Enter Horatio and Marcellus.

Hor. My Lord, my Lord,

Mar. Lord Hamlet,

Hor. Heav'n fecure him!

Mar. So be it.

Hor. Illo, ho, ho, my Lord!

Ham. Hillo, ho, ho, boy; come, bird, come.

Mar. How is't, my noble Lord ?

Hor. What news, my Lord?

Ham. Oh, wonderful!

Hor. Good my Lord, tell it.

Ham, No, you'll reveal it.

Hor. Not I, my Lord, by heav'n..

Mar. Nor I, my Lord.

[think it?

Ham. How fay you then, would heart of man once

But you'll be fecret

Both. Ay, by heav'n, my Lord.

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

[grave

Hor. There needs no ghoft, my Lord, come from the To tell us this.

Ham. Why, right, you are i'th' right;

And fo without more circumstance at all,

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

You, as your bufinefs and defires fhall point you; (For every man has bufinefs and defire,

Such as it is) and, for my own poor part,

I will go pray.

Hor. Thefe are but wild and whirling words, my Lord. Ham. I'm forry they offend you, heartily;

Yes, heartily.

Hor. There's no offence, my Lord.

Ham. Yes, by St. Patrick, but there is, my Lord, And much offence too. Touching this vision hereIt is an honeft ghoft, that let me tell you: For your defire to know what is between us, O'er-mafter it as you may. And now, good friends, As you are friends, fcholars, and foldiers, Give me one poor request.

Hor.

Hor. What is't, my Lord?

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

Both. My Lord, we will not.

Ham. Nay, but swear't.

Hor. In faith my Lord, not I.

Mar. Nor I, my Lord, in faith.

Ham. Upon my fword.

Mar. We have fworn, my Lord, already.

Ham. Indeed, upon my fword, indeed.

Ghoft. Swear.

[Gheft cries under the Stage.

Ham. Ah, ha, boy, fay'ft thou fo? art thou there, truepenny?

Come on, you hear this fellow in the cellarage.
Confent to fwear.

Hor. Propofe an oath, my Lord.

Ham. Never to fpeak of this that you have seen, Swear by my fword.

Ghoft. Swear.

Ham. Hic & ubique? then we'll shift our ground. Come hither, gentlemen,

And lay your hands again upon my fword.

Never to speak of this which you have heard, (21)
Swear by my

fword.

Ghoft. Swear by his sword.

[faft Ham. Well faid, old mole, can't work i'th' ground fo A worthy pioneer! Once more remove, good friends. Hor. Oh day and night, but this is wondrous ftrange. Ham. And therefore as a ftranger give it welcome. There are more things in heav'n and earth, Horatio, (22) Than

(21) Never to Speak of this that you have heard,

Swear by my fword.] This adjuration and the folemnity of kissing Hamlet's fword, seems to be sneer'd at by Beaumont and Fletcher in their Knight of the Burning Peftle; where Ralph the grocer's prentice, difmifles the barber in quiet, on certain terms agreed betwixt them. Ralph. I give thee mercy, but yet thou shalt fwear Upon my burning pestle to perform

Thy promife uttered.

Barb. I fwear and kiss.

(22) There are more things in bear'n and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philofopby.] This reflexion of Hamle

frems

Than are dreamt of in your philofophy. But come,
Here, as before, never, (fo help your mercy!)
How strange or odd foe'er I bear myself,

(As I, perchance, hereafter fhall think meet
To put an antick difpofition on ;)

That you, at fuch time seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumbred thus, or this head-shake,
Or by pronouncing of fome doubtful phrase,
As, well- —we know—or, we could, and if we would-
Or, if we lift to fpeak-or, there be, and if there might-
(Or fuch ambiguous giving out) denote

That you know aught of me; This do ye fwear,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you!
Swear.

Ghoft. Swear.

Ham. Reft, reft, perturbed Spirit. So, Gentlemen,
With all my love do I commend me to you;
And what fo poor a Man as Hamlet is

May do t'exprefs his love and friending to you;
God willing, fhall not lack; let us go in together,
And ftill your fingers on your lips, I pray :

The time is out of joint; oh, curfed fpight!
That ever I was born to set it right.

Nay, come, let's go together.

[Exeunt.

feems to be directly copied from this paffage of Lucretius, lib. i. v. 152. Quod multa in terris fieri, cœloque tuentur,

Quorum operum caufas nullâ ratione videre

Poffunt.

I had amended and rectified the pointing of this whole fpeech in my SHAKESPEARE Reflor'd, to which I defire for brevity's fake to refer my readers. Mr. Pope has thought fit to reform the whole, in his last edition, agreeably to my directions there.

ACT II.

SCENE, An Apartment in Polonius's Houfe.

G

Enter Polonius, and Reynoldo.

POLONIUS.

IVE him this money, and thofe notes, Reynoldo.
Rey. I will, my Lord.

Pol. You fhall do marvellous wifely, good Reynoldo, Before you vifit him, to make inquiry

Of his behaviour.

Rey My Lord, I did intend it.

Pol. Marry, well faid; very well faid. Look you, Sir, Enquire me first what Danskers are in Paris;

And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,
What company, at what expence; and finding,
By this encompaffment and drift of question,
That they do know my fon, come you more near ; ·
Then your particular demands will touch it;
Take you, as 'twere fome diftant knowledge of him,
As thus- I know his father and his friends,

And in part him-Do you mark this, Reynoldo?
Rey. Ay, very well, my Lord.

Pol. And in part him-but you may fay-not well; But if't be he, I mean, he's very wild;

Addicted fo and fo—and there put on him
What forgeries you please; marry, none fo rank,
As
may dishonour him; take heed of that;
But, Sir, fuch wanton, wild, and ufual flips,
As are companions noted and most known
To youth and liberty.

Rey. As gaming, my Lord

Pol. Ay, or drinking, fencing, fwearing, Quarrelling, drabbing-You may go fo far. Rey. My Lord, that would dishonour him.

Pol. 'Faith, no, as you may feafon it in the charge;

You

You must not put another scandal on him, (23)
That he is open to incontinency,

That's not my meaning; but breathe his faults foquaintly,
That they may feem the taints of liberty;

The flash and out-break of a fiery mind,

A favageness in unreclaimed blood

Of general affault.

Rey. But, my good Lord

Pol. Wherefore fhould you do this?
Rey, Ay, my Lord, I would know that.
Pol. Marry, Sir, here's my drift;

And, I believe, it is a fetch of wit.

You, laying these flight fullies on my fon, (24)
As 'twere a thing a little foil'd i'th' working,

Mark

(23) You must not put another fcandal on him.] I once fufpected, and attempted to correct, this paffage. The old gentleman, 'tis plain, is of opinion, that to charge his fon with wenching would not dibonour him; confequently, would be no fcandal to him. Why then fhould he caution Reynoldo from putting another fcandal on him? There can be no fecond scandal fuppos'd, without a first implied. On this kind of reafoning, I propos'd to correct;

You must not put an utter fcandal on bim. Mr. Pope, I obferve, feems to admit the emendation, but I retract it as an idle, unweigh'd conjecture. The reafoning, on which it is built, is fallacious; and our Author's licentious manner of expreffing himself elsewhere, convinces me that any change is altogether unneceffary. So in King. Richard II.

Tend'ring the precious fafety of my prince,
And free from other misbegotten hate,

Come I appellant to this princely prefence.

Now, ftrictly speaking, here, tendring his prince's fafety in his fift misbegotten bate; which nobody will ever believe was the Poet's intention. And fo, in Maxbeth;

-All these

are portable, With other graces weigh'd.

Malcolm had been enumerating the fecret enormities he was guilty of; no graces are mention'd or fuppos'd; fo that in grammatical strictnefs, these enormities ftand in the place of firft graces; tho' the Poet means no more than this, that Malcolm's vices would be fupportable, if his graces on the other hand were to be weigh'd against them. (24) Your laying these flight fallies on my fon,

As 'twere a thing a little foil'd i'th working.] 'Tis true, fallies and flights of youth are very frequent phrases; but what agreement