Queen. To whom do you speak this?

Ham. Do you fee nothing there? [Pointing to the Ghoft.
Queen. Nothing at all; yet all that is " I fee.

Ham. Nor did you nothing hear?

Queen. No, nothing but ourselves.

Ham. Why, look you there! Look how it steals away! My father in his habit as he a liv'd!

Look where he goes even now out at the portal. [Ex. Ghost. Queen. This is the very coinage of your brain,

This bodilefs creation ecftafy.

Is very cunning in.

Ham. Ecftafy?

My pulfe, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful mufic. It is not madness
That I have utter'd; bring me to the teft,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that flattering unction to your foul,
That not your trespass, but my madness, speaks:
It will but fkin and film the ulcerous place;
Whilft rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unfeen. Confefs yourfelf to heaven;
Repent what's paft, avoid what is to come;
And do not spread the compoft on the weeds
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my

m After is the 2d and 3d qu's infert there.

n The ad q. reads lives.

This word Ecftafy is omitted by the qu's. P. reads What ecstasy ? followed

by all after him.

virtue;

9 The 3d q. reads this; the fo's and R. a.

The 3d and 4th fo's, R. and P. read

running.

s The fo's read or.

Fo's, rank.

P First and ad qu's omit I.

For, in the fatnefs of thefe purfy times,
Virtue itfelf of vice muft pardon beg,

Yea, curb and wooe for leave to do it good.

Queen. Oh! Hamlet, thou haft cleft my heart in twain.
Ham. O, throw away the worfer part of it,

And live the purer with the other half.
Good night; but go not to my uncle's bed,
Affume a virtue if you have it not.

That monster custom, who all sense doth eat

a

Of habits, devil, is angel yet in this,

That to the ufe of actions fair and good
He likewife gives a frock, or livery,

That aptly is put on.

b Refrain to-night;

And that fhall lend a kind of eafinefs

To the next abftinence; the next, more easy ;

C

For ufe almoft can change the flamp of nature,

And either mafter the devil, or throw him out

With wondrous potency. Once more, good night!
And when you are defirous to be bleft,

I'll bleffing beg of you,- For this fame lord,

f

e

[Pointing to Polonius.

I do repent: but heav'n hath pleas'd it fo,

vil, &c The 2d and 3d, and E. read,
And mafter the devil, &c. P. and the
reft, And mafter even the devil, &c. But
the rft q. fupplies the word either, a more
proper one than even, in this place.
e Put in by R.

f H. alters this to, but the heav'ns have pleas'd it fo, &c. to make it agree with their fcourge, &c. (followed by J. omitting the). But perhaps beav'n may be taken as a noun of multitude, q. d. the powers of beav'n.

: To

To punish me with this, and this with me,
That I must be their fcourge and minifter.

I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again good night!
I must be cruel, only to be kind;

Thus bad begins, and worfe remains behind.
One word more, good lady.

Queen. What fhall I do!

Ham. Not this, by no means, that I bid

k

you

Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;

do.

Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his moufe;
And let him, for a pair of reechy kiffes,

Or padling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make to ravel all this matter out,
1
you

That I effentially am not in madness,

But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know.
For who that's but a queen, fair, fober, wife,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a " gibbe,
Such dear concernings hide? Who would do fo?
No, in despight of fenfe and fecrefy,

g H. reads, To punish him with me, and me with this. 7. aims to read after him, but puts in his text, To punish this with me, &c. and tells us this is H.'s reading.

h The rit and ad qu's read this: fo S; but takes no notice of the reading of the 3d, viz. ibus.

The words in italic, which are in the qu's, are omitted by all the other editions but C. none of them taking notice that there is any fuch reading,

though the words feem neceffary, as they introduce the following queftion of the queen, What shall I do? C. reads, Hark, one word, &c..

The qu's read blow; the fo's and R. blunt; P. T. and H. fond; W. J. and C. bloat.

1 The it and ad qu's read, rouell. So S; but gives not the reading of 3d, ravell.

m Qu's and C. gib.

Unpeg the basket on the houfe's top,

Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclufions, in the basket creep;
And break your own neck down.

Queen. Be thou affur'd, if words be made of breath.
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe

What thou haft faid to me.

Ham. I muft to England, you know that.

Queen. Alack, I had forgot; 'tis fo concluded on.
Ham. There's letters feal'd; and my two school-fellows,
Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd,
They bear the mandate; they muft fweep my way,
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work.
For 'tis the fport to have the engineer

Hoift with his own petar; and 't fhall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon. O, 'tis moft fweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
This man thall fet me packing.

I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room.

Mother, good night. Indeed, this counsellor

Is now moft ftill, moft fecret, and moft grave,
Who was in life a P moft foolish, prating knave...
Come, fir, to draw toward an end with you.

Good night, mother. [Exit Hamlet, tugging in Polonius.

n The verfes in italic are omitted by the fo's. P. tells us here are ten verses added out of the old edition: I can make but nine of them.

ing S. omits.

P So the qu's; all the reft omit mf. 9 No mention in qu's of tugging in Pol. H. Exeunt, Hamlet tugging out Po

• The 3d q. reads in This read- lonius.

ACT

ACT IV.

SCENE Í.

A royal Apartment.

Enter King and Queen, with Rofencraus and Guildenstern.

THER

b

King.

HERE's matter in these fighs; these profound heaves
You must tranflate; 'tis fit we understand them.

Queen. Beftow this place on us a little while.

[To Rofencraus and Guildenstern, who go out.

Ah, mine own lord, what have I feen to-night!
King. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
Queen. Mad as the fea and wind, when both contend
Which is the mightier; in his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing fomething ftir,
Whips out his rapier, cries, A rat, a rat!
And in this brainish apprehenfion kills
The unfeen good old man.

The scene firft defcribed by R. b Fo's and R. matters.

© The fo's, R. P. and H. omit this line, and do not make Rof. and Guild. to enter with the king and queen.

d So the qu's; the reft, my good lord,

c.

• So the qu's and C; the rest seas. f So the qu's and C. The fo's and R. He whips his rapier out, and cries, A rat, a rat. P. and the reft, He whips bis rapier out, and cries, A rat!

g The fo's, R. P. and H. bis.

I 3

King.