Hor. A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
Ham. Pale, or[a 1] red?
Hor. Nay, very pale.
Ham. And fix'd his eyes upon you?
Hor. Most constantly.
Ham. I would I had been there.
Hor. It would have much amazed you. 235
Ham. Very like, very like.[a 2][b 1] Stay'd it long?
Hor. While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.
Mar., Ber. Longer, longer.
Hor. Not when I saw't.
Ham. His beard was grizzled? no?[a 3]
Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life, 240 A sable silver'd.
Ham. I will[a 4] watch to-night;
Perchance 'twill walk[a 5] again.
Hor. I warrant[a 6] it will.
Ham. If it assume my noble father's person,
I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape[b 2]
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all, 245
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight.
Let it be tenable[a 7][b 3] in your silence still;
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night
- ↑ 232. Pale, or] Q, F; Pale or Qq 4–6.
- ↑ 236. Very like, very like] Q 1, F; Very like Q.
- ↑ 239. grizzled? no?] grissl'd, no. Q, grisly? no, F, grisly? Ff 2-4, grizzled,—no? Dyce.
- ↑ 241. I will] Q, Ile F.
- ↑ 242. walk] Q, wake F.
- ↑ 242. warrant] Q 1, Q; warrant you F.
- ↑ 247, tenable] Q 1, Q; treble F.
- ↑ 236. like] likely.
- ↑ 244. gape] Staunton suggests that perhaps "gape" signifies yell, howl, roar, rather than yawn or open, citing Henry VIII, V. iv. 3.
- ↑ 248. tenable] The "treble" of F is defended by Caldecott, meaning a threefold obligation of silence. G. Macdonald says, "The actor, in uttering it, must point to each of the three" witnesses. Clar. Press, "treble, a mere misprint."
