Ham. Hold off your hands. My fate cries out, Hor. Be rul'd, you shall not go. Ghost beckons. Still am I call'd ;-unhand me, gentlemen ; [Breaking from them. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me:7 I say, away:Go on, I'll follow thee. [Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET, 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. Mar. Nay, let's follow him, [Exeunt. SCENE V. A more remote Part of the Platform, Re-enter Ghost and HAMLET. Ham. Whither wilt thou lead me? speak, I'll go no further. My hour is almost come, When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames Must render up myself. Ham. Alas, poor ghost! 7 that lets me ;] To let among our old authors signifies to prevent, to hinder. It is still a word current in the law, and to be found in almost all leases. 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. Ham. What? Ghost. I am thy father's spirit; Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night; 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, Like quills upon the fretful porcupine: But this eternal blazon must not be To ears of flesh and blood :-List, list, O list!- 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 should'st thou be than the fat weed 8 And duller should'st thou be than the fat weed That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,] Shakspeare, apparently through ignorance, makes Roman Catholicks of these Pagan Danes; and here gives a description of purgatory; but yet mixes it with the Pagan fable of Lethe's wharf. Would'st thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: Rankly abus'd but know, thou noble youth, Ham. O, my prophetick soul! my uncle! But virtue, as it never will be mov'd, Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven; And prey on garbage. But, soft! methinks, I scent the morning air; Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, mine orchard,] Orchard for garden. With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,] The word here used was more probably designed by a metathesis, either of the poet or transcriber, for henebon, that is, henbane; of which the most common kind (hyoscyamus niger) is certainly narcotick, and perhaps, if taken in a considerable quantity, might prove poisonous. Holds such an enmity with blood of man, Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust, Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand, No reckoning made, but sent to my account Adieu, adieu, adieu ! remember me. 2 [Exit. Ham. O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else? at once despatch'd:] Despatch'd, for bereft. 3 Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd;] Unhousel'd is without having received the sacrament. Disappointed, as Dr. Johnson observes, "is the same as unappointed, and may be properly explained unprepared. A man well furnished with things necessary for an enterprise, was said to be well appointed." Unanel'd is without extreme unction. pale his uneffectual fire:] Fire that is no longer seen when the light of morning approaches. And shall I couple hell?-O fye!-Hold, hold, my heart; And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, 5 I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain ! I have sworn't. Hor. [Within.] My lord, my lord, Hor. [Within.] Ham. Heaven secure him! So be it! Mar. [Within.] Illo, ho, ho, my lord! S this distracted globe.] i. e. in this head confused with thought. "My tables,-] Table-books in the time of our author appear to have been used by all ranks of people. In the church they were filled with short notes of the sermon, and at the theatre with the sparkling sentences of the play. 7 Now to my word;] Hamlet alludes to the watch-word given every day in military service, which at this time he says is, Adieu, adieu! remember me. 8 come, bird, come.] This is the call which falconers use to |