To ears of flesh and blood.-List, list, O list! Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. Ham. Murder. Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. Ham. Haste me to know it; that I, with wings as swift As meditation, or the thoughts of love, I find thee apt; And duller should'st thou be than the fat weed That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, Would'st thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: "Tis given out, that sleeping in mine orchard, Ham. O, my prophetick soul! my uncle! Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts, (O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power But virtue, as it never will be mov'd, Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven; And prey on garbage. But soft methinks, I scent the morning air; And a most instant tetter bark'd about, Most lazar-like with vile and loathsome crust, All my sinooth body. Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand, it Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatch'd; else ? [Exit. And shall I couple hell -O fie -Hold, hold my heart!" And you, my sinews, grow not instant old But bear me stiffly up!-Remember thee 7 O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! So, uncle, there you are. Ham. My lord, my lord,— Heaven secure him! So be it! Mar. [Within.] Illo, ho, ho, my lord! Ham. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come. Enter Horatio and Marcellus. Mar. How is 't, my noble lord? Hor. Ham. O wonderful! Hor. Ham. You will reveal it. What news, my lord? Good my lord, tell it. No; Nor I, my lord. Hor. Not I, my lord, by heaven. But you'll be secret,- Denmark, Consent to swear. Hor. Propose the oath, my lord. Ham. Never to speak of this that you have seen, Swear by my sword. Ghost. Beneath.] Swear. But if 't be he I mean, he's very wild; Ham. Hic et ubique! then we'll shift our As are companions noted and most known ground: Come hither, gentlemen, And lay your hands again upon my sword: Swear by my sword, Never to speak of this that you have heard. A worthy pioneer!-Once more remove, good friends. Hor. O day and night, but this is wondrous strange! Ham. And therefore as a stranger give it wel come. There are more things in heaven and earth, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Here, as before, never, so help you mercy! Or such ambiguous giving out, to note To youth and liberty. Reg. As, gaming, my lord. Pol. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quar relling, Drabbing:-You may go so far. Rey. My lord, that would dishonour him. You must not put another scandal on him, That they may seem the taints of liberty; I would know that. Pol. Ay, my lord, Marry, sir, here's my drift; Your party in converse, him you would sound, Rey. Pol. At, closes in the consequence,-Ay, marry; He closes with you thus:-I know the gentle Pol. Give him this money and these notes, Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth: Reynaldo. Rey. I will, my lord. And thus do we of wisdom and of reach, With windlaces, and with assays of bias, Pol. You shall do marvellous wisely, good By indirections find directions out; Oph. My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd;' No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle; Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; And with a look so piteous in purport, As if he had been loosed out of hell, To whom he more adheres. If it will please you To show us so much gentry, and good will, As to expend your time with us awhile, For the supply and profit of our hope, Your visitation shall receive such thanks As fits a king's remembrance. Both your majesties Might, by the sovereign power you have of us, Put your dread pleasures more into command Than to entreaty. But we both obey; And here give up ourselves, in the full bent, Oph. He took me by the wrist, and held me To lay our service freely at your feet, hard; To speak of horrors,-he comes before me. But, truly, I do fear it. Pol. My lord, I do not know; What said he?" Then goes he to the length of all his arm; As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so; And end his being: That done, he let's me go: Pol. Come, go with me; I will go seek the king. This is the very ecstasy of love; Whose violent property foredoes itself, And leads the will to desperate undertakings, That does afflict our natures. I am sorry,What, have you given him any hard words of late? Oph. No, my good lord; but, as you did command, I did repel his letters, and denied That hath made him mad. It seems, it is as proper to our age More grief to hide, than hate to utter love. [Exeunt SCENE II. A Room in the Castle. Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Attendants. King. Welcome, dear Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern! Moreover that we much did long to see you, So much from the understanding of himself, him; And, since, so neighbour'd to his youth and hu Ros. Guil. To be commanded. King. Thanks, Rosencrantz, and gentle Guil denstern: Queen. Thanks, Guildenstern, and gentle Rosencrantz; And I beseech you instantly to visit My too much changed son.-Go, some of you, Ay, amen! Pol. The ambassadors from Norway, my good lord, Are joyfully return'd. I King. Thou still hast been the father of good news. [liege, Pol. Have I, my lord? Assure you, my good hold my duty, as I hold my soul, Both to my God, and to my gracious king; King. O, speak of that; that do I long to hear. King. Well, we shall sırt him.-Welcome my good friends! Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway? Vol. Most fair return of greetings and desires Upon our first, he sent out to suppress His nephew's levies; which to him appear'd To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack; But, better look'd into, he truly found It was against your highness: Whereat griev'd,-That so his sickness, age, and impotence, Was falsely borne in hand,--sends out arrests On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys; Receives rebuke from Norway; and, in fine, Makes vow before his uncle, never more To give the assay of arms against your majesty Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy, Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee; And his commission, to employ those soldiers, So levied as before, against the Polack: With an entreaty, herein further shown, [Gives a Paper. That it might please you to give quiet pass King. It likes us well: And, at our more consider'd time, we'll read, Answer, and think upon this business. Mean time, we thank you for your well-took labour: Go to your rest; at night we'll feast together: Most welcome home! [Exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius. 1 will be brief: Your noble son is mad: More matter, with less art. Mad let us grant him then: and now remains, I have a daughter; have, while she is mine; That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase; beautifed is Doubt thou the stars are fire, But never doubt I love. [Reads. O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers; I have not art to reckon my groans; but that I love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu. Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this machine is to him, HAMLET. This, in obedience, hath my daughter shown me: And more above, hath his solicitings, As they fell out by time, by means, and place, All given to mine ear. King. Receiv'd his love? Pol. But how hath she What do you think of me 7 King. As of a man faithful and honourable. Pol. I would fain prove so. But what might you think, When I had seen this hot love on the wing work, And my young mistress thus did I bespeak; That I have positively said, 'Tis so, Enter Hamlet, reading. Queen. But, look, where sadly the poor wretch comes reading. Pol. Away, I do beseech you, both away; Pol. Do you know me, my lord? Ham. Then I would you were so honest a man. Ham. Ay, sir; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand. Pol. That's very true, my lord. Ham. For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a god, kissing carrion,-Have you a daughter 7 Pol. I have, my lord. Ham. Let her not walk i' the sun conception is a blessing, but as your daughter may conceive,-friend, look to't. Pol. How say you by that? [Aside.] Still harping on my daughter-yet he knew me not at first; he said, I was a fishmonger: He is far gone, far gone: and, truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for love; very near this. I'll speak to him again.-What do you read, my lord ? Ham. Words, words, words! Pol. I mean, the matter that you read, my lord. Ham. Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue says here, that old men have gray beards; that their faces are wrinkled; their eyes purging thick amber, and plum-tree gum; and that they have a plentiful fack of wit, together with most weak hams: All of which, sir, though I most power fully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down; for yourself, sir, should be as old as I am, if, like a crab, you could go backward. Pol. Though this be method in it. [Aside.] the air, my lord? Ham. Into my grave? madness, yet there's Will you walk out of Pol. Indeed, that is out o' the air-How pregnant sometimes his replies are! a happiness that often madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of. I will leave him, and suddenly contrive the means of meeting between him and my daughter.--My honourable lord, I will most humbly take my leave of you. Ham. You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will more willingly part withal; except my life, except my life, except my life. Pol. Fare you well, my lord. Ham. Those tedious old fools! Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. he is. Ros. God save you, sir! [To Polonius. [Exit Polonius. Guil. My honour'd lord!Ros. My most dear lord !Ham. My excellent good friends! How dost thou, Guildenstern? Ah, Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do ye both? Ros. As the indifferent children of the earth. Guil. Happy, in that we are not overhappy; On fortune's cap we are not the very button. Ham. Nor the soles of her shoe? Ros. Neither, my lord. Ham. Nay, then I have an eye of you; [Aside] -if you love me, hold not off Guil. My lord, we were sent for. Ham. I will tell you why; so shall my antici pation prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the king and queen moult no feather. I have of late (but, wherefore, I know not,) lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises: and, indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition, that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a steril promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me, than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how express and admirable! in action, how like aa angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not me, no, nor woman neither; though, by your smiling, you seem to say so. Ros. My lord, there is no such stuff in my thoughts. Ham. Then you live about her waist, or in the infinite in faculties! in form, and moving, how middle of her favours? Guil. 'Faith, her privates we. Ham. In the secret paths of fortune? O, most true; she is a strumpet. What news? Ros. None, my lord; but that the world is grown honest. Ham. Then is doomsday near: But your news is not true. Let me question more in particular: What have you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of fortune, that she sends you to prison hither? Guil. Prison, my lord! Ham. A goodly one; in which there are many confines, wards, and dungeons; Denmark being one of the worst. Ros. We think not so, my lord. Ham. Why, then 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so to me it is a prison. Ros. Why, then your ambition makes it one; 'tis too narrow for your mind. Ham. Why did you laugh then when I said, Man delights not me? Ros. To think, my lord, if you delight not in man, what lenten entertainment the players shall receive from you: we coted them on the way; and hither are they coming, to offer you service. Ham. He that plays the king, shall be welcome; his majesty shall have tribute of me; the adventurous knight shall use his foil, and target: the lover shall not sigh gratis; the humourous man shall end his part in peace; the clown shall make those laugh, whose lungs are tickled o' the sere; and the lady shall say her mind freely, or the blank verse shall halt for 't-What players Ham. O God! I could be bounded in a nut-are they? shell, and count myself a king of infinite space;| were it not that I have bad dreams. Guil. Which dreams, indeed, are ambition; for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream. Ham. A dream itself is but a shadow. Ros. Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and light a quality, that it is but a shadow's shadow. Ham. Then are our beggars, bodies; and our monarchs, and outstretch'd heroes, the beggar's shadows: Shall we to the court? for, by my fay, I cannot reason. Ros. Guil. We'll wait upon you. Ham. No such matter: I will not sort you with the rest of my servants; for, to speak to you like an honest man, I am most dreadfully attended. But, in the beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elsinore? Ros. To visit you, my lord; no other occasion. Ham. Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks; but I thank you; and sure, dear friends, my thanks are too dear, a halfpenny. Were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation? Come, come; deal justly with me; come, come; nay, speak. Guil. What should we say, my lord ? Ham. Any thing-but to the purpose. You were sent for; and there is a kind of confession in your looks, which your modesties have not crat enough to colour: I know, the good king and ueen have sent for you. Ro To what end, my lord? Her That you must teach me. But let me co ju e you by the rights of our fellowship, by the 20 Bonancy of our youth, by the obligation ou ever-preserved love, and by what more drar etter proposer could charge you withal, be ever and direct with me, whether you were sent for or no? Ros. What say you? Ros. Even those you were wont to take such delight in, the tragedians of the city. Ham. How chances it, they travel? their residence, both in reputation and profit, was better both ways. Ros. I think, their inhibition comes by the means of the late innovation. Ham. Do they hold the same estimation they did when I was in the city? Are they so fol lowed? Ros. No, indeed, they are not. Ham. How comes it ? Do they grow rusty? Ros. Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace: But there is, sir, an aiery of children, little eyases, that cry out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically clapped for ; these are now the fashion; and so berattle the common stages, (so they call them,) that many, wearing rapiers, are afraid of goose quills, and dare scarce come thither. Ham. What, are they children? who maintains them ? how are they escoted? Will they pursue the quality, no longer than they can sing? will they not say afterwards, if they should grow themselves to common players, (as it a most like, if their means are no better,) ther writers do them wrong, to make them exclain against their own succession ? Ros. 'Faith, there has been much to do on both sides; and the nation holds it no sin, to tarry them on to controversy: there was, for a while, no money bid for argument, unless the poet and the player went to cuffs in the question. Ham. Is it possible? Guil. O, there has been much throwing about of brains. Ham. Do the boys carry it away? Ros. Ay, that they do, my lord; Hercules and his load too. Ham. It is not very strange for my uncle is [To Guildenstern. King of Denmark, and those, that would make |