When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames Ham. Alas, poor ghost! 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; Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night; And, for the day, confined to fast in fires, 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 combined locks to part; To ears of flesh and blood.-List, list, O, list! Ham. O heaven! Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. Ham. Murder? Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange, and unnatural Ham. Haste me to know it; that I, with wings as swift As meditation, or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge. Ghost. I find thee apt; 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 forged process of my death Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth, 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; 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 secure hour thy uncle stole, With juice of cursed hebenon 1 in a vial, The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine; Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust, Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand, Of life, of crown, of queen at once despatch'd; 5 Without having received the sacrament. • Unappointed, unprepared. 3 Scurf 7 Without extreme unction. Let not the royal bed of Denmark be 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, I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws 2 of books, all forms, all pressures past, O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! 1 Head. • Memorandums. 2 Sayings, sentences. That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain; So, uncle, there you are. [writing Now to my word; It is, 'Adieu, adieu! remember me.' I have sworn 't. Ho. [within.] My lord, my lord,——— Mar. [within.] Lord Hamlet, Ho. [within.] Ham. Heaven secure him! So be it! Mar. [within.] Illo, ho, ho, my lord! Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS. Mar. How is 't, my noble lord? Ham. How say you then? Would heart of man But you once think it? 'll be secret? Ho. Mar. Ay, by heaven, my lord. Ham. There's ne'er a villain, dwelling in all Denmark, But he's an arrant knave. Ho. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from |