Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd,
But that the fcrambling and unquiet time
Did push it out of further queftion.
ELY. But how my Lord, fhall we refift it now?
CANT. It must be thought on. If it pafs against us,
We lose the better half of our poffeffion;
For all the temporal lands which men devout
By teftament have given to the church,
Would they ftrip from us; being valu'd thus;
As much as would maintain, to the King's honour,
Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights,
Six thousand and two hundred good efquires;
And to relief of lazars, and weak age
Of indigent faint fouls, paft corporal toil,
A hundred alms-houfes, right well fupply'd;
And to the coffers of the king, befide,
A thousand pounds by th' year. Thus runs the bill,
ELY. This would drink deep.
CANT. 'Twould drink the cup and all,
ELY. But what prevention?
CANT. The King is full of grace and fair regard, ELY. And a true lover of the holy church.
CANT. The courfes of his youth promis'd it not;
The breath no fooner left his father's body,
But that his wildness, mortify'd in him,
Seem'd to die too; yea, at that very moment,
Confideration, like an angel, came,
And whipp'd th' offending Adam out of him;
Leaving his body as a paradife,
T' invelope and contain celeftial fpirits.
Never was fuch a fudden scholar made:
Never came reformation in a flood
With fuch a heady current, fcowering faults:
Nor ever Hydra-headed wilfulness
So foon did lofe his feat, and all at once,
As in this King.
ELY. We're bleffed in the change.
CANT. Hear him but reafon in divinity,
And, all-admiring, with an inward with
You would defire, the King were made a Prelate.
Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs,
You'd fay, it had been all in all kis ftudy.
Lift his difcourfe of war, and you fhall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in music.
Turn him to any cause of policy,
The Gordian knot of it he will unloofe,
Familiar as his garter. When he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is ftill;
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his fweet and honeyed fentences:
So that the act, and practic part of life,
Must be the mistress to this theorique.
Which is a wonder how his Grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain ;
His companies unletter'd, rude, and fhallow;
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports;
And never noted in him any ftudy,
Any retirement, any fequeftration,
From open haunts, and popularity.
ELY. The ftrawberry grows underneath the nettle,
And wholesome berries thrive, and ripen best,
Neighbour'd by fruit of bafer quality :
And fo the prince obfcur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildnefs; which, no doubt,
Grew like the fummer-grafs, fastest by night,
Unfeen, yet crefcive in his faculty.
CANT. It must be fo: for miracles are ceas'd:
And therefore we muft needs admit the means,
How things are perfected.
HOR. The fame, my Lord, and your poor fervant ever. HAM. Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with
you:
And what makes you from Wittenberg, Horatio?
HOR. A truant difpofition, good my Lord.
HAM. I would not hear your enemy say so;
Nor fhall you do mine ear that violence,
To make it trufter of your own report
Against yourself. I know you are no truant;
But what is your affair in Elfinoor?
We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
HOR. My Lord, I came to fee your father's funeral.
HAM. I pr'ythee do not mock me, fellow-ftudent;
I think it was to fee my mother's wedding.
HOR. Indeed, my Lord, it follow'd hard upon.
HAM. Thrift, thrift, Horatio; the funeral bak'd meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
Would I had met my deareft foe in heav'n,
father.
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!
My father methinks I fee my
HOR. Oh where, my Lord?
HAM. In my mind's eye, Horatio.
HOR. I faw him once, he was a goodly King.
HAM. He was a man, take him for all in all,
I fhall not look upon his like again.
HOR. My Lord, I think I faw him yefternight.
HAM. Saw! who?
HOR. My Lord, the King your father.
HAM. The King my father!
HOR. Seafon your admiration but a while,
With an attentive ear; till I deliver,
Upon the witnefs of thefe gentlemen,
This marvel to you.
HAM. For Heaven's love, let me hear.
HOR. Two nights together had these gentlemen, Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,
In the dead waste and middle of the night,
Been thus encountered: A figure like your father,
Arm'd at all points exactly, cap-à-pè,
Appears before them, and with folemn march
Goes flow and itately by them; thrice he walk'd
By their opprefs'd and fear-furprised eyes,
Within his truncheon's length; whilft they (diftill'd
Almoft to jelly with th' effect of fear)
Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me
In dreadful fecrecy impart they did,
And I with them the third night kept the watch :
Where, as they had deliver'd both in time,
Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
I
The apparition comes. I knew your father:
Thefe hands are not more like.
HAM. But where was this?
HOR. My Lord, upon the platform where we watch'd. HAM. Did you not speak to it?
HOR. My Lord I did;
But answer made it none. Yet once methought
It lifed up its head, and did addrefs
Itfelf to motion, like as it would speak,
But even then the morning cock crew loud;
And at the found it fhrunk in hafte away,
And vanish'd from our fight.
HAM. 'Tis very strange.
HOR. As I do live, my honour'd Lord, 'tis true; And we did think it writ down in our duty
To let you know of it.
HAM. Indeed, indeed, Sir, but this troubles me.
Hold you the watch to-night?
HOR. We do, my Lord.
HAM. Arm'd, fay you?
HOR. Arm'd, my Lord.
HAM. From top to toe?
HOR. My Lord, from head to foot.
HAM. Then faw you not his face?
HOR. Oh, yes, my Lord; he wore his beaver up.
HAM. What, look'd he frowningly?
HOR. A count'nance more in forrow than in anger.
HAM. Pale, or red?
HOR. Nay, very pale.
HAM. And fix'd his eyes upon you?
HOR. Moft constantly.
HAM. I would I had been there!
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