Fran. You come most carefully upon your hour. Francisco. Ber. Have you had quiet guard ? Not a mouse stirring. Enter Horatio and MARCELLUS. there? And liegemen to the Dane. Fran. Give you good night. Mar. O, farewell, honest soldier ! Who hath reliev'd you ? Fran. Bernardo has my place. Give you good night. [Erit. Mar. Holla! Bernardo ! Say. What! is Horatio there? A piece of him. cellus. Hor. ? Rirals are associates or partners. A brook, rivalet, or river, rivus, being a natural boundary between different proprietors, was owned by them in common; that is, they were partners in the right and use of it. From the strifes thus engendered, the part. rers came to be contenders : hence the ordinary sense of rival. See Antony and Cleopatra, Act iii. sc. 5, nole 1. H. 3 This salutation is an abbreviated form of, “ May God give you a good night ; " which bas been still further abbreviated in the phrase, “Good night." H. Hor What! has this thing appear'd again to night? Mar. Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy, + The folio assigns this speech to Marcellus. The quartos are probably right, as Horatio comes on purpose to ury his own eyes on the Ghost. — We quote from Coleridge again : - Bernardo's inquiry after Horatio, and the repetition of his name in his own presence indicate i respect or an eagerness that implies him as one of the persons who are in the foreground; and the scepticism attributed to him prepares us for Hamlet's alter eulogy on him as one whose blood and judgment were happily commingled. Now, observe the admirable indefiniteness of the first opening out of the occasion of all this anxiety. The preparative information of the audience is just as much as wa's precisely necessary, and no more ; -it begins with the uncertainty appertaining to a question : • What! has this thing appear'd again to-night ?' Even the word again has its credibilizing effect. Then Horatio, the representative of the ignorance of the audience, not himself, but by Marcellus to Bernardo, anticipates the common solution, -,'Tis but our fantasy ;' upon which Marcellus rises into, -· This dreaded sight twice seen of us;' which immediately afterwards becomes this apparition,' and that, too, an intelligent spirit that is to be spoken to! H. 5 That is make good our vision, or prove our eyes to be true. Approre was often thus used in the sense of confirm. — Coleridge continues bis comments on the scene thus : “ Then comes the confirination of Horatin's disbelief, - Tush, tush! 'twill not appear;' - and the silence with wbich the scene opened is again restored in the shivering feeling of Horatio sitting down, at such a time, and with the two eye-witnesses, to hear a story of a ghost, and that, too, of a ghost which had appeared twice before at the very same hour. In the deep feeling which Bernardo bas of the solemn pature of what he is about to relate, he makes an effort to master his own imaginative terrors by an elevation of style. - itself a continuation of the effort, - and by turning off from the apparition as from something which would force him too deeply into himself Hor Tush, tush! 'twill not appear. Sit down awhile ; Well, sit we down, And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. Ber. Last night of all, When yond' same star, that's westward from the pole, Had made his course t'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 the Ghost. Ber. In the same figure, like the king that's dead. Mar. Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.' to the outward objects, the realities of nature, which had accompanied it.” 9 This passage seems to contradict the critical law, ibat what is told makes a faint impression compared with what is hebolden ; for it does indeed convey to the mind more than the eye can see ; wbilst the interruption of the parrative at the very moment when we are most intensely listening for the sequel, and have our thoughts diverted from the dreaded sight in expectation of the desired, yet almost dreaded, tale, - Ibis gives all the suddenness and surprise of the original appearance : “ Peace! break thee off : look, where it comes again!" Note the judgment displayed in having the two persons present, who, as baving seen the Ghost before, are paturally eager in confirming their former opinions; whilst the sceptic is silent, and, after baving been twice addressed by his friends, answers with two hasty syllables, - "Most like," — and a copfes sion of horror : " It harrows me with fear and wonder." --COLERIDGE. 7 It was believed that a supernatural being could only be spoken to with effect by persons of learning ; exorcisms being usually prac. tised by the clergy in Latin. So in The Night Walker of Beau mont and Fletcher : Ber. Ber. Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio. wonder. Question it, Horatio. Hor. What art thou, that usurp'st this time of night, Together with tha. fair and warlike form In which the majesty of buried Denmark . Did sometimes march? by Heaven I charge thee, speak! Mar. It is offended. See! it stalks away. Hor. Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, speak! [Erit Ghost. Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer. Ber. How pow, Horatio ! you tremble and look pale. Is not this something more than fantasy? What think you on't ? Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe, Is it not like the king ? “Let's call the butler up, for he speaks Latin, And that will daunt the devil.” & The first quarto reads, “it horrors me." To harrow is to distress, to vex, to disturb. To harry and to harass have ite same origin. Milton has the word in Comus : « Amaz'd I stood, harrow'd with grief and fear." — « Question it," in the next line. is the reading of the folio; other old copies tave “ Speak to it." H. He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice. 'Tis strange. Mar. Thus, twice before, and jump" at this dead hour, With martial stalk bath he gone by our watch. Hor. In what particular thought to work, I know not; But, in the gross and scope of mine opinion, This bodes some strange eruption to our state. Mar. Good now; sit down, and tell me, he that knows, Why this same strict and most observant watch That can I; • Polacks was used for Polanders in Shakespeare's time. Sledded is sledged ; on a sled or sleigh. – Parle, in the preceding line, is the same as parley. H. 10 So all the quartos. The folio reads just. Jump and just were synonymous in the time of Shakespeare. So in Chapman's May Day, 161 “Your appointmen: was jumpe at three with me." |