Hor. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave tell us this.

Tam.

Why, right; you are i' the right:

d so, without more circumstance at all,

old it fit that we shake hands and part;

1, as your business and desire shall point youevery man has business and desire,

h as it is,—and for mine own poor part,

k you, I'll go pray.

Hor. These are but wild and hurling words, my lord. Iam. I'm sorry they offend you, heartily;

, 'faith, heartily.

Ior.

There's no offence, my lord.

Iam. Yes, by St. Patrick, but there is, Horatio.
1 much offence too. Touching this vision here,-
3 an honest ghost,1 that let me tell you;

your desire to know what is between us,

rmaster it? as you may. And now, good friends, you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,

e me one poor request.

Ior.

will.

What is 't, my lord?

Jam. Never make known what you have seen to-night. Hor., Mar. My lord, we will not.

An honest ghost.] Really the ghost of the late king. Hamlet, ver, says afterwards, The spirit that I have seen may be the

O'ermaster it.] Control or suppress that desire.

Ham. In deed,-upon my sword,-in deed.1

Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear!

Ham. Ah, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou th truepenny?2

Come on, you hear this fellow in the cellarage,—
Consent to swear.

Hor.

Propose the oath, my lord.

Ham. Never to speak of this that you have seenSwear by my sword.

Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear!

Ham. Hic et ubique? then we'll shift our ground :Come hither, gentlemen,

And lay your hands again upon my sword:
Never to speak of this that you have heard,
Swear by my sword.

Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear by his sword!

Ham. Well said, old mole! can'st work i' the groun so fast?

A worthy pioneer !-Once more remove, good friends.

' In deed.] In act; with proper ceremony. To lay one's h on a sword, in taking oath, was to swear by the cross which figured on the hilt, or of which the hilt and blade themselves w figure. So in George a Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield, here upon my sword I make protest;' and in K. Richard i. 3,

'Lay on our royal sword your banished hands;

Swear by the duty that you owe to God;' &c.

2 True-penny.] A cant name for a genuine honest fellow. flippancy to which Hamlet here gives way is true to nature; it kind of refuge to which terror often rushes for momentary re and in the mind of the hearer, who knows its unreality, it excites the greater awe-'making,' as Campbell says, 'horror deep by the semblance of mirth.' (Death Boat.)

3 Hic et ubique.] Here and everywhere. Hamlet shifts gro probably on account of the nervous agitation of his friend hearing the voice from below.

or. O day and night, but this is wondrous strange! 'am. And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. re are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, n are dreamt of in our philosophy.

e, as before, never, so help you mercy,
7 strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,—
, perchance, hereafter shall think meet
out an antic disposition on-

t you, at such times seeing me, never shall

h arms encumbered thus, or this head shake, by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, Well, we know ; - or, We could, an if we would; If we list to speak;-or, There be, an if they might ;such ambiguous giving out, to note

t you know aught of me :-This not to do,

grace and mercy at your most need help you,

ear!

host. [Beneath.] Swear!

Iam. Rest, rest, perturbed spirit!—So, gentlemen,
ch all my love I do commend me to you:
what so poor a man as Hamlet is

y do, to express his love and friending to you,
I willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together;

I still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
e time is out of joint;-O cursed spite,
t ever I was born to set it right!—
7, come, let's go together.

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I.-A Room in Polonius' House.

Enter POLONIUS and REYNALDO.

Pol. Give him this money, and these notes, Reynald Rey. I will, my lord.

Pol. You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo Before you visit him, to make inquiry

Of his behaviour.

Rey.

My lord, I did intend it.

Pol. Marry, well said: very well said. Look you, Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris;1

And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,
What company, at what expense; and finding,

By this encompassment and drift of question,3
That they do know my son, come you more nearer
Than your particular demands will touch it:

Take you, as 't were, some distant knowledge of him ;
As thus, I know his father, and his friends,

And, in part, him ;-Do you 'mark this, Reynaldo ?
Rey. Ay, very well, my lord.

1 Danskers.] Danes. Dansk was the ancient name of Denm Sir T. Overbury says that the Ingrosser of Corn, hating the Da stilyard, 'wishes that Danske were at the Moloccos.'

2 Where they keep.] Where they lodge.

3

Encompassment and drift.] Range and scope.

Pol. And, in part, him;—but, you may say, not well :
it, if 't be he I mean, he's very wild;
Adicted-so and so; and there put on him
hat forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
3 may dishonour him ; take heed of that;
1t, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips
› are companions noted and most known
› youth and liberty.

Pol. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling, :abbing :-You may go so far.

Rey. My lord, that would dishonour him.

Pol. 'Faith, no; as you may season it in the charge. ou must not put another scandal on him,

at he is open to incontinency;

at 's not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly, at they may seem the taints of liberty:

he flash and outbreak of a fiery mind; savageness in unreclaimed blood,

general assault.1

Rey. But, my good lord,

Pol.

Rey. Ay, my lord,

would know that.

Pol.

Wherefore should you do this? 2

Marry, sir, here's my drift;

nd, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant :3 ou laying these slight sullies on my son,

s 't were a thing a little soiled i' the working,4

Of general assault.] That generally besets youth.

2 Wherefore, &c.] Would you know wherefore you should, &c. 3A fetch of warrant.] An approved artifice. All the fetches art and sophistry.' Chillingworth's Religion of Protestants. edic.)

= I' the working.] In the making.