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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 1 may deliver, Upon the witness of these gentlemen, This marvel to you.

Ham.

For God'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 33,

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Was left unseen, save to the eye of mind.'

Rape of Lucrece. Chaucer has the expression in his Man of Lawe's Tale :'But it were with thilke eyen of his mind,

Which men mowen see whan they ben blinde."

And Ben Jonson, in his Masque of Love's Triumphs:

:

'As only by the mind's eye may be seen.' And Richard Rolle, in his Speculum Vitæ, MS. speaking of Jacob's Dream :

That Jacob sawe with gostly eye.'

i. e. the eye of the mind or spirit.

33 The first quarto, 1603, has :

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In the dead vast and middle of the night.'

I suffer the following note to stand as I had written it previous to the discovery of that copy.

We have that vast of night' in The Tempest, Act i. Sc. 2. Shakspeare has been unjustly accused of intending a quibble here between waist and waste. There appears to me nothing incongruous in the expression; on the contrary, by the dead waste and middle of the night,' I think, we have a forcible image of the void stillness of midnight.

Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father, Armed to point, exactly, cap-à-pé,

Appears before them, and, with solemn march, Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd, By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,

Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill'd 34
Almost to jelly with the act of fear,

Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me
In dreadful secrecy impart they did;

And I with them, the third night kept the watch;
Where, as they had deliver'd, 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 watch'd. 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 35;
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away,
And vanish'd from our sight.

Ham.

'Tis very strange. Hor. As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true;

34 The folio reads, bestill'd.

35 It is a most inimitable circumstance in Shakspeare so to have managed this popular idea, as to make the Ghost, which has been so long obstinately silent, and of course must be dismissed by the morning, begin or rather prepare to speak, and to be interrupted at the very critical time of the crowing of a cock. Another poet, according to custom, would have suffered his ghost tamely to vanish, without contriving this start, which is like a start of guilt: to say nothing of the aggravation of the future suspense occasioned by this preparation to speak, and to impart some mysterious secret. Less would have been expected if nothing had been promised.'-T. Warton.

And we did think it writ down in our duty,

To let you know of it.

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

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up.

A countenance more

His face.

Hor. O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver 36
Ham. What, look'd he frowningly?

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Pale, or red?

And fix'd his eyes upon you?

Hor. Most constantly.

Ham.

I would, I had been there.

Hor. It would have much amaz'd you.

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Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life, A sable silver'd 37.

36 That part of the helmet which may be lifted up. Mr. Douce has given representations of the beaver, and other parts of a helmet, and fully explained them in his Illustrations, vol. i. P. 443.

37

' And sable curls all silvered o'er with white.'

Shakspeare's Twelfth Sonnet.

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 all, If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight, Let it be tenable 38 in your silence still; And whatsoever else shall hap to-night, Give it an understanding, but no tongue; I will requite your loves: So, fare you well: Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve, I'll visit you.

All.

Our duty to your honour.

Ham. Your loves, as mine to you: Farewell.
[Exeunt HORATIO, MARCELLUS, and
BERNARDO.

My father's spirit in arms! all is not well;
I doubt some foul play: 'would, the night were come!
Till thẹn sit still, my soul: Foul deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.

[Exit.

SCENE III. A Room in Polonius' House.

Enter LAERTES and OPHELIA.

Laer. My necessaries are embark'd; farewell: And, sister, as the winds give benefit,

And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,

But let me hear from you.

Do you doubt that?

Oph.
Laer. For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour,

Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood;

A violet in the youth of primy nature,

38 The quarto of 1603 reads tenible. The other quartos tenable. The folio of 1623 treble.

Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,
The pérfume and suppliance of a minute1;

No more.

Oph. Laer.

No more but so?

Think it no more:

For nature, crescent, does not grow alone

In thews 2, and bulk; but, as this temple waxes,
The inward service of the mind and soul

Grows wide withal. Perhaps, he loves you now;
And now no soil, nor cautel 3 doth besmirch +
The virtue of his will: but, you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himself is subject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
The safety and health of the whole state 5;

1 This is the reading of the quarto copy. The folio hassweet, not lasting,

The suppliance of a minute.'

It is plain that perfume is necessary to exemplify the idea of sweet not lasting. The suppliance of a minute' should seem to mean supplying or enduring only that short space of time as transitory and evanescent. The simile is eminently beautiful: it is to be regretted that it should be obscured by an unusual word. 2 i. e. sinews and muscular strength. Vide note on the Second Part of King Henry IV. Act iii. Sc. 2.

3 Cautel is cautious circumspection, subtlety, or deceit. Minsheu explains it,' a crafty way to deceive.' Thus in a Lover's Complaint:

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In him a plenitude of subtle matter,

Applied to cautels, all strange forms receives."

And in Coriolanus:

be caught by cautelous baits and practice.' 'The virtue of his will' means his virtuous intentions.

4 Besmirch is besmear, or sully.

5 The safety and health of the whole state.' Thus the quarto of 1604. In the folio it is altered to The sanctity,' &c. sup. posing the metre defective. But safety is used as a trisyllable by Spenser and others. Thus Hall in his first Satire, b. iii.:

'Nor fish can dive so deep in yielding sea,
Though Thetis self should swear her safety.'

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