CLAUDIUS, king of Denmark. HAMLET, son to the former, and nephew to the pre sent king. POLONIUS, lord chamberlain. HORATIO, friend to Hamlet. LAERTES, Son to Polonius, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, ROSENGRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN,. OSRICK, a courtier. Another courtier. A Priest. MARCELLUS, officers FRANCISCO, a soldier. ers. REYNALDO, servant to Polonius, FORTINBRAS, prince of Norway. GERTRUDE, queen of Denmark, and mother of Hamlet. OPHELIA, daughter of Polonius. Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Players, Grave-Diggers, Sailors, Messengers, and other Attendants. SCENE, Elsinore. The original story on which this play is built, may be found in Saxo Gram. maticus, the Danish historian. From thence Belleforest adopted it in his collection of novels, which he began in 1564, and continued to publish through succeeding years. From this work, The Hystorie of Hamblett, quarto, bl. 1. was translated. I have yet met with no earlier edition of the play than one in the year 1604, though it must have been performed before that time, as I have seen a copy of Speght's edition of Chaucer, which formerly be longed to Dr. Harvey (the antagonist of Nash) who, in his own hand-writing, has set down Hamlet as a performance with which he was well acquainted, in the year 1598. His words are these: "The younger sort take much de"light in Shakspeare's Venus and Adonis; but his Lucrece, and his trag, 'edy of Hamlet, prince of Denmarke, have it in them to please the wiser "sort, 1598." STEEVENS. " Shakspeare's Hamlet was written, if my conjecture be well grounded, in 1596. MALONE. HAMLET. ACT I. SCENE I.-Elsinore. A Platform before the Castle. FRANCISCO Enter to him BERNARDO: on his post. WHO's there? Bernardo. Fran. Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold. Yourself. Ber.Long live the king! Fran. Bernardo ? Ber. He. Fran. You come most carefully upon your hour. Ber.'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco. Fran. For this relief, much thanks: 'tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart. Ber. Have you had quiet guard? Ber. Well, good night.. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.. Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS. Fran. I think, I hear them.-Stand, ho! Who is there? Hor. Friends to this ground. Mar. And liegemen to the Dane. Fran. Give you good-night. Mar. O, farewell, honest soldier : 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. Ber. Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Marcellus Hor. What, has this thing appear'd again to-night? This sentence appears to be the watch word. STEEVENS. Rivals for partners. WARB.Rival is constantly used by Shakspeare for a partner or associate. MALONE. Ber. I have seen nothing. Mar. Horatio says, 'tis but our fantasy ; Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us : With us to watch the minutes of this night; He may approve our eyes, 3 and speak to it! and let us once again assail your ears, That are so fortified against our story, What we two nights have seen. Hor. Well, sit we down, And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. When yon same star, that's westward from the pole, The bell then beating one, Mar. Peace,break thee off; look, where it comes again! Ber. In the same figure, like the king that's dead. Mar. Speak to it, Horatio. Hor. What art thou, that usurp'st this time of night, Together with that fair and warlike form In which the majesty of buried Denmark Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee, speak. Mar. It is offended. Hor. Stay; speak : speak I charge thee, speak. Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer. [Exit Ghost. Ber. How now, Horatio? you tremble, and look pale: Is not this something more than fantasy? What think you of it? [3] Add a new testimony to that of our eyes. JOHNSON. [4] It has always been a vulgar notion that supernatural beings can only be spoken to with propriety or effect by persons of learning. Thus Toby, in the Night-walker by Beaumont and Fletcher, says: "Let's call the butler up, for he speaks latin, REED. Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe, Without the sensible 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, 'Tis strange. Mar. Thus, twice before, and jump at this dead hour, With martial stalk, hath he gone by our watch. 8 Hor. In what particular thought to work, I know not; But, in the gross and scope of mine opinion, & This bodes some strange eruption to our state. Mar. Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows, And why such daily cast of brazen cannon, Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task Hor. That can I ; At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king, Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands, Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same co-mart, [5] He speaks of a prince of Poland whom he slew in battle. POPE. Polack was, in that age, the term for an inhabitant of Poland. JOHNSON, [6] Jump and just were synonymous in the time of Shakspeare. STEEV. [7] What particular train of thinking to follow. STEEVENS. [8] Gross and scope,-general thoughts, and tendency at large. JOHNSON. HAMLET. 9 And carriage of the article design'd, o His fell to Hamlet: Now, sir, young Fortinbras, Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there, That hath a stomach in't; which is no other And terms compulsatory, those 'foresaid lands ACT I. The source of this our watch; and the chief head The grave stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, Re-enter Ghost. But, soft; behold! lo, where it comes again! [9] Carriage is import: Design'd is formed, drawn up between them. JOHNSON. [1] Full of spirit not regulated or guided by knowledge or experience. JOHNSON. [2] I believe to shark up means to pick up without distinction, as the shark-fish collects his prey. STEEVENS. [3] The cause and the effect are proportionate and suitable. JOHNSON. [4] The moon. MALONE.[5] Fierce for terrible. WARBURTON. [7] The speech of Horatio to the spectre is very elegant and noble, and congruous to the common traditions of the causes of apparitions. JOHNS. |