Of our firm continent, to fume, and chafe,
And shiver in the toil.

Gus. Mistaken man !

I come empower'd and strengthen'd in thy weakness;
For though the structure of a tyrant's throne
Rise on the necks of half the suffering world,
Fear trembles in the cement; prayers, and tears,
And secret curses, sap its mouldering base,
And steal the pillars of allegiance from it;
Then let a single arm but dare the sway,
Headlong it turns and drives upon destruction.

Crist. Profane, and alien to the love of Heaven!
Art thou still hardened to the wrath divine,
That hangs o'er thy rebellion? Know'st thou not
Thou art at enmity with grace, cast out,
Made an anathema, a curse enrolled

Among the faithful, thou and thy adherents
Shorn from our holy church, and offered up
As sacred to perdition?

Gus. Yes, I know,

When such as thou, with sacrilegious hand,
Seize on the apostolic key of Heaven,
It then becomes a tool for crafty knaves
To shut out virtue, and unfold those gates
That Heaven itself had barred against the lusts
Of avarice and ambition. Soft and sweet,
As looks of charity, or voice of lambs
That bleat upon the mountains, are the words
Of Christian meekness! mission all divine!
The law of love sole mandate.

Crist. No more of this,

Gustavus, wouldst thou yet return to grace,
And hold thy motions in the sphere of duty,
Acceptance might be found.

Gus. Imperial spoiler !

Give me my father, give me back my kindred,
Give me the fathers of ten thousand orphans,
Give me the sons in whom thy ruthless sword
Has left our widows childless. Mine they were,
Both mine, and every Swede's, whose patriot breast
Bleeds in his country's woundings. O thou canst not,

Thou hast outsinned all reckoning! Give me, then,
My all that's left, my gentle mother there,
And spare yon little trembler.

Compact with thee? and mean'st thou for my country,
For Sweden? No, so hold my heart but firm,
Although it wring for 't, though blood drop for tears,
And at the sight my straining eyes start forth-
They both shall perish first.

BROOKE.

HAMLET AND HORATIO.-HAMLET.

Hor. Hail to your lordship!

Ham. I am glad to see you well.

Horatio!—or I do forget myself.

Hor. The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever. Ham. Sir, my good friend: I'll change that name with

you :

And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?

Hor. A truant disposition, good my lord.
Ham. I would not have your enemy say so!

Nor shall you do mine ear that violence,
To make it truster of your own report
Against yourself. I know you are no truant:
But what is your affair in Elsinore ?

We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.

Hor. My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.
Ham. I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow student;

I think it was to see my mother's wedding.

Hor. Indeed, my lord, it followed hard upon.

Ham. Thrift, thrift, Horatio; the funeral baked meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.

Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven,
Ere I had ever seen that day, Horatio!
My father methinks I see my father.
Hor. O where, my lord!

Ham. In my mind's eye,

Horatio.

Hor. I saw him once, he was a goodly king.

Ham. He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.

Hor. My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
Ham. Saw! who?

Hor. My lord, the king, your father.

Ham. The king, my father!

Hor. Season your admiration for a while With an attent ear, till I

may deliver, Upon the witness of these gentlemen,

This marvel to you.

Ham. For heaven's love, let me hear!

Hor. Two nights together had these gentlemen,
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,

In the dead waste and middle of the night,
Been thus encountered: A figure, like your father,
Armed at all points exactly, cap-à-pé,

Appears before them, and with solemn march
Goes slow and stately by them; thrice he walked
By their oppressed and fear surpriséd eyes,
Within his truncheon's length, whilst they (distilled
Almost to jelly with th' effect of fear),
Stand dumb, and speak not to him.
In dreadful secresy impart they did,

This to me

And I with them the third night kept the watch;
Where, as they had delivered, both in time,

Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
The apparition comes. I knew your father:

These hands are not more like.

Ham. But where was this?

Hor. My lord, upon the platform where we watched. Ham. Did you not speak to it?

Hor. My lord, I did;

But answer made it none.

Yet once methought

It lifted up its head, and did address

Itself to motion, like as it would speak;

But even then the morning cock crew loud,
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away,
And vanished from our sight.

Ham. 'Tis very strange.

Hor. As I do live, my honoured lord, 'tis true:

And we did think it writ down in our duty,

To let you know of it.

Ham. Indeed, indeed, sir, but this troubles me. Hold you the watch to-night?

Hor. I do, my lord.

Ham. Armed, say you?
Hor. Armed, my lord.
Ham. From top to toe?

Hor. My lord, from head to foot.

Ham. Then saw you not his face?

Hor. O yes, my lord: he wore his beaver up.

Ham. What, looked he frowningly?

Hor. A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
Ham. Pale, or red?

Hor. Nay, very pale.

Ham. And fixed his eyes upon you?

Hor. Most constantly.

Ham. I would I had been there.

Hor. It would have much amazed you.

Ham. Very like, very like. Staid it long?

Hor. While one with mod'rate haste might tell a hun

dred.

Ham. His beard was grizzly?-no?

Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life,

A sable silvered.

Ham. I will watch to-night;

Perchance 'twill walk again.
Hor. I warrant you it will.

Ham. If it assume my noble father's person,
I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape,
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you then,

If

you have hitherto concealed this sight,

Let it be tenable in your silence still :
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
Give it an understanding, but no tongue:
I will requite your love: so fare you well.
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,
I'll visit you.

SHAKESPERE.

KING JOHN AND HUBERT.-KING JOHN.

Hub. My lord, they say, five moons were seen to-night: Four fixed; and the fifth did whirl about

The other four, in wondrous motion.

K. John. Five moons?

Hub. Old men, and beldams, in the streets

Do prophesy upon it dangerously:

Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths :
And when they talk of him, they shake their heads,
And whisper one another in the ear.

K. John. Why seek'st thou to possess me with these fears?

Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death?

Thy hand hath murther'd him. I had a mighty cause
To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him.

Hub. None had, my lord! Why, did you not provoke me?

K. John. It is the curse of kings, to be attended
By slaves, that take their humours for a warrant
To break within the bloody house of life:

And, on the winking of authority,

To understand a law; to know the meaning
Of dangerous majesty, when, perchance it frowns
More upon humour than advised respect.

Hub. Here is your hand and seal for what I did.

K. John. O when the last account 'twixt heaven and

earth

Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal

Witness against us to damnation !

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Makes ill deeds done! Hadst not thou been by,
A fellow by the hand of nature marked,
Quoted, and signed, to do a deed of shame,
This murther had not come into my mind:
But taking note of thy abhorr'd aspect,
Finding thee fit for bloody villainy,
Apt, liable, to be employed in danger,
I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death;
And thou, to be endearéd to a king,