Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

65

70

75

80

Ham. Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man
As e'er my conversation coped withal.

Hor. O, my dear lord,

Ham.

Nay, do not think I flatter,
For what advancement may I hope from thee
That no revenue hast but thy good spirits
To feed and clothe thee? Why should the
poor be flattered?

No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp,
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost
thou hear?

Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice
And could of men distinguish, her election
Hath sealed thee for herself; for thou hast
been

As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing,
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards
Hath ta'en with equal thanks; and blest are
those

Whose blood and judgement are so well com-
mingled,

That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger To sound what stop she please. Give me that man

That is not passion's slave, and I will wear
him

In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee. Something too much of this.-
There is a play to-night before the King.

Hor.

One scene of it comes near the circumstance
Which I have told thee of my father's death. 85
I prithee, when thou seest that act a-foot,
Even with the very comment of thy soul
Observe my uncle. If his occulted guilt
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,
It is a damned ghost that we have seen,
And my imaginations are as foul

As Vulcan's stithy. Give him heedful note;
For I mine eyes will rivet to his face,
And after we will both our judgements join
In censure of his seeming.

90

Well, my lord. 95

If he steal aught the whilst this play is

playing,

And 'scape detecting, I will pay the theft. Ham. They are coming to the play; I must be idle.

Get you a place.

Danish march. A flourish. Enter King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and other Lords attendant, with the guard carrying torches.

King. How fares our cousin Hamlet?

Ham. Excellent, i' faith,—of the chameleon's dish. I eat the air, promise-crammed. You can not feed capons so.

King. I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet; these words are not mine.

Ham. No, nor mine now. [To Polonius.] My

100

10%

110

115

120

lord, you played once i' the university, you say?

Pol. That did I, my lord, and was accounted a good actor.

Ham. What did you enact?

Pol. I did enact Julius Caesar. I was killed i' the Capitol; Brutus killed me.

Ham. It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there. Be the players ready?

Ros. Ay, my lord, they stay upon your patience. Queen. Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by

me.

attractive.

Ham. No, good mother, here's metal more [Lying down at Ophelia's feet. Pol. [To the King.] O, ho! do you mark that?... Oph. You are merry, my lord.

Ham. Who, I?

Oph. Ay, my lord.

125 Ham. O God, your only jig-maker. What should a man do but be merry? For, look you, how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within 's two hours.

Oph. Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord. 130 Ham. So long? Nay then, let the Devil wear

135

[ocr errors]

black, for I'll have a suit of sables. heavens! die two months ago, and not forgotten yet? Then there's hope a great man's memory may outlive his life half a year; but, by 'r lady, he must build churches then, or else shall he suffer not

thinking on, with the hobby-horse, whose epitaph is, "For, O, for, O, the hobby-horse is forgot."

Hautboys play. The dumb-show enters.

Enter a King and a Queen very lovingly, the Queen embracing him, and he her. She kneels and makes show of protestation unto him. He takes her up and declines his head upon her neck; lays him down upon a bank of flowers; she, seeing him asleep, leaves him. Anon comes in a fellow, takes off his crown, kisses it, and pours poison in the King's ears, and exit. The Queen returns, finds the King dead, and makes passionate action. The poisoner, with some two or three Mutes, comes in again, seeming to lament with her. The dead body is carried away. The poisoner woos the Queen with gifts; she seems loath and unwilling awhile, but in the end accepts his love.

Oph. What means this, my lord?

[Exeunt.

Ham. Marry, this is miching mallecho; it means

mischief.

Oph. Belike this show imports the argument of the play.

Enter Prologue.

Ham. We shall know by this fellow. The players can not keep counsel, they'll tell all. . .

140

145 Pro. For us, and for our tragedy,

Here stooping to your clemency,

We beg your hearing patiently.

[Exit.

Ham. Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?

Oph. 'Tis brief, my lord.

150 Ham. As woman's love.

155

160

165

170

Enter two Players, King and Queen.

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

round

Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbed ground,
And thirty dozen moons with borrowed sheen
About the world have times twelve thirties been,
Since love our hearts and Hymen did our hands
Unite commutual in most sacred bands.

P. Queen. So many journeys may the sun and moon
Make us again count o'er ere love be done!
But, woe is me, you are so sick of late,

So far from cheer and from your former state,
That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must;
For women's fear and love hold quantity,
In neither aught, or in extremity.

Now, what my love is, proof hath made you

know;

And as my love is sized, my fear is so.

Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear;

Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.

P. King. 'Faith I must leave thee, love, and shortly

too.

My operant powers their functions leave to do;
And thou shalt live in this fair world behind,
Honored, beloved; and haply one as kind
For husband shalt thou-

« VorigeDoorgaan »