King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,

Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve
For that which thou hast done,-must send
thee hence
[self;
With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thy-
The bark is ready, and the wind at help*,
The associates tend †, and every thing is bent
For England.
Ham. For England?
King.
Ham.

Ay, Hamlet.

Good. 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, ·Hum. 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 the affair: Pray you, make haste. [Exeunt Ros. and GUIL. 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 may'st 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 ý, my joys will ne'er begin.
[Exit.

SCENE IV. A Plain in Denmark.
Enter FORTINBRAS, and Forces, marching.
For. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish
Tell him, that, by his license, Fortinbras [king;
Craves the conveyance of a promised 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.
For. Go softly on.
[Exeunt FORTIN BRAS and Forces.
Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDEN-
STERN, &C.

I will do't, my lord.

Ham. Good sir, whose powers ¶ are these?
Cap. They are of Norway, sir.
Ham.

How purposed, sir,

Cap Against some part of Poland.
Ham.

I pray you?

Who [bras.

Commands them, sir?

Cup. The nephew to old Norway, Fortin

Ham. Goes it against the main of Poland, Or for some frontier?

[sir,

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 it.

Cap. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd.

Ham. Two thousand souls, and twenty thousand ducats,

Will not debate the question of this straw:
This is the imposthume of much wealth and
peace:
fout
That inward breaks, and shows no cause with-
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?
Ham. I will be with you straight.

Go a

little before. [Exeunt Ros, and 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 dis

course it,

Looking before, and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust 5 in us unused. 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, [theu,
When honour's at the stake. How stand I
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.

Value, estimate.

++ Profit.

+ Atteud. ** Polander.

Cowardly.

Right, ready. Presence. ¶ Forces. $5 Grow mouldy.

§ Successes. Power of comprehension. ¶¶ Since.

SCENE V. Elsinore. A Room in the Castle.

Enter Queen and HORATIO.

Queen. I will not speak with her. Hor. She is importunate; indeed, distraet; Her mood will needs be pitied.

Queen. What would she have! Hor. She speaks much of her father; says, she hears, [beats her heart; There's tricks i'the world; and hems, and Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt, [thing, That carry but half sense: her speech is noYet the unshaped use of it doth move The hearers to collection; they aim* at it, And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts;

Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,

Indeed would make one think, there might be thought,

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 toyt 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

Denmark?

Queen. How now, Ophelia?

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

By his cockle hat and staff, And his sandal shoont. [Singing. Queen. Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song? Oph. Say you? nay, pray you, mark. He is dead and gone, lady, [Sings. He is dead and gone; At his head a grass-green turf, At his heels a stone. Queen. Nay, but Ophelia,Oph.

O, hol

Pray you, mark. White his shroud as the mountain snow, [Sings.

Enter King.

Queen. Alas, look here, my lord.

ph.

Larded all with sweet flowers; Which bewept to the grave did go, With true-love showers.

King. How do you, pretty lady? Oph. Well, God'ield || you! They say, the owl was a baker's daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your table!

King. Conceit upon her father.

Oph. Pray, let us have no words of this;

but when they ask you, what it means, say you this:

Good morrow, 'tis Saint Valentine's
All in the morning betime, [day,

And I a maid at your window,

To be your Valentine:

Then up he rose, and doned¶his clothes,
And dupp'd** the chamber door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.

King. Pretty Ophelia!

Oph. Indeed, without an oath, I'll make an end on't:

By Gis, and by Saint CharityĦ,
Alack, and fie for shame!

Young men will dợt, if they come to'l;
By cock, they are to blame.
Quoth she, before you tumbled me,
You promised me to wed:
[He answers.]

So would I ha' done, by yonder sun,

An thou hadst not come to my bed. King. How long hath she been thus? Oph. I hope, all will be well. We must be 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, [spies, When sorrows come, they come not single But in battalions! First, her father slain; Next, your son gone; and he most violent author

Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and Of his own just remove: The people muddied, whispers, [but greenly #‡, For good Polonius' death; and we have done In hugger-mugger §§ to inter him: Poor Ophe

lia

Last, and as much containing as all these,
Her brother is in secret come from France:
Feeds on his 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. .0 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.

letters;

And do't the speedier, that you may direct me To him from whom you brought them.

[Exeunt.

[me:

Be you content to lend your patience to us, And we shall jointly labour with your soul To give it due content.

Laer.

Let this be so;
His means of death, his obscure funeral,-
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his
bones,

No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,-
Cry to be heard as 'twere from heaven to earth,
That I must call't in question.

King.
So you shall;
And where the offence is, let the great axe fall.
I pray you, go with me."
[Exeunt.
SCENE VI. Another Room in the same.
Enter HORATIO, and a Servant.

Hor. What are they, that would speak with me?

Serv.

Sailors, sir; They say they have letters for you. Hor. Let them come in;[Exit Servant. I do not know from what part of the world I should be greeted, if not from lord Hamlet. Enter Sailors.

1 Sail. God bless you, sir. Hor. Let him bless thee too.

1 Sail. He shall, sir, an't please him. There's a letter for you, sir: it comes from the ambassador that was bound for England; if your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is. Hor. [Reads.] Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these fellows some means to the king: they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave us chase: Finding ourselves too slow of sail. we put on a compelled valour, and in the grapple I boarded them on the instant, they got clear of our ship, so I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me, like thieves of mercy; but they knew what they did; I am to do a good turn for them. Let the king have the letters I| have sent and repair thou to me with as much haste as thou wouldst fly death. 1 have words to speak in thine ear, will make thee dumb; yet are they much too light for the bore of the matter. These good fellows will bring thee where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course for England: of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell. He that thou knowest thine,

* Since.

HAMLET.

SCENE VII. Another Room in the same. Enter King and LAERTES.

King. Now must your conscience my ac quittance seal,

And you must put me in your heart for friend; Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear, That he, which hath your noble father slain, Pursued my life.

Laer. It well appears :-But tell me, Why you proceeded not against these feats, So crimeful and so capital in nature,

As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things You mainly were stirr'd up. [else,

King. O, for two special reasons, Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinewed +, [mother, But yet to me they are strong. The queen his Lives almost by his looks; and for myself, She is so conjunctive to my life and soul, (My virtue, or my plague, be it either which,) That, as the star moves not but in his sphere, I could not but by her. The other motive, Why to a public count I might not go, Is, the great love the general gender bear him: Who, dipping all his faults in their affection, Work like the springs that turneth wood to stone, [rows, Convert his gyves to graces; so that my ar Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind, Would have reverted to my bow again, And not where I had aim'd them.

Laer. And so have I a noble father lost; A sister driven into desperate terms; Whose worth, if praises may go back again, Stood challenger on mount of all the age For her perfections:-But my revenge will [must not think,

come.

King. Break not your sleeps for that you That we are made of stuff so flat and dull, That we can let our beard be shook with danger, [more: And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear I loved your father, and we love ourself; And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine,How now? what news?

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. Letters, my lord, from Hamlet: This to your majesty; this to the queen. King. From Hamlet! who brought them? Mess. Sailors, my lord, they say: I saw [them

them not;

They were given me by Claudio, he received Of him that brought them. 'King. Laertes, you shall hear them:Leave us. [Exit Messenger. [Reads.] High and mighty, you shall know, I am set naked on your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes: when I shall, first asking your pardon there

Common people.

Chains.

Hamlet. What should this mean! Are all the rest come Or is it some abuse, and no such thing? [back? Laer. Know you the hand?

King. Tis Hamlet's character. Naked,And in a postscript here, he says, alone: Can you advise me?

[come; Laer. I am lost in it, my lord. But let him It warms the very sickness in my heart, That I shall live and tell him to his teeth, Thus diddest thou.

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;
[tice,
But even his mother shall uncharge the prac-
And call it, accident.

Laer.
My lord, I will be ruled;
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,
Aud 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 t.

Laer.
What part is that, my lord?
King. A very riband 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
since,

Here was a gentleman of Normandy, French, I have seen myself, and served against, the And they can well on horseback; but this gallant

Had witchcraft in't; he grew unto his seat; And to such wondrous doing brought his horse, As he had been incorpsed and demi-natured With the brave beast: so far he topp'd my That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks, [thought, Come short of what he did.

Laer.

A Norman, was't?

King. A Norman. Laer. Upon my life, Lamord. King. The very same. Laer. I know him well: he is the brooch 1, And gem of all the nation. [indeed,

King. He made confession of you; And gave you such a masterly report, For art and exercise in your defences,

* Objecting to.

your father;

But that I know, love is begun by time;
And that I see, in passages of proof,
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.
There lives within the very flame of love
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
changes,

And hath abatements and delays as many,
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:
[take,

Hamlet comes back; What would you underTo show yourself indeed your father's son More than in words?

Laer.

To cut his throat i'the church. King. No place, indeed, should murder sauctuarize; [Laertes, Revenge should have no bounds, But, good Will you do this, keep close within your chamber: [home:

Hamlet, return'd, shall know you are come
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,
And set a double varnish on the fame
The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine,
together,

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 practicett,
Requite him for your father.

Laer.

I will de'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 scratched withal: I'll touch my
point
[ly,
With this contagion; that, if I gall him slight-
It may be death.
King.

Let's further think of this;

Ornament.

Fencers.

Daily experience.

+ Exercise.