with you. Why do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you would drive me into a toil? Guil. O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly.

Ham. I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this pipe?

Guil. My lord, I cannot.
Ham. I pray you.

Guil. Believe me,
Ham. I do beseech you.

Guil. I know no touch of it, my lord.

Ham. 'Tis as easy as lying: govern these ventages with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look you, these are the stops.

Guil. But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I have not the skill.

Ham, Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me. You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ; yet cannot you make it speak. S'blood, do you think, I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play

upon me.

Enter POLONIUS.

cannot.

Ham. Or, like a whale?

Pol. Very like a whale.

Pol. I will say so.

Ham. Then will I come to my mother by and by. -They fool me to the top of my bent.-I will come by and by. [Exit Polonius. Ham. By and by is easily said.-Leave me, friends. [Exeunt Ros. Guil. Hor. &c. "Tis now the very witching time of night; When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes [blood, Contagion to this world: Now could I drink hot And do such business as the bitter day Would quake to look on. Soft; now to my mother.

out

O, heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever,
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom :
Let me be cruel, not unnatural:

I will speak daggers to her, but use none;
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites:
How in my words soever she be shent,
To give them seals, never, my soul, consent!

[Exit.

SCENE III.-A Room in the same. Enter King, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN. King. I like him not; nor stands it safe with us, To let his madness range. Therefore, prepare you; I your commission will forthwith despatch, And he to England shall along with you: The terms of our estate may not endure Hazard so uear us, as doth hourly grow Out of his lunes.

Guil. We will ourselves provide: Most holy and religious fear it is, To keep those many many bodies safe, That live, and feed, upon your majesty.

Ros. The single and peculiar life is bound, With all the strength and armour of the mind, To keep itself from 'noyance; but much more That spirit, upon whose weal depend and rest The lives of many. The cease of majesty Dies not alone; but, like a gulf, doth draw

And, as you said, and wisely was it said,
"Tis meet, that some more audience, than a mother,
Since nature makes them partial, should o'er-hear
The speech of vantage. Fare you well, my liege :
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,
And tell you what I know.
King.

Thanks, dear my lord. [Exit Polonius. O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, A brother's murder!-Pray can I not, Though inclination be as sharp as will; My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent; And, like a man to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin, And both neglect. What if this cursed hand Were thicker than itself with brother's blood? Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens, To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy, But to confront the visage of offence? And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,To be forestalled, ere we come to fall, Or pardon'd, being down? Then I'll look up; My fault is past. But O, what form of prayer Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder!That cannot be; since I am still possess'd Of those effects for which I did the murder? My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen. May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence? In the corrupted currents of this world, Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice; And oft 'tis seen, the wicked prize itself Buys out the law: But 'tis not so above: There is no shuffling, there the action lies In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd, Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, To give in evidence. What then? what rests? Try what repentance can: What can it not? Yet what can it, when one can not repent? O wretched state! O bosom, black as death! O limed soul, that, struggling to be free, Art more engag'd! Help, angels, make assay! Bow, stubborn knees! and, heart, with strings of steel, Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe!All may be well! (Retires, and kneels.)

Enter HAMLET.

Ham. Now might I do it, pat, now he is praying; And now I'll do't;-and so he goes to heaven: And so am I reveng'd? That would be scann'd: A villain kills my father; and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same viliain send To heaven.

Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge.
He took my father grossly, full of bread;
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May;
And, how his audit stands, who knows, save hea-
ven?

But, in our circumstance and course of thought, 'Tis heavy with him: And am I then reveng'd, To take him in the purging of his soul,

Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILdenstern. Friends both, go join you with some further aid: Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain, And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him: Go, seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this. [Exeunt Ros, and Guil. Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends; And let them know, both what we mean to do, And what's untimely done: so, haply, slander,— Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, As level as the cannon to his blank, Transports his poison'd shot,-may miss our name, And hit the woundless air.-O come away! My soul is full of discord, and dismay.

[Exeunt. SCENE II. Another Room in the house.. Enter HAMLET.

Ham. That I can keep your counsel, and not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge ! -what replication should be made by the son of a king?

Ros. Take you me for a sponge, my lord? Ham. Ay, sir; that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end: He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swallowed: When he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again.

Ros. I understand you not, my lord.

Ham. I am glad of it: A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.

Ros. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the king.

Ham. The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thingGuil. A thing, my lord?

Ham. Of nothing: bring me to him.

and all after.

Hide fox, [Exeunt. SCENE III.-Another Room in the same. Enter King, attended.

King. I have sent to seek him, and to find the body.

How dangerous is it, that this man goes loose?
Yet must not we put the strong law on him:
He's lov'd of the distracted multitude,
Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
And, where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd,
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
This sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate pause: Diseases, desperate grown,
By desperate appliance are reliev'd,
Enter ROSENCRANTZ.

a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en it him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else, to fat us; and we fat ourselves for maggots: Your fat king, and your lea beggar, is but variable service; two dishes, but to one table; that's the end. King. Alas! alas!

Ham. A man may fish with the worm that haft eat of a king; and eat of the fish that bath fed of that worm.

Or not at all.-How now? what hath befallen? Ros. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord, We cannot get from him.

King. What dost thou mean by this? Ham. Nothing, but to shew you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar. King. Where is Polonius?

Ham. In heaven; send thither to see: if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself. But, indeed, if you find him at within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.

King. Go seek him there. (To some Attendmts.) Ham. He will stay till you come.

[Exeunt Attendants. King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,

For that which thou hast done,—must send ther Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve

hence

With fiery quickness: Therefore, prepare thyself
The bark is ready, and the wind at help,
Th' associates tend, and every thing is bent
For England.
Ham.

For England?

King.
Ham.

for

Ay, Hamlet. Good King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. Ham. I see a cherub, that sees them.-Bat, come England!-Farewell, dear mother. King. Thy loving father, Hamlet. Ham. My mother: Father and mother is mu mother. Come, for England. and wife; man and wife is one flesh; and se, mỹ

[Ent

King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed Delay it not, I'll have him hence to-night : aboard; That else leans on th' affair: Pray you, make haste Away; for every thing is seal'd and done And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught. [Exeunt Ros, and Gui, (As my great power thereof may give thee senst After the Danish sword, and thy free awe Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red Pays homage to us.) thou may'st not coldly set Our sovereign process; which imports at full, By letters conjuring to that effect, The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England; For like the hectic in my blood he rages, And thou must cure me: Till I know "tis done. Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin. [Est SCENE IV.-A Plain in Denmark. Enter FORTINBRAS, and Forces, marching. For. Go, captain, from me, greet the Danish king Tell him, that, by his licence, Fortinbras Craves the conveyance of a promis'd march Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous. If that his majesty would aught with us, We shall express our duty in his eye, And let him know so.

I will do't, my lord.

[Exeunt Fortinbras and Fer Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, &c.

Ham.
Good sir, whose powers are these
Cap. They are of Norway, sir.
Ham.

How purpos'd, sir

Cap.
For. Go softly on.

I pray you?

Cap.
Ham.

Against some part of Poland.

WE

Ham. Why, then the Polack never will defend it.
Cap. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd. [ducats,
Ham. Two thousand souls, and twenty thousand
Will not debate the question of this straw:
This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace;
That inward breaks, and shews no cause without
Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.
Cap. God be wi' you, sir.
Ros.
Will't please you go, my
Ham. I will be with you straight. Go a little
before.
[Exeunt Ros. and Guil.
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good, and market of his time,
Be but to sleep, and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he, that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before, and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on the event,-
A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part
wisdom,

And, ever, three parts coward,-I do not know
Why yet I live to say, This thing's to do;
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means,
To do't. Examples, gross as earth, exhort me:
Witness, this army of such mass, and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince;
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd,
Makes mouths at the invisible event;
Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,
To all that fortune, death, and danger, dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great,
Is, not to stir without great argument;
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw,
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason, and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy, and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds; fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough, and continent,
To hide the slain?-O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth! [Exit.
SCENE V.-Elsinore. A Room in the Castle.
Enter Queen and HORATIO.
Queen. I will not speak with her.

Hor. She is importunate; indeed, distract;
Her mood will needs be pitied.

Queen. What would she have? Hor. She speaks much of her father; says, she hears, [heart; There's tricks i'the world; and hems, and beats her Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt, That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing, Yet the unshaped use of it doth move The bearers to collection; they aim at it, And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts; Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them, [thought, Indeed would make one think, there might be Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.

Queen. "Twere good, she were spoken with; for she may strew

[Exit. lord?

Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds:
Let her come in.
[Exit Horatio.
To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,

To be your Valentine:

Then up he rose, and don'd his clothes, And dupp'd the chamber door;

Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
King. Pretty Ophelia!

[on't:

Oph. Indeed, without an oath, I'll make an end
By Gis, and by Saint Charity,
Alack, and fy for shame!

Young men will do't, if they come to't;
By cock, they are to blame.
Quoth she, before you tumbled me,
You promis'd me to wed:
(He answers.)

So would I ha' done, by yonder sun, An thou hadst not come to my bed. King. How long hath she been thus? Oph. I hope, all will be well. We must be patient: but I cannot choose but weep, to think, they should lay him i'the cold ground: My brother shall know of it, and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my coach! Good night, ladies; good night, sweet ladies; good night, good night.[Exit. King. Follow her close; give her good watch, I [Exit Horatio. O! this is the poison of deep grief; it springs All from her father's death: And now behold, O Gertrude, Gertrude,

pray you.

When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions! First, her father slain;
Next, your son gone; and he most violent author
Of his own just remove: The people muddied,
Thick and unwholsome in their thoughts and
whispers,
[greenly,
For good Polonius' death; and we have done but
In hugger-mugger to inter him: Poor Ophelia
Divided from herself, and her fair judgment;
Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts.
Last, and as much containing as all these,
Her brother is in secret come from France:
Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds,
And wants not buzzers to infect his ear
With pestilent speeches of his father's death;