with the hooks! One mighty fling!
Adown the wind the long rope curls.
Oh! will it catch? Ah, dread suspense!
While the wild ocean wilder whirls.
A steady pull; it tightens now:
Oh! his old heart will burst with joy,
As on the slippery rocks he pulls
The breathing body of his boy.

7. Still sweep the specters through the sky;
Still scud the clouds before the storm;
Still naked in the howling night
The red-eyed lighthouse lifts its form.
Without, the world is wild with rage;
Unkenneled demons are abroad;
But with the father and the son
Within, there is the peace of God.

NOTE.--Minot's Ledge (also called the "Cohasset Rocks") is a dangerous
reef in Boston Harbor, eight miles southwest of Boston Light. It has a
fixed light of its own, sixty-six feet high.

CIX. HAMLET.

William Shakespeare (b. 1564, d. 1616), by many regarded as the greatest
poet the world has ever produced, was born at Stratford-upon-Avon,
England. He was married, when very young, to a woman eight years his
senior, went to London, was joint proprietor of Blackfriar's Theater in
1589, wrote poems and plays, was an actor, accumulated some property, and
retired to Stratford three or four years before his death. He was buried
in Stratford church, where a monument has been erected to his memory. This
is all that is known of him with any degree of certainty.

Shakespeare's works consist chiefly of plays and sonnets. They show a
wonderful knowledge of human nature, expressed in language remarkable for
its point and beauty.

(ACT I, SCENE II. HAMLET alone in a room, of the castle.
Enter HORATIO, MARCELLUS, and BERNARDO.)

Hor. Hail, to your lordship!

Ham. I am glad to see you well:
Horatio,--or I do forgot myself.

Hor. The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.

Ham. Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you:
And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?--
Macellus?

Mar. My good lord--

Ham. I am very glad to see you. [To Ber.] Good even, sir.
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?

Hor. A truant disposition, good my lord.

Ham. I would not hear your enemy say so,
Nor shall you do mine ear that violence,
To make it truster of your own report
Against yourself: I knew you are no truant.
But what is your affair in Elsinore?
We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.

Hor. M