With almost all the holy vows of Heaven.

Pol. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do

know, (30)

When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul

Lends the tongue vows.

daughter,

These blazes, oh my

Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Ev'n in their promise as it is a-making,

From this time,

You must not take for fire.
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence,
Set your intreatments at a higher rate,

(30) This very quaint phrase will be explained by remarking that the strokes of light which cross the body of Hudibras at right angles, as it were, and make up the lower limbs of Ophelia, resemble a woodcock caught in a springe, as seen in

Fig. 62.

Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,.
Believe so much in him, that he is young;
And with a larger tether may he walk,
Than may be given you. In few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments shew,
But mere implorers of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
The better to beguile. This is for all :

I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you, come your way.

Oph. I shall obey, my Lord.

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to the Platform before the Palace.

Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS.

Ham. The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold. Hor. It is a nipping and an eager air.

Ham. What hour now ?

Hor. I think, it lacks of twelve. (31)

Mar. No, it is struck.

Hor. I heard it not: it then draws near the seaWherein the spirit held his wont to walk. [son, [Noise of warlike music within.

(31) Vide figure 48, ante.

What does this mean, my Lord?

[his rouse,

Ham. The King doth wake to-night, and takes Keeps wassel, and the swaggering up-spring reels ; And as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, The kettle-drums and trumpet thus bray out The triumph of his pledge.

Hor. Is it a custom ?

Ham. Ay, marry, is't:

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

And to the manner born, it is a custom

More honoured in the breach than the observance.

Enter Ghost.

Hor. Look, my Lord, it comes!

Ham. Angels and ministers of grace defend

us! (32)

(32) On the left hand of the northern margin of the moon (the north being uppermost), the shadows form the resemblance of an angel, with his wings outspread, as in Fig. 63;

all lying within the field of the prototype of Hamlet there, and so justifying his exclamation.

Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damned, Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from [hell,

Be thy intents wicked or charitable,

Thou comest in such a questionable shape,
That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee Hamlet,
King, Father, Royal Dane: oh! answer me;

Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell

Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cearments? why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly in-urned,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws,
To cast thee up again? What may this mean?
That thou, dead corse, again, in complete steel,
Revisitest thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous, and us fools of nature
So horribly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?
[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.

Hor. No, by no means.

[Holding Hamlet.

Ham. It will not speak ; then I will 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 tow'rd the flood, my Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff,

That beetles o'er his base into the sea;

[Lord,

And there assume some other horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of rea

[son, (33)

And draw you into madness? think of it.
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into ev'ry brain,
That looks so many fathoms to the sea ;
And hears it roar beneath.

Ham. It waves me still: go on, I'll follow thee

Mar. You shall not go, my Lord.

Ham. Hold off your hands.

Mar. Be ruled, you shall not go.

Ham. My fate cries out,

And makes each petty artery in this body

(33) Fools, madness, brains, silly, and the like terms, here et passim, refer to lunacy, as supposed to arise from the moon's influence.