SCENE IV.

The Platform.

Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and Marcellus.

very

Ham. The air bites shrewdly; it is
Hor. It is a nipping, and an eager air.
Ham. What hour now?

Hor.

Mar. No, it is struck.

cold1o.

I think, it lacks of twelve.

Hor. Indeed? I heard it not: it then draws near the

season,

Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.

[A Flourish of Trumpets, and Ordnance shot off, within1.

What does this mean, my lord?

Ham. The king doth wake to-night, and takes his

rouse,

Keeps wassel, and the swaggering up-spring reels;
And as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.

Hor.

Ham. Ay, marry, is't:

Is it a custom ?

But to my mind,—though I am native here,

And to the manner born,-it is a custom

More honour'd in the breach, than the observance.
This heavy-headed revel, east and west2

10 - it is very cold.] So all the quartos, and no doubt rightly. The folio absurdly makes it a question, " is it very cold?" after Hamlet has himself complained that" the air bites shrewdly."

1 and Ordnance shot off, within.] The folios have no stage-direction here: in the quarto, 1604, it is, "and 2 pieces go off :" perhaps the theatre had only two pieces belonging to it.

2 This heavy-headed revel, east and west] This and the twenty-one following lines are not in the folio, nor is there any trace of them in the quarto, 1603, but they are inserted in all the other quarto editions. Possibly they never

Makes us traduc'd and tax'd of other nations:

They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition; and, indeed, it takes

From our achievements, though perform'd at height,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.

So, oft it chances in particular men,

That for some vicious mole of nature in them,
As, in their birth, (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin)

By their o'ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason;
Or by some habit, that too much o'er-leavens
The form of plausive manners;-that these men,—
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect

Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,—
Their virtues else', be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo,

Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault: the dram of ill
Doth all the noble substance often dout,
To his own scandal'.

formed part of the acted play, as James I. was married to a Danish Princess, and the King of Denmark twice visited this country early in the reign of the successor of Elizabeth. Mr. Barron Field thinks that "the disquisition is too long and calm for the awful occasion, and that Shakespeare may have desired it to be left out by the performer on this account." Both reasons may have had their influence.

3 They CLEPE us drunkards,] i. e. "they call us drunkards;" from the Sax. clypian. See Vol. ii. p. 291.

* THEIR virtues else-] In all the old copies it is "His virtues else"-corrected by Theobald.

'To his own scandal.] This sentence in the 4to. 1604, stands thus :

"the dram of eale

Doth all the noble substance of a doubt

To his own scandal."

Some corruption is evident, but the text, as we have given it, affords a distinct and consistent meaning: it is easy to see how "ill" might be misprinted cale, and "often dout" of a doubt, the compositor having taken the passage by his ear only indeed a stronger proof of the kind could hardly be pointed out. Το "dout" is of course to do out, to destroy or extinguish, and the word is still not out of use in some parts of the kingdom, particularly in the north. See Holloway's "General Provincial Dictionary," 1838.

Enter Ghost.

Hor.

Look, my lord! it comes.

Ham. Angels and ministers of grace defend us! Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd,

Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell, Be thy intents wicked, or charitable,

Thou com'st in such a questionable shape,

That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee, Hamlet,
King, Father, Royal Dane: O! answer me':
Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell,
Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements? why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly in-urn'd,
Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws,
To cast thee up again? What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again, in complete steel,
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous; and we fools of nature,
So horridly to shake our disposition,
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?
[The Ghost beckons HAMLET.

Hor. It beckons you to go away with it,

As if it some impartment did desire

To you alone.

Mar.

Look, with what courteous action

It waves you to a more removed ground:

But do not go with it.

Be thy INTENTS] The folio, 1623, reads "Be thy events." Those who profess to adhere to the first folio have frequently left important variations unnoticed, though materially affecting the authority of that edition.

7 O! answer me :] The folio, 1623, thus repeats the interjection, to the injury of this most impressive line, "O! O! answer me."

quietly IN-URN'D,] The quartos, including that of 1603, have quietly interr'd" the folio as in our text.

9 The Ghost beckons.] This stage-direction is in every old copy, though omitted in every modern one.

1 It WAVES you-] So every quarto: the folio, wafts. But Hamlet, just below, according to the same edition, says, "It waves me forth again."

Hor.

No, by no means.

Ham. It will not speak; then, will I follow it.
Hor. Do not, my lord.

Ham.

Why, what should be the fear?

I do not set my life at a pin's fee;

And, for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?

It waves me forth again:-I'll follow it.

Hor. What, if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,

Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff,

That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
And there assume some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason,
And draw you into madness? think of it:
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain
That looks so many fathoms to the sea,
And hears it roar beneath 3.
Ham.

I'll follow thee.

It waves me still-Go on,

Mar. You shall not go, my lord.
Ham.

Hold off your hands.

My fate cries out,

Hor. Be rul'd: you shall not go.

Ham.

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

[Ghost beckons.

Still am I call'd.-Unhand me, gentlemen,

[Breaking from them.

By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me1:I say, away!-Go on, I'll follow thee.

[Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET.

2 then, WILL I follow it.] So the quarto, 1603, and the folio: the other quartos, "I will."

3 And hears it roar beneath.] This and the three preceding lines are only in the quartos, 1604, &c. In the second line of the speech the folio has sonnet for summit."

66

4 of him that LETS me :] i. e. that hinders or prevents me. See Vol. vi. p. 409. The word hardly requires a note.

Hor. He waxes desperate with imagination.
Mar. Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him.
Hor. Have after.-To what issue will this come?
Mar. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Hor. Heaven will direct it.

Ham. Whither wilt thou lead me"? speak, I'll go no

When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames

Must render up myself.

Ham.

Ghost. Pity me not;

To what I shall unfold.

Ham.

Alas, poor ghost!

but lend thy serious hearing

Speak, I am bound to hear.

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

Ghost. I am thy father's spirit;

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

And for the day confin'd to fast in fires,

5 WHITHER Wilt thou lead me ?] The folio, in opposition to every quarto, prints Where. "Whither," like whether, as we have seen in various instances, (Vol. ii. p. 149; Vol. v. p. 173, &c.) is to be pronounced in the time of a monosyllable. It is sometimes so printed.

So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.] This and the preceding speech are quoted in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Woman Hater," 1607. See Dyce's Beaumont and Fletcher, vol. i. p. 37.