Gall. Which dreams, indeed, are ambition; (and peftilent congregation of vapours. What a for the very fubftance of the ambitious is merely the fhadow of a dream.

Ham. A dream itielf is but a fhadow.

Ref. Truly, and I hold ambition of fo airy and light a quality, that it is bat a fhadow's fhadow.

Hom. Then are our beggars, bodies; and our. monarchs, and out-ftretch'd heroes, the beggars' fhadows: Shall we to the court ? for, by my fay, I cannot reafon.

Both. We'll wait upon you.

Ham. No fuch matter: I will not fort you with the reft of my fervants; for, to speak to you like an honeft man, I am moft dreadfully attended. But, in the beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elinour ?

piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties in form, and moving, how exprefs and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehenfion, how like a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals! And yet to me, what is this quinteffence of duft ? man delights not me,--nor woman neither; though, by your fmiling, you seem to say so.

Rf. My lord, there was no fuch stuff in my thoughts.

Ham. Why did you laugh then, when I faid Man delights not me?

Raf. To think, my lord, if you delight not in man, what lenten 2 entertainment the players fhall receive from you: we coted 3 them on the way; and hither are they coming to offer you service.

Ref. To vifit you, my lord, no other occafion. Han. Beggar that I am; I am even poor in Ham. He that plays the king, fhall be welcome; thanks; but I thank you: and fure, dear friends, his majesty thall have tribute of me: the advenmy thanks are too dear at a half-penny. Were turous knight fhall ufe his foil, and target; the you not feat for? Is it your own inclining? Is it lover fhall not figh gratis; the humorous man a free vifitation? Come, come; deal juttly with thall end his part in peace: the clown fhall make me: come, come; nay, speak. thofe laugh, whofe lungs are tickled o' the fere 4; and the lady fhall fay her mind freely, or the blank verfe thall halt for't.-What players are they?

You

Gail. What fhould we fay, my lord? Ham. Any thing--but to the purpose. were fent for; and there is a kind of confeffion! in your looks, which your modefties have not craft en ugh to colour: I know the good king and queen have fent for you.

Ref. To what end, my lord?

Ham. That you must teach me. But let me conjure you, by the rights of our fellowship, by the confonancy of our youth, by the obligation of cur ever preferv'd love, and by what more dear a better propofer could charge you withal, be even and direct with me, whether you were fent for, or no?

Ref. What fay you?
[To Guilden.
Ham. Nay, then I have an eye of you ;—if

you love me, hold not off.

Gail. My lord, we were fent for.

Rof. Even thofe you were wont to take fuch delight in, the tragedians of the city.

Ham. How chances it, they travel? their refidence, both in reputation and profit, was better both ways.

Rof. I think, their inhibition comes by the means of their late innovation 5.

Ham. Do they hold the fame estimation they did when I was in the city? Are they fo follow'd? Ref. No, indeed they are not.

Ham. How comes it? Do they grow rusty ? Ref. Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace: But there is, fir, an aiery of children, little eyates 6, that cry out on the top of question 7, and are moft tyrannically clapp'd for 't: these are now the fathion; and fo berattle the common ftages,

afraid of goofe quills, and dare fcarce come thither.

Ham. I will tell you why; fo thall my anti-(fo they call them) that many, wearing rapiers, are cipation prevent your difcovery, and your fecrecy to the king and queen moult no feather. I have of late (but, wherefore, I know not) loft all my mirth, foregone all custom of exercises: and, indeed, it goes fo heavily with my difpofition, that this goodly frame, the earth, feems to me a teril promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'er-hanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me, than a foul

Him What, are they children? Who maintains 'em? how are they efcoted Will they purfue the quality 9 no longer than they can fing? will they not fay afterwards, if they should grow themfelves to common players, (as it is most like, if their means are no better) their writers do them wrong, to make them exclaim against their own fucceftion?

Rof. 'Faith, there has been much to do on both

2 i. e. fparing, like the entertain

An eye of you means, I have a glimpse of your meaning. ments given in Lent. 3 To cote is to overtake. 4. c. (fays Mr. Steevens) thofe who are athmatical, and to whom laughter is most ungafy, which is the cafe with thofe whofe lungs are tickled by the fore or ferum. 5 i. e. (fays Mr. Steevens) their permishon to act any longer at an established houfe is taken away, in confequence of the new cuftom of introducing perfonal abufe into their comedies. Several companies of actors in the time of our author were flenced on account of this licentious practice. 6 The poet here fteps out of his fubject to give a lafh at home, and fneer at the prevailing fashion of following plays performed by the children of the chapel, and abandoning the established theatres. Little Eyales mean young nestlings, creatures juft out of the egg. 7 Children that perpetually recite in the highest notes of voice that can be uttered. 1. e. paid; from the French efeat, a hot or reckoning. 9 Quality for profellion.

8

fides;

fides; and the nation holds it no fin, to tarre tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, them on to controverfy: There was, for a while, hiftorical-paftoral, tragical-hiftorical, tragical-cono money bid for argument, unless the poet and the player went to cuffs in the question.

Hm. Is it poffible?

mical, historical-paftoral, fcene undividable, or poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light: For the law of writ 7, and the

Guil. O, there has been much throwing about liberty, these are the only men. of brains.

Ham. Do the boys carry it away?

Rof. Ay, that they do, my lord; 2 Hercules and

his load too.

Ham. It is not very ftrange: for my uncle is king of Denmark; and thofe, that would make mouths at him while my father liv'd, give twenty, forty, fifty, an hundred ducats a-piece, for his picture in little 3. There is fomething in this more than natural, if philofophy could find it out. [Flourih of trumpets.

Ham. O Jephtha, judge of If-ael,—what a treafure hadft thou!

Pol. What a treafure had he, my lord?
Ham. Why,-One fair daughter, and no more,
The which he loved pafing well.

Pol. Still on my daughter.
[Aide
Ham. Am I not i' the right, old Jephtha?
Pol. If you call me Jephtha, my lord, I have a
daughter, that I love patling well.

Ham. Nay, that follows not.

Pol. What follows then, my lord? Gail. There are the players. Ham. Why, as By lot, Ged wet,—and then, yea Ham. Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elfinour. know, It came to pass, As moft like it was,—The Your hands. Come then: the appurtenance of first row of the pious chanfon will thew you more; welcome is fashion and ceremony: let me comply for look, where my abridgment 10 comes. with you in this garb; left my extent to the players, which, I tell you, muft fhew fairly outward, fhould more appear like entertainment than yours. You are welcome: but my uncle-father, and auntmother, are deceiv'd.

Guil. In what, my dear lord?

Ham. I am but mad north-north-weft: when the wind is foutherly, I know a hawk from a hand-faw 4.

Enter Polonia.

Pal. Well be with you, gentlemen!

Ham. Hark you, Guildenstern ;—and you too -at each ear a hearer: That great baby, you fee there, is not yet out of his fwadling-clouts.

R. Haply, he's the fecond time come to them; for, they fay, an old man is twice a child.

;

Ham. I will prophefy, he comes to tell me of the players; mark it. You fay right, fir: Monday morning; 'twas then, indeed.

Pol. My lord, I have news to tell you.
Ham. My lord, I have news to tell you.
Rofcius was an actor in Rome,————

Pol. The actors are come hither, my lord.
Ham. Buz, buz 5 !

Pol. Upon mine honour,

on

Enter four or five Players.

You are welcome, mafters; welcome, all :-I am glad to fee thee well :-welcome, good friends.— O, old friend! Why, thy face is valanc'd fince I faw thee laft; Com'st thou to beard me in Denmark-What! my young lady and mitres ! By-'r-lady, your ladyship is nearer to heaven, tha when I faw you laft, by the altitude of a chioppine 11. Pray God, your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not crack'd within the ring 12-Mafters, you are all welcome. We'll e'en to 't like French falconers, fly at any thing we fee: We'll have a fpeech ftraight: Come, give us a taste of your quality; come, a paffionate speech.

1 Play. What fpeech, my good lord ?

Ham. I heard thee fpeak me a fpeech once,but it was never acted; or, if it was, not above once for the play, I remember, pleas'd not the million: 'twas caviare 13 to the general: but it When was (as I receiv'd it, and others, whose judgments, in fuch matters, cried in the top of mine 14) an excellent play; well digefted in the fcenes, fet down with as much modefty 15 as cunning. I remember, one faid, there were no fallets in the lines, to make the matter favoury; nor no matter in the phrafe, that might indite the author of affection 16:

Ham. Then came each actor on bis afs 6,—
Pol. The best actors in the world, either for

7 Writ, for

1 To provoke any animal to rage is to tarre him. 2 i. e. They not only carry away the world, but the world-bearer too; alluding to the ftory of Hercules's relieving Atlas; or the allufion may be to the Globe playhoufe, on the Bank fide, the fign of which was Hercules carrying the Globe. 31.e. in miniature. 4 This was a common proverbial speech. 5 Euz, buz! are, probably, only inter jections employed to interrupt Polonius. 6 This feems to be a line of a ballad. writing, compofition. 8Thefe were quotations from an old fong. 9 Mr. Steevens explains this allusion thus: "The pious chanfons were a kind of Christmas Carols, containing some scriptural hiftory thrown into loofe rhymes, and fung about the streets by the common people when they went at that feason to folicit alms. Hamlet is here repeating fome fcraps from a fong of this kind; and when Polonius enquires what follows them, he refers him to the first row (i. e. divifion) of one of thefe, to obtain the information he wanted." 10 i. e. as Dr. Johnson thinks, thofe who will shorten my talk. An abridgment is used for a dramatic piece in the Midfummer Night's Dream, A&t V. Sc. I. chioppine is a high shoe worn by the Italians. 12 That is, crack'd too much for ufe. caviare is the fpawn of the ferlett, a fish of the fturgeon kind, which feldom grows above thirty inches long. It is found in many of the rivers of Ruffia. The general means the people, or multitude. 141. e. were higher than mine. 1s Modefty, for fimplicity. 16 i. e. convict the author of being a fantastical affected writer.

11 A

13 The

but

but call'd it, an honest method; as wholesome as fweet, and by very much more handfome than fine. One fpeech in it I chiefly lov'd: 'twas Eneas' tale to Dido; and thereabout of it efpeeially, where he speaks of Priam's flaughter; If it live in your memory, begin at this line; let me fee, let me fee ;

The rugged Pyrrhus-like the Hyrcanian beaft,— 'tis not fo; it begins with Pyrrhus.

The rugged Pyrrhus,—be, whofe fable arms,
Black as bis purpose, did the night resemble
When be lay couched in the ominous borfe,
Hath now this dread and black complexion fear'd
With heraldry more difmal; head to foot
Now is be total gules; horridly trick'd
With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, fons ;
Bak'd and impafted with the parching streets,"
That lend a tyrannous and a damned light
To their lord's murder: Roafted in wrath, and fire,
And thus o'er-fized with coagulate gore,
With eyes like carbuncles, the bellifh Pyrrhus
Old grandfire Priam feeks :-
-So, proceed you.

Pol. 'Fore God, my lord, well fpoken; with good accent, and good difcretion.

1 Play. Anon be finds him,

Striking too fhort at Greeks; his antique fword,
Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,
Repugnant to command: Unequal match'd,
Pyrrhus at Priam drives; in rage, ftrikes wide;
But with the whiff and wind of his fell fword
The unnerved father falls. Then fenfelefs Ilium,
Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top
Stoops to his bafe; and with a bidrous crash
Takes prifoner Pyrrhus' ear: for, lo! bis fword,
Which was declining on the milky bead
Of reverend Priam, feem'd i' the air to flick:
So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus flood;
ind, like a neutral to his will and matter,
Did nothing.

But, as we often fee, against fome form,
A filence in the heavens, the rack fland fill,
The bold winds fpeechlefs, and the orb below
As hub as death: anon, the dreadful thunder
Doth rend the region: So, after Pyrrhus' pause,
A roufed vengeance fets him new a-work;
And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall
On Mars's armour, forg'd for proof eterne,
With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding fword
Now falls on Priam.

Out, out, thou ftrumpet Fortune! All you gods,
In general fynod, take
her power;
away
Break all the Spokes and fellies from her wheel,
And bowl the round nave down the bill of heaven,
As low as to the fiends!

Pol. This is too long.

Ham. It fhall to the barber's, with your beard.Pr'ythee, fay on :--He's for a jigg, or a tale of bawdry, or he fleeps:-fay on; come to Hecuba. 1 Play. But who, a woe! had fien the mobled 3 queen,

I

Ham. The mobled queen ?

Pol. That's goood; mobled queen is good.

1 Play. Run bare-foot up and down, threat'ning
the flames

With biffon rheum; a clout upon that bead,
Where late the diadem flood; and, for a robe,
About ber lank and all o'er-teemed loins,
A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;
Who this bad feen, with tongue in venom sleep'd,
'Gainf fortune's fate would treafon have pronounc'd:
But if the gods themselves did jee her then,
When he faw Pyrrhus make malicious Sport
In mincing with bis fword her husband's limbs;
The infant burst of clamour that she made,
(Unless things mortal move them not at all)
Would bave made milch the burning eyes of heaven,
And paffion in the gods.

Pol. Look, whe'r he has not turn'd his colour, and has tears in 's eyes.-Pr'ythee, no more.

Ham. 'Tis well; I'll have thee fpeak out the reft of this foon.-Good my lord, will you fee the players well beftow'd? Do you hear, let them be well ufed; for they are the abftract, and brief chronicles, of the time: After your death, you were better have a bad epitaph, than their ill report while you live.

Pol. My lord, I will use them according to their defert.

Ham. Odd's bodikins, man, much better: Use every man after his defert, and who shall 'fcape whipping? Ufe them after your own honour and dignity: The lefs they deferve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in.

Pol. Come, firs.

[Exit Polonius. Ham. Follow him, friends: we'll hear a play to-morrow.-Dost thou hear me, old friend; can you play the murder of Gonzago?

1 Play, Ay, my lord.

Ham. We'll ha't to-morrow night. You could, for a need, study a fpeech of fome dozen or fixteen lines, which I would fet down, and infert in 't? could you not?

1 Play. Ay, my lord.

Ham. Very well. Follow that lord; and look you mock him not.-My good friends, [to Rofencrantz and Guildenftern] I'll leave you 'till night; you are welcome to Elfinour.

Rof. Good, my lord. [Exeunt Rof. and Guil. Ham. Ay, fo, God be wi' you :-Now I am alone, O, what a rogue and peasant flave am I !

Hamlet is telling how much his judgment differed from that of others. One faid, there was no filt in the lines, &c. but called it an honeft method. The author probably gave it, But I called it an honest 3 According to Warburton, method, &c. 2 Gules is a term in heraldry, and fignifies red.

mobled, or mabled, fignifies veiled; according to Dr. Johnson, it is huddled, grossly covered. Mr. Steevens fays, he was informed that mab-led in Warwickshire (where it is pronounced mob-ied) fignifies led aftray by a will o' the wifp, an ignis fatuus. Mr. Tollet adds, that in the latter end of the reign of king Charles II. the rabble that attended the earl of Shaftsbury's partizans was first called mobile vulgus, and afterwards, by contraction, the mob; and ever fince, the word mob has become proper English. 4 Billon or beefen, i. e. blind; a word still in ufe in fome parts of the North of England.

Is it not monstrous, that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his foul fo to his own conceit,
That, from her working, all his vifage warm'd ;
Tears in his eyes, diftraction in 's afpect,
A broken voice, and his whole function fuiting
With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing!
For Hecuba!

1

What 's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he fhould weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue 1 for pallion,
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears,
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech;
Make mad the guilty, and appall the free,
Confound the ignorant; and amaze, indeed,
The very faculty of eyes and ears.
Yet I,

A dull and muddy-mettled rafcal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause 2,
And can fay nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whofe property, and most dear life,
A damn'd defeat 3 was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nofe? give me the lye i' the
throat,

As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this?
Ha! Why I should take it: for it cannot be,
But I am pigeon-liver'd, and lack gall
To make oppreffion bitter; or, ere this,

players

Play fomething like the murder of my father,
Before mine uncle: I'll obferve his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick; if he do bleach 7,
I know my courfe. The fpirit, that I have feen,
May be a devil: and the devil hath power
To affume a pleafing shape; yea, and, perhaps,
Out of my weakness, and my melancholy,
(As he is very potent with fuch spirits)
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds
More relative than this; The play 's the thing,
Wherein I'll catch the confcience of the king. [Exit.

Enter King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.

King A

ND can you by no drift of con-
ference

Get from him, why he puts on this confufion;
Grating fo harthly all his days of quiet
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?

Rof. He does confefs, he feels himself distracted;
But from what caufe he will by no means fpeak.

Guil. Nor do we find him forward to be founded;
But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof,
When we would bring him on to fome confeffion
Of his true ftate.

Queen. Did he receive you well?
Rof. Moft like a gentleman.

Guil. But with much forcing of his difpofition.
Ref. Niggard of question; but, of our demands,
Moft free in his reply.

Ii. e. the hint, the direction.

not teeming with revenge.

Queen. Did you assay him
To any paftime?

We o'er-raught 9 on the way: of these we told him;
Rof. Madam, it fo fell out, that certain players
And there did feem in him a kind of joy

To hear of it: They are here about the court;
And, as I think, thy have already order

This night to play before him.

Pol. 'Tis most true:

And he befeech'd me to entreat your majefties,
To hear and fee the matter.

King. With all my heart; and it doth much

content me

To hear him fo inclin'd.

Good gentlemen, give him a further edge,
And drive his purpofe on to these delights.

Rof. We fhall, my lord. [Excunt Rof, and Guil.
King. Sweet Gertrude, leave us too:
For we have clofely fent for Hamlet hither;
That he, as 'twere by accident, may here
Affront 10 Ophelia.

2 i. e. not quickened with a 3 Defeat, for difpoffeffion.

new defire of vengeancer 5 The meaning 6 i. e. fearch his wounds.

4 i. e. unnatural.

is, Wits, to your work. Brain, go about the prefent business.

7 i. e. if he fhrink, or start. Relative, for convictive, according to Warburton. Relative is, nearly 9 Over-raught is over-reached, that is, over-cook.

related, closely connected, according to Dr. Johnson.

10 To affront is only to meet direally.

Her

Her father, and myfelf (lawful efpials )
Will fo beftow ourfelves, that, feeing, unfeen,
We may of their encounter frankly judge;
And gather by him, as he is behav'd,
If 't be the affliction of his love, or no,
That thus he suffers for.

Queen. I fhall obey you :—
And, for my part, Ophelia, I do wish,
That your good beauties be the happy caufe

Of Hamlet's wildnefs; fo fhall I hope, your virtues
Will bring him to his wonted way again,

To both your honours.

Opb. Madam, I with it may. [Exit Queen. Pol. Ophelia, walk you here :--Gracious, fo please you,

We will beftow ourselves :-Read on this book;
[To Ophelia.

That fhow of fuch an exercife may colour
Your lonelineís.-We are oft to blame in this,-
'Tis too much prov'd,-that, with devotion's vifage,
And pious action, we do fugar o'er
The devil himself.

King. O, 'tis too true! how smart

A lafh that fpeech doth give my confcience! [Afide.
The harlot's cheek, beauty'd with plaft'ring art,
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it,
Than is my deed to my moft painted word:
O heavy burden!

Pol. I hear him coming; let's withdraw, my lord.
[Exeunt King, and Polonius.
Enter Hamlet.

Ham. To be, or not to be, that is the queftion :-
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to fuffer
The flings and arrows of outrageous fortune;
Or to take arms against a fea of troubles,
And, by oppofing, end them --To die;-to fleep ;-
No more and, by a fleep, to say we end
The heart-ach, and the thousand natural fhocks
That flesh is heir to,- -'tis a confummation
Devoutly to be with'd.
To die;-to fleep ;-
To fleep! perchance, to dream ;-Ay, there's the
rub;

For in that fleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have fhuffled off this mortal coil 2,
Must give us paufe: There's the respect,
That makes calamity of fo long life:
For who would bear the whips and fcorns of time 3,
The oppreffor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of defpis'd love, the law's delay,
The infolence of office, and the fpurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himfelf might his quietus 4 make
With a bare bodkin 52 who would fardels bear,
To groan and fweat under a weary life;
But that the dread of fomething after death,-
The undifcover'd country, from whofe bourn

1 i. e. fpies.

2 i. e. turmoil, buftle.

No traveller returns-puzzles the will;
And makes us rather bear thofe ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus confcience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of refolution

Is fickly'd o'er with the pale caft of thought;
And enterprizes of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lofe the name of action.-Soft you, now!
[Seeing Ophelia.

The fair Ophelia ?-Nymph, in thy orifons
Be all my fins remember'd.
Opb. Good my lord,

How does your honour for this many a day?
Ham. 1 humbly thank you; well.

Oph. My lord, I have remembrances of yours,
That I have longed long to re-deliver;
I pray you, now receive them.

Ham. No, not I;

I never gave you aught.

Oph. My honour'd lord, you know right well,
you did;

And, with them, words of fo fweet breath compos'd
As made the things more rich: their perfume loft,
Take thefe again; for to the noble mind.

Rich gifts wax poor, when givers prove unkind.
There, my lord.

Ham. Ha, ha! are you honeft?
Oph. My lord?

Ham. Are you fair?

Opb. What means your lordship?

Ham. That, if you be honest, and fair, you should admit no difcourfe to your beauty.

Oph. Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty?

Ham. Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will fooner transform honefty from what it is to a bawd, than the force of honefty can tranflate beauty into its likeness: this was fome time a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once.

Opb. Indeed, my lord, you made me believe fo.

Ham. You fhould not have believ'd me: for virtue cannot fo inoculate our old ftock, but we thall relifh of it: I lov'd you not.

Oph. I was the more deceiv'd.

Ham. Get thee to a nunnery; Why would'st thou be a breeder of finners? I am myfelf indifferent honeft; but yet I could accufe me of fuch things, that it were better, my mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious; with more offences at my beck, than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them fhape, or time to act them in: What fhould fuch fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves, all, believe none

3 Dr. Warburton remarks, that "the evils here complained of are not the product of time or duration fimply, but of a corrupted age or manners. We may be fure, then, that Shakspeare wrote, "the whips and fearns of th' time." And the defcription of the evils of a corrupt age, which follows, confirms this emendation". 4 This expreflion pro

bably alluded to the writ of difcharge, which was formerly granted to thofe barons and knights who perfonally attended the king on any foreign expedition. This discharge was called a Quietus. It is at this time the term for the acquittance which every fheriff receives on fettling his accounts at the exchequer. 5 A budkin was the ancient term for a fmall dagger.

of