SCENE II. ANOTHER ROOM IN THE HOUSE.

Enter Hamlet.

Ham. Safely stowed,-[Ros. &c. within. Hamlet! lord Hamlet!] But soft,-what noise? who cails on Hamlet? O, here they come.

Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

King. Alas, alas!

Ham. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king; and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.

King. What dost thou mean by this?
Ham. Nothing, but to show you how a king

dead body?

Ham. Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin. Ros. Tell us where 'tis; that we may take it thence, and bear it to the chapel.

Ham. Do not believe it.

Ros. Believe what?

Ham. That I can keep your counsel, and not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge! -what replication should be made by the son of a king?

Ros. Take you me for a sponge, my lord?

Ham. Ay, sir; that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end: He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swallowed: when he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again.

Ros. I understand you not, my lord? Ham. I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.

Ros. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the king.

Ham. The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thingGuil. A thing, my lord?

Ham. Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fex, and all after.

[exeunt.

SCENE III. ANOTHER ROOM IN THE SAME.

Enter King, attended. [body. King. I have sent to seek him, and to find the How dangerous is it, that this man goes loose! Yet must not we put the strong law on him: He's lov'd of the distracted multitude, Who like not in their judgement, but their eyes; And, where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even, This sudden sending him away must seem Deliberate pause. Diseases, desperate grown, By desperate appliance are reliev'd,

Enter Rosencrantz.

Or not at all.-How now? what hath befallen? Ros. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord, We cannot get from him.

King. But where is he?

[pleasure.

Ros. Without, my lord; guarded, to know your
King. Bring him before us.

Ros. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.
Enter Hamlet and Guildenstern.
King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
Ham. At supper.

King. At supper? where?

Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten : a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else, to fat us; and we fat ourselves for maggots: your fat king, and your lean beggar, is but variable service; two dishes, but to one table, that's the end.

King. Where is Polonius?

Ham. In heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself. But, indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.

King. Go seek him there. [to some Attendants. Ham. He will stay till you come.

[exeunt Attendants.

King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. Ham. I see a cherub, that sees them. But, come; for England!-Farewell, dear mother. King. Thy loving father, Hamlet. Ham. My mother: Father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England. [exit. King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;

Delay it not, I'll have him hence to night:
Away; for every thing is seal'd and done
That else leans on th' affair: pray you, make haste.
[exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught,
(As my great power thereof may give thee sense;
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
Pays homage to us,) thou mayst not coldly set
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,

The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me: 'till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin. [eart

SCENE IV. A PLAIN IN DENMARK.

Enter Fortinbras and forces, marching. For. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king;

Tell him, that by his licence, Fortinbras
Craves the conveyance of a promis'd march
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous
If that his majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his eye,
And let him know so.

Cap. I will do't, my lord.

For. Go softly on. [exeunt Fortinbras and forces
Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, &c
Ham. Good sir, whose powers are these?
Cap. They are of Norway, sir.

Cap. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. Ham, Goes it against the main of Poland, sir, Or for some frontier?

Cap. Truly to speak, sir, and with no addition, We go to gain a little patch of ground, That hath in it no profit but the name. To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it; Nor will it yield to Norway, or the Pole, A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.

Ham. Why, then, the Polack never will defend
Cap. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd.
[it.
Ham. Two thousand souls, and twenty thou-
sand ducats,

Will not debate the question of this straw :
This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace;
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without
Why the man dies.—I humbly thank you, sir.
Cap. God be wi' you, sir. [exit Captain.
Ros. Will't please you go, my lord? [before.
Ham. I will be with you straight. Go a little
[exeunt Ros. & Guil.

How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good, and market of his time,
Be but to sleep, and feed? A beast, no more.
Sure, he, that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before, and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason

To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on the event,-
A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part
wisdom,

And, ever, three parts coward,-I do not know
Why yet I live to say, This thing's to do;'
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and

means,

To do't. Examples, gross as earth, exhort me.
Witness, this army, of such mass, and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince;
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd,
Makes mouths at the invisible event;
Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,
To all that fortune, death, and danger, dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great,
Is, not to stir without great argument;
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw,
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason, and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy, and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds; fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough, and continent,
To hide the slain?—O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth! [exit.

SCENE V. ELSINORE. A ROOM IN THE CASTLE.

Enter Queen and Horatio.

Queen. I will not speak with her.

Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,
That carry but half sense. her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
The hearers to collection; they aim at it,
And botch the words up to fit to their own thoughts:
Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield
them,
[thought,
Indeed would make one think, there might be
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
Queen. 'Twere good she were spoken with; for
she may strew

Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds:
Let her come in.
[exit Horatio.

To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,
Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss:
So full of artless jealousy is guilt,
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.
Re-enter Horatio, with Ophelia.
Oph. Where is the beauteous majesty of Den-
Queen. How now, Ophelia ?

Oph. How should I your true-love know
From another one?

By his cockle hat and staff,

And his sandal shoon.

[mark?

[singing.

patient: but I cannot choose but weep, to think, they should lay him i'the cold ground; my brother shall know of it, and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my coach! Good night, ladies; good night, sweet ladies; good night, good night. [exit.

King. Follow her close; give her good watch,
I pray you.
[exit Horatio.
O! this is the poison of deep grief; it springs
All from her father's death: and now behold,
O Gertrude, Gertrude,

When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions! First, her father slain;
Next, your son gone; and he most violent author
Of his own just remove: the people muddied,
Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and
whispers,

[greenly,
For good Polonius's death; and we have done but
In hugger-mugger to inter him. Poor Ophelia
Divided from herself, and her fair judgement;
Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts.
Last, and as much containing as all these,
Her brother is in secret come from France:
Feeds on the wonder, keeps himself in clouds,
And wants not buzzers to infect his ear
With pestilent speeches of his father's death;
Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd,
Will nothing stick our person to arraign
In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this,
Like to a murdering piece, in many places
Gives me superfluous death! [a noise within.
Queen. Alack! what noise is this?
Enter a Gentleman.

King. Attend.

Where are my Switzers? let them guard the door: What is the matter?

Gent. Save yourself, my lord;
The ocean, overpeering of his list,

Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste,
Than young Laertes, in a riotous head,
O'erbears your officers! The rabble call him, lord;
And, as the world were now but to begin,
Antiquity forgot, custom not known,

The ratifiers and props of every word,
They cry, choose we; Laertes shall be king!'
Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds,
Laertes shall be king, Laertes king!' [cry!
Queen. How cheerfully on the false trail they
O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs.
King. The doors are broke. [noise within.
Enter Laertes, armed, Danes following.
Laer. Where is the king?-Sirs, stand you all
Dan. No, let's come in.

[without.
Laer. I pray you, give me leave. [door.
Dan. We will, we will. [they retire without the
Laer. I thank you :-keep the door. O thou
Give me my father.
[vile king,
Queen. Calmly, good Laertes. [me bastard;
Laer. That drop of blood that's calm proclaims
Cries, cuckold, to my father; brands the harlot
Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow
Of my true mother.

King. What is the cause, Laertes, That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?— Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person; There's such divinity doth hedge a king,

[trude ;

[with:

Laer. How came he dead? I'll not be juggled To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience, and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation: to this point I stand,That both the worlds I give to negligence, Let come what comes; only be reveng'd Most throughly for my father.

King. Who shall stay you? Laer. My will, not all the world's: And, for my means, I'll husband them so well, They shall go far with little.

King. Good Laertes,

If you desire to know the certainty

[venge,

Of your
dear father's death, is't writ in your re-
That, sweepstake, you will draw both friend and
Winner and loser?

Laer. None but his enemies.

[foe,

King. Will you know them then? [my arms;
Laer. To his good friends thus wide I'll ope
And, like the kind life-rend'ring pelican,
Repast them with my blood.

King. Why, now you speak
Like a good child, and a true gentleman.
That I am guiltless of your father's death,
And am most sensible in grief for it,
It shall as level to your judgement. 'pear,
As day does to your eye.

Danes. [within] Let her come in.

Laer. How now! what noise is that? Enter Ophelia, fantastically dressed with straws and flowers.

O heat, dry up my brains! tears, seven times salt,
Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye!—
By heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight,
Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May!
Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!-
O heavens! is't possible, a young maid's wits
Should be as mortal as an old man's life?
Nature is fine in love: and, where 'tis fine,
It sends some precious instance of itself
After the thing it loves.

Oph. They bore him barefac'd on the bier;
Hey no nonny, nonny hey nonny:
And in his grave rain'd many a tear;
[revenge,
Fare you well, my dove!
Laer. Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade
It could not move thus.

Oph. You must sing, 'down a-down, an you call him a-down-a.' O, how the wheel becomes it! It is the false steward, that stole his master's daughter.

Laer. This nothing's more than matter.

Oph. There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray you, love, remember: and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.

Laer. A document in madness; thoughts and remembrance fitted.

Oph. There's fennel for you, and columbines : -there's rue for you; and here's some for ine:—

King. If it be so, Laertes,

As how should it be so?-how otherwise?—

Will you be rul'd by me?

Laer. Ay, my lord;

So you will not o'er-rule me to a peace.

King. To thine own peace. If he be now return'd,--| As checking at his voyage, and that he means No more to undertake it,-I will work him To an exploit, now ripe in my device,

Under the which he shall not choose but fall: And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe; But even his mother shall uncharge the practice And call it, accident.

Laer. My lord, I will be rul'd;

The rather, if you could devise it so,
That I might be the organ.

King. It falls right.

You have been talk'd of since your travel much,
And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality,
Wherein, they say, you shine: your sum of parts
Did not together pluck such envy from him,
As did that one; and that, in my regard,
Of the unworthiest siege.

Laer. What part is that, my lord?
King. A very ribband in the cap of youth,
Yet needful too; for youth no less becomes
The light and careless livery that it wears,
Than settled age his sables, and his weeds,
Importing health and graveness.-Two months
Here was a gentleman of Normandy,- [since,
I have seen myself, and serv'd against, the French,
And they can well on horseback: but this gallant
Had witchcraft in't; he grew unto his seat;
And to such wond'rous doing brought his horse,
As he had been incorps'd and demi-natur'd
With the brave beast: so far he topp'd my thought,
That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,
Come short of what he did.

Laer. A Norman, was't?

King. A Norman.

Laer. Upon my life, Lamord.

King. The very same.

A kind of wick, or snuff, that will abate it
And nothing is at a like goodness still;
For goodness, growing to a pleurisy,
Dies in his own too-much: that we would do,
We should do when we would; for this would
And hath abatements and delays as many, [changes,
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
And then this should is like a spendthrift sigh,
That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o'the ulcer:
Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake,
To show yourself indeed your father's son,
More than in words?

Laer. To cut his throat i'the church. [rize.
King. No place, indeed, should murder sanctua-
Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes,
Will you do this, keep close within your chamber:
Hamlet, return'd, shall know you are come home;
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,
And set a double varnish on the fame [gether,
The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, to-
And wager o'er your heads: he, being remiss,
Most generous, and free from all contriving,
Will not peruse the foils; so that, with ease,
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose
A sword unbated, and, in a pass of practice,
Requite him for your father.

Laer. I will do't:

And, for the purpose, I'll anoint my sword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank,
So mortal, that, but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,
Collected from all simples that have virtue
Under the moon, can save the thing from death,
That is but scratch'd withal: I'll touch my point
With this contagion; that, if I gall him slightly
It may be death.

King. Let's further think of this;
Weigh, what convenience, both of time and means,
May fit us to our shape: if this should fail,
And that our drift look through ourbadperformance,
'Twere better not assay'd: therefore, this project
Should have a back, or second, that might hold,

King. He made confession of you;

And gave you such a masterly report,

For art and exercise in your defence,

And for your rapier most especial,
That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed,
If one could match you: the scrimers of their nation,
He swore, had neither motion, guard, nor eye,
If you oppos'd them: sir, this report of his
Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,
That he could nothing do, but wish and beg
Your sudden coming o'er, to play with you.
Nov, out of this,-

Laer. What out of this, my lord?

King. Laertes, was your father dear to you? Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, A face without a heart?

Laer. Why ask you this?

King. Not that I think, you did not love your But that I know, love is begun by time; [father; And that I see, in passages of proof, Time qualifies the spark and fire of it. There lives within the very flame of love

We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings,-
I ha't:

When in your motion you are hot and dry,
(As make your bouts more violent to that end,)
And that he calls for drink, I'll have preferr'd him
A chalice for the nonce; whereon but sipping,
If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,
Our purpose may hold there. But stay, what noise"
Enter Queen.

How now, sweet queen?

Queen. One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So fast they follow: --your sister's drown'd, Laertes. Laer. Drown'd! O, where? [brook, Queen. There is a willow grows ascaunt the That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream; Therewith fantastic garlands did she make Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them: There on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke; When down her weedy trophies, and herself, Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,