Trumpets found. The dumb fhew follows. Enter a King and Queen, very lovingly; the Queen embracing him, and be ber. She kneels, and makes fhew of proteftations unto bim. He takes ber up, and declines his head upon her neck: lays 5 Lim down upon a bank of flowers; fhe, seeing him afleep, leaves bim. Anon, comes in a fellow, takes off bis crown, kisses it, and pours poisen in the King's ears, and exit. The Queen returns; finds the King dead, and makes passionate action. 10 The poifoner, with fome two or three mutes, comes in again, feeming to lament with her. The dead body is carried away. The poifoner wooes the Queen with gifts; she seems leath and unwilling awhile, but, in the end, accepts his love.

Opb. What means this, my lord?

[Exeunt.

Ham. Marry, this is miching malicho; it means

mischief.

15

[My operant powers their functions leave to do:
And thou shalt live in this fair world behind,
Honour'd, belov'd; and, haply, one as kind
For hufband fhalt thou

P. Queen. O, confound the rest!
Such love muft needs be treason in my breast:
In fecond hufband let me be accurft!
None wed the fecond, but who kill'd the firft.
Ham. That's wormwood.

[move,

P. Queen. The inftances, that fecond marriage
Are bafe refpects of thrift, but none of love:
A fecond time I kill my husband dead,
When fecond husband kiffes me in bed.

P. King. I do believe, you think what now you
fpeak:

But, what we do determine, oft we break.
Purpofe is but the flave to memory;

Of violent birth, but poor validity:

Which now, like fruit unripe, fticks on the tree;

Opb. Belike, this fhow imports the argument of zo But fall, unshaken, when they mellow be. the play.

Enter Prologue.

Ham. We fhall know by this fellow: the players cannot keep counfel; they'll tell all.

Opb. Will he tell us what this fhew meant ? Ham. Ay, or any fhew that you'll fhew him: Be not you asham'd to shew, he'll not shame to tell you what it means.

Oph. You are naught, you are naught; I'll mark the play.

Pro. "For us, and for our tragedy,

"Here ftooping to your clemency,
"We beg your hearing patiently.

Ham. Is this a prologue, or the pofy of a ring?
Opb. "Tis brief, my lord.
Ham. As woman's love.

Enter a King, and a Queen.

P. King. Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart
gone round

Neptune's falt wash, and Tellus' orbed ground;
And thirty dozen moons, with borrowed theen 3
About the world have times twelve thirties been;
Since love our hearts, and Hymen did our hands,
Unite commutual in moft facred bands.

25

Moft neceffary 'tis, that we forget

To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt:
What to ourfelves in paffion we propofc,
The paffion ending, doth the purpose lose.
The violence of either grief or joy,

Their own enactures with themselves destroy:
Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament;
Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident.
This world is not for aye; nor 'tis not strange,
30 That even our loves fhould with our fortunes
change;

35

For 'tis a queftion left us yet to prove,
Whether love lead fortune, or elfe fortune love.
The great man down, you mark, his favourite flies;
The poor advanc'd makes friends of enemies.
And hitherto doth love on fortune tend;
For who not needs, fhall never lack a friend;
And who in want a hollow friend doth try,
Directly feafons him his enemy.

40 But, orderly to end where I begun,

Our wills, and fates, do so contrary run,
That our devices still are overthrown;
Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own:
So think thou wilt no fecond husband wed;

P. Queen. So many journeys may the fun and 45 But die thy thoughts, when thy first lord is dead.

moon

Make us again count o'er, ere love be done!
But, woe is me, you are fo fick of late,
So far from cheer, and from your former state,
That I diftruft you. Yet, though I distrust,
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must:
For women fear too much, even as they love.
And women's fear and love hold quantity;
In neither ought, or in extremity.

P. Queen. Nor earth to give me food, nor

heaven light!

Sport, and repofe, lock from me, day, and night!
To defperation turn my truft and hope!
50 An anchor's cheer in prifon be my scope!
Each oppofite, that blanks the face of joy,
Meet what I would have well, and it destroy!
Both here, and hence, pursue me lasting strife,
If, once a widow, ever I be wife!
Ham. If the fhould break it now,
P. King. 'Tis deeply fworn. Sweet, leave me
here a while;

Now, what my love is, proof hath made you know ; 55
And as my love is fiz'd, my fear is fo.
Where love is great, the littleft doubts are fear;
Where little fears grow great, great love grows

beco.

[To Opb.

My fpirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with fleep.
[Sleeps

P. Queen. Sleep rock thy brain;

1 Hanmer tells us, that miching malicho fignifies mischief lying bid, and that malicho is the Spanish mal. 2 A chariot was anciently fo called. 3 Splendor, luftre. 4 Operant is active. 5 The 6 Anchor is for anchoret. This abbreviation of the word is very ancient.

motives.

And

1

Ham. The mouse-trap'. Marry, how? Tro-
pically. This play is the image of a murder done
in Vienna: Gonzago is the duke's name; his wife,
Baptista: you shall see anon; 'tis a knavish piece
of work: But what of that? your majefty, and 15
we that have free fouls, it touches us not: Let
the gall'd jade wince, our withers are unwrung.-
Enter Lucianus.

This is one Lucianus, nephew to the duke.
Opb. You are as good as a chorus, my lord.
Ham. I could interpret 2 between you and your

love, if I could fee the puppets dallying.

Opb. You are keen, my lord, you are keen. Ham. It would cost you a groaning, to take off my cdge.

Oph. Still better, and worse 3.

Ham. So you mistake your husbands. Begin, murderer. Leave thy damnable faces, and begin.

[venge.

20

1021

(Would not this, fir, and a forest of feathers, (if the reft of my fortunes turn Turk 4 with me) with two Provencial roses on my rayed shoes 5, get me a fellowship in a cry of players, fir?

Hor. Half a share.

Ham. A whole one, I.

For thou dost know, O Damon7 dear,
This realm dismantled was

Of Jove himself; and now reigns here
A very, very-peacock.

Hor. You might have rhym'd.

Ham. O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word
for a thousand pound. Didst perceive?
Hor. Very well, my lord.

Ham. Upon the talk of the poisoning,-
Hor. I did very well note him.

Ham. Ab, ha!-Come, fome mufic; come, the recorders.

For if the king like not the comedy,
Why then, belike, he likes it not, perdy9.
Enter Rofencrantz, and Guildenstern.

Come, fome music.

[you.

Guil. Good my lord, vouchsafe me a word with
Ham. Sir, a whole history.

25

Guil. The king, fir,

Come The croaking raven doth bellow for re-30
Luc. Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and
time agreeing;

Confederate season, elfe no creature seeing;
Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected,
With Hecat's ban thrice blafted, thrice infected, 35
Thy natural magic, and dire property,
On wholefome life ufurp immediately.

[Pours the poifon into bis ears.

Ham. He poisons him i' the garden for his eftate. His name's Gonzago: the story is extant, and 40 written in very choice Italian: You fhall fee anon, bow the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife.

1 He calls it the mouse-trap, because it is king.

Ham. Ay, fir, what of him?

Guil. Is, in his retirement, marvelous distemper’d.
Ham. With drink, fir?

Guil. No, my lord, with choler.

Ham. Your wifdom should fhew itself more richer, to fignify this to the doctor; for, for me to put him to his purgation, would, perhaps, plunge him into more choler.

Guil. Good my lord, put your discourse into fome frame, and start not fo wildly from my af

fair.

Ham. I am tame, fir:pronounce.

Guil. The queen, your mother, in most great affiction of fpirit, hath sent me to you. Ham. You are welcome.

Guil. Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not of the right breed. If it fhall please you to make me a wholesome anfwer, I will do your mother's commandment: if not, your pardon, and my re45 turn, fhall be the end of my business. Ham. Sir, I cannot.

the thing, In which he'll catch the confcience of the

2 This refers to the interpreter, who formerly fat on the stage at all motions or puppet-fbers, and interpreted to the audience. 3 i. e. according to Mr. Steevens, better in regard to the wit of your double entendre, but worfe in refpect to the groffness of your meaning. 4 Means, probably, no more than to change condition fantastically. 5 When shoe-strings were worn, they were

covered, where they met in the middle, by a ribband gathered into the form of a rofe. Rayed fhoes, are fhoes braided in lines. The allufion is to a pack of hounds. A pack of hounds was once called a cry of hounds.

7 Hamlet calls Horatio by this name, in allufion to the celebrated friendship be

8

tween Damon and Pythias. A peacock feems proverbial for a fool. Mr. Steevens, however, believes paddock (or toad) to be the true reading. 9 Perdy is a corruption of par Dieu, and is not uncommon in the old plays. Ham.

Ham. We fhall obey, were fhe ten times our mother. Have you any further trade with us? Rof. My lord, you once did love me. Ham. And do ftill, by these pickers and ftealers 2. Rof. Good my lord, what is your caufe of dif-10 temper? you do, furely, bar the door upon your own liberty, if you deny your griefs to your friend. Ham. Sir, I lack advancement.

Ham. Methinks it is like a weazel”.
Pol. It is back'd like a weazel.

Ham. Or, like a whale?

Pol. Very like a whale.

Ham. Then will I come to my mother by and by. They fool me to the top of my bent 7.—1 will come by and by.

Pol. I will fay fo.

Ham. By and by is eafily faid.-Leave me,
friends. [Exeunt Rof. Guil. Hor. &c.
Tis now the very witching time of night;
When church-yards yawn, and hell itself breathes

out

[blood, Contagion to this world: Now could I drink hot

Rof. How can that be, when you have the voice of the king himself for your succeffion in in Den-|15| And do such business as the bitter day

mark?

Ham. Ay, fir, but While the grafs grows,-the proverb is fomething mufty.

Enter the Players, with Recorders 3.

O, the recorders:let me fee one. To with-20
draw with you:Why do you go about to reco-
ver the wind of me, as if you would drive me in-
to a toil?

Guil. O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly 4.

Ham. I do not well understand that. Will you

play upon this pipe?

Guil. My lord, I cannot.

Ham. I pray you.

Guil. Believe me, I cannot.

Ham. I do befeech you.

Guil. I know no touch of it, my lord.

25

Would quake to look on. Soft; now to my mo

ther.

Enter King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenftern.
30 King. I like him not; nor ftands it fafe with us,
To let his madnefs range. Therefore, prepare you;
your commiffion will forthwith dispatch,
Aud he to England shall along with you:
The terms of our estate may not endure
Hazard fo near us, as doth hourly grow
Out of his lunes 11.

Ham. 'Tis as eafy as lying: govern these ventages 5 with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will difcourfe most elo-135 quent mufic. Look you, these are the ftops.

Guil. But thefe cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I have not the skill.

Ham. Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon 40 me; you would feem to know my ftops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would found me from my lowest note to the top of my compafs: and there is much mufic, excellent voice, in this little organ; yet cannot you 45 make it fpeak. Why, do you think, that I am easier to be play'd on than a pipe? Call me what inftrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me. [Enter Polonius.]-God bless you, fir!

Pol. My lord, the queen would speak with you, and presently.

Ham. Do you fee yonder cloud, that's almoft in fhape of a camel?

Guil. We will ourselves provide:
Moft holy and religious fear it is
To keep thofe many many bodies fafe,
That live, and feed, upon your majesty.

Rf. The fingle and peculiar life is bound,
With all the ftrength and armour of the mind,
To keep itself from 'noyance; but much more,
That fpirit, upon whofe weal depend and rest,
The lives of many. The ceafe of majesty
Dies not alone; but, like a gulf, doth draw
What's near it, with it: It is a maffy wheel,
Fix'd on the fummit of the highest mount,
To whofe huge spokes ten thoufand leffer things
50 Are mortis'd and adjoin'd; which, when it falls,
Each fmall annexment, petty confequence,
Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone
Did the king figh, but with a general groan.
King. Arm you, I pray you, to this fpeedy

Pol. By the mafs, and 'tis like a camel, in-55 For we will fetters put upon this fear, [voyage; deed.

* i. e. further business, further dealing.

Which now goes too free-footed.

4 i. c. If my duty to the king makes me prefs you a little, my love to you makes me ftill more impor tunate. If that makes me bold, this makes me even unmannerly. 5 The holes of a flute. 6 The weafel is remarkable for the length of its back. 7 i. e. They compel me to play the fool, till I can endure to do it no longer. The bitter day is the day rendered hateful or bitter by the commission To fhend, is to reprove harshly, to treat with injurious language. 11 i. e. his madness, frenzy,

of fome act of mischief.

Bath. We will hafte us.

[Exeunt Rof. and Guil. Enter Polonius.

Pol. My lord, he's going to his mother's closet ; Behind the arras I'll convey myself,

[home: 5 To hear the procefs; I'll warrant, fhe'll tax him And, as you faid, and wifely was it said,

'Tis meet, that fome more audience than a mother, Since nature makes them partial, fhould o'er-hear

1023

With all his crimes broad-blown, as flush as May;
And, how his audit stands, who knows, fave heaven?
But, in our circumstance and course of thought,
'Tis heavy with him: And am I then reveng'd,
To take him in the purging of his foul,
When he is fit and feafon'd for his paffage?
No.

Up, fword; and know thou a more horrid hent 5:
When he is drunk, asleep, or in his rage;

The speech of vantage 1. Fare you well, my liege: 10Or in the incestuous pleasures of his bed;
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,

And tell you what I know.

King. Thanks, my dear lord.

[Exit.

At gaming, fwearing; or about fome act
That has no relish of falvation in 't:

Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven;
And that his foul may be as damn'd, and black,
15 As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays:
This phyfic but prolongs thy fickly days.

The King rifes.

[Exit.

King. My words fly up, my thoughts remain

below:

20 Words, without thoughts, never to heaven go.

25

O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curfe upon't,
A brother's murder!-Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will 2;
My stronger guilt defeats my ftrong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I ftand in pause where I fhall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this curfed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood?
Is there not rain enough in the fweet heavens,
To wash it white as fnow? Whereto ferves mercy,
But to confront the vifage of offence?
And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,-
To be fore-ftalled, ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd, being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is paft. But O, what form of prayer
Can ferve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder!-30
That cannot be; fince I am still poffefs'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.
May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice;
And oft 'tis feen, the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law: But 'tis not fo above:
There is no fhuffing, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd, 40
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence. What then? what refts?
Try what repentance can: What can it not?
Yet what can it, when one cannot repent?
O wretched state! O bofom, black as death!
O limed foul; that, struggling to be free,
Art more engag'd! Help, angels, make affay!
Bow, stubborn knees! and, heart, with strings of
fteel,

Be foft as finews of the new-born babe ;
All may be well!

Enter Hamlet.

[The King kneels.

35

1451

50

Ham. Now might I do it, pat, now he is praying;
And now I'll do't;-And fo he goes to heaven:
And so am I reveng'd? That would be fcann'd4:55

A villain kills my father; and, for that,

I, his fole fon, do this fame villain fend

To heaven.

Why this is hire and falary, not revenge.
He took my father grofsly, full of bread;

Tell him, his pranks have been too broad to bear
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between
Much heat and him. I'll filence me e'en here".
Pray you, be round with him.

Ham. [within.] Mother, mother, mother!—
Queen. I'll warrant you; fear me not.
Withdraw, I hear him coming.

[Polonius bides himself.

Enter Hamlet.

Ham. Now, mother; what's the matter?
Queen. Hamlet, thou haft thy father much of-

fended.

Ham. Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Queen. Why, how now, Hamlet?

Ham. What's the matter now?
Queen. Have you forgot me?

Ham. No, by the rood, not fo:

You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And-'would it were not fo!-you are my mother.
Queen. Nay, then I'll set those to you that can
speak.
[not budge;
Ham. Come, come, and fit you down; you shall
You go not, 'till I fet you up a glass
Where you may fee the inmost part of you.
Queen. What wilt thou do? thou wilt not mur-
der me?
Help, help, ho!

Pel. [Bebind.] What, ho! help!
Ham. How now! a rat?

60 Dead, for a ducat, dead.

i.e. by fome opportunity of fecret obfervation. alludes to bird-lime.

2 Will is command, direction.

3 This

5 Hent is bold, or feizure.

4 i. e. that fhould be confidered, estimated. Lay bold on him, fword, at a more horrid time. • i. c. I'll ufe no more words.

[Hamlet

That blurs the grace and blush of modefty;
Calls virtue, hypocrite; takes off the rofe1
From the fair forehead of an innocent love,
And fets a blifter 2 there; makes marriage vows
As falfe as dicers' oaths: O, fuch a deed,
As from the body of contraction 3 plucks
The very foul; and fweet religion makes

A rhapsody of words: Heaven's face doth glow;
Yea, this folidity and compound mass,
With triftful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-fick at the act.

Queen. Ay me, what act,

That roars fo loud, and thunders in the index?
Ham. Look here, upon this picture, and on this;
The counterfeit prefentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was feated on this brow:
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A ftation like the Herald Mercury,
New-lighted on a heaven-kiffing hill;
A combination, and a form, indeed,
Where every god did feem to fet his feal,
To give the world affurance of a man:
This was your husband.Look you now, what
follows:

Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blafting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
You cannot call it, love: for, at your age,
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment; And what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you
have,

Elfe, could you not have motion: But, fure, that fenfe
Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err;

It was once the custom of those who were fpicuous mark of their mutual engagement.

contra&t.

5

Nor fenfe to ecstasy was ne'er fo thrall'd,
But it referv'd fome quantity of choice

To ferve in fuch a difference. What devil was't,
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without fight,
Ears without hands or eyes, fmelling fans all,
Or but a fickly part of one true fenfe
Could not fo mope.

O fhame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
10 If thou canft mutiny in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame,
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge;
Since froft itself as actively doth burn,

In the rank fweat of an incestuous bed;
Stew'd in corruption; honeying, and making love
Over the nafty stye;--

Queen. O, fpeak to me no more;

25 Thefe words like daggers enter in mine ears; No more, fweet Hamlet.

Ham. A murderer, and a villain :

A flave, that is not twentieth part the tythe
Of your precedent lord :-a vice of kings:
30 A cutpurfe of the empire and the rule;
That from a fhelf the precious diadem ftole,
And put it in his pocket!
Queen. No more.

Ham. A king of fhreds and patches :-
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards!-What would your gracious
figure?

40 Queen. Alas, he's mad.

Ham. Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, laps'd in time and paffion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command?
O, fay!

45 Gheft. Do not forget: This vifitation
Is but to whet thy almoft blunted purpose.
But, look! amazement on thy mother fits:
O, ftep between her and her fighting foul;
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works;
Speak to her, Hamlet.

50

Ham. How is it with you, lady?
Queen. Alas, how is't with you?
That you do bend your eye on vacancy,
And with the incorporal air do hold difcourfe?
55 Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;
And, as the fleeping foldiers in the alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up, and ftands on end. O gentle fon,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
160 Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?

betrothed, to wear fome flower as an external and con-
2 See note 3, p. 389. * Contraction for marriage
Ham