CLAUDIUS, King of Denmark.

FORTINBRAS, Prince of Norway.

HAMLET, fon to the former, and Nepheto to the present, King, POLONIUS, Lord Chamberlain.

HORATIO, Friend to Hamlet.

LAERTES, Son to Polonius.

VOLTIMAND,

CORNELIUS,

ROSINCROSSE,

GUILDENSTERN,
OSRICK, a Fop.

Courtiers.

MARCELLUS, an Officer.

BERNARDO, 2.

FRANCISCO, S

two Soldiers.

REYNOLDO, Servant to Polonius.
Ghoft of Hamlet's Father.

GERTRUDE, Queen of Denmark, and Mother to Hamlet, OPHELIA, Daughter to Polonius, belov'd by Hamlet, « Ladies attending on the Queen.

Players, Grave-makers, Sailors, Messengers, and other Attendants.

SCENE ELSINOOR.

This Story is taken from the Danish Hiftory written
by Saxo Grammaticus.

:

HAM

HAMLET, Prince of Denmark.

ACT I.

SCENE I.

A Platform before the Palace.

Enter Bernardo and Francisco, two Centinels.

Ber.

W

HO's there?

Fran. Nay, anfwer me: ftand and unfold your felf.

Ber. Long live the King!

Fran. Bernardo?

Ber. He.

Fran. You come moft carefully upon your hour.

Ber. 'Tis now ftruck twelve, get thee to bed, Francifco. Fran. For this relief, much thanks: 'tis bitter cold, And I am fick 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, bid them make hafte.

Enter Horatio and Marcellus.

Fran. I think I hear them. Stand, ho! who is there? Hor. Friends to,this ground.

Mar. And liege-men to the Dane.

Fran. Give you good-night.

Mar. Oh farewel, honeft foldier; who hath reliev'd you?

By rivals of my watch are meant thofe who were to watch upon the next adjoyning ground Rivals in the original fenfe of the word were proprietors of neighbouring lands parted only by a brook be. longing equally to both.

VOL. IX.

H

Fran

Fran, Bernardo has my place: give you good-night. [Exit Francifco

"Mar. Holla! Berrardo!

Ber. Say, what, is Horatio there?

Hor. A piece of him.

Ber. Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Marcelius. Mar. What, has this thing appear'd again to-night? Ber. I have feen nothing.

Mar. Horatio fays, 'tis but our phantafie,
And will not let belief take hold of him,
Touching this dreaded fight twice feen of us;
Therefore I have intreated him along

With us, to watch the minutes of this night,
That if again this apparition come,

He may approve our eyes, and speak to it.
Hor. Tufh, tufh, 'twill not appear.
Ber. Sit down a while,

And let us once again affail

your ears, That are fo fortified against our story. Mar. What we have two nights feen Hor. Well, fit we down,

And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.

Bel. Last night of all,

When yon fame ftar, that's weftward from the pole,
Had made his courfe t' illume that part of heav'n
Where now it burns, Marcellus and my self,

The bell then beating One

Mar. Peace, break thee off;

Enter the Ghoft.

Look where it comes again.

Ber. In the fame figure, like the King that's dead.
Mar. Thou art a scholar, fpeak to it, Horatio.
Ber. Looks it not like the King? mark it, Horatio.
Hor. Moft like: it harrows me with fear and wonder.
Ber. It would be spoke to.

Mar. Speak to it, oratio.

Hor. What art thou that ufurp'ft this time of night, Together with that fair and warlike form,

In which the Majefty of buried Denmark

Did fometime march? by Heav'n I charge thee, fpeak.

Mar

Mar. It is offended.

Ber. See it talks away.

Hor. Stay; fpeak; I charge thee, fpeak. [Exit Ghaft. Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer.

Ber. How now, Horatio? you tremble and look pale. Is not this fomething more than phantafie ?

What think you of it?

Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe, Without the fenfible and true avouch

Of mine own eyes.

Mar. Is it not like the King?

Hor. As thou art to thy felf.

Such was the very armour he had on,
When he th' ambitious Norway combated:
So frown'd he once, when in an angry parle
He fmote the fleaded Polack on the ice.

'Tis ftrange -

Mar. Thus twice before, and juft at this dead hour, With martial ftalk, hath he gone by our watch.

Hor. In what particular thought to work, I know not: But in the grofs and fcope of my opinion,

This bodes fome ftrange eruption to our state.

Mar. Good now fit down, and tell me, he that knows, Why this fame ftrict and most obfervant watch So nightly toils the fubjects of the land? And why fuch daily caft of brazen cannon, And foreign mart for implements of war? Why fuch imprefs of fhipwrights, whose fore task Does not divide the Sunday from the week? What might be toward, that this fweaty hafte Doth make the night joint labourer with the day? Who is't that can inform me ?

Hor. That can I,

At least the whisper goes fo. Our last King,
Whofe image even but now appear'd to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
(Thereto prickt on by a mott emulate pride)
Dar'd to the fight: in which our valiant Hamlet
(For fo this fide of our known world efteem'd him)
Did flay this Fortinbras: who by feal'd compact,

H 2

Well

་

Well ratified by law of heraldry,

Did forfeit (with his life) all those his lands,
Which he ftood feiz'd of, to the Conqueror :
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our King; which had return
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,

Had he been vanquisher, as by that covʼnant
And carriage of the articles defign'd,
His fell to Hamlet. Now young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved mettle hot and full,

Hath in the fkirts of Norway, here and there,
Shark'd up a lift of landless refolutes,
For food and dyet, to fome enterprize

That hath a ftomach in't: which is no other,
As it doth well appear unto our ftate,
But to recover of us by strong hand
And terms compulfative, those forefaid lands
So by his father loft: and this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations,
The fource of this our watch, and the chief head
Of this poft-hafte and romage in the land.
Ber. I think it be no other, but even fo:
Well may it fort that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch fo like the King
That was, and is the queftion of these wars.
Hor. A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves flood tenantlefs, the fheeted dead
Did fqueak and gibber in the Roman Atreets,
Stars fhone with trains of fire, dews of blood fell,
Difafters veil'd the fun, and the moift ftar
Upon whofe influence Neptune's empire ftands,
Was fick almoft to doom's-day with eclipfe.
And even the like precurfe of fierce events,
As harbingers preceding ftill the fates,
And prologue to the omen'd coming on,
Have heav'n and earth together demonftrated
Unto our climatures and country-men.

*

Palmy for victorious.

Esta