THE

TEMPLE SHAKESPEARE

By the kind permission of Messrs Macmillan & Co.
and W. Aldis Wright, Esq., the text here
used is that of the "Cambridge" Edition.

First Edition of this issue of "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" printed August 1895.

Second Edition, July 1896.

OTHERS abide our question. Thou art free.
We ask and ask Thou smilest and art still,
Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,
Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty,

Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea,
Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place,
Spares but the cloudy border of his base
To the foil'd searching of mortality:

And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know,
Self-school'd, self-scanned, self-honour'd, self-secure,
Didst tread on earth unguessed-at.-Better so!

All pains the immortal spirit must endure,
All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bow.
Find their sole speech in that victorious brow.

MATTHEW ARNOLD.