Hor. Two nights together had these gentlemen,
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,
In the dead vast[a 1][b 1] and middle of the night,
Been thus encounter'd: a figure like your father,
Armed at point[a 2] exactly,[b 2] cap-a-pe, 200
Appears before them, and with solemn march
Goes slow and stately by them; thrice[a 3] he walk'd
By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,
Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill'd[a 4][b 3]
Almost to jelly with the act[b 4] of[a 5] fear, 205
Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me
In dreadful secrecy 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, 210
The apparition comes. I knew your father;
These hands are not more like.
Ham. But where was this?
Mar. My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd.[a 6]
- ↑ 198. vast] Q 1, Qq 5, 6; wast Qq 2–4, F; waste Ff 2–4 and many editors; waist Malone, Steevens, Variorum.
- ↑ 200. Armed at point] Q, Armed to poynt Q 1, Arm'd at all points F.
- ↑ 202. stately by them; thrice] Q, stataly: By them thrice F.
- ↑ 204. his] F, this Qq 4–6. distill'd] Q, Q 1; bestil'd F 1; bestill'd F 2; be stil'd Ff 3, 4; bechil'd Collier (MS.).
- ↑ 205. the act of] th' effect of Warburton.
- ↑ 213. watch'd] F, watch Q.
- ↑ 198. vast] vacancy, void, emptiness, as in Tempest, I. ii. 327, "vast of night." "Waste" of Ff has the same sense. Malone, supporting "waist," quotes from Marston's Malcontent: "the immodest waist or night"
- ↑ 200. at point exactly] Clar. Press explains "at all points," and quotes Richard II. I. iii. 2:
"Mar. Is Harry Hereford arm'd?
Aum. Yea, at all points." - ↑ 204. distill'd] melted, Dyce quotes from Sylvester's Du Bartas: "Melt thee, distill thee, turn to wax or snow." Jelly is probably named because of its quivering, like the quivering of fear.
- ↑ 205. act] action, operation, as in Othello, III. iii. 328.
