nventorially, would dizzy the arithmetic of memory; and yet but raw neither, in respect of his quick sail. But, in the verity of extolment, take him to be a soul of great article ; and his infusion of such dearth and rareness, as, to make true diction of him, his semblable is his mirror; and, who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more."

Osr. Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him.

Ham. The concernancy, Sir? why do we wrap the gentleman in our more rawer breath? Osr. Sir?

Hor. Is't not possible to understand in another tongue? You will do't, Sir, really.

Ham. What imports the nomination of this gentleman?

Osr. Of Laertes?

Osr. Shall I deliver you so? Ham. To this effect, Sir; after what flourish your nature will.

Osr. I commend my duty to your lordship.

[Exit. Ham. Yours, yours.-He does well to commend it himself; there are no tongues else for's turn.

Hor. This lapwing* runs away with the shell on his head.

Ham. He did comply with his dug, before he sucked it. Thus has he (and many more of the same breed, that, I know, the drossy‡ age dotes on,) only got the tune of the time, and outward habit of encounter; a kind of yestys collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to their trial,

Ham. Of him, Sir.

Osr. I know, you are not ignorant

Ham. I would, you did, Sir; yet, in faith, if you did, it would not much approve‡ me ;Well, Sir.

Osr. You are not ignorant of what excellence

Laertes is—

Ham. I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with him in excellence; but, to know a man well, were to know himself.

Osr. I mean, Sir, for his weapon; but in the imputation laid on him by them, in his meed

he's unfellowed.

Ham. What's his weapon? Osr. Rapier and dagger. Ham. That's two of his weapons: but, well. Osr. The king, Sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary horses: against the which he has impawned, as I take it, six French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hangers, and so: Three of the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy, very responsive to the hilts, most delicate carriages, and of very liberal conceit.

Ham. What call you the carriages? Hor. I knew, you must be edified by the margent,** ere you had done.

Osr. The carriages, Sir, are the hangers. Ham. The phrase would be more germantt to the matter, if we could carry a cannon by our sides; I would, it might be hangers till then. But, on: Six Barbary horses against six French swords, their assigns, and three liberal conceited carriages; that's the French bet against the Danish: Why is this impawned, as you call it?

Osr. The king, Sir, hath laid, that in a dozen passes between yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits; he hath laid, on twelve for nine; and it would come to immediate trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe

the answer.

Enter a LORD.

Lord. My lord, his majesty commended him to you by young Osric, who brings back to him, that you attend him in the hall: He sends to know, if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that you will take longer time.

Ham. I am constant to my purposes, they follow the king's pleasure: if his fitness speaks, mine is ready; now, or whensoever, provided I be so able as now.

Lord. The king, and queen, and all are com ing down.

Ham. In happy time.

Lord. The queen desires you, to use some gentle entertainment to Laertes, before you fall to play.

Ham. She well instructs me. [Exit LORD. Hor. You will lose this wager, my lord.

Ham. I do not think so; since he went into France, I have been in continual practice; I shall win at the odds. But thou wouldst not think, how ill all's here about my heart: but it is no matter.

Hor. Nay, good my lord,

Ham. It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gain-giving,¶ as would, perhaps, trouble a

woman.

Hor. If your mind dislike any thing, obey it: I will forestal** their repair hither, and say, you are not fit.

Ham. Not a whit, we defy augury; there is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all: Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows, what is't to leave betimes? Let be.

Enter KING, QUEEN, LAERTES, LORDS, OSRIC, and Attendants, with Foils, &c.

King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.

[The KING puts the Hand of LAERTES into that of HAMLET.

Ham. Give me your pardon, Sir: I have done you wrong;

But pardon it, as you are a gentleman.
This
How I am punish'd with a sore distraction.

presencett knows, and you must needs

have heard,

I am dead, Horatio:-Wretched queen, adieu!

You that look pale and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,
Had I but time, (as this fell sergeant,* death
Is strict in his arrest,) O, I could tell you,-
But let it be:-Horatio, I am dead;
Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.

Ifor. Never believe it;

I am more an antique Roman than a Dane,
Here's yet some liquor left.

Hum. As thou'rt a man,

[it. Give me the cup; let go; by heaven I'll have O God!-Horatio, what a wounded name, Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me?

If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, Absent thee from felicity awhile, [pain, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in To tell my story.

[March afar off, and Shot within. What warlike noise is this?

Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come
from Poland,

To the ambassadors of England gives
This warlike volley.

Ham. O, I die, Horatio;

The potent poison quite o'er-crowst my spirit;
I cannot live to hear the news from England:
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents, more or less,
Which have solicited,§-The rest is silence.

[Dies. Hor. Now cracks a noble heart;-Good night, sweet prince; And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!Why does the drum come hither?

[March within. Enter FORTINBRAS, the ENGLISH AMBASSADORS,

and others.

What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,
That thou so many princes, at a shot,
So bloodily hast struck?

1 Amb. The sight is dismal;

And our affairs from England come too late : The ears are senseless, that should give us hearing,

To tell him, his commandment is fulfill'd,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead:
Where should we have our thanks?

Hor. Not from his mouth,*

Had it the ability of life to thank you;
He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jumpt upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack; wars, and you from
England,

Are here arriv'd; give order, that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view;
And let me speak, to the yet unknowing world,
How these things come about: So shall you
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts; [hear
Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters;
Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc'd cause;
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I
Truly deliver.

Fort. Let us haste to hear it,
And call the noblest to the audience.
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune;

have some rights of memory in this kingdom, Which now to claim my vantage doth invite

SCENE L-Venice.-A Street.

Enter RODERIGO and IAGO.

Rod. Tush, never tell me, I take it much unkindly,

That thou, Iago,-who hast had my purse, As if the strings were thine,-shouldst know of this.

Iago. 'Sblood, but you will not hear me :If ever I did dream of such a matter, Abhor me.

Rod. Thou told'st me, thou didst hold him in thy hate.

lago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city,

In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Oft capp'd to him;-and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance,t
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion, nonsuits

My mediators; for, certes, says he,
I have already chose my officer.

And what was he?

Wherein the toged consuls can propose
As masterly as he: mere prattle, without prac-
tice,
[election:
Is all his soldiership. But he, Sir, had the
And I,-of whom his eyes had seen the proof,
At Rhodes, at Cyprus; and on other grounds
Christian and heathen,-must be be-lee'd and

calm'd

Preferment goes by letter, and affection,
Not by the old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to the first. Now, Sir, be judge
yourself,

Whether I in any just term am affin'd‡
To love the Moor.

Rod. I would not follow him then.
Iago. O, Sir, content you;

I follow him to serve my turn upon him:
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For nought but provender; and, when he's
old, cashier'd;
[are,
Whip me such honest knaves: Others there
Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves;

And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,

Do well thrive by them, and, when they have lin'd their coats,

Do themselves homage: these fellows have some soul;

And such a one do I profess myself.
For, Sir,

It is as sure as you are Roderigo,
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:
In following him, I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end:
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern,* 'tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.
Rod. What a full fortune does the thick-lips
If he can carry't thus!

[owe,t

Iago. Call up her father, Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight, Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kins

men,

And, though he in a fertile climate dwell, Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy,

Yet throw such changes of vexation on't,
As it may lose some colour.

Rod. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud.

lago. Do; with like timorous accent, and dire yell,

As when, by night and negligence, the fire
Is spied in populous cities.

Rod. What, ho! Brabantio! signior Brabantio, ho!

Iago. Awake! what, ho! Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves! [bags! Look to your house, your daughter, and your Thieves! thieves!

BRABANTIO, above, at u Window.

Bra. What is the reason of this terrible sumWhat is the matter there? [mons?

Rod. Signior, is all your family within?
Jugo. Are your doors lock'd?
Bra. Why? wherefore ask you this?
Iago. 'Zounds, Sir, you are robb'd; for
shame, put on your gown; [soul;
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your
Even now, very now, an old black ram
Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise;
Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you:
Arise, I say.

Bra. What, have you lost your wits?
Rod. Most reverend signior, do you know

my voice?

Bra. Not I; What are you?
Rod. My name is-Roderigo.
Bra. The worse welcome:

[doors: I have charg'd thee, not to haunt about my In honest plainness thou hast heard me say, My daughter is not for thee; and now, in mad

ness,

Being full of supper, and distempering draughts,

Upon malicious bravery, dost thou come
To start my quiet.

Rod. Sir, Sir, Sir, Sir,

Bra. But thou must needs be sure,

My spirit, and my place, have in them power To make this bitter to thee.

* Outward show of civility. t1. e. Is broken.

Rod. Patience, good Sir.

Bra. What tell'st thou me of robbing? this is Venice;

My house is not a grange.

Rod. Most grave Brabantio,

In simple and pure soul I come to you.

Iago. 'Zounds, Sir, you are one of those, that will not serve God, if the devil bid you. Because we come to do you service, you think we are ruffians: You'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews neigh to you: you'll have coursers for cousins, and gennets for germans.†

Bra. What profane wretch art thou?

Iugo. I am one, Sir, that comes to tell you, your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.

Bra. Thou art a villain. lago. You are-a senator.

Bra. This thou shalt answer: I know thee, Roderigo.

Rod. Sir, I will answer any thing. But I beseech you,

If't be your pleasure, and most wise consent, (As partly, I find, it is,) that your fair daugh

ter,

At this odd-event and dull watch o'the night,
Transported-with no worse nor better guard,
But with a knave of common hire, a gondo-
lier,§-

To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor,—
If this be known to you, and your allowance,
We then have done you bold and saucy

wrongs;

¡me,

But, if you know not this, my manners tell
We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe,
That, from the sense of all civility, [ence:
I thus would play and trifle with your rever-
Your daughter,-if you have not given her
leave,-

I say again, hath made a gross revolt;
Tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes,
Of here and every where: Straight satisfy
In an extravagant and wheeling stranger,
yourself:

If she be in her chamber, or your house,
Let loose on me the justice of the state
For thus deluding you.

Bra. Strike on the tinder, ho!
This accident is not unlike my dream,
Give me a taper;-call up all my people :-
Belief of it oppresses me already:-
Light, I say! light!

[Exit from above. It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my place lago. Farewell; for I must leave you : To be produc'd (as, if I stay, I shall,) Against the Moor: For, I do know, the state,However this may gall him with some check,Cannot with safety cast** him; for he's embark'd

With such loud reason to the Cyprus' wars, (Which even now stand in act,) that, for their

souls,

To lead their business; in which regard,
Another of his fathom they have not,
Yet, for necessity of present life,
Though I do hate him as I do hell pains,

I must show out a flag and sign of love, Which is indeed but sign. That you shal surely find him,

Lead to the Sagittary the rais'd search; And there will I be with him. So, farewell, [Exil.

+ Own, possess. Intoxicating.

A waterman.

¶ Wandering.

↑ Midnigl. Approbation. ** Dismiss.