.

Without the fenfible and true avouch

Of mine own eyes.

Mar. Is it not like the king?

Hor. As thou art to thyself:

Such was the very armour he had on,

When be the ambitious Norway combated;
So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle,
He fmote the fledded Polack 3 on the ice.
'Tis ftrange.

[hour,
Mar. Thus, twice before, and juft at this dead
With martial ftalk he hath gone by our watch.
Hor. In what particular thought to work 4, I

know not;

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Ber. I think, it be no other, but even to: Well may it fort, that this portentous figure Comes armed through our watch; fo like the king That was, and is the queftion of thefe wars.

Ho. A mote it is, to trouble the mind's eye.
In the most high and palmy 11 ftate of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,

The graves ftood tenantlets, and the fhested dead
Did fqueak and gibber in the Roman ftreets;
Stars fhone with trains of fire; dews of blood fell;
Difafters 12 veil'd the fum; and the moift ftar,
Upon whofe influence Neptune's empire ftands,
Was fick almoft to dooms-day with eclipfe.
And even the like precurse of fierce 13 events,—
As harbingers preceding ftill the fates,
And prologue to the omen 14 coming er,—
Have heaven and earth together demontirated
Unto our cliinatures and countrymen.--

I i. e add a new teftimony to that of our eyes. 2 To harrow is to conquer, to fubdue. The werd is of Saxon origin. 3 He speaks of a prince of Poland whom he flew in battle. Polack was, in that age, the term for an inhabitant of Poland: Pelaque, French. A fied, or jiedge, is a carriage made ufe of in the cold countries. 4. e. what particular train of thinking to follow. si. e. general thoughts, and tendency at large. 6 Carriage is import: dej gn'd, is formed, drawn up be Unimproved, for unrefined. 8 Tofhark up may mean to pick up without diftinction, as the far-nth collects his prey. 9 Stomach, in the time of our author, was used for cenfancy, refolution. 10 i. e. tumultuous hurry. 11 Palmy for victorious, flourishing. 12 Difflers is here finely af. d in its original fignification of evil conjunction of fars. 13 Fierce, for confpicuous, garing. 14 Omen, for fate.

tween then,

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Re-enter Ghoft.

But, foft; behold! lo, where it comes again!
I'll crofs it, though it blast me.-Stay, illufion!
If thou haft any found, or use of voice,

Speak to me :

If there be any good thing to be done,

That may to thee do eafe, and grace to me,
Speak to me:

If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, haply, foreknowing may avoid,
O, speak!

Or, if thou haft uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft wall: in death,
[Cock crows.
Speak of it :-ftay, and speak.-Stop it, Marcellus.
Mar. Shall I ftrike at it with my partizan ?
Hor. Do, if it will not ftand.

Ber. 'Tis here!

Hor. 'Tis here!

Mar. 'Tis gone!

We do it wrong, being so majestical,
To offer it the fhew of violence;
For it is, as the air, invulnerable,

SCENE II.

A Room of State.

Enter the Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Voltimand, Cornelius, Lords and Attendants.

King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's

death

The memory be green; and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe;
Yet fo far hath difcretion fought with nature,
That we with wifeft forrow think on him,
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore our fometime fifter, now our queen,
The imperial jointrefs of this warlike state,
Have we, as 'twere, with a defeated joy,—
With one aufpicious, and one dropping eye;
With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage,
In equal fcale weighing delight and dole,—
Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd

[Exit Gloft. Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along :-For all, our thanks.

And our vain blows malicious mockery.

Ber. It was about to speak, when the cock crew.
Hor. And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful fummons. I have heard,
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth with his kofty and thrill-founding throat
Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,
Whether in fea or fire, in earth or air 1,
The extravagant 2 and erring fpirit hies
To his confine 3: and of the truth herein
This prefent object made probation.

Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock 4.
Some fay, that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
This hird of dawning fingeth all night long:
And then, they fay, no fpirit dares ftir abroad;
The nights are wholefome; then no planets ftrike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and fo gracious is the time.

Hor. So have I heard, and do in part believe it.
But, look, the morn, in ruffet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of you high eastern hill:
Break we our watch up; and, by my advice,
Let us impart what we have feen to-night
Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,
This fpirit, dumb to us, will speak to him:
Do you confent we fhall acquaint him with it,
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?
Mar. Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning

know

Where we fhall find him moft convenient. [Exeunt.

Now follows,that you know, young Fortinbras,-
Holding a weak supposal of our worth;
Or thinking, by our late dear brother's death,
Our itate to be disjoint and out of frame,—
Colleagued with this dream of his advantage",
He hath not fail'd to pefter us with meflage
Importing the furrender of those lands
Loft by his father, with ali bands of law,
To our most valiant brother.So much for him.
Now for ourself, and for this time of meeting:
Thus much the bufinefs is: We have here writ
To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,--
Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears
Of this his nephew's purpose,-to fupprefs
His further gait 7 herein; in that the levics,
The lifts, and full proportions, are all made
Out of his fubject :--and we here difpatch
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway;
Giving to you no further perfonal power
To bufinefs with the king, more than the scope
Of thefe dilated articles allows.

Farewel; and let your hafte commend your duty.
Vol. In that and all things will we fhew our

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According to the pneumatology of that time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order of fpirits, who had difpofitions different, according to their various places of abode. 2 i. e. got out of its bounds. 3 Bourne of Newcofile, in his Antiquities of the Common People, informs us, "It is a received tradition among the vulgar, that at the time of cock-crowing the midnight fpirits forfake these lower regions, and go to their proper places." 4 This is a very ancient fuperftition. 5 No fairy frikes with lamencls or difcales. The meaning is, He goes to war fo indifcreetly, and unprepared, that he has to allies to fupport him but a dream, with which he is colleagued or confederated. 7 Gate or gait is here used in the northern sense, for proceeding, paffage. articles when dilated.

8 i. e. the

The

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