Hor. You might have rhym'd.

Ham. Oh, good Horatio, I'll take the Ghoft's word for a thousand pounds. Didit perceive?

Hor. Very well, my Lord.
Ham. Upon the talk of the poisoning?
Hor. I did very well note him.

Enter Rosincrantz and Guildenstern.

Ham. Oh, ha! come, some mufick: Come, the re

corders.
For if the King like not the comedy;
Why, then, belike, he likes it not, perdy.
Come, some musick.

Guil. Good my Lord, vouchsafe me a word with you,
Ham. Sir, a whole history.
Guil. The King, Sir
Ham. Ay, Sir, what of him?
Guil. Is, in his retirement, marvellous diftemper'd-
Ham. With drink, Sir ?
Guil. No, my Lord, with choler.

Ham. Your wisdom should shew itself more rich, to fignify this to his Doctor : for, for me to put him to his purgation, would, perhaps, plunge him into more choler.

Guil. Good my Lord, put your discourse into some frame, and start not so wildly from my affair.

Ham. I am tame, Sir ;-pronounce. Guil. The Queen your mother, in most great affliction of spirit, hath sent me to you.

Ham. You are welcome.

Guil. Nay, good my Lord, this Courtesy is not of the right Breed. If it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer, I will do your mother's command. ment; if not, your pardon, and my return hall be the end of

my

business. Ham. Sir, I cannot. Guil. What, my Lord ?

Ham. Make you a wholesome answer: 'my wit's difeasid. But, Sir, such answer as I can make, you shall

com

you say

command; or, rather, as you say, my mother therefore no more but to the matter

my mother, Rof. Then thus she says; your behaviour hath struck her into amazement, and admiration.

Ham. Oh wonderful fon, that can so astonish a mother! But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother's admiration ?

Rof. She desires to speak with you in her closet, ere you go to bed,

Ham. We shall obey, were the ten times our mother, Have you any further trade with us ?

Rof. My Lord, you once did love me,
Ham. So I do ftill, by these pickers and stealers.

Rof. Good my Lord, what is your cause of diftemper? you do, surely, bar the door of your own liberty, if you deny your griefs to your friend.

Ham. Sir, I lack advancement.

Rof. How can that be, when you have the voice of the King himself, for your succession in Denmark?

Ham. Ay, but while the grass grows-the Proverb is something musty.

Enter ore, with a Recorder,

Oh, the Recorders ; let me fee one. To withdraw with you-why do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you would drive me into a toile ?

Guil. Oh my Lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly.

Ham. I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this pipe? Guil. My Lord, I cannot. Ham. I pray you. Guil. Believe me, I cannot. Ham. I do beseech Guil. I know no touch of it, my Lord. Ham. 'Tis as easy as lying; govern these ventiges with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your

mouth,

you.

H 2

mouth, and it will discourse moft eloquent musick. Look you, these are the stops. Guil

. But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I have not the skill.

Ham. Why, look you now, how unworthy à thing you make of me; you would play upon me, you would feem to know my ftops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery: you would found me from my lowest note, to the top of my compass; and there is much mu. fick, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it fpeak. Why, do you think, that I am easier to be play'd on than a pipe ? call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.

God bless

you,

Sir.

Enter Polonius.

Pol. My Lord, the Queen would speak with you, and presently: :

Ham. Do you see yonder cloud, that's almost in shape of a Camel?

Pol. By the mass, and it's like a Camel, indeed.
Ham. Methinks, it is like an Ouzle.
Pol. It is black like an Ouzle.
Ham. Or, like a Whale ?
Pol. Very like a Whale.

Ham. Then will I come to my mother by and bythey fool me to the top of my hent. I will come by and by.

Pol. I will say fo.
Ham. By and by is easily said. Leave me, friends.

[Exeunt.
'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When church-yards yawn, and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on. Soft, now to my mother-
O heart, lose-not thy nature; let not ever
The Soul of Nero enter this firm bosom;

Let

Let me be cruel, not unnatural;
I will speak daggers to her, but use none.
My tongue and Toul in this be hypocrites;
How in my words foever she be ment,
To give them seals never my soul consent! (Exiť,

Enter King, Rosincrantz, 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 dispatch,
And he to England shall along with you.
The terms of our estate may not endure (21)
Hazárd so near us, as doth hourly grow
Out of his Lunes.'

Guild. We will provide ourselves;
Most holy and religious fear it is,
To keep those many, many, bodies safe,
That live and feed upon your Majesty.

Ros. The single and peculiar life is bound,
With all the strength and armour of the mind,
To keep itself from noyance; but much more,
That fpirit, on whose weal depends and rests
The lives of many.. The cease of Majesty
Dies not alone, but, like a gulf, doth draw
What's near it with it. It's a maffy wheel
Fixt on the summit of the highest mount,

1

(21) The Terms of our Efate may not endure

Hazard so near us, as doth bourly grow
Out of bis Lunacies.

Guil. We will provide ourselves.
The old Quarto's read, Out of bis Brows. This was from
the Ignorance of the first Editors; as is this unnecessary Alexandrine,
which we owe to the Players. The Poet, I am persuaded, wrote,

--- as doth bourly grow

Out of bis Lunes.
i. e. his Madness, Frenzy. So our Poet, before, in his Winter's
Tale.

These dangerous, unsafe Lunes i' tb'King !- abeshrew 'SIR,
He must be told of it, &c.

To whose huge spokes ten thousand leffer things
Are mortiz'd and adjoin’d; which, when it falls,
Each small annexment, petty consequence,
Attends the boist'rous ruin. Ne'er alone
Did the King figh ; 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.
Both. We will hafte us.

[Exeunt Gentlemen.

Enter Polonius.

Pol. My Lord, he's going to his mother's closet; Behind the arras I'll convey myself To hear the process. I'll warrant, she'll tax him home. And, as you laid, and wisely

was it said, 'Tis meet, that some more audience than a mother (Since nature makes them partial,) should o'er-hear The speech, of vantage. Fare you well, my Liege; I'll call upon you ere you go to bed, And tell

you
what I know.

[Exit.
King. Thanks, dear my Lord.
Oh! my offence is rank, it smells to heav'n,
It hath the primal, eldest, curse upon't; (22)
That of a brother's murder. Pray I cannot,
Though inclination be as sharp as will ;
My stronger guilt defeats my ftrong intent:
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I fhall first begin,
And both neglect.' What if this cursed hand

(22) It baih the primal, eldest, Curse upon't : A brother's Murderaan Pray I cannot,] The last Verse, 'tis evident, halts in the Meafure; and, if I don't miftake, is a little lame in the Sense too. Was a brother's Murder the eldest Curse? Surely, it was rather the Crime, that was the Cause of this eldest Curse. We have no Assistance, however, either to the Sense or Numbers, from any of the Copies. I have ventur'd at two Supplemental SylJables, as innocent in themselves as necessary to the Purposes for which they are introduc'd: That of a brother's Murder,

Were