Hor. 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 eye-lids will no longer wag.

Queen. O my son! what theme?

Ham. I loved Ophelia; forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,

Make up my sum.-What wilt thou do for her?
King. O, he is mad, Laertes.

Queen. For love of God, forbear him.

Ham. 'Zounds, show me what thou❜lt do:

Woul't weep? woul't fight? woul't fast? woul't tear thyself?
Woul't drink up Esil ?* eat a crocodile ?

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! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.

Queen. 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,t
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, and dog will have his day.

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

[Exit.

[Exit HORATIO.

Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech:

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.

SCENE II-A Hall in the Castle.

Enter HAMLET and HORATIO.

[TO LAERTES.

[Exeunt.

Ham. So much for this, Sir: now shall you see the other ;You do remember all the circumstance?

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 mutinest in the bilboes. Rashly,
And praised be rashness for it,-Let us know,

* The Weisel (Vistula) river.

+ Hatched.

+ Mutineers.

Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well,

When our deep plots do pall:* and that should teach us,
There's a divinity that shapes our ends,

Rough-hew them how we will.

Hor. That is most certain.
Ham. Up from my cabin,

My sea-gown scarf'd about me, in the dark
Groped 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,

Ort 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 labour'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 allow'd.

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;

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.

* Fail.

† Bugbears. + Before.

§ Statemen.

| Copy.

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

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?
He that hath kill'd my king, and whored my mother,
Popp'd 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 damn'd,
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 court 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 its 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 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. 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 gentle

* Requite.

man, 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, this definement suffers no perdition in you; though, I know, to divide him inventorially, would dizzy the arithmetic of memory; and yet but yaw § 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 T me;-Well, Sir.

Osr. You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes isHam. 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 wager'd 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 germane 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 impawn'd, as you call it ?

* Distinguishing excellences.

+ Chart.

To move unsteadily, as a ship in a great swell.
Recommend.

+ Margin of explanatory notes.

** Merit.

* Containing. | Mentioning. †† Staked.

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 doats 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 fandt 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.

Hor. You will lose this wager, my lord.

[Exit 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."

*Pass compliments.

† Fanned, as corn from dust. + Misgiving.