PERSONS REPRESENTED.

Cladius, king of Denmark.
Hamlet, son to the former, and nephewu to the present,

king
Polonius, lord chamberlain.
Horatio, friend to Hamlet.
Laertes, son to Polonius.
Voltimand,
Cornelius,

courtiers.
Rosencrantz,
Guildenstern,
Osric, a courtier.
Another courtier,
A priest.
Marcellus,

,
Francisco, a soldier.
Reynaldo, servant to Polonius.
A captain. An ambassador.
Ghost of Hamlet's father.
Fortinbras, prince of Norway.

Gertrude, queen of Denmark, and mother of Hamlet.
Ophelia, daughter of Polonius.

Lords, ladies, officers, soldiers, pilayers, grave-diggers,

sailors, messengers, and other attendants.

SCENE, Elsinore.

i Hamlet,] i. e. Amleth. The h transferred from the end tu the beginning of the name. Steevens.

HAMLET,

PRINCE OF DENMARK.

ACT I....SCENE I.

Elsinore. A Platform before the Castle.
Francisco on his Post. Enter to him BERNARDO.
Ber. Who's there?
Fran.

Nay, answer me:2 stand, and unfold
Yourself.

Ber. Long live the king !3
Fran,

Bernardo?
Ber.

He. Fran. You come most carefully upon your hour. Ber. 'Tis now'struck twelve ;t get thee to bed, Fran- non

cisco.
Fran. For this relief, much thanks: 'tis bitter cold,
And I am sick at heart.

Ber. Have you had quiet guard?
Fran.

Not a mouse stirring.
Ber. Well, good night.
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch,5 bid them make haste.

me:] i. e. me who am already on the watch, and have a right to demand the watch-word. Steevens.

s Long live the king'] This sentence appears to have been the watch-word. Malone.

4 'Tis now struck twelve,] I strongly suspect that the true reading is--new struck &c. So, in Romeo and Juliet, Act I, sc. i:

" But new struck nine.” Steevens. 5 The rivals of my watch,] Rivals for partners. Warburton.

Rival is constantly used by Shakspeare for a partner or associate. Malone.

Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS.
Fran. I think, I hear them.-Stand, ho! Who is there?
Hor. Friends to this ground.
Mar.

And liegemen to the Dane.
Fran. Give you good night.
Mar.

O, farewel, honest soldier:
Who hath reliev'd you?
Fran,

Bernardo hath my place.
Give you good night.

[Exit Fran. Mar.

Holla! Bernardo!
Ber.

Say,
What, is Horatio there?
Hor.

A piece of him.
Ber. Welcome, Horatio ; welcome, good Marcellus.
Hor. What,7 has this thing appeared again to-night?
Ber. I have seen nothing.

Mar. Horatio says, 'tis but our fantasy;
And will not let belief take hold of him,
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:
Therefore I have entreated him along,
With us to watch the minutes of this night;8
That, if again this apparition come,
He may approve our eyes, and speak to it.

8

6 Hor. A piece of him.) But why a piece? He says this as he gives his hand. Which direction should be marked. Warburton.

A piece of him, is, I believe, no more than a cant expression. It is used, however, on a serious occasion in Pericles : “ Take in your arms this piece of your dead queen.”

Steevens. 7 Hor. What, &c.] Thus the quarto, 1604. Steevens. These words are in the folio given to Marcellus. Malone.

the minutes of this night;] This seems to have been an expression common in Shakspeare's time. I find it in one of Ford's plays, The Fancies chaste and noble, Act V:

“ I promise ere the minutes of the night.” Steevens.

approve our eyes,] Add a new testimony to that of our eyes. Johnson. So, in King Lear:

9

Hor. Tush! tush! 'twill not appear.
Ber.

Sit down awhile;
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story,
What we two nights have seen.
Hor.

Well, sit we down, And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.

Ber. Last night of all, When yon same star, that 's westward from the pole, Had made his course to illume that part of heaven Where now it burns, Marcellus, and myself, The bell then beating one, Mar. Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again!

Enter Ghost. Ber. In the same figure, like the king that's dead. Mar. Thou art a scholar, speak to it, Horatio.2 Ber. Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio. Hor. Most like :-it harrows me with fear, and wonder.

witnesses to it. To approve, in Shakspeare's age, signified to make good, or establish, and is so defined in Cawdrey's Alphabetical Table of hard English Words, 8vo. 1604. So, in King Lear :

“ Good king that must approve the common saw!
" Thou out of heaven's benediction com'st

“ To the warm sun.” Malone. 1 What we two nights have seen.] This line is by Sir Thomas Hanmer given to Marcellus, but without necessity. Johnson.

2 Thou art a scholar, speak to it, Horatio.] It has always been a vulgar notion, that spirits and supernatural beings can only be spoken to with propriety or effect by persons of learning. Thus, Toby, in The Night-walker, by Beaumont and Fletcher, says:

It grows still longer,
“'Tis steeple-high now; and it sails away, nurse.
“ Let's call the butler up, for he speaks Latin,

" And that will daunt the devil.” In like manner the honest butler, in Mr. Addison's Druinmer, recommends the steward to speak Latin to the ghost in that play.

Reed. it harrows me &c.] To harrow is to conquer, to subdue. The word of Saxon origin. So, in the old black letter romance of Syr Eglamoure of Artoys :

" He swore by him that harrowed hell." Milton has adopted this phrase in his Comus :

“ Amaz'd I stood, harrowed with grief and fear.!” Steevens.

3

Ber. It would be spoke to.
Mar.

Speak to it, Horatio.
Hor. What art thou, that usurp’st this time of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of buried Denmark
Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee, speak.

Mar. It is offended.
Ber.

See! it stalks away.
Hor. Stay ; speak: speak; I charge thee, speak.

[Exit Ghost. Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer.

Ber. How now, Horatio ? you tremble, and look pale: Is not this something more than fantasy? “What think you of it?

Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe,
Without the sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes.
Mar.

Is it not like the king ?
Hor. As thou art to thyself:
Such was the very armour he had on,
When he the ambitious Norway combated;
So frowned he once, when, in an angry parle,
He smote the sledded5 Polack on the ice.6

an angry parle,] This is one of the affected words introduced by Lyly. So, in The Two wise Men and all the rest Fools, 1619:

that you told me at our last parle.” Steevens.

sledded – 1. A sled, or sledge, is a carriage without wheels, made use of in the cold countries. So, in Tamburlaine, or the Scythian Shepherd, 1590:

upon an ivory sled “ Thou shalt be drawn among the frozen poles.” Steevens. 6 He smote the sledded Polack on the ice.] Pole-ax in the common editions. He speaks of a prince of Poland whom he slew in battle. He uses the word Polack again, Act II, sc. iv. Pope.

Polack was, in that age, the term for an inhabitant of Poland: Polaque, French. As in F. Davison's translation of Passeratius's epitaph on Henry III of France, published by Camden:

“ Whether thy chance or choice thee hither brings,

Stay, passenger, and wail the hap of kings.
“This little stone a great king's heart doth hold,
" Who rul'd the fickle French and Polacks bold:

Whom, with a mighty warlike host attended,
66 With trait'rous knife a cowled monster ended.