Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.- Prince. Search, seek, and know how this foul What's here? a cup, clos'd in my true love's murder comes. hand ?

1 Watch. Here is a friar, and slaughter'd RoPoison, I see, hath been his timeless end :

meo's man; O churl! drink all; and leave no friendly drop, With instruments upon them, fit to open To help me after?-I will kiss thy lips : These dead men's tombs. Haply, some poison yet doth hang on them, Cap. O, heavens !-0 wife! look how our To make me die with a restorative. [Kisses him. daughter bleeds ! Thy lips are warm !

This dagger hath mista'en,-for, lo! his house I Watch. [Within. ] Lead, boy:-Which way? Is empty on the back of Montague,Jul. Yea, noise ? then I'll be brief.- hap- And is mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom.

py dagger! [Snatching Romeo's dagger. La. Cap. O me! this sight of death is as a This is thy sheath ; [Stabs herself:] there rust, bell, and let me die.

That warns my old age to a sepulchre.
vin' [Fulls on Romeo's body, and dies.

Enter MONTAGUE, and Others.
Enter Watch, with the Page of Paris.

Prince. Come Montague ; for thou art early Page. This is the place ; there, where the up, torch doth burn.

To see thy son and heir more early down. 1. Watch. The ground is bloody: Search a- Mon. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night; bout the churchyard :

Grief of my son's exíle hath stopp'd her breath : Go, some of you, who e'er you find, attach. What further woe conspires against mine age ?

[Freunt some. Prince. J.ook, and thou shalt see. Pitiful sight! here lies the county slain ;- Mon. O thou untaught! what manners is in And Juliet bleeding; warm, and newly dead,

this, Who here hath lain these two days buried.- To press before thy father to a grave? Go, tell the prince, -run to the Capulets, Prince. Seal up the mouth of outrage for a Raise up the Montagues, some others search; while,

[Exeunt other Watchmen. Till we can clear these ambiguities, We see the ground whereon these woes do lie ; And know their spring, their head, their true But the true ground of all these piteous woes,

descent; We cannot without circumstance descry. And then will í be general of your woes,

And lead you even to death: Mean time forbear, Enter some of the Watch, with BALTHASAR. And let mischance be slave to patience.2 Watch. Here's Romeo's man, we found him Bring forth the parties of suspicion. in the churchyard.

Fri. I am the greatest, able to do least, 1 Watch. Hold him in safety, till the prince Yet most suspected, as the time and place come hither.

Doth make against me, of this direful murder;

And here I stand, both to impeach and purge Enter another Watchman, with Friar LAURENCE: Myself condemned and myself excus'd. 3 Watch. Here is a friar, that trembles, sighs, Prince. Then say at once what thou dost and weeps :

know in this. We took this mattock and this spade from him, Fri. I will be brief, for my short date of breath As he was coming from this churchyard side. Is not so long as is a tedious tale. 1 Watch. A great suspicion: Stay the friar too. Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet ;

And she, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife : Enter the Prince and Attendants.

I married them; and their stolen marriage-day Prince. What misadventure is so early up, Was Tybalt's dooms-day, whose untimely destà That calls our person from our morning's rest? Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from this

city ; Enter Capulet, Lady CAPULET, and Others. For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pin'd. Cap. What should it be, that they so shriek You-to remove that siege of grief from her,abroad?

Betroth'd, and would have married her perforce, La. Cap. The people in the street cry-Ro- To county Paris : -Then comes she to me;

And, with wild looks, bid me devise some means ineo, Some-Juliet, and some-Paris; and all run, To rid her from this second marriage, With open outcry, toward our monument. Or, in my cell there would she kill herself. Prince. What fear is this, which startles in Then gave I her, so tutor’d by my art, our ears?

A sleeping potion ; which so took effect 1 Watch. Sovereign, here lies the county Pa- As I intended, for it wrought on her ris slain ;

The form of death : mean time I writ to Romeo, And Romeo dead ; and Juliet, dead before, That he should hither come as this dire nigbi, Warm and new kill'd.

To help to take her from her borrow'd grave,

a

Being the time the potion's force should cease. Page. He came with flowers to strew his But he which bore my letter, friar John,

lady's grave; Was staid by accident; and yesternight And bid me stand aloof, and so I did : Return'd my letter back: Then all alone, Anon, comes one with light to ope the tomb; At the prefixed hour of her waking,

And, by and by, my master drew on him; Came I to take her from her kindred's vault; And then I ran away to call the watch. Meaning to keep her closely at my cell,

Prince. This letter doth make good the friar's Till I conveniently could send to Romeo :

words, But, when I came, (some minute ere the time Their course of love, the tidings of her death : Of her awakening,) here untimely lay

And here he writes—that he did buy a poison The noble Paris,

and true Romeo, dead. Of a poor 'pothecary, and therewithal She wakes ; and I entreated her come forth, Came to this vault to die, and lie with Juliet.And bear this work of heaven with patience : Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague! But then a noise did scare me from the tomb; See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,

a And she, too desperate, would not go with me, That heaven finds means to kill your joys with But (as it seems,) did violence on herself.

love! All this I know, and to the marriage ;

And I, for winking at your discords too, Her nurse is privy: And, if aught in this Have lost a brace of kinsmen :-all are punish’d. Miscarried by my fault, let my old life

Cap. O, brother Montague, give me thy hand: Be sacrific'd, some hour before his time, This is my daughter's jointure, for no more Unto the rigour of severest law.

Can I demand. Prince. We still have known thee for a holy Mon. But I can give thee more: man,

For I will raise her statue in pure gold; Where's Romeo's man? what can he say in this? That, while Verona by that name is known, Bal. I brought my master news of Juliet's There shall no figure at such rate be set,

As that of true and faithful Juliet. And then in post he came from Mantua, Cap. As rich shall Romeo by his lady lie ; To this same place, to this same monument. Poor sacrifices of our enmity! This letter he early bid me give his father ; Prince. A glooming peace this morning with And threaten'd me with death, going in the it brings ; vault,

The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head : If I departed not, and left him there.

Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things; Prince. Give me the letter, I will look on Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished it.

For never was a story of more woe, Where is the county's page, that rais’d the Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. watch?

[Ereunt. Sirrah, what made your master in this place ?

death;

HAMLET,

PRINCE OF DENMARK.

PERSONS OF THE DRAMA.

Claudius, king of Denmark.

Francisco, a soldier. Hamlet, son to the former, and nephew to the REYNALDO, ser vant to Polonius. present king:

A Captain. Polonius, lord chamberlain.

An Ambassador. Horatio, friend to Hamlet.

Ghost of Hamlet's father.
Laertes, son to Polonius.

FORTINBRAS, prince of Norway.
VOLTIMAND,
CORNELIUS,

GERTRUDE, queen of Denmark, and molket i ROSENCRANTZ, courtiers.

Hamlet.
GUILDENSTERN,

OPHELIA, daughter of Polonius.
Osric, a courtier.
Another Courtier.

Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Players, GrarPriest.

diggers, Sailors, Messengers, and other AlMARCELLUS,

tendants. BERNARDO,

}

} officers.

SCENE,-Elsinore.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Elsinore. A platform before the

castle.

Francisco on his post. Enter to him BERNARDO.

Ber. Who's there?

Fran. Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold
Yourself.

Ber. Long live the king!
Fran. Bernardo ?
Ber. He.
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 bi

ter cold,
And I am sick at heart.

Ber. Have you had quiet guard?
Fran. Not a mouse stirring.

Ber. Well, good night.
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch, bid them make laaste.

Enter Horatio and MarcelLTS.
Fran. I think, I hear them.-Stand, he! wie

is there?
Hor. Friends to this ground.
Mar. And liegemen to the Dane
Fran. Give you good night.

:

Mar. 0, farewell, honest soldier :

Without the sensible and true avouch Who hath reliev'd you?

Of mine own eyes... Fran. Bernardo hath my place.

Mar. Is it not like the king ? Give

you good night. [Exit Francisco. Hor. As thou art to thyself: Mar. Holla! Bernardo !

Such was the very armour he had on, Ber. Say,

When he the ambitious Norway combated ; What, is Horatio there?

So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle, Hor. A piece of him.

He smote the sledded Polack on the ice. Ber. Welcome, Horatio ; welcome, good Mar- | 'Tis strange. cellus.

Mar. Thus twice before, and jump at this Hor. What, has this thing appear'd again dearl hour, to-night?

With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. Ber. I have seen nothing.

Hor. In what particular thought to work, I Mar. Horatio says, 'tis but our fantasy;

know not ; And will not let belief take hold of him, But, in the gross and scope of mine opinion, Couching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us : This bodes some strange eruption to our state. Cherefore I have entreated him, along

Mar. Good now, sit down, and tell me, he With us to watch the minutes of this night;

that knows, l'hat, if again this apparition come,

Why this same strict and most observant watch He may approve our eyes, and speak to it. So nightly toils the subject of the land ?

Hor! Tush! tush!''twill not appear. And why such daily cast of brazen cannon, Ber. Sit down awhile;

And foreign mart for implements of war ; And let us once again assail your ears,

Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore l'hat are so fortified against our story,

task What we two nights have seen.

Does not divide the Sunday from the week : Hor. Well, sit we down,

What might be toward, that this sweaty haste And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. Doth make the night joint-labourer with the Ber. Last night of all,

day; When yon same star, that's westward from the Who is't, that can inform me? pole,

Hor. That can I ; Had made his course to illume that part of heaven At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king, Where now it burns, Marcellus, and myself, Whose image even but now appear'd to us, The bell then beating one,

Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, Mar. Peace, break thee off; look, where it Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride, comes again!

Dar’d to the combat ; in which our valiant

Hamlet
Enter Ghost.

(For so this side of our known world esteem'd Ber. In the same figure, like the king that's him,) dead.

Did slay this Fortinbras; who, by a seal'd comMar. Thou art a scholar, speak to it, Horatio. páct, Ber. Looks it not like the king? mark it, Well ratified by law and heraldry, Horatio.

Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands, Hor. Most like:—it harrows me with fear, which he stood seiz'd of, to the conqueror : and wonder.

Against the which, a moiety competent Ber. It would be spoke to.

Was gaged by our king ; which had return'd Mar. Speak to it, Horatio.

To the inheritance of Fortinbras, Hor. What art thou, that usurp'st this time Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same co-mart, of night,

And carriage of the article design'd, Together with that fair and warlike form His fell to Hamlet: Now, sir, young Fortinbras, In which the majesty of buried Denmark Of unimproved mettle hot and full, Did sometimes march ? by heaven I charge thee, Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there, speak.

Shark'd up a list of landless resolutes, Mar. It is offended.

For food and diet, to some enterprize Ber. See ! it stalks away.

That hath a stomach in't: which is no other Hor. Stay ; speak : speak I charge thee, | (As it doth well appear unto our state,) speak.

[Exit Ghost. But to recover of us, by strong hand, Mar. "T'is gone, and will not answer. And terms compulsatory, those 'foresaid lands Ber. How now, Horatio ? you tremble, and So by his father lost : And this, I take it,

Is the main motive of our preparations ; Is not this something more than fantasy ? The source of this our watch ; and the chief What think you of it?

head llor. Before my God, I might not this bwlicve, of this post-haste and romage in the land,

a

look pale:

u

Ber. I think, it be no other, but even so: And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; Well may it sort, that this portentous figure The nights are wholesome ; then no planets Comes armed through our watch; so like the strike, king

No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, That was, and is, the question of these wars. So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

Hor. A mote it is, to trouble the mind's eye. Hor. So have I heard, and do in part believe In the most high and palmy state of Rome,

it. A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,

But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill: dead

Break we our watch up; and, by my advice, Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets. Let us impart what we have seen to-night

Unto young Hamlet : for, upon my life, As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to bim: Disasters in the sun ; and the moist star, Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it, Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands, As needful in our loves, fitting our duty? Was sick almost to dooms-day with eclipse. Mar. Let's do't, I pray; and I this inorning And even the like precurse of fierce events,

know, As harbingers preceding still the fates, Where we shall find him most convenient. And prologue to the omen coming on,Have heaven and earth together démonstrated Unto our climatures and countrymen.- SCENE II.— The same. A room of state is the

same. Re-enter Ghost. But, soft; behold! lo, where it comes again!

Enter the King, Queen, HamLET, Poloxirs, I'll cross it, though it blast me.-Stay, illusion !

LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,

and Attendants. Speak to me:

King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear broIf there be any good thing to be done,

ther's death That may to thee do ease, and grace to me, The memory be green; and that it us befitted Speak to me:

To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingIf thou art privy to thy country's fate,

dom Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, To be contracted in one brow of woe; 0, speak!

Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature, Or, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life

That we with wisest sorrow think on him, Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, Together with remembrance of ourselves. For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, death,

[Cock crows. The imperial jointress of this warlike state, Speak of it:-stay, and speak.–Stop it, Mar- Have we, as 'twere, with a defeated joy,– cellus.

With one auspicious, and one dropping eye ; Mar. Shall I strike at it with my partizan ? With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in mare Hor. Do, if it will not stand.

riage, Ber. 'Tis here!

In equal scale weighing delight and dole,Hor. 'Tis here!

Taken to wife: nor have we herein bari'd Mar. 'Tis gone!

[Exit Ghost. Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone We do it wrong, being so majestical,

With this affair along :-For all, our thanks. To offer it the show of violence;

Now follows, that you know, young FortisFor it is, as the air, invulnerable,

bras, And our vain blows malicious mockery. Holding a weak supposal of our worth ; Ber. It was about to speak, when the cock Or thinking, by our late dear brother's death,

Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, Hor. And then it started, like a guilty thing Colleagued with this dream of his advantage, Upon a fearful summons. Í have heard, He hath not fail'd to pester us with message, The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, Importing the surrender of those lands, Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat Lost by his father, with all bands of law, Awake the god of day; and, at his warning, To our most valiant brother. So much for him. Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,

Now for ourself, and for this time of meeting, The extravagant and erring spirit hies

Thus much the business is: We have here writ To his confine: and of the truth herein To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,This present object made probation.

Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock. Of this his nephew's purpose, -to suppress Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes, His further gait herein ; in that the levies, Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The lists, and full proportions, are all made This bird of dawning singeth all night long : Out of his subject :-and we here despatch

crew.