culiarities of each text which establish these points are indicated specifically in the Notes. The text of the quarto of 1603 is of course of no authority, and of little value. It is useful at times, however, as a guide in our corrections of the press errors of the folio and the second quarto. But, with all the aid which the three texts give towards the formation of one pure one, there are some passages in this tragedy which have hitherto defied the subtlest ingenuity to explain, and the boldest conjecture to amend them, and one at least in which there has been serious mutilation. Still the text of Hamlet, as we are able to present it to the reader, is distinguished rather by a very few striking and important corruptions than by many of minor import. And in fact there is hardly a passage in the tragedy, excepting that in the first Scene about the "stars with trains of fire and dews of blood," that can give trouble to a reader intent only upon the enjoyment of his author; which, considering the style of the work and the vicissitudes of the stage and the printingoffice to which its text was subjected, is remarkable.

Shakespeare's tragedy was surely written between 1598, the date of Meres' Palladis Tamia, and June, 1602, when Roberts made his entry of it on the Register of the Stationers' Company; and a yet closer approximation to the exact date of its production seems to be furnished by the passage in Act II. Sc. 2, in which the inhibition" which forced the tragedians of the city to travel is attributed to "the late innovation," which was the performance of plays by "an eyry of children," to wit, the Children of Pauls. Now, in 1600, theatrical performances were restricted, by order of the Privy Council, to two theatres; and in the same year the performances of the Children of Pauls were resumed after an interval of nearly ten years. We may therefore with some certainty attribute the production of Shakespeare's version of Hamlet to the year 1600.

The period of the action of this play, according to the story from which its plot is derived, is of a remote and undefined antiquity. We are told in the first chapter of The Hystorie of Hamblet that the events which it records took place "long time before the kingdome of Denmarke received the faith of Jesus Christ;" and in the fourth chapter that the ambassadors who went with Hamlet to England bore from Hamlet's uncle to the King of England "letters ingraved in wood," which indicates a

* See Collier's Annals of the Stage, Vol. I. pp. 279–282.

period of the rudest manners. But in the eye of Shakespeare's imagination his characters lived in later times; and perhaps the tenth century may be accepted as the period which he had in mind. For the costume of this day early illuminated manuscripts and effigies of exceeding rarity furnish the only authorities. But, as far as concerns the effect which Shakespeare intended to produce, the action may be supposed to take place at any time previous to the Wars of the Roses.

DRAMATIS PERSONE.

CLAUDIUS, King of Denmark.

HAMLET, Son to the former and Nephew to the present King.
HORATIO, Friend to Hamlet.

GERTRUDE, Queen of Denmark, and Mother to Hamlet.
OPHELIA, Daughter to Polonius.

Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Players, Sailors, Messengers,

and Attendants.

SCENE: Elsinore.

THE TRAGEDY OF

HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK.

ACT I.

SCENE I. Elsinore. A Platform before the Castle.

FRANCISCO on his post. Enter to him BERNARDO.

Fran. You come most carefully upon your hour. Ber. 'Tis now struck twelve: get thee to bed, Francisco.

Fran. For this relief much thanks. 'Tis bitter

cold,

And I am sick at heart.

Ber. Have you had quiet guard?

Fran.

Ber. Well, good night.

Not a mouse stirring.

B 2

(25)

If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.

Fran. I think I hear them. - Stand, ho! Who's there?

Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS.

Horatio. Friends to this ground.
Marcellus.

And liegemen to the Dane.

Ber. Welcome, Horatio: welcome, good Marcellus. Mar. What, has this thing appear'd again to

night?

Ber. I have seen nothing.

Mar. Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,

And will not let belief take hold of him

Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us:
Therefore I have entreated him along

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

Sit down a while;

He may approve our eyes, and speak to it.
Hor. Tush, tush! 'twill not appear.
Ber.
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story,
What we two nights have seen.

Hor.

Well, sit we down,

And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.