Makes us traduc'd and tax'd of other nations:

They clepe us drunkards3, and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition; and, indeed, it takes

From our achievements, though perform'd at height,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.
So, oft it chances in particular men,

That for some vicious mole of nature in them,
As, in their birth, (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin)

By their o'ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason;
Or by some habit, that too much o'er-leavens
The form of plausive manners;-that these men,—
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect

Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,-
Their virtues else1, be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo,

Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault: the dram of ill
Doth all the noble substance often dout,
To his own scandal'.

formed part of the acted play, as James I. was married to a Danish Princess, and the King of Denmark twice visited this country early in the reign of the successor of Elizabeth. Mr. Barron Field thinks that "the disquisition is too long and calm for the awful occasion, and that Shakespeare may have desired it to be left out by the performer on this account." Both reasons may have had their influence.

3 They CLEPE us drunkards,] i. e. "they call us drunkards;" from the Sax. clypian. See Vol. ii. p. 291.

⚫ THEIR virtues else-] In all the old copies it is "His virtues else"-corrected by Theobald.

To his own scandal.] This sentence in the 4to. 1604, stands thus :

"the dram of eale

Doth all the noble substance of a doubt

To his own scandal."

Some corruption is evident, but the text, as we have given it, affords a distinct and consistent meaning: it is easy to see how "ill" might be misprinted eale, and "often dout" of a doubt, the compositor having taken the passage by his ear only indeed a stronger proof of the kind could hardly be pointed out. To "dout" is of course to do out, to destroy or extinguish, and the word is still not out of use in some parts of the kingdom, particularly in the north. See Holloway's "General Provincial Dictionary," 1838.

Hor.

Enter Ghost.

Look, my lord! it comes.

Ham. Angels and ministers of grace defend us! Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd,

Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell, Be thy intents wicked, or charitable,

Thou com'st in such a questionable shape,

That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee, Hamlet,
King, Father, Royal Dane: O! answer me':
Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell,
Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements? why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly in-urn'd3,
Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws,
To cast thee up again? What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again, in complete steel,
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous; and we fools of nature,
So horridly to shake our disposition,
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?
[The 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.

Be thy INTENTS] The folio, 1623, reads "Be thy events." Those who profess to adhere to the first folio have frequently left important variations unnoticed, though materially affecting the authority of that edition.

7 0 ! answer me :] The folio, 1623, thus repeats the interjection, to the injury of this most impressive line, "O! O! answer me."

quietly IN-URN'D,] The quartos, including that of 1603, have "quietly interr'd" the folio as in our text.

The Ghost beckons.] This stage-direction is in every old copy, though omitted in every modern one.

1 It WAVES you-] So every quarto: the folio, wafts. But Hamlet, just below, according to the same edition, says, "It wares me forth again."

Hor.

No, by no means.

Ham. It will not speak; then, will I 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 toward the flood, my lord,

Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff,

That beetles o'er his base into the sea,

And there assume some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason,
And draw you into madness? think of it:
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain
That looks so many fathoms to the sea,
And hears it roar beneath 3.
Ham.

I'll follow thee.

It waves me still :-Go on,

Mar. You shall not go, my lord.
Ham.

Hold off your hands.

My fate cries out,

Hor. Be rul'd: you shall not go.
Ham.

[Ghost beckons.

And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.
Still am I call'd.—Unhand me, gentlemen,-

[Breaking from them.

By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me1:-
I say, away!-Go on, I'll follow thee.

2

[Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET.

then, WILL I follow it.] So the quarto, 1603, and the folio: the other quartos, "I will."

3 And hears it roar beneath.] This and the three preceding lines are only in the quartos, 1604, &c. In the second line of the speech the folio has sonnet for "summit."

4

of him that LETS me :] i. e. that hinders or prevents me. See Vol. vi. p. 409. The word hardly requires a note.

Hor. He waxes desperate with imagination.

Mar. Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him. Hor. Have after.-To what issue will this come? Mar. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Hor. Heaven will direct it.

Ham. Whither wilt thou lead me"? speak, I'll go no

Ham.

Speak, I am bound to hear.

Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear®. Ham. What?

Ghost. I am thy father's spirit ;

Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confin'd to fast in fires,

5 WHITHER Wilt thou lead me ?] The folio, in opposition to every quarto, prints Where. "Whither," like whether, as we have seen in various instances, (Vol. ii. p. 149; Vol. v. p. 173, &c.) is to be pronounced in the time of a monosyllable. It is sometimes so printed.

6 So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.] This and the preceding speech are quoted in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Woman Hater," 1607. See Dyce's Beaumont and Fletcher, vol. i. p. 37.

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 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 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 God!

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't, that I, with wings as swift 10

As meditation, or the thoughts of love,

May sweep to my revenge.

Ghost.

I find thee apt;

And duller should'st thou be, than the fat weed
That roots itself' in ease on Lethe wharf,

Would'st 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 abus'd; but know, thou noble youth,

Thy KNOTTED-] So every quarto: the folio has knotty.

8 Like quills upon the FRETFUL porcupine :] Here again we see the quarto, 1603, confirming the folio. Every other quarto edition has fearful for "fretful," which last is the word in the folio, 1623.

9 — List, list, O list!] So the quartos, 1604, &c. The folio injures the metre, by reading, "List, Hamlet, O, list!"

10 Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift] Both the measure and the grammar of this line are spoiled in the folio, by the needless repetition of haste, and the omission of I.

1 That ROOTS itself-] The quarto, 1603, and all the other quartos, have "roots :" the folio, probably by a misprint, rots.