You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And-would it were not so!-you are my mother.

Queen. Nay, then I'll set those to you that can speak.
Ham. Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass

Where you may see the inmost part of you.

Queen. What wilt thou do?—thou wilt not murder me? Ham. Leave wringing of your hands: peace; sit you down, And let me wring your heart: for so I shall,

If it be made of penetrable stuff;

If damned custom have not brazed it so,

That it is proof and bulwark against sense.

Queen. What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue In noise so rude against me?

That blurs the grace and blush of modesty ;
Calls virtue, hypocrite; takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love,
And sets a blister there; makes marriage vows
As false as dicer's oath! oh, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul; and sweet religion makes

A rhapsody of words. Heaven's face doth glow;
Yea, this solidity and compound mass,

With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.

That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?

Ham. Look here, upon this picture, and on this;
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.

See what a grace was seated on this brow:
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars,' to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury,'

New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;

1

Mars, an ancient Roman god, who, at an early period, was identified with the Greek Ares, or the god delighting in bloody war. Next to Jupiter, Mars enjoyed the high

est honors at Rome; also, a planet.
2 Mercury, in mythology, the mes-
senger and interpreter of the gods,
and the god of eloquence and of com-
merce, called Hermes by the Greeks

A combination, and a form, indeed,

Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man:

This was your
husband.-Look you, now, what follows:
Here is your husband; like a mildewed ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
You can not call it love; for at your age

The heyday in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment; and what judgment
Would step from this to this?

Queen.

Oh, speak no more! Thou turn'st mine eyes into my věry soul;

And there I see such black and grained spots,

As will not leave their tinct. Oh, speak to me no more!
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears:
No more, sweet Hamlet!

Ham.

A murderer and a villain

A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord :-a vice of kings:
A cut-purse of the empire and the rule;
That from a shelf the precious diädem stole,
And put it in his pocket!

Queen.

Ham.

No more!

A king

Of shreds and patches ;

[Enter GHOST.

Save me and hover o'er me with your wings,

You heavenly guards!-What would your gracious figure?

Queen. Alas, he's mad!

Ham. Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command?
O, say!

Ghost. Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But look! amazement on thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:

1 Tinct, (tingkt), spot; stain; color.

Speak to her, Hamlet.

Ham.

How is it with you, lady?

Queen. Alas! how is't with you,

That you do bend your eye on vacancy,

And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?

Whereon do you look?

Ham. On him! on him! Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable. Do not look on me,

Lest, with this piteous action, you convert
My stern effects: then what I have to do
Will want true color; tears, perchance, for blood.
Queen. To whom do you speak this?
Ham.
Queen. Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.
Ham. Nor did you nothing hear?

Queen.

Do you see nothing there?

No, nothing, but ourselves.

Ham. Why, look you there! look, how it steals ǎway! My father, in his habit as he lived!

Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!

Queen. This is the very coinage of your brain : This bodilèss creation, ecstasy

My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music. It is not madness,
That I have uttered: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,
That not your trěspàss, but my madness, speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
While rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to Heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;
And do not spread the compost on the weeds
To make them ranker.

[Exit GHOST.

Queen. O Hamlet! thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
Ham. Oh, throw away the worser part of it,

And live the purer with the other half.
Good-night: once more, good-night!
And when you are desirous to be blest,
I'll blessing beg of you.

SHAKSPEARE.

SECTION XXXI.

I.

162. SOCIETY THE GREAT EDUCATOR.

OCIETY is the great educator. More than universities,

Nature is the schoolhouse, and many lessons are written upon its walls; but man is the effective teacher. Parents, relatives, friends, associates; social manners, maxims, morals, worships, the daily example, the fireside conversation, the casual interview, the spirit that breathes through the whole atmosphere of life-these are the powers and influences that train the mass of mankind. Even books, which are daily assuming a larger place in human training, are but the influence of man on man.

2. It is evident that one of the leading and ordained means by which men are raised in the scale of knowledge and virtue, is the conversation, example, influence of men superior to themselves. It seems, if one may say so, to be the purpose, the intent, the effort of nature-of Providence, to bring men together, and to bring them together, for the most part, in relations of discipleship and teaching.

3. The social nature, first, draws them to intercourse. Perpetual solitariness is intolerable. But then, much of their intercourse is on terms of inequality. Equals in age, people in society, seldom meet, but one is able to teach or tell something, and the other is desirous to learn it. The lower are strongly drawn to the higher. Children are not content to be always by themselves; curiosity, reverence, filial affection draw them to their superiors. In the whole business of life-tillage, mechanism, manufacture, merchandise-a younger generation is connected with an elder, to be taught by it.

4. Barbarous tribes go on forever in their barbarism, till they are brought into the presence of superior culture. The Chinese

exclusion has kept that people stationary, though civilization has been knocking at their gates for more than three centuries. And it is better-I speak of mere results, not principles-that the way for light should be opened into that country by English cannon balls, or the rending asunder of the empire, than never to be opened.

5. But such a fixed barrier to civilization is a solitary phenomenon in history. Nations, the barbarous and civilized, by some means or other, in the everlasting ferʼment of human interests and passions, are thrown into communication and interfusion-if by no better means, by war, by subjugation, by capture for Providence, if one may say so, will have them come together. Human injustice and cruelty are not to be abetted in this matter. There are better ways, which Christian civilization ought to learn-travel, trade, missions of light and mercy; but, some way, the nations must mingle together, or the ignorant will never be enlightened, the savage never civilized.

6. Where are the ruder peasantry of Europe now resorting, for work and for subsistence? To the heart of England and America. Many an enlightened man, building a railroad, or improving his estate, many a refined woman in her household, is made their teacher-little suspecting the office, perhaps. It were fortunate, I think, for both parties, if they did; it might make the relation more kindly and holy; but any way, the work will be done. How fine and delicate and penetrating is this power of man to influence his kind! A word, a tone, a look-nothing (nuth'ing) goes to the depths of the soul like that. The dexterous hands, and the embracing arms, the commanding eye and the persuasive lips and the stately presence are fitted for nothing more remarkably than to teach.

7. Traveling on a railroad, one day, I saw a little child in the company of some half a dozen affectionate relatives. From hand to hand it passed-to be amused, to be soothed, to be taught something from moment to moment-to receive many lessons, and more caresses, all the day long. "Here," I thought with myself, "is a company of unpaid, loving, willing, unwearied teachers. Such governesses could scarce be hired on any terms." Well, it was not a nobleman's child; it was not a rich man's child, that I know: the same thing, substantially, is passing in every house where childhood lives, every day.