Ham. Up from my cabin, My sea-gown scarfed about me, in the dark Groped I to find out them: had my desire; Fingered their packet; and, in fine, withdrew To mine own room again: making so bold, My fears forgetting manners, to unseal Their grand commission; where I found, Horatio, A royal knavery; an exact command,Larded with many several sorts of reasons, Importing Denmark's health, and England's too, With, ho! such bugs and goblins in my life,— That, on the supervise, no leisure bated,

But wilt thou hear now how I did proceed?
Hor. Ay, 'beseech you.

Ham. Being thus benetted round with villanies,
Ere I could make a prologue to my brains,
They had begun the play :-I sat me down;
Devised a new commission; wrote it fair:
I once did hold it, as our statists do,

A baseness to write fair, and laboured much
How to forget that learning; but, sir, now
It did me yeoman's service. Wilt thou know
The effect of what I wrote?
Hor.

Ay, good my lord.

Hor. It must be shortly known to him from England

What is the issue of the business there.

Ham. It will be short: the interim is mine; And a man's life's no more than to say, one. But I am very sorry, good Horatio,

That to Laertes I forgot myself;

For by the image of my cause, I see

The portraiture of his. I'll count his favours:
But sure the bravery of his grief did put me
Into a towering passion.
Hor.

Peace; who comes here?

Enter OSRIC.

Osr. Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark.

Ham. I humbly thank you, sir.-Dost know this water-fly?

Hor. No, my good lord.

Ham. Thy state is the more gracious; for 'tis a vice to know him. He hath much land, and fertile let a beast be lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at the king's mess. 'Tis a chough; but, as I say, spacious in the possession of dirt.

Osr. Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should impart a thing to you from his majesty.

Ham. I will receive it, sir, with all diligence

of spirit. Your bonnet to his right use; 't is for the head.

Osr. I thank your lordship, 't is very hot. Ham. No, believe me, 't is very cold; the wind is northerly.

Osr. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed. Ham. But yet, methinks, it is very sultry and hot; or my complexion

Osr. Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sultry,— as 't were,-I cannot tell how.-My lord, his majesty bade me signify to you, that he has laid a great wager on your head: sir, this is the matter,

Ham. Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you;-though, I know, to divide him inventorially, would dizzy the arithmetic of memory; and yet but raw neither, in respect of his quick sail. But, in the verity of extolment, I 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?

Hor. His purse is empty already; all his golden words are spent.

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 german 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. Ham. How if I answer, no?

Osr. I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in trial.

Ham. Sir, I will walk here in the hall: if it please his majesty, it is the breathing time of day with me let the foils be brought, the gentleman willing, and the king hold his purpose, I will win for him, if I can; if not, I will gain nothing but my shame, and the odd hits. 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 yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out.

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 coming 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 anything, 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 presence knows, and you must needs have
heard,

How I am punished with a sore distraction.
What I have done,

That might your nature, honour, and exception,
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was 't Hamlet wronged Laertes? Never, Hamlet:
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away,

And when he's not himself does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not; Hamlet denies it.
Who does it then? His madness. If't be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wronged;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
Sir, in this audience,

Let my disclaiming from a purposed evil
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot my arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my brother.

Laer. No.

Ham. Judgment.

Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit. Laer. Well,-again.

[They play.

King. Stay, give me drink: Hamlet, this pearl is thine;

Here's to thy health.-Give him the cup.

[Trumpets sound; and cannon shot off within. Ham. I'll play this bout first; set it by awhile. Come. Another hit: what say you? [They play. Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess. King. Our son shall win.

Queen. He's fat, and scant of breath.Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows: The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet. Ham. Good madam,-

King. Gertrude, do not drink.

Queen. I will, my lord: I pray you, pardon me. King. It is the poisoned cup; it is too late. [Aside.

Ham. I dare not drink yet, madam; by-and-by. -
Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face.
Laer. My lord, I'll hit him now.
King. I do not think it.

[LAERTES wounds HAMLET; then in scuffling,
they change rapiers, and HAMLET wounds
LAERTES.

King. Part them, they are incensed.
Ham. Nay, come again. [The QUEEN falls.
Osr. Look to the queen there, ho!

Hor. They bleed on both sides.-How is it, my lord?

Osr. How is 't, Laertes?

Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own springe,
Osric:

I am justly killed with mine own treachery.
Ham. How does the queen?

King. She swoons to see them bleed.

Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink!—O, my dear Hamlet!

The drink, the drink; I am poisoned! [Dies.
Ham. O villany! Ho! let the door be locked:
Treachery! seek it out. [LAERTES falls.
Laer. It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain;
No medicine in the world can do thee good;.
In thee there is not half an hour's life;
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated and envenomed: the foul practice
Hath turned itself on me; lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again. Thy mother's poisoned;
I can no more ;-the king, the king's to blame.
Ham. The point envenomed too!-

Then, venom to thy work. [Stabs the KING.

Laer.

He is justly served; It is a poison tempered by himself.— Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet: Mine and my father's death come not upon thee; Nor thine on me! [Dies.

Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee. 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;

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

If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absént thee from felicity awhile,

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
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.

What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,

That thou so many princes, at a shot,

So bloodily hast struck?

And our affairs from England come too late :
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing,
To tell him his commandment is fulfilled;
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
Where should we have our thanks?
Not from his mouth,

Hor.