Page:Hamlet (1917) Yale.djvu/37

Prince of Denmark, I. iv  Hor. Look, my lord, it comes.

Ham. Angels and ministers of grace defend us!

Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,

Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,

Be thy intents wicked or charitable,

Thou com'st in such a questionable shape

That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet,

King, father, royal Dane; O! answer me:

Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell

Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death,

Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre,

Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,

Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws,

To cast thee up again. What may this mean,

That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel

Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,

Making night hideous; and we fools of nature

So horridly to shake our disposition

With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?

Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?

Ghost beckons Hamlet.

Hor. It beckons you to go away with it,

As if it some impartment did desire

To you alone.

Mar. Look, with what courteous action

It waves you to a more removed ground:

But do not go with it.

Hor. No, by no means.

Ham. It will not speak; then, will I follow it.

 39 ministers of grace: messengers of God

40 spirit of health: good spirit

goblin: evil spirit

43 questionable: inviting question

47 canoniz'd: buried according to the Church's rule

hearsed: coffined

48 cerements: grave-clothes

49 inurn'd: interred

53 glimpses of the moon: the earth by night

56 reaches: capacities

59 impartment: communication

