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Wherein we saw thee quietly in-urned,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws,
To cast thee up again! What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again, in cómplete steel,
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous; and we fools of nature,
So horribly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?
Hor. It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.

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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;

Doomed for a certain term to walk the night;
And, for the day, confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

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 combinéd locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand an-end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:

But this eternal blazon must not be

To ears of flesh and blood:-List, list, O list!—
If thou didst ever thy dear father love,-
Ham. O, heaven!

Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural
murder.

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And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear;
'Tis given out that, sleeping in mine orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forgéd process of my death

Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life,
Now wears his crown.

Ham. O, my prophetic soul! my uncle! Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,

With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,
(O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!) won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming virtuous queen:
O, Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!

But virtue, as it never will be moved,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven;
So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.

But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief let me be :-Sleeping within mine orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my.sécure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of curséd hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of mine ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man,
That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body;
And, with a sudden vigour, it doth posset
And curd, like aigre droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
And in a most instant tetter barked about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand,
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatched:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhouselled, disappointed, unanelled;
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
O, horrible! O, horrible! Most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damnéd incest.
But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven,
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm shews the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
Adieu, adieu, adieu! remember me.

[Exit.

Ham. O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?

And shall I couple hell? O fie!-Hold, hold, my heart;

And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffly up!-Remember thee!
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee!

Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmixed with baser matter: yes, by heaven!
O most pernicious woman!

O villain, villain, smiling, damnéd villain!
My tables :-meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least, I am sure it may be so in Denmark:
[Writing.

So, uncle, there you are. Now, to my word;
It is, "Adieu, adieu! remember me."
I have sworn 't.

Hor. [within]. My lord, my lord,—
Mar. [within]. Lord Hamlet,—
Hor. [within]. Heaven secure him!
Ham. So be it!

Mar. [within]. Hillo, ho, ho, my lord!
Ham. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come.

Enter HORATIO and MARCellus.
Mar. How is 't, my noble lord?
Hor.

What news, my lord?

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Ham. Why, right; you are in the right; And So, without more circumstance at all, I hold it fit that we shake hands and part: You, as your business and desire shall point you; For every man hath business and desire, Such as it is; and, for my own poor part, Look you, I will go pray.

Hor. These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.

Ham. I am sorry they offend you, heartily; Yes 'faith, heartily.

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"

It is an honest ghost; that let me tell you : For your desire to know what is between us,

Ham. Well said, old mole! canst work i' the earth so fast?

O'ermaster it as you may. And now, good A worthy pioneer!-Once more remove, good

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friends.

Hor. O day and night, but this is wondrous

strange!

Ham. And therefore as a stranger give it wel

come.

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!
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,
As I, perchance, hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on,-
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumbered thus, or this head-shake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
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,
grace and mercy at your most need help you!
Ghost [beneath]. Swear!

So

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you, sir,

Look

Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris; And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,

What company, at what expense; and finding, By this encompassment and drift of question, That they do know my son, come you more nearer Than your particular demands will touch it: Take you, as 't were, some distant knowledge of him;

As thus: "I know his father, and his friends, 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:

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You must not put another scandal on him,
That he is open to incontinency;

That's not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly,

That they may seem the taints of liberty;
The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind;

A savageness in unreclaimed blood,

Of general assault.

Rey.

But, my good lord,

Pol. Wherefore should 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 warrant:

You laying these slight sullies on my son,
As 't were a thing a little soiled i' the working,
Mark you,

Your party in convérse, him you would sound,
Having ever seen, in the prenominate crimes,
The youth you breathe of, guilty,-be assured,
He closes with you in this consequence:
"Good sir," or so; or "friend," or "gentleman, "-
According to the phrase, or the addition,
Of man and country:-
:-

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| Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth:

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