Pro. "For us, and for our tragedy,

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

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

Enter the Player King and Player Queen.
P. King. Full thirty times hath Phoebus'
gone round
Neptune's salt wash, and Tellus' orbed ground;
And thirty dozen moons, with borrow'd sheen,
About the world have times twelve thirties been;
Since love our hearts, and Hymen did our hands,
Unite commutual in most sacred bands.

car

[moon
P. Queen. So many journeys may the sun and
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 a siz'd, my fear is so.

Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear; Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.

b

[too;

P. King. 'Faith, I must leave thee, love, and shortly
My operant powers their functions leave to do:
And thou shalt live in this fair world behind,
Honor'd, belov'd; and, haply, one as kind
For husband shalt thou-

P. Queen.
O, confound the rest!
Such love must needs be treason in my breast:
In second husband let me be accurst;
None wed the second, but who killed the first.
Ham. [Aside.] Wormwood, wormwood.

P. Queen. The instances, that second marriage

P. King. I do believe you think what now you
But what we do determine oft we break.
Purpose is but the slave to memory,
Of violent birth, but poor validity;
Which now,
like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree,
But fall, unshaken, when they mellow be.
Most necessary 'tis, that we forget

Το ourselves what to ourselves is debt:
pay
What to ourselves in passion we propose,
The passion ending, doth the purpose lose.
The violence of either grief or joy

3

Their own enactors 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,
That even our loves should with our fortunes change;
For 'tis a question left us yet to prove,
Whether love lead fortune, or else fortune love.
The great man down, you mark his favorite flies;
The poor advanc'd makes friends of enemies:
And hitherto doth love on fortune tend,

For who not needs shall never lack a friend;
And who in want a hollow friend doth try,
Directly seasons him his enemy.

But, orderly to end where I begun,

"Siz'd," i. e., proportioned.-b"Operant." i. e., active, "The instances," i. e., the motives.-d" Validity," i. e., value; efficacy.

That our devices still are overthrown;

Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own;
So think thou wilt no second husband wed,
But die thy thoughts, when thy first lord is dead.
P. Queen. Nor earth to me give food, nor heaven
light!

Sport and repose lock from me, day and night!
To desperation turn my trust and hope!
An anchor's cheer in prison be my scope!
Each opposite, 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 she should break her vow,-
P. King. 'Tis deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me

here a while:

My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with sleep.

[Sleeps. Sleep rock thy brain; And never come mischance between us twain !

P. Queen.

[Exit.

Ham. Madam, how like you this play?
Queen. The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Ham. O! but she'll keep her word.

King. Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in't?

Ham. No, no; they do but jest, poison in jest: no offence i' the world.

Tropi

King. What do you call the play? Ham. The mouse-trap. Marry, how? cally. 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 majesty, and we that have free souls, it touches us not: let the gal led jade wince, our withers are unwrung.

Enter LUCIANUS.

This is one Lucianus, nephew to the king. Oph. You are as good as a chorus, my lord. Ham. I could interpret between you and your love, if I could see the puppets dullying. Oph. You are keen, my lord, you are keen. Ham. It would cost you a groaning to take off my edge.

Oph. Still better, and worse.

Ham. So you must take your husbands.-Begin, murderer: leave thy damnable faces, and begin. Come :-The croaking raven doth bellow for revenge.

Luc. Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing;

Confederate season, else no creature seeing;
Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected,
With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected,
Thy natural magic and dire property,
On wholesome life usurp immediately.

[Pours the Poison into the Sleeper's Ears. Ham. He poisons him i' the garden for his estate. His name's Gonzago: the story is extant, and writ ten in very choice Italian. You shall see anon, how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife. Oph. The king rises.

Ham. What! frighted with false fire?

Queen. How fares my lord?

Pol. Give o'er the play.

King. Give me some light!-away '
All. Lights, lights, lights!

[Exeunt all but HAMLET and HORATIO

• Anchor's for anchoret's.-"" Blanks." i. e., blanches; whitens.-"The mouse-trap," ie., The thing in which he'll catch the conscience of the king.'-"Tropically," i. e., figuratively." Ban," i, e., curse.

SCENE III-A Room in the Same. Enter King, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN. King. I like him not; nor stands it safe with us, To let his madness range. Therefore, prepare you: I your commission will forthwith despatch, And he to England shall along with you. The terms of our estate may not endure Hazard so dangerous, as doth hourly grow Out of his lunacies. Guil. We will ourselves provide. Most holy and religious fear it is, To keep those very many bodies safe, That live, and feed, upon your majesty.

Ros. The single and peculiar life is bound, With all the strength and armor of the mind, To keep itself from 'noyance; but much more That spirit, upon whose weal depend and rest The lives of many. The cease of majesty Dies not alone; but like a gulf doth draw What's near it with it: it is a massy wheel, Fix'd on the summit of the highest mount, To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things Are mortis'd and adjoin'd; which, when it falls, Each small annexment, petty consequence, Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone Did the king sigh, but with a general groan. King. Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage; For we will fetters put upon this fear,' Which now goes too free-footed. Ros. and Guil.

We will haste us. [Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN. Enter POLONIUS.

Pol. My lord, he's going to his mother's closet. Behind the arras I'll convey myself, [home; To hear the process: I'll warrant, she'll tax him And, as you said, and wisely was it said, 'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother, Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear The speech, of d vantage. Fare you well, my liege: I'll call upon you ere you go to bed, And tell you what I know. King.

Thanks, dear my lord. [Exit POLONIUS.

O! my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder!-Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will:
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens,
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy,
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,-
To be forestalled, ere we come to fall,

Or pardon'd, being down? Then, I'll look up:
My fault is past. But, O! what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder!--
That cannot be; since I am still possess'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 th' offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft 'tis seen, the wicked purse itself
Buys out the law; but 'tis not so above:
There is no shuffling, there the action lies

2

"Weal," i. e., welfare-"Cease," i. e., extinction."Arras," i. e., tapestry.-" Of vantage," i. e., for advan tage." Primal," ì, e., original,

In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd,
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try what repentance can: what can it not?
Yet what can it, when one can not repent?
O wretched state! O bosom, black as death!
O flimed soul, that struggling to be free,
Art more engaged! Help, angels! make assay:
Bow, stubborn knees; and, heart, with strings of steel,
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe.
All may be well.

[Kneels.

Enter HAMLET behind, his Sword drawn.
Ham. Now might I do it, put, now he is praying;
And now I'll do't:-and so he goes to heaven,
And so am I reveng'd? That would be 8 scann'd:
A villain kills my father; and for that,

I, his sole son, do this same villain send
To heaven.

Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge.
He took my father grossly, full of bread;
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May,
And how his audit stands, who knows, save 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 soul,
When he is fit and season'd for his passage?
No.

Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid 1hent.
When he is drunk, asleep, or in his rage;
Or in th' incestuous pleasures of his bed;
That has no relish of salvation in'it;
At gaming, swearing; or about some act,

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

[Exit King. [Rising.] My words fly up, my thoughts

remain below:

Words without thoughts never to heaven go. [Exit

SCENE IV.-A Room in the Same.

Enter Queen and POLONIUS. Pol. He will come straight. Look, you lay home to him;

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

Ham. [Wilhin.] Mother, mother, mother!
Queen.
I'll warrant you;

Fear me not-withdraw, I hear him coming.
8 [Exit POLONIUS behind the Arras
Enter HAMLET.

Ham. Now, mother: what's the matter?
Queen. Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended
Ham. Mother, you have my father much offended
Queen. Come, come; you answer with an idle

My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music. It is not madness,
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word, which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come,
And do not spread the compost on the weeds,
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;
For in the fatness of these pursy times,
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo, for leave to do him good.
Queen. O Hamlet! thou hast cleft my heart in
twain.

Ham. O throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night; but go not to mine uncle's bed:
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.

That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat
Of habits, devil, is angel yet in this;
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock, or livery,
That aptly is put on refrain to-night;
And that shall lend a kind of easiness

To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And master the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night:
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you.-For this same lord,
[Pointing to POLONIUS.
I do repent: but heaven hath pleas'd it so,
To punish me with this, and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well

The death I gave him. So, again, good night.-
I must be cruel, only to be kind:

Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.-
One word more, good lady.

d

Ham. Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;
Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,

But mad in craft. "Twere good, you let him know;
For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a 8 gib,
Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house's top,
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,

"Ecstasy," i. e., frenzy; madness.-b"Compost," i. e., manure. Curb," i. e., bow; do obeisance.-d Mouse was formerly a term of endearment." Reechy," i. e., filthy; foul. Paddock," i, e., toad.- "Gib," ie, cat,

Alack!

Ham. I must to England; you know that.
Queen.
I had forgot: 'tis so concluded on. [fellows,-
Ham. There's letters seal'd, and my two school
Whom I will trust, as I will adders fang'd,-
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way,
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;
For 'tis the sport, to have the enginer
Hoist with his own ipetar, and it shall go hard,
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon. O! 'tis most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.-
This man shall set me packing:

I'll lug the guts into the neighbor room.-
Mother, good night.-Indeed, this counsellor
Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.—
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.-
Good night, mother.

[Exeunt severally; HAMLET dragging in POLONIUS.

It had been so with us, had we been there. His liberty is full of threats to all;

To you yourself, to us, to every one.

Alas! how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?
It will be laid to us, whose providence
Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of 1haunt,
This mad young man; but so much was our love,
But, like the owner of a foul disease,
We would not understand what most was fit,

To keep it from divulging, let it feed
Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?

Queen. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd;
O'er whom his very madness, like some ore
Among a mineral of metals base,
Shows itself pure: he weeps for what is done.
King. O, Gertrude! come away.

The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch,
But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed
We must, with all our majesty and skill,

"Conclusions," i, e., experiments.-"Hoist with his own petar," i. e., blown up with his own bomb, or mortar. Neighboring."Out of haunt," i, e., out of company."A mineral," i. e., a mine.