Laer. What ceremony else?
Ham.

A very noble youth: Mark.

Laer. What ceremony else?

That 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,4
Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home
Of bell and burial.

Laer. Must there no more be done?
1 Priest.

No more be done! We should profane the service of the dead, To sing a requiem, and such rest to her As to peace-parted souls.

Laer.

Lay her i' the earth;And from her fair and unpolluted flesh May violets spring!—I tell thee, churlish priest, A minist'ring angel shall my sister be, When thou liest howling.

Ham. What! the fair Ophelia! Queen. Sweets to the sweet: Farewell! [Scattering Flowers. I hoped, thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife; I thought, thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid, And not have strew'd thy grave. Laer.

O, treble woe Fall ten times treble on that cursed head, Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense Deprived thee of!-Hold off the earth a while, Till I have caught her once more in mine arms: [Leaps into the grave. Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead; Till of this flat a mountain you have made To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head Of blue Olympus.

Ham. [Advancing.] What is he whose grief Bears such an emphasis? whose phrase of sorrow Conjures the wand'ring stars, and makes them stand

Like wonder-wounded hearers? this is I,
Hamlet the Dane.

Laer.

[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;
For, though I am not splenetive and rash,
Yet have I in me something dangerous,

Which, let thy wisdom fear: hold off thy hand.
King. Pluck them asunder.
Queen.
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 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 ?7 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,

Undo, destroy. Broken pots or tiles. • Garlands. A mass for the dead. • Living. Eisel is vinegar; but Mr. Stevens conjectures the word should be Weisel, a river which falls into the Baltic Ocean.

Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thoul't mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.
Queen.
This is mere madness;
And thus a while the fit will work on him;
Anon, as patient as the female dove,
When that her golden couplets are disclos'd,
His silence will sit drooping.

Ham.

Hear you, sir; What is the reason that you use me thus? I lov'd you ever: But it is no matter; Let Hercules himself do what he may, The cat will mew, and dog will have his day. [Exit. King. I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon [Exit HORATIO.

him.Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech; [To LAERTES.

W'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. [Exeunt.
SCENE II-A Hall in the Castle.
Enter HAMLET and HORATIO.

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 mutines in the bilboes. Rashly,
And prais'd be rashness for it,-Let us know,
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well,
When our deep plots do pall;2 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
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 commas '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: Feded the writ up in the form of the other;

scribed it; gave't the impression; placed it safely,

The changeling never known: Now the next day

• Hatched.

• Mutineers. Fetters and handcuffs brought from Bilbos in Spain. 2 Fail. ⚫ Bugbears. 4 Before. ⚫ Statesmen. A note of connection. • Confessing.

Osr. I know, you are not ignorant

Ham. I would, you did, sir; yet, in faith, if you did, it would not much approve me;-Well sir. Osr. You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is

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?

Osr. Rapier and dagger.

Ham. That's two of his weapons: but, well.
Osr. The king, sir, hath wagered with him six

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 card3 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.5

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.

Make account of value.

pawned, as I take it, six French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hangers,9 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 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 exnine; and it would come to immediate trial, if your ceed you three hits; he hath laid, on twelve for 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 lapwing3 runs away with the shell on his head.

sucked it. Thus has he (and many more of the Ham. He did comply with his dug, before he same breed, that, I know, the drossy5 age dotes 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 fonds their trial, the bubbles are out. and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to

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.

Recommend. Praise. • Staked. That part of the belt by which the sword was sus pended.

Margin of a book which contains explanatory notes. 2 Akin.

Compass or chart.

A bird like a jackdaw. The affected phrase of the time. Distinguishing excellencies.

The country and pattern for imitation.

This speech is a ridicule of the court jargon of that time.

A bird which runs about immediately it is hatched. • Compliment. • Worthless.

For fond read fann'd.

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 will forestall 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. 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.
This presences knows, and you must needs have
heard,

How I am punish'd with a sore distraction.
What I have done,

That might your nature, honor, and exception,
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was't Hamlet wronged Laertes? Never Hamlet;
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away,

And, when he's not himself, does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.
Who does it, then? His madness: If't be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
Sir, in this audience,

Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot my arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my brother.

Laer.

I am satisfied in nature,

You mock me, sir.

Ham. No, by this hand. King. Give them the foils, young Osric.-Cousin Hamlet, You know the wager? Hant

Very well, my lord; Your grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker side. King. I do not fear it :-I have seen you both :But since he's better'd, we have therefore odds. Laer. This is too heavy, let me see another. Ham. This likes me well: These foils have all a length? [They prepare to play.

Osr. Ay, my good lord.

King. Set me the stoups of wine upon that table:

If Hamlet give the first or second hit,
Or quit in answer of the third exchange,
Let all the battlements their ordnance fire,
The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath;
And in the cup an union2 shall he throw,

Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit.
Laer.
Well,-again.
King. Stay, give me drink: Hamlet, this pearl
is thine;

Here's to thy health.-Give him the cup.

[Trumpets sound; and Cannon shot off within.

Ham. I'll play this bout first, set it by a while. Come. Another hit; What say you? [They play. Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess. King. Our son shall win. Queen.

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

Look to the queen there, ho!

Hor. They bleed on both sides:-How is it, my

lord?

Osr. How is't, Laertes ?

Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own springe,

Osric;

I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery. Ham. How does the queen?

King.

She swoons to see them bleed.

Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink,-0 my

dear Hamlet!

The drink, the drink;-I am poison'd! [Dies.
Ham. O villany!-Ho! let the door be lock'd:
Treachery! seek it out.
[LAERTES falls.
Laer. It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain;
No medicine in the world can do thee good,
In thee there is not half an hour's life;
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated, and envenom'd: the foul practice
Hath turn'd itself on me; lo, here I fie,
Never to rise again: Thy mother's poison'd;
I can no more; the king, the king's to blame.
Ham. The point

Envenom'd too!-then, venom, to thy work.
[Stabs the KING.

Osr.& Lords. Treason! treason!
King. O, yet defend me friends, I am but hurt.
Ham. Here, thou incestuous, murd'rous, damned
Dane,

Drink off this potion:-Is thy union here?
Follow my mother.
Laer.

IKING dies.

He is justly serv'd; It is a poison temper'd5 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!—
You that look pale and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,
Had I but time, (as this fell sergeant, death,
Is strict in his arrest.) 0, I could tell you,-
But let it be:-Horatio, I am dead;

Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.

Never believe it;

Hor.
I am more an antique Roman than a Dane,
Here's yet some liquor left.

Ham.
As thou'rt a man,-
Give me the cup; let go; by heaven I'll have it.-
O God!-Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind
me?

If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity a while,

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.

[March afar off, and Shot within. What warlike noise is this? Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland,

To the ambassadors of England gives
This warlike volley.

Ham.

O, I die, Horatio;

The potent poison quité o'er-crows my spirit;
I cannot live to hear the news from England:
But I do prophesy the election lights

On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents,7 more or less,
Which have solicited,-the rest is silence. [Dies.
Hor. Now cracks a noble heart;-Good-night,
sweet prince;

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
Why does the drum come hither? [March within.
Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors,
and others.

Fort. Where is this sight?
Hor.

What is it you would see? If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search.

Fort. This quarry9 cries on havoc!-O proud

death!

The sight is dismal;

And our affairs from England come too late:
The ears are senseless, that should give us hearing,
To tell him, his commandment is fulfill'd,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead:
Where should we have our thanks?

Hor.
Not from his mouth,
Had it the ability of life to thank you;
He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jump upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack3 wars, and you from England,
Are here arriv'd; give order, that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view;
And let me speak, to the yet unknowing world,
How these things come about: So shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts;

Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters;
Of deaths put on by cunning, and forced cause;
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I
Truly deliver.

Fort.

Let us haste to hear it, And call the noblest to the audience. For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune; I have some rights of memory in this kingdom, Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me. Hor. Of that I shall have also cause to speak, And from his mouth whose voice will draw on

more:

But let this same be presently perform'd,
Even while men's minds are wild; lest more mis-
chance,

On plots and errors, happen.
Fort.

Let four captains
Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have prov'd most royally: and, for his passage,
The soldier's music, and the rites of war,
Speak loudly for him.--

Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. Take up the bodies:-Such a sight as this Go, bid the soldiers shoot. [A Dead March. [Exeunt, bearing off the dead Bodies; after which, a Peal of Ordnance is shot off. Polish.

So exactly at the time.

SCENE I-Venice. A Street.

Enter RODERIGO and IAGO.

lago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city,

In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Oft capp'd' to him;-and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance,2
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion, nonsuits

My mediators; for certes,3 says he,
I have already chose my officer.

And what was he?

Forsooth, a great arithmetician,

One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,

A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife;
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows

More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toged consuls can propose
As masterly as he mere prattle, without practice,
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election:
And I,-of whom his eyes had seen the proof
At Rhodes, at Cyprus; and on other grounds
Christian and heathen,-must be be-lee'd and calm'd
By debitor and creditor, this counter-caster;
He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,
And I, (God bless the mark!) his Moorship's an-

We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For naught but provender; and, when he's old,
cashier'd;

Whip me such honest knaves: Others there are,
Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves;
And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,
Do well thrive by them, and when they have lined

their coats,

Do themselves homage: these fellows have some soul;

And such a one do I profess myself.
For, sir,

It is as sure as you are Roderigo,
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:

In following him, I follow but myself;

Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,

But seeming so, for my peculiar end:

For when my outward action doth demonstrate

The native act and figure of my heart

In compliment extern, 'tis not long after

But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.
Rod. What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe,
If he can carry't thus!

Iago.
Call up her father,
Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight,
Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen,
And, though he in a fertile climate dwell,
Plague him with flies; though that his joy be joy,
Yet throw such changes of vexation on't,
As it may lose some color.

Rod. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud. Jago. Do; with like timorous accent, and dire yell, As when, by night and negligence, the tire Is spied in populous cities.

Rod. What ho! Brabantio! signior Brabantio, ho! Iago. Awake! what ho! Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves!

Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags! Thieves! thieves!

BRABANTIO, above, at a Window.

what is the matter there?

Bra. What is the reason of this terrible summons?

Rod. Signior, is all your family within?
Iago. Are your doors lock'd?

Bra.

Why? wherefore ask you this? Iago. Zounds, sir, you are robb'd; for shame, put

• Own, possess.