It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you; Give me one poor request. Hor. We will. What is't, my lord? Ham. Never make known what you have seen to Ham. Upon my sword. Mar. We have sworn, my lord, already. Ham. Indeed, upon my sword, indeed. Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. Ham. Ha, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou there, true-penny? Come on, you hear this fellow in the cellarage,Consent to swear. Hor. Propose the oath, my lord. Ham. Never to speak of this that you have seen, Swear by my sword. Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. Ham. Hic & ubique? then we'll shift our ground: Come hither, gentlemen, And lay your hands again upon my sword: Swear by my sword, Never to speak of this that you have heard. Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear by his sword. Ham. Well said, old mole! can'st work i'the earth so fast? A worthy pioneer!-Once more remove, good friends. Hor. O day and night, but this is wondrous strange! Ham. And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come; Here, as before, never, so help you mercy ! That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, As, Well, well, we know;-or, We could, an if we would;-or, If we list to speak;-or, There be, an if they might; Or such ambiguous giving out, to note That you know aught of me:-This do you swear, Ham. Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! So, gentlemen, 9 Rest, rest, perturbed spirit!] The skill displayed in Shakspeare's management of his Ghost, is too considerable to be overlooked. He has rivetted our attention to it by a succession of forcible circumstances:-by the previous report of the terrified centinels, by the solemnity of the hour at which the phantom walks, by its martial stride and discriminating armour, visible only per incertam lunam, by the glimpses of the moon,-by its long taciturnity,-by its preparation to speak, when interrupted by the morning cock,-by its mysterious reserve throughout its first scene with Hamlet,-by his resolute departure with it, and the subsequent anxiety of his attendants,-by its conducting him to a solitary angle of the platform,-by its voice from beneath the earth,-and by its unexpected burst on us in the closet. Hamlet's late interview with the spectre, must in particular be regarded as a stroke of dramatick, artifice. The phantom might have told his story in the presence of the Officers and Horatio, and yet have rendered itself as inaudible to them, as afterwards to the Queen. But suspense was our poet's object; and never was it more effectually created, than in the present instance. Six times With all my love I do commend me to you: May do, to express his love and friending to you, The time is out of joint;-O cursed spite! Nay, come, let's go together. [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I. A Room in Polonius's House. Enter POLONIUS and REYNALDO. Pol. Give him this money, and these notes, Reynaldo. Rey. I will, my lord. Pol. You shall do marvellous wisely, good Rey naldo, Before you visit him, to make inquiry Of his behaviour. Rey. My lord, I did intend it. has the royal semblance appeared, but till now has been withheld from speaking. For this event we have waited with impatient curiosity, unaccompanied by lassitude, or remitted attention. The Ghost in this tragedy, is allowed to be the genuine product of Shakspeare's strong imagination. When he afterwards avails himself of traditional phantoms, as in Julius Caesar, and King Richard III. they are but inefficacious pageants; nay, the apparition of Banquo is a mute exhibitor. Perhaps our poet despaired to equal the vigour of his early conceptions on the subject of preternatural beings, and therefore allotted them no further eminence in his dramas; or was unwilling to diminish the power of his principal shade, by an injudicious repetition of congenial images. STEEVENS. Pol. Marry, well said: very well said. Look you, sir, Inquire me first what Danskers' are in Paris; And how, and who, what means, and where they keep, What company, at what expence; and finding, Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of him; And, in part, him ;-Do you mark this, Reynaldo? Rey. Ay, very well, my lord. Pol. And, in part, him ;—but, you may say, not well: But, if't be he I mean, he's very wild; Rey. As gaming, my lord. relling, Drabbing:-You may go so far Rey. My lord, that would dishonour him. Pol. 'Faith, no; as you may season it in the charge. You must not put another scandal on him,2 2 That's not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly, 2 Danskers-] Danske is the ancient name of Denmark. another scandal-] i. e. a very different and more scandalous failing, namely habitual incontinency. That's not my meaning:] That is not what I mean when I permit you to accuse him of drabbing. That they may seem the taints of liberty: But, my good lord, Pol. Wherefore should you do this? Rey. Rey. I would know that. Pol. Ay, my lord, Marry, sir, here's my drift; And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant: Your party in converse, him you would sound, Rey. Very good, my lord. Pol. And then, sir, does he this,-He doesWhat was I about to say?-By the mass, I was about to say some something:-Where did I leave? Rey. At, closes in the consequence. Pol. At, closes in the consequence,—Ay, marry; He closes with you thus:-I know the gentleman; I saw him yesterday, or t'other day, Or then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you say, There was he gaming; there o'ertook in his rouse; There falling out at tennis; or, perchance, I saw him enter such a house of sale, 5 A savageness-] Savageness, for wildness. Of general assault.] i. e. such as youth in general is liable to. VOL. IX. |