Hor. Ay, my lord. Ham. Why, e'en so: and now my lady Worm's; chapless, and knocked about the mazzard with a sexton's spade: Here's fine revolution, an we had the trick to see't. Did these bones cost no more the breeding, but to play at loggats with them? mine ache to think on't. 1 Clo. A pick-axe, and a spade, a spade, [Sings. O, a pit of clay for to be made Ham. There's another: Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddits' now, his quillets,' his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery? Humph! This fellow might be in's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries: Is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt? will his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases, and double ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself have no more? ha? Hor. Not a jot more, my lord. Ham. Is not parchment made of sheep-skins? Hor. Ay, my lord, and of calves' skins too. Ham. They are sheep, and calves, which seek out assurance in that. I will speak to this fellow :Whose grave's this, sirrah? 1 Clo. Mine, sir. O, a pit of clay for to be made [Sings. Ham. I think it be thine, indeed; for thou liest in't. 1 Clo. You lie out on't, sir, and therefore it is not yours: for my part, I do not lie in't, yet it is mine. Ham. Thou dost lie in't, to be in't, and say it is thine: 'tis for the dead, not for the quick; therefore thou liest. 1 Clo. "Tis a quick lie, sir; 'twill away again from me to you. Ham. What man dost thou dig it for? 1 Clo. For no man, sir. Ham. What woman then? 1 Clo. For none neither. Ham. Who is to be buried in't? 1 Clo. One, that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she's dead. • An ancient game played as quoits are at present. 4 Subtilties. Ham. How absolute the knave is! we must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us. By the lord, Horatio, these three years I have taken of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, note of it; the age is grown so picked,' that the toe he galls his kibe.-How long hast thou been a grave-maker? day that our last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras. 1 Clo. Of all the days i' the year, I came to't that Ham. How long's that since? 1 Clo. Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: It was that very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad, and sent into England. Ham. Ay, marry, why was he sent into England! 1 Clo. Why, because he was mad: he shall recover his wits there; or, if he do not, 'tis no great matter there. Ham. Why? the men are as mad as he. 1 Clo. "Twill not be seen in him there; there Ham. How came he mad? 1 Clo. Very strangely, they say. 1 Clo. 'Faith, e'en with losing his wits. 1 Clo. Why, here in Denmark; I have been sex ton here, man, and boy, thirty years. Ham. How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot? 1 Clo. 'Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many pocky corses now-a-days, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight year or nine year: a tanner will last you nine year. Ham. Why he more than another? trade, that he will keep out water a great while; 1 Clo. Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his and your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body. Here's a skull now hath lain you i' the earth three-and-twenty years. Ham. Whose was it? 1 Clo. A whoreson mad fellow's it was; Whose do you think it was? Ham. Nay, I know not. 1 Clo. A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! he poured a flagon of Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's skull, the king's jester. Ham. This? 1 Clo. E'en that. [Takes the Skull. Ham. Alas! poor Yorick!-I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! my kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips, that I have merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this faPr'ythee, Horatio, tell me one thing. vor she must come: make her laugh at that. Hor. What's that, my lord? Ham. Dost thou think, Alexander looked o' this fashion i' the earth? Frivolous distinctions. • Countenance, complexion. 7 Spruce, affected. Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of | Like wonder-wounded hearers? this is I, Alexander, till he find it stopping a bunghole? Hor. "Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so. Ham. No, faith, not a jot: but to follow him thither with modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it: As thus; Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam: And why of that loam, whereto he was converted, might they not stop a beerbarrel? Imperious Cæsar, dead, and turn'd to clay, O, that the earth, which kept the world in awe, Enter Priests, &c., in Procession; the Corpse of The queen, the courtiers: Who is this they follow? [Retiring with HORATIO. Laer. What ceremony else? A very noble youth: Mark. Laer. What ceremony else? Tha: is Laertes, 1 Priest. Her obsequies have been as far enlarged As we have warranty: Her death was doubtful; And, but that great command o'ersways the order, She should in ground unsanctified have lodg'd Till the last trumpet; for charitable prayers, Shards, flints, and pebbles, should be thrown on her; Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants,' Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home No more be done! Laer. Must there no more be done? Lay her i' the earth;— Ham. Ham. [Advancing.] What is he, whose grief Hamlet the Dane. [Leaps into the Grave. The devil take thy soul! [Grappling with him. Ham. Thou pray'st not well. I pr'ythee, take thy fingers from my throat; All. Gentlemen, Hor. Hamlet, Hamlet! Good my lord, be quiet. [The Attendants part them, and they come out of the Grave. Ham. Why, I will fight with him upon this theme, Until my eyelids will no longer wag. Queen. O my son! what theme? Ham. I lov'd Ophelia: forty thousand brothers Queen. For love of God, forbear him. Woul't drink up Esil?' eat a crocodile ? Queen. This is mere madness; Ham. Hear you, sir, SCENE II-A Hall in the Castle. Enter HAMLET and HORATIO. You do remember all the circumstance? Ham. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting, teach us, Eisel is vinegar; but Mr. Steevens conjectures the word should be Weisel, a river which falls into the Baltic ocean. • Hatched. ⚫ Mutineers. 1 Fetters and handcuffs brought from Bilboa in Spain. 2 Fail. There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will. Hor. Hor. It must be shortly known to him from That is most certain. What is the issue of the business there. Ham. Up from my cabin, My sea-gown scarf'd about me, in the dark Grop'd I to find out them: had my desire; Finger'd 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, 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, Or I could make a prologue to my brains, They had begun the play;-I sat me down; Devis'd a new commission; wrote it fair: I once did hold it, as our statists' do, A baseness to write fair, and labor'd 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. 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; 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 seal'd? 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; Subscrib'd 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; They are not near my conscience; their defeat Hor. And with such cozenage; is't not perfect conscience, To quit him with this arm? and is't not to be Ham. It will be short: the interim is mine; Peace; who comes here? Enter OSRIC. Osr. Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark. Ham. I humbly thank you, sir.-Dost know this waterfly? 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; 'tis for the head. Osr. I thank your lordship, 'tis very hot. Ham. No, believe me, '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 sultryas '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. 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. 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 warp 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? H 1 Osr. I know, you are not ignorant- 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? Ham. That's two of his weapons: but, well. Osr. The king, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary horses: against the which he nas 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? 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 any thing, obey it: I Hor. I knew you must be edified by the mar- will forestall their repair hither, and say, you are gent,' 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? 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. How I am punish'd with a sore distraction. That might your nature, honor, and exception, Ham. To this effect, sir; after what flourish If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away, 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. 3 And, when he's not himself, does wrong Laertes, Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil Laer. I embrace it freely; Give us the foils; come on. Misgiving. Come, one for me. The king and queen's presence. Your grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker side. If Hamlet give the first or second hit, Laer. Ham. Laer. Ham. Come, my lord. [They play. One. No. Judgment. Well,-again. King. Stay, give me drink: Hamlet, this pearl is thine; Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit. Here's to thy health.-Give him the cup. 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 poison'd 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. Laer. And yet it is almost against my conscience. [Aside. Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes: You do but dally; I pray you, pass with your best violence; The drink, the drink;-I am poison'd! [Dies. King. O, yet defend me friends, I am but hurt. Drink off this potion:-Is thy union here? [KING dies. Laer. He is justly serv'd; It is a poison temper'd' 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!— Never believe it; Ham. If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, [March afar off, and Shot within. To the ambassadors of England gives Ham. |