I'll do't.-Dost thou come here to whine?
To outface me with leaping in her grave?
Be buried quick with her, and so will I.
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us; till our ground,

Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa like a wart!

I'll rant as well as thou.

Queen.

Nay, an thou'lt mouth,

This is mere madness;

And thus awhile the fit will work on him;
Anon, as patient as the female dove,

When that her golden couplets are disclosed,1
His silence will sit drooping.

Ham.

Hear you, sir;

What is the reason that you use me thus?
I loved you ever. But it is no matter;
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew, the dog will have his day.

[Exit. King. I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.

[Exit HORATIO.

Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;

[To LAERTES.

We'll put the matter to the present push.-
Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.-
This grave shall have a living monument.
An hour of quiet shortly shall we see ;

Till then, in patience our proceeding be. [Exeunt.

SCENE II. A Hall in the Castle.

Enter HAMLET and HORATIO.

Ham. So much for this, sir; now shall you see the other ;

You do remember all the circumstance?

is uncertain, perhaps the Issel; but the firth of Tyse is nearest to his scene of action, and near enough in name. Woo't or woot'o, in the northern counties, is the common contraction of wouldst thou; and this is the reading of the old copies.

The golden couplets alludes to the dove only laying two eggs.

Hor. Remember it, my lord!

Ham. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting
That would not let me sleep; methought I lay
Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly,
And praised be rashness for it,-Let us know,
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well,

When our deep plots do pall; 3 and that should teach us,
There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.

Hor.

Ham. Up from my cabin,

4

That is most certain.

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,

5

No, not to stay the grinding of the axe,

My head should be struck off.

Hor.

Is't possible?

Ham. Here's the commission; read it at more

leisure.

But wilt thou hear now how I did proceed?

Hor. Ay, 'beseech you.

Ham. Being thus benetted round with villanies,

1 i. e. mutineers.

2 The bilboes were bars of iron with fetters annexed to them, by which mutinous or disorderly sailors were anciently linked together. The word is derived from Bilboa, in Spain, where implements of iron and steel were fabricated.

3 To pall was to fade or fall away.

4 "Esclavine (says Cotgrave), a sea-gowne, a coarse, high-collared and short-sleeved gowne, reaching to the mid-leg, and used mostly by seamen and sailors."

5" With such causes of terror arising from my character and designs.” Bugs were no less terrific than goblins. We now call them bugbears. 6 The supervise is the looking over; no leisure bated means without any abatement or intermission of time.

Or1 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 statists2 do,

A baseness to write fair, and labored 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.

3

Ay, good my lord. Ham. An earnest conjuration from the king,As England was his faithful tributary;

As love between them like the palm might flourish; As peace should still her wheaten garland wear, And stand a comma 'tween their amities;

4

And many such like as's of great charge,-
That, on the view and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further, more, or less,

He should the bearers put to sudden death,
Not shriving time allowed."

Hor.

How was this sealed?

Ham. Why, even in that was Heaven ordinant ;
I had my father's signet in my purse,

Which was the model of that Danish seal;
Folded the writ up in form of the other;

Subscribed it; gave't the impression; placed it safely, The changeling never known. Now, the next day Was our sea-fight; and what to this was sequent Thou know'st already.

Hor. So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to't. Ham. Why, man, they did make love to this employment;

1 “ Or,” for ere, before. See Tempest, Act i. Sc. 2.

2 Statists are statesmen. Blackstone says, that "most of our great men of Shakspeare's time wrote very bad hands; their secretaries very neat ones."

3 Good, substantial service.

4 The comma is the note of connection and continuity of sentences; the period is the note of abruption and disjunction. Shakspeare had it perhaps in his mind to write, That unless England complied with the mandate, war should put a period to their amity; he altered his mode of diction, and thought that, in an opposite sense, he might put, that peace should stand a comma between their amities.

5 Without allowing time for the confession of their sins.

They are not near my conscience; their defeat
Does by their own insinuation grow.

'Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes
Between the pass and fell incensed points
Of mighty opposites.

Hor.

Why, what a king is this?

Ham. Does it not, think thee, stand me now
upon?1

He that hath killed my king, and whored my mother;
Popped in between the election and my hopes;
Thrown out his angle for my proper life,

And with such cozenage; is't not perfect conscience,
To quit him with this arm; and is't not to be damned,
To let this canker of our nature come

In further evil?

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 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 favors.
But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put me
Into a towering passion.

Hor.

Peace; who comes here?

Enter OSRIC.3

Osr. Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark.

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

1 "Bethink thee, does it not become incumbent upon me to requite him," &c. This passage and the three following speeches are not in the

quartos.

246 I'll count his favors." Rowe changed this to "I'll court his favor;" which may be right, as Mr. Mason very justly asks, what favors had Hamlet received from Laertes that he was to make account of? 3 The quarto of 1603—“ Enter a braggart Gentleman.”

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, 1 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; 'tis for the head.

Osr. I thank your lordship, 'tis very hot.

Ham. No, believe me, sir, 'tis 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 'twere,-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. I beseech you, remember

[HAMLET moves him to put on his hat. Osr. Nay, good my lord; for my ease, in good faith.1 Sir, here is newly come to court, Laertes: believe me, an absolute gentleman, full of most excellent differences, of very soft society, and great showing. Indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card or calendar of gentry, for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would see.

2

3

Ham. Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you ;-though, I know, to divide him inventorially,

1 The folio omits this and the following fourteen speeches; and in their place substitutes, "Sir, you are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is at his weapon."

2 i. e. distinguishing excellencies.

3 The card or calendar of gentry." The general preceptor of elegance; the card (chart) by which a gentleman is to direct his course; the calendar by which he is to order his time.

4 You shall find him containing and comprising every quality which a gentleman would desire to contemplate for imitation. Perhaps we should read, "You shall find him the continent."