Ham. 'Tis very strange. Hor. As I do live, my honor'd lord, 'tis true : And we did think it writ down in our duty, To let you know of it. Ham. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me. Hold you the watch to-night? Ham. From top to toe? All. My lord, from head to foot. Ham. Then saw you not his face? Hor. O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver up. Ham. What, look'd he frowningly? Hor. A countenance more In sorrow than in anger. Ham. Pale, or red? Hor. Nay, very pale. Ham. And fix'd his eyes upon you? Hor. Most constantly. Ham. I would, I had been there. Hor. It would have much amazed you. Ham. Very like, Very like: Stayed it long? Hor. While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred. Mar. Ber. Longer, longer. Hor. Not when I saw it. Ham. His beard was grizzled? No? Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life, A sable silver'd.. Ham. I will watch to-night! Perchance 'twill walk again. Hor. I warrant, it will. Ham. If it assume my noble father's person, I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape, And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all, If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight, All. Our duty to your honor. Ham. Your loves, as mine to you: Farewell. I doubt some foul play: would, the night were come! Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes. SHAKSPERE. HAMLET AND THE GHOST. Hamlet. Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak; I'll go no further. Ghost. Mark me. Ham. I will. Ghost. My hour is almost come, When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames Must render up myself. Ham. Alas, poor ghost! Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold. Ham. Speak, I am bound to hear. Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. Ghost. I am thy father's spirit : Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night; And, for the day, confined to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature, Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid X To tell the secrets of my prison-house, I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood ; And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porcupine : But this eternal blazon must not be To ears of flesh and blood:- List, list, O list! If thou didst ever thy dear father love— Ham. O heaven! Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. Ham. Murder? Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. Ham. Haste me to know it; 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 rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: 'Tis given out, that, sleeping in mine orchard, A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark Is, by a forged process of my death, Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth, Ham. O, my prophetic soul! my uncle! That it went hand in hand even with the vow But, soft! methinks, I scent the morning air; Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, And a most instant tetter bark'd about, Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand. Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatch'd : Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire: Adieu! adieu! adieu! remember me. (Exit Ghost.) Ham. O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else? And shall I couple hell?-O fie!-Hold, hold, my heart; And bear me stiffly up!-Remember thee? I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, Bass. For the which, as I told you, Antonio shall be bound. Shy. Antonio shall become bound-well. Bass. May you stead me? Will you pleasure me? Shall I know your answer? Shy. Three thousand ducats for three months, and Antonio bound. Bass. Your answer to that. Shy. Antonio is a good man. Bass. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary? Shy. Ho! no, no, no, no:—my meaning, in saying he is a good man, is to have you understand me, that he is sufficient; yet his means are in supposition. He hath an argosy bound to Tripolis; another to the Indies; I understand moreover upon the Rialto, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ventures he |