Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Here, as before, never, so help you mercy! That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, Or such ambiguous giving out, to note Ham. Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! So, gentlemen, May do, to express his love and friending to you, SCENE I. [Exeunt. A room in POLONIUS's house. Pol. Give him this money,and these notes, Reynaldo! Pol. You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo, Before you visit him, to make inquiry Of his behaviour. Rey. My lord, I did intend it. Pol. Marry, well said! very well said! Look you, sir, Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris; And how, and who, what means, and where they keep, What company, at what expence; and finding, By this encompassment and drift of question, That they do know my son, come you more nearer, Than your particular demands will touch it: Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of him;| As thus, I know his father, and his friends, And, in part, him ; · do you mark this, Reynaldo? Rey. Ay, very well, my lord! Pol. And, in part, him;-but, you may say, not well: But, if't be he I mean, he's very wild; Addicted so and so; and there put on him What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank may dishonour him; take heed of that; As But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips, As are companions noted and most known To youth and liberty. Rey. As gaming, my lord. Pol. Marry, sir, here's my drift! Your party in converse, him you would sound, Rey. Very good, my lord! Pol. And then, sir, does he this, — he does — What was I about to say? - By the mass, I was about to say something: where did I leave? Rey. At, closes in the consequence. Pol. At, closes in the consequence,- Ay marry: He closes with you thus:- I know the gentleman; I saw him yesterday, or t'other day, Or then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you say, There was he gaming; there o'ertook in his rouse; See you now; Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth; Pol. God be wi' you; fare you well! Pol. Observe his inclination in yourself! Pol. And let him ply his music! Enter OPHELIA. [Exit. Pol. Farewell! matter? Oph. O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted! Pol. With what, in the name of heaven? Oph. My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle; Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; And with a look so piteous in purport, How now, Ophelia? what's the As if he had been loosed out of hell, To speak of horrors, he comes before me. Pol. Mad for thy love? Oph. My lord, I do not know; But, truly, I do fear it. Pol. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrel- Pol. What said he? That's not my meaning; but breathe his faults so And thrice his head thus waving up and down, quaintly, That they may seem the taints of liberty: The flash and out-break of a fiery mind; A savageness in unreclaimed blood, Of general assault. Rey. But, my good lord, Pol. Wherefore should you do this? Rey. Ay my lord, I would know that. He rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound, I am sorry, that with better heed and judgment, To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions, More grief to hide, than hate to utter love. [Exeunt. SCENE II.A room in the castle. Enter King, Queen, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and Attendants. Pol. Have I, my lord? Assure you, my good liege, King.Welcome,dear Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern! Moreover that we much did long to see you, The need, we have to use you, did provoke Our hasty sending. Something have you heard Of Hamlet's transformation; so I call it, Since not the exterior nor the inward man Resembles that it was. What it should be, More than his father's death, that thus hath put him So much from the understanding of himself, I cannot dream of: I entreat you both, - That, being of so young days brought up with him; King. O, speak of that; that do I long to hear! Pol. Give first admittance to the ambassadors; My news shall be the fruit to that great feast. King. Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in! [Exit Polonius He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found The head and source of all your son's distemper. Queen. I doubt, it is no other but the main; His father's death, and our o'er hasty marriage. Re-enter POLONIUS, with VOLTIMAND and COST And, since, so neighbour'd to his youth and hu And, sure I am, two men there are not living, Ros. Both your majesties Might, by the sovereign power you have of us, Put your dread pleasures more into command, Than to entreaty. Guil. But we both obey; And here give up ourselves, in the full bent, of LIUS. King. Well, we shall sift him. - Welcome, my good friends! Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway? King. Thank, Rosencrantz, and gentle Guilden And I beseech you instantly to visit My too much changed son.- Go, some of you, Pleasant and helpful to him! Most welcome home! [Exeunt Voltimand and Corneliu Queen. More matter, with less art! [Exeunt Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Mad let us grant him then and now remains, some Attendants. That we find out the cause of this effect; Or, rather say, the cause of this defect; I have a daughter; have, while she is mine; - To the celestial, and my soul's idol, the most That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase; beautified is a vile phrase; but you shall hear. Thus: In her excellent white bosom, these, etc. Queen. Came this from Hamlet to her? Pol. Good madam, stay awhile! I will be faith ful. Mark the encounter: if he love her not, But keep a farm, and carters. Enter HAMLET, reading. Queen. But, look, where sadly the poor wretch comes reading. Pol. Away, I do beseech you, both away! How does my good lord Hamlet? Pol. Do you know me, my lord? Ham. Then I would you were so honest a man. Ham. Ay, sir! to be honest, as this world goes, Pol. I have, my lord! Ham. Let her not walk i'the san: conception is a blessing; but as your daughter may conceive, friend, look to't! Pol. How say you by that? [Aside.] Still harping on my daughter:-yet he knew me not at first; he said, I was a fishmonger. He is far gone, far gone: and, truly in my youth I suffered much extremity What do you read, my lord? Ham. Words, words, words! Pol. I mean, the matter that you read, my lord! Ham. Slanders, sir! for the satirical rogue says here, that old men have grey beards; that their faces are wrinkled; their eyes purging thick amber, and plum-tree gum; and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams. All of which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down; for yourself, sir, shall be as old as I am, if, like a crab, you could go backward. Pol. I would fain prove so. But what might you for love; very near this. I'll speak to him again.- King. Do you think, 'tis this? Queen. It may be, very likely. Pol. Though this be madness, yet there's method in it. Aside.] Will you walk out of the air, my lord? Ham. Into my grave. Pol. Indeed, that is out o' the air. - How pregnant sometimes his replies are! a happiness that often madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of. I will leave him, and suddenly contrive the means of meeting be Pol. Hath there been such a time, (I'd fain know tween him and my daughter. My honourable lord, that,) I will most humbly take my leave of you. Ham. You caunot, sir, take from me any thing Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN. Guil. My honour'd lord!- [To Polonius. [Exit Polonius. Ham. My excellent good friends! How dost thou, Guildenstern? Ah, Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do Pol. At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him: ye both? you and I behind an arras then; Be Ros. As the indifferent children of the earth. Guil. Happy, in that we are not over-happy; On fortune's cap we are not the very button. Ham. Nor the soles of her shoe? Ros. Neither, my lord! and queen moult no feather. I have of late, (but, Ham. Then you live about her waist, or in the the earth, seems to me a steril promontory; this Guil. 'Faith, her privates we. honest. Ham. Then is dooms-day near, But your news is not true. Let me question more in particular. What have you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of fortune, that she sends you to prison hither? Guil. Prison, my lord! Ham. Denmark's a prison. Ham. A goodly one; in which there are many confines, wards, and dungeons; Denmark being one of the worst. Ros. We think not so, my lord! Ham. Why, then 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so: to me it is a prison. Ros. Why, then your ambition makes it one; 'tis too narrow for your mind. Ham. O God! I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space; were it not that I have bad dreams. Guil. Which dreams, indeed, are ambition; for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream. Ham. A dream itself is but a shadow. most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave Ros. Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and light a quality, that it is but a shadow's shadow. Ham. Then are our beggars, bodies: and our monarchs, and outstretch'd heroes, the beggars' shadows. Shall we to the court? for, by my fay, I cannot reason. Ros. My lord, there is no such stuff in my thoughts. Ham. Why did you laugh then, when I said, Man delights not me? Ros. To think, my lord, if you delight not in man what lenten entertainment the players shall receive from you: we coted them on the way; and hither are they coming, to offer you service. Ham. He that plays the king, shall be welcome; his majesty shall have tribute of me: the adventurous knight shall use his foil, and target: the lover shall not sigh gratis; the humorous man shall end his part in peace: the clown shall make those laugh, whose lungs are tickled o' the sere; and the lady shall say her mind freely, or the blank verse shall halt for't. What players are they? Ros. Even those you were wont to take such delight in, the tragedians of the city. Ham. How chances it, they travel? their residence, both in reputation and profit, was better both ways Ros. I think, their inhibition comes by the meas of the late innovation. Guil. What should we say, my lord? Ham. Any thing but to the purpose. You were sent for; and there is a kind of confession in your looks, which your modesties have not craft enough to colour: I know, the good king and queen have sent for you. Ros. To what end, my lord? Hum. Do they hold the same estimation they di when I was in the city? Are they so followed? Ros. No indeed, they are not. are Ham. How comes it? Do they grow rusty? Ros. Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace: but there is, sir, an aiery of children, litte eyases, that cry out on the top of question, and ar most tyrannically clapped for't: these are now the fashion; and so berattle the common stages, (sa they call them) that many, wearing rapiers, t afraid of goose quills, and dare scarce come thither. Ham. What, are they children? who maintains them? how are they escuted? Will they pursue the quality no longer, than they can sing? will they net say afterwards, if they should grow themselves to common players, (as it is most like, if their meas are no better,) their writers do them wrong, to make them exclaim against their own succession? Ros. 'Faith, there has been much to do on bet sides; and the nation holds it no sin, to tarre the on to controversy: there was, for a while no mor bid for argument, unless the poet and the playe went to cuil's in the question. Ham. Is it possible? Ham. That you must teach me. But let me conjure you, by the rights of our fellowship, by the consonancy of our youth, by the obligation of our ever-preserved love, and by what more dear a better proposer could charge you withal, be even and direct with me, whether you were sent for, or no? Ros. What say you? [To Guildenstern, Ham. Nay, then I have an eye of you; [Aside.] - if you love me, hold not off. Guil. My lord, we were sent for. Guil. O, there has been much throwing about e brains. Ham. It is not very strange: for of Denmark; and those, that would make months him while my father lived, give twenty, forty, f in lit Ham. I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation if philosophy could find it out. [Flourish of trumpets within. Guil. There are the players. Ham. Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your hands! Come then! the appurtenance of welcome is fashion and ceremony: let me comply with you in this garb; lest my extent to the players, which, I tell you, must show fairly outward, should more appear like entertainment than yours. You are welcome: but my uncle-father, and aunt-mother, are deceived. Guil. In what, my dear lord? Ham. I am but mad north-north west; when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a hand-saw. Enter POLONIUS. Pol. Well be with you, gentlemen! Ham. Hark you, Guildenstern!- and you, too! at each ear a hearer: that great baby, you see there, is not yet out of his swaddling-clouts. Ros. Happily, he's the second time come to them; for, they say, an old man is twice a child. Ham. I will prophecy, he comes to tell me of the players; mark it! You say right, sir! o'Monday morning; 'twas then, indeed! Pol. My lord, I have news to tell you. cried in the top of mine,) an excellent play; well digested in the scenes, set down with as much modesty as cunning. I remember, one said, there were no sallets in the lines, to make the matter savoury; nor no matter in the phrase, that might indite the author of affection: but called it, an honest method, as wholesome as sweet, and by very much more handsome than fine. One speech in it I chiefly loved; 'twas Aeneas' tale to Dido; and thereabout of it especially, where he speaks of Priams's slaughter. If it live in your memory, begin at this line; let me see, let me see! The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast,— The rugged Pyrrhus, he, whose sable arms, Ham. My lord, I have news to tell you. When With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus Pol. The actors are come hither, my lord! Pol. Upon my honour, Ham. Then came each actor on his ass, Pol. The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or poem unlimited. Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light. For the law of writ, and the liberty, these are the only men. Ham. O Jephthah, judge of Israel,-what a treasure hadst thou! Pol. What a treasure had he, my lord? [Aside. Pol. Still on my daughter. Pol. What follows then, my lord? Ham. Why, As by lot, God wot, and then, you know, It came to pass, As most like it was,-The first row ot the pious chanson will show you more; for look, my abridgment comes. Enter four or five Players. You are welcome, masters! welcome, all! I am glad to see thee well!-welcome, good friends! — O, old friend! Why, thy face is valanced since I saw thee last! Com'st thou to beard me in Denmark? What! my young lady and mistress! By-'r-lady, your ladyship is nearer to heaven, than when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine. Pray God, your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the ring. Masters, you are all welcome! We'll e'en to it like French falconers, fly at any thing we see. We'll have a speech straight: Come, give us a taste of your quality! come, a passionate speech! Old grandsire Priam seeks; - So proceed you! 1 Play. Anon he finds him But, as we often see, against some storm, Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you gods, Ham. It shall to the barber's, with your beard. Pr'ythee, say on! - He's for a jig, or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps: - say on! come to Hecuba! 1 Play. But who, ah woe! had seen the mobled queen Ham. The mobled queen? Pol. That's good! mobled queen is good! 1 Play. What speech, my lord? 1 Play. Run barefoot up and down, threat'ning |