So by his father lost: And this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our préparations;
The source of this our watch; and the chief head
Of this post-haste and romage in the land.

[Ber. I think, it be no other, but even so:
Well may it sort", that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch; so like the king
That was, and is, the question of these wars.1
Hor. A mote it is, to trouble the mind's eye.
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,2
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,

The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.

As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the sun3; and the moist star, 4
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands,

J

rummage. It is not,

7- romage - Commonly written however, certain that the word romage has been properly explained. Romage, on shipboard, must have signified a scrupulous examination into the state of the vessel and its stores. Respecting land-service, the same term implied a strict inquiry into the kingdom, that means of defence might be supplied where they were wanted. Rummage, is properly explained by Johnson in his dictionary, as it is at present daily used, to search for any thing.

s [I think, &c.] These lines, confined within crotchets, throughout this play, and some others which we have not noticed, are omitted in the folio edition of 1623. The omissions leave the play sometimes better and sometimes worse, and seem made only for the sake of abbreviation. JOHNSON.

9 Well may it sort,] The cause and effect are proportionate and suitable.

1

2

the question of these wars.] The theme or subject.
palmy state of Rome,] Palmy, for victorious.

3 As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,

Disasters in the sun;] This passage is not in the folio. By the quartos therefore our imperfect text is supplied; for an intermediate verse being evidently lost, it were idle to attempt a union that never was intended. I have therefore signified the supposed deficiency by a vacant space. MALONE.

and the moist star, &c.] i. e. the moon.

Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse....
And even the like precurse of fierce events, -
As harbingers preceding still the fates,
And prologue to the omen coming on,-
Have heaven and earth together démonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen. -]

Re-enter Ghost.

6

But, soft; behold! lo, where it comes again!
I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion!
If thou hast any sound', or use of voice,

Speak to me:

If there be any good thing to be done,
That may
to thee do ease, and grace
Speak to me:

to me,

If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,
O, speak!

Or, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,

For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,

[Cock crows. Speak of it: stay, and speak. Stop it, Marcellus. Mar. Shall I strike at it with my partizan?

Hor. Do, if it will not stand.

5 And even―] Not only such prodigies have been seen in Rome, but the elements have shown our countrymen like forerunners and foretokens of violent events.

6 And prologue to the omen coming on,] i. e. the approaching dreadful and portentous event.

7 If thou hast any sound,] The speech of Horatio to the spectre, is very elegant and noble, and congruous to the common traditions of the causes of apparitions. JOHNSON.

To offer it the show of violence;

For it is, as the air, invulnerable,

And our vain blows malicious mockery.

Ber. It was about to speak, when the cock crew.
Hor. And then it started, like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard,
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,
The extravagant and erring spirit9 hies
To his confine: and of the truth herein
This present object made probation.

8

Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock.
Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
This bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes', nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

Hor. So have I heard, and do in part believe it.
But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill:
Break we our watch up; and, by my advice,
Let us impart what we have seen to-night
Unto young Hamlet: for, upon my life,

8 Whether in sea, &c.] According to the pneumatology of that time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order of spirits, who had dispositions different, according to their various places of abode. The meaning therefore is, that all spirits extravagant, wandering out of their element, whether aerial spirits visiting earth, or earthly spirits ranging the air, return to their station, to their proper limits in which they are confined.

dering.

erring spirit,] Erring is here used in the sense of wan

No fairy takes,] No fairy strikes with lameness or diseases. This sense of take is frequent in this author.

This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him:
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?

Mar. Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know Where we shall find him most convenient.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The same. A Room of State in the same.

Enter the King, Queen, HAMLET, Polonius, Laertes, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and Attendants.

King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
The memory be green; and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe;

Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature,
That we with wisest sorrow think on him,
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
The imperial jointress of this warlike state,
Have we, as 'twere, with a defeated joy,
With one auspicious, and one dropping eye;
With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,-
Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along:- For all, our thanks.

-

Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras, — Holding a weak supposal of our worth; Or thinking, by our late dear brother's death, Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, Colleagued with this dream of his advantage, 2

2 Colleagued with this dream of his advantage,] This imaginary advantage, which Fortinbras hoped to derive from the unsettled state of the kingdom.

He hath not fail'd to pester us with message, ..
Importing the surrender of those lands

Lost by his father, with all bands of law,

To our most valiant brother. So much for him.
Now for ourself, and for this time of meeting.
Thus much the business is: We have here writ
To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras, —
Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears
Of this his nephew's purpose, to suppress
His further gait herein3; in that the levies,
The lists, and full proportions, are all made
Out of his subject: and we here despatch
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway;
Giving to you no further personal power
To business with the king, more than the scope1
Of these dilated articles 5 allow.

Farewell; and let your haste commend your duty.

Cor. Vol. In that, and all things, will we show our

duty.

King. We doubt it nothing; heartily farewell.

[Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS.

And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?

You told us of some suit; What is't, Laertes?
You cannot speak of reason to the Dane,

And lose your voice: What would'st thou beg,
Laertes,

That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?

The head is not more native to the heart,
The hand more instrumental to the mouth,

His further gait herein,] Gate or gait is here used in the northern sense, for proceeding, passage; from the A. S. verb gae. A gate for a path, passage, or street, is still current in the north. more than the scope-] More is comprized in the general design of these articles, which you may explain in a more diffused and dilated style.

4

5 dilated articles, &c.] i. e. the articles when dilated.