And, for my foul, what can it do to That,
Being a thing immortal as itfelf?

It waves me forth again.I'll follow it
Hor. "What if it tempt you tow'rd the flood,
my lord?

"Or to the dreadful fummit of the cliff,

"That beetles o'er his Bafe into the fea;

"And there affume fome other horrible form,

"Which might deprave your fov'reignty of reason,
"And draw you into madness? think of it.
"5 The very place puts toys of desperation,
"Without more motive, into ev'ry brain,
"That looks fo many fathoms to the fea;
"And hears it roar beneath.

Ham. It waves me ftill: go on, I'll follow thee-
Mar. You fhall not go, my lord.

Ham. Hold off your hands.

Mar. Be rul'd, you shall not go.
Ham. My fate cries out,

And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve:

Still am I call'd: unhand me, gentlemen.

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

4 DEPRIVE your fou'reignty of reason,] i. e. deprive your fov reignty of its reafon. Nonfenfe. Sov'reignty of reafon is the fame as fovereign or fupreme reafon : Reafon which governs man. And thus it was used by the beft writers of thofe times. Sidney says, It is time for us both to let reafon enjoy its due foveraigntie. Arcad. And King Charles, At once to betray the foveraignty of reason in my foul. Einar Bacının. It is evident that Shakespear wrote, -DEPRAVE your fov'reignty of reafon.

i. e. diforder your understanding and draw you into madness. So afterwards. Now fee that noble and most fovereign reafon like fweet bells jangled out of tune.

5. The very place] The four following lines added from the firft edition.

6-puts toys of defperation,] Toys, for whims,

Mr. Pope.

I fay, awaygo on-I'll follow thee

[Exeunt Ghoft and Hamlet.
Hor. He waxes defp'rate with imagination.
Mar. Let's follow 'tis not fit thus to obey him.
Hor. Have after.-To what iffue will this come?
Mar. Something is rotten in the State of Denmark.
Hor. Heav'n will direct it.

Mar. Nay, let's follow him."

[Exeunt.

Changes to a more remote Part of the Platform.

Ham.W

Re-enter Ghoft and Hamlet.

HERE wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll

go no further.

Ghost. Mark me.

Ham. I will.

Ghoft. My hour is almost come,

When I to fulphurous and tormenting flames

Muft render up my self.

Ham. Alas, poor Ghoft!

Ghoft. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing

To what I fhall unfold.

Ham. Speak, I am bound to hear.

Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. Ham. What?

Ghoft. I am thy father's Spirit ;

Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,

7

And, for the day, confin'd too fast in fires; 'Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature, Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid

7-confin'd To faft in fires ;] We should read,

TOO faft in fires.

i. e. very closely confined. The particle too is used frequently for the fuperlative moft, or very.

VOL. VIII.

L

Το

To tell the fecrets of my prifon-houfe,

I could a tale unfold, whofe lightest word
Would, harrow up thy foul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like ftars, ftart from their spheres,
Thy knotty and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to ftand on end
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:
But this eternal blazon muft not be

To ears of flesh and blood; lift, lift, oh lift!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love-

Ham, O heav'n!

Ghost. Revenge his foul and moft unnatural mur ther.

Ham. Murther?

Ghost. Murther most foul, as in the beft it is; But this moft foul, ftrange, and unnatural.

Ham. "Hafte me to know it, that I, with wings as fwift

"9 As meditation or the thoughts of love, "May fweep to my revenge.

Ghoft. I find thee apt;

"And duller fhouldft thou be, than the fat weed "That roots itself in ease on Lethe's wharf, Wouldst thou not ftir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:

'Tis

8 Thy knotty-] Or as the old quarto read knotted, for curled. 9 As meditation or the thoughts of love,] This fimilitude is extremely beautiful. The word, meditation, is confecrated, by the myftics, to fignify that stretch and flight of mind which aspires to the enjoyment of the fupreme good. So that Hamlet, confidering with what to compare the swiftness of his revenge, chooses two the moft rapid things in nature, the ardency of divine and human paffion, in an enthufiaft and a lover.

And duller fhouldst thou be, than the fat weed

That roots itself in eafe on Lethe's wharf, &c.] Shakespear, apparently thro' ignorance, makes Roman Catholicks of thefe pagan Danes; and here gives a defcription of purgatory: But yet mixes it with the pagan fable of Lethe's wharf. Whether de did it to infinuate, to the zealous Proteftants of his time, that the pagan and popish purgatory stood both upon the fame footing of credibi

'Tis given out, that, fleeping in my orchard,

A ferpent ftung me. So, the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged procefs of my death

Rankly abus'd but know, thou noble Youth,
The ferpent, that did fting thy father's life,
Now wears his crown.

Ham. Oh, my prophetick foul! my uncle?
Ghoft. Ay, that inceftuous, that adulterate beaft,
With witchcraft of his wit, with trait'rous gifts,
(O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power
So to feduce!) won to his fhameful luft
The will of my moft feeming-virtuous Queen.
Oh Hamlet, what a falling off was there!
From me, whofe love was of that dignity,
That it went hand in hand ev'n with the vow
I made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor
To thofe of mine!

But virtue, as it never will be mov'd,

Though lewdness court it in a fhape of heav'n;
So luft, though to a radiant angel link'd,
Will fate itself in a celeftial bed,

And prey on garbage

But, foft! methinks, I fcent the morning air
Brief let me be; Sleeping within mine orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,

Upon my fecure hour thy uncle ftole
With juice of curfed hebenon in a viol,
And in the porches of mine ears did pour
The leperous diftilment; whose effect
Holds fuch an enmity with blood of man,
That swift as quick-filver it courses through
The natʼral gates and allies of the body;
And, with a fudden vigour, it doth poffet

lity; or whether it was by the fame kind of licentious inadvertence that Michael Angelo brought Charon's bark into his picture of the laft judgment, is not eafy to decide.

And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: fo did it mine,
And a most inftant tetter bark'd about,

Moft lazar-like, with vile and loathfome cruft
All my fmooth body.

Thus was I fleeping, by a brother's hand,

Of life, of Crown, of Queen, 2 at once dispatcht; Cut off even in the bloffoms of my fin,

5

3 Unhoufel'd, unanointed, unanel'd:
No reck'ning made, but fent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head.
Oh, horrible! oh, horrible! moft horrible!
If thou haft nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But howfoever thou purfu'ft this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy foul contrive
Against thy mother aught; leave her to heav'n,
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and fting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm fhews the Matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire.

6

Adieu, adieu, adieu; remember me.

[Exit.

Ham. Oh, all you host of heav'n! oh earth! what

elfe?

And shall I couple hell? oh fie! hold my heart!
And you, my finews, grow not instant old;
But bear me ftifly up. Remember thee!
Ay, thou poor Ghoft, while memory holds a feat
In this diftracted globe?" remember thee!
"Yea, from the table of my memory
"I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,

All faws of books, all forms, all preffures paft,

456

2 at once difpatcht;] Dispatcht, for bereft.
3 Unhoufel'd] Without the facrament being taken.
4 Unanointed,] Without extreme unction.

Unanel'd:] No knell rung.

Mr. Pope.

uneffectual fire.] i.e. fhining without heat.

"That