Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison house,

I could a tale unfold whose lightest word

Would harrow up 1 thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,

And each particular hair to stand an end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine :2
But this eternal 3 blazon 4 must not be

To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love—

Hamlet. O God!

Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

Hamlet. Murder!

Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is;

But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.

Hamlet. Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love,

May sweep to my revenge.

Ghost.

I find thee apt;

And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed

That roots itself in ease on Lethe 5 wharf,

Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:

'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,

A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark

3 "Eternal" has the sense of "infernal" here, as in other passages of Shakespeare.

4 Revelation.

5 The river of oblivion. A mythological river of the Lower World, the waters of which had the effect of making those who drank them forget all they had seen, heard, or done before.

6

'Forged process," i.e., false report of the cause.

Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life

Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,-

O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce !-won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen.
O Hamlet, what a falling off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!

But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,

My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my se'cure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon 1 in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears 2 did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigor it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine;

1 Henbane.

2 "And in the porches of my ears,” etc., Furness (Variorum Shakespeare, vol. iii. p. 102) quotes Caldecott's note: "The medical professors of Shakespeare's day believed that poison might be introduced into the system through the ears. The eminent surgeon Ambroise Paré . . . was suspected of having, when he dressed the ear of Francis II., poured poison into it."

And a most instant tetter bark'd about,1

Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand,

Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, disappointed,3 unanel'd ;4
No reck'ning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:

O, horrible!

O, horrible! most horrible!

If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not.
But, howsoever thou pursu'st this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught: leave her to Heaven,
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glowworm shows the matin 5 to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire.

Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.

Hamlet. O all you host of heaven!

O earth

how

[Exit.

what else?

And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart;

And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,

But bear me stiffly up.- Remember thee!

Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat

In this distracted globe. Remember thee !

Yea, from the table of my memory

I'll wipe away all trivial fond3 records',

All saws of books, all forms, all pressures 10 past,

1 "Bark'd about," i.e., covered as with a bark.

2 Without having received the sacrament administered to the dying.

3 Unprepared.

5 Morning.

4 Without having received extreme unction.

6 Ineffectual.

7 "In this distracted globe," i.e., in this frenzied brain (pointing to his

That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by Heaven!
O most pernicious woman!

O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My tables,1-meet it is I set it down,

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain :
At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark.
So, uncle, there you are. - Now to my word;
It is "Adieu, adieu ! Remember me."

I have sworn't.

Leam

Catation [Writing.

[Within] Lord Hamlet— [Within] Heaven secure him!

Horatio. [Within] Hillo, ho, ho, my lord!

Hamlet. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come.2

Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS.

Marcellus. How is't, my noble lord?

Hamlet. How say you, then; would heart of man once think it? But you'll be secret?

Horatio.
Marcellus.

1 Tablets.

Ay, by Heaven, my lord.

2 “ Hillo, ho,” etc., i.e., the cry which the falconer uses to his hawk when he would have it come down to him.

Hamlet. There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark But he's an arrant knave.

Horatio. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave

To tell us this.

Hamlet.

Why, right; you are i' the right;

And so, without more circumstance1 at all,

I hold it fit that we shake hands, and part:

You, as your business and desire shall point you;
For every man has business and desire,

Such as it is;-and for mine own poor part,

Look you, I'll go pray.

Horatio. These are but wild and whirling 2 words, my lord. Hamlet. I'm sorry they offend you, heartily;

Yes, 'faith, heartily.

Horatio.

There's no offense, my lord.

Hamlet. Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
And much offense too. Touching this vision here,
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you:

For your desire to know what is between us,
O'ermaster't as you may. And now, good friends,

As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,

Give me one poor request.

Horatio. What is't, my lord? we will.

Hamlet. Never make known what you have seen to-night.

Horatio. My lord, we will not.

Marcellus.

Hamlet.

Nay, but swear't.

3 The sword's hilt was in the form of a cross: hence the custom of swear

ing on the sword.