Chapter V: Act III: SCENE I. A room in the castle (1)

_Enter_ KING, QUEEN, POLONIUS, OPHELIA, ROSENCRANTZ, _and_
GUILDENSTERN.[1007]

_King._ And can you, by no drift of circumstance,[1008]
Get from him why he puts on this confusion,[1009]
Grating so harshly all his days of quiet
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?

_Ros._ He does confess he feels himself distracted, 5
But from what cause he will by no means speak.[1010]

_Guil._ Nor do we find him forward to be sounded;[1011]
But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof,[1011]
When we would bring him on to some confession[1011]
Of his true state.[1011]

_Queen._ Did he receive you well?[1011][1012] 10

_Ros._ Most like a gentleman.

_Guil._ But with much forcing of his disposition.

_Ros._ Niggard of question, but of our demands[1013]
Most free in his reply.[1013]

_Queen._ Did you assay him[1014][1015]
To any pastime?[1014][1016] 15

_Ros._ Madam, it so fell out that certain players[1017]
We o'er-raught on the way: of these we told him,[1018]
And there did seem in him a kind of joy
To hear of it: they are about the court,[1019]
And, as I think, they have already order 20
This night to play before him.

_Pol._ 'Tis most true:
And he beseech'd me to entreat your majesties
To hear and see the matter.

_King._ With all my heart; and it doth much content me[1020]
To hear him so inclined.[1020] 25
Good gentlemen, give him a further edge,[1020]
And drive his purpose on to these delights.[1020][1021]

_Ros._ We shall, my lord.

[_Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern._

_King._ Sweet Gertrude, leave us too;[1022]
For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither,[1023]
That he, as 'twere by accident, may here[1024][1025] 30
Affront Ophelia:[1024][1026]
Her father and myself, lawful espials,[1026][1027]
Will so bestow ourselves that, seeing unseen,[1028]
We may of their encounter frankly judge,[1029]
And gather by him, as he is behaved, 35
If't be the affliction of his love or no[1030]
That thus he suffers for.

_Queen._ I shall obey you:
And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish[1031]
That your good beauties be the happy cause[1032]
Of Hamlet's wildness: so shall I hope your virtues[1032][1033] 40
Will bring him to his wonted way again,[1034]
To both your honours.

_Oph._ Madam, I wish it may. [_Exit Queen._

_Pol._ Ophelia, walk you here. Gracious, so please you,[1035]
We will bestow ourselves. [_To Ophelia_] Read on this book;[1036]
That show of such an exercise may colour 45
Your loneliness. We are oft to blame in this,--[1037]
'Tis too much proved--that with devotion's visage
And pious action we do sugar o'er[1038]
The devil himself.

_King._ [_Aside_] O, 'tis too true![1039]
How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience! 50
The harlot's cheek, beautied with plastering art,
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it
Than is my deed to my most painted word:
O heavy burthen!

_Pol._ I hear him coming: let's withdraw, my lord.[1040] 55

[_Exeunt King and Polonius._

_Enter_ HAMLET.[1041]

_Ham._ To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,[1042]
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,[1043]
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;[1044][1045] 60
No more; and by a sleep to say we end[1045][1046]
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation[1047]
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;[1048]
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; 65
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,[1049]
Must give us pause: there's the respect[1050]
That makes calamity of so long life;[1050]
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,[1051] 70
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,[1052]
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,[1053]
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make[1054] 75
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,[1055]
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,[1056]
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn[1057]
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,[1058] 80
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,[1059]
And thus the native hue of resolution[1060]
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,[1061] 85
And enterprises of great pitch and moment[1062]
With this regard their currents turn awry[1063]
And lose the name of action. Soft you now![1064]
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons[1065]
Be all my sins remember'd.

_Oph._ Good my lord,[1066] 90
How does your honour for this many a day?

_Ham._ I humbly thank you: well, well, well.[1067]

_Oph._ My lord, I have remembrances of yours,
That I have longed long to re-deliver;[1068]
I pray you, now receive them.

_Ham._ No, not I;[1069][1070] 95
I never gave you aught.[1070]

_Oph._ My honour'd lord, you know right well you did;[1071]
And with them words of so sweet breath composed
As made the things more rich: their perfume lost,[1072]
Take these again; for to the noble mind 100
Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
There, my lord.

_Ham._ Ha, ha! are you honest?

_Oph._ My lord?[1073]

_Ham._ Are you fair? 105

_Oph._ What means your lordship?

_Ham._ That if you be honest and fair, your honesty[1074][1075]
should admit no discourse to your beauty.[1075]

_Oph._ Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce[1076]
than with honesty?[1077] 110

_Ham._ Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner
transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force
of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness: this was[1078]
sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I[1079]
did love you once. 115

_Oph._ Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.

_Ham._ You should not have believed me; for virtue
cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it:[1080]
I loved you not.[1081]

_Oph._ I was the more deceived. 120

_Ham._ Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a[1082]
breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest; but yet
I could accuse me of such 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[1083] 125
thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape,[1084]
or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do
crawling between heaven and earth? We are arrant knaves[1085]
all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery.[1086]
Where's your father? 130

_Oph._ At home, my lord.

_Ham._ Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may[1087]
play the fool no where but in's own house. Farewell.[1087][1088]

_Oph._ O, help him, you sweet heavens!

_Ham._ If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for[1089] 135
thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou
shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go: farewell.[1090]
Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise
men know well enough what monsters you make of them.
To a nunnery, go; and quickly too. Farewell.[1091] 140

_Oph._ O heavenly powers, restore him![1092]

_Ham._ I have heard of your paintings too, well enough;[1093]
God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves[1094]
another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and nick-name[1095]
God's creatures, and make your wantonness your ignorance.[1096][1097] 145
Go to, I'll no more on't; it hath made me mad.[1097][1098]
I say, we will have no more marriages: those that are married[1099]
already, all but one, shall live; the rest shall keep as[1100]
they are. To a nunnery, go. [_Exit._[1101]

_Oph._ O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown![1102] 150
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword:[1103]
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,[1104]
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
The observed of all observers, quite, quite down!
And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,[1105] 155
That suck'd the honey of his music vows,[1106]
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,[1107]
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;[1108]
That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth[1109]
Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me, 160
To have seen what I have seen, see what I see![1110]

_Re-enter_ KING _and_ POLONIUS.

_King._ Love! his affections do not that way tend;[1111]
Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a little,[1112]
Was not like madness. There's something in his soul[1113]
O'er which his melancholy sits on brood, 165
And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose
Will be some danger: which for to prevent,[1114]
I have in quick determination
Thus set it down:--he shall with speed to England,[1115]
For the demand of our neglected tribute: 170
Haply the seas and countries different
With variable objects shall expel
This something-settled matter in his heart,[1116]
Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus[1117][1118]
From fashion of himself. What think you on 't?[1117] 175

_Pol._ It shall do well: but yet do I believe[1119][1120]
The origin and commencement of his grief[1119][1121]
Sprung from neglected love. How now, Ophelia![1122]
You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said;
We heard it all. My lord, do as you please;[1123] 180
But, if you hold it fit, after the play,
Let his queen mother all alone entreat him
To show his grief: let her be round with him;[1124]
And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear[1125]
Of all their conference. If she find him not, 185
To England send him, or confine him where
Your wisdom best shall think.

_King._ It shall be so:
Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go. [_Exeunt._[1126]

SCENE II. _A hall in the castle._

_Enter_ HAMLET _and_ Players.[1127]

_Ham._ Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced[1128]
it to you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it, as[1129]
many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke[1130]
my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your[1131]
hand, thus; but use all gently: for in the very torrent, tempest, 5
and, as I may say, whirlwind of your passion, you[1132]
must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it
smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious[1133]
periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very[1134]
rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who, for the most[1135] 10
part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb-shows
and noise: I would have such a fellow whipped for o'er-doing[1136]
Termagant; it out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it.

_First Play._ I warrant your honour.[1137]

_Ham._ Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion 15
be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word[1138]
to the action; with this special observance, that you o'er-step[1139]
not the modesty of nature: for any thing so overdone[1140]
is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first[1141]
and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to 20
nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own[1142]
image, and the very age and body of the time his form and[1143]
pressure. Now this overdone or come tardy off, though[1144][1145]
it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious[1145]
grieve; the censure of the which one must in your allowance[1146] 25
o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be[1147]
players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and[1148]
that highly, not to speak it profanely, that neither having[1149]
the accent of Christians nor the gait of Christian, pagan,[1150]
nor man, have so strutted and bellowed, that I have thought[1150][1151] 30
some of nature's journeymen had made men, and not made[1152]
them well, they imitated humanity so abominably.

_First Play._ I hope we have reformed that indifferently[1137]
with us, sir.[1153]

_Ham._ O, reform it altogether. And let those that play 35
your clowns speak no more than is set down for them: for
there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on some[1154]
quantity of barren spectators to laugh too, though in the[1155]
mean time some necessary question of the play be then to
be considered: that's villanous, and shows a most pitiful ambition 40
in the fool that uses it. Go, make you ready.

[_Exeunt Players._

_Enter_ POLONIUS, ROSENCRANTZ, _and_ GUILDENSTERN.[1156]

How now, my lord! will the king hear this piece of work?[1157]

_Pol._ And the queen too, and that presently.[1158]

_Ham._ Bid the players make haste. [_Exit Polonius._[1159]
Will you two help to hasten them? 45

_Ros. Guil._ We will, my lord.

[_Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern._[1160]

_Ham._ What ho! Horatio!

_Enter_ HORATIO.[1161]

_Hor._ Here, sweet lord, at your service.[1162]

_Ham._ Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man
As e'er my conversation coped withal.[1163] 50

_Hor._ O, my dear lord,--[1164]

_Ham._ Nay, do not think I flatter;
For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revenue hast but thy good spirits,[1165]
To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flatter'd?[1166]
No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp,[1167] 55
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee[1168]
Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear?[1169]
Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice,[1170]
And could of men distinguish, her election[1171]
Hath seal'd thee for herself: for thou hast been[1171] 60
As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing;
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards[1172]
Hast ta'en with equal thanks: and blest are those[1173]
Whose blood and judgement are so well commingled[1174]
That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger 65
To sound what stop she please. Give me that man[1175]
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,[1176]
As I do thee. Something too much of this.
There is a play to-night before the king; 70
One scene of it comes near the circumstance
Which I have told thee of my father's death:[1177]
I prithee, when thou seest that act a-foot,[1178]
Even with the very comment of thy soul[1179]
Observe my uncle: if his occulted guilt[1180] 75
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,[1181]
It is a damned ghost that we have seen,
And my imaginations are as foul
As Vulcan's stithy. Give him heedful note;[1182]
For I mine eyes will rivet to his face,[1183] 80
And after we will both our judgements join[1184]
In censure of his seeming.[1185]

_Hor._ Well, my lord:
If he steal aught the whilst this play is playing,[1186]
And 'scape detecting, I will pay the theft.[1187]

_Ham._ They are coming to the play: I must be idle:[1188] 85
Get you a place.

_Danish march. A flourish. Enter_ KING, QUEEN, POLONIUS,
OPHELIA, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, _and other Lords
attendant, with the Guard carrying torches_.[1189]

_King._ How fares our cousin Hamlet?[1190]

_Ham._ Excellent, i' faith; of the chameleon's dish: I eat[1191][1192]
the air, promise-crammed: you cannot feed capons so.[1191]

_King._ I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet; these[1191] 90
words are not mine.[1191]

_Ham._ No, nor mine now. [_To Polonius_] My lord, you[1191][1193]
played once i' the university, you say?[1191][1194]

_Pol._ That did I, my lord, and was accounted a good[1195]
actor. 95

_Ham._ What did you enact?[1196]

_Pol._ I did enact Julius Cæsar: I was killed i' the Capitol;[1197]
Brutus killed me.

_Ham._ It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a
calf there. Be the players ready? 100

_Ros._ Ay, my lord; they stay upon your patience.[1198]

_Queen._ Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me.[1199]

_Ham._ No, good mother, here's metal more attractive.[1200]

_Pol._ [_To the King_] O, ho! do you mark that?[1201]

_Ham._ Lady, shall I lie in your lap?[1202] 105

[_Lying down at Ophelia's feet._

_Oph._ No, my lord.

_Ham._ I mean, my head upon your lap?[1203][1204]

_Oph._ Ay, my lord.[1203]

_Ham._ Do you think I meant country matters?[1205]

_Oph._ I think nothing, my lord. 110

_Ham._ That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs.[1206]

_Oph._ What is, my lord?

_Ham._ Nothing.

_Oph._ You are merry, my lord.[1207]

_Ham._ Who, I? 115

_Oph._ Ay, my lord.

_Ham._ O God, your only jig-maker. What should a[1208]
man do but be merry? for, look you, how cheerfully my
mother looks, and my father died within 's two hours.[1209]

_Oph._ Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord.[1210] 120

_Ham._ So long? Nay, then, let the devil wear black, for[1211][1212]
I'll have a suit of sables. O heavens! die two months ago,[1212][1213]
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[1214][1215]
must build churches then; or else shall he suffer not thinking[1215] 125
on, with the hobby-horse, whose epitaph is, 'For, O,
for, O, the hobby-horse is forgot.'[1216]

_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 _wooes the_ Queen _with gifts: she seems loath and
unwilling awhile, but in the end accepts his love_.[1217]

[_Exeunt._

_Oph._ What means this, my lord?[1218]

_Ham._ Marry, this is miching mallecho; it means mischief. 130

_Oph._ Belike this show imports the argument of the play.

_Enter_ Prologue.[1219]

_Ham._ We shall know by this fellow: the players cannot[1220]
keep counsel; they'll tell all.[1221]

_Oph._ Will he tell us what this show meant?[1222]

_Ham._ Ay, or any show that you'll show him: be not you[1223] 135
ashamed to show, he'll not shame to tell you what it means.

_Oph._ You are naught, you are naught: I'll mark the[1224]
play.

_Pro._ For us, and for our tragedy,
Here stooping to your clemency, 140
We beg your hearing patiently.

_Ham._ Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?[1225]

_Oph._ 'Tis brief, my lord.

_Ham._ As woman's love.

_Enter two_ Players, King _and_ Queen.[1226]

_P. King._ Full thirty times hath Phœbus' cart gone
round[1227][1228][1229] 145
Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbed ground,[1228][1230]
And thirty dozen moons with borrowed sheen[1231]
About the world have times twelve thirties been,[1232]
Since love our hearts and Hymen did our hands
Unite commutual in most sacred bands.[1233] 150

_P. Queen._ So many journeys may the sun and moon[1234]
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,[1235]
That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust, 155
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must:[1236]
For women's fear and love holds quantity,[1236][1237]
In neither aught, or in extremity.[1238]
Now, what my love is, proof hath made you know,[1239]
And as my love is sized, my fear is so:[1240] 160
Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear,[1241][1242]
Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.[1241]

_P. King._ Faith, I must leave thee, love, and shortly too;
My operant powers their functions leave to do:[1243]
And thou shalt live in this fair world behind,[1244] 165
Honour'd, beloved; and haply one as kind[1245]
For husband shalt thou--[1246]

_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 kill'd the first.[1247] 170

_Ham._ [_Aside_] Wormwood, wormwood.[1248]

_P. Queen._ The instances that second marriage move[1249]
Are base respects of thrift, but none of love:[1250]
A second time I kill my husband dead,[1251]
When second husband kisses me in bed. 175

_P. King._ I do believe you think what now you speak,[1252]
But what we do determine oft we break.
Purpose is but the slave to memory,
Of violent birth but poor validity:[1253]
Which now, like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree,[1254] 180
But fall unshaken when they mellow be.
Most necessary 'tis that we forget
To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt:
What to ourselves in passion we propose,
The passion ending, doth the purpose lose. 185
The violence of either grief or joy[1255]
Their own enactures with themselves destroy:[1256]
Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament;
Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident.[1257]
This world is not for aye, nor 'tis not strange[1258] 190
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.[1259]
The great man down, you mark his favourite flies;[1260]
The poor advanced makes friends of enemies: 195
And hitherto doth love on fortune tend;[1261]
For who not needs shall never lack a friend,[1262]
And who in want a hollow friend doth try
Directly seasons him his enemy.[1263]
But, orderly to end where I begun, 200
Our wills and fates do so contrary run,
That our devices still are overthrown,
Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own:
So think thou wilt no second husband wed,[1264]
But die thy thoughts when thy first lord is dead.[1265] 205

_P. Queen._ Nor earth to me give food nor heaven light![1266]
Sport and repose lock from me day and night!
To desperation turn my trust and hope![1267]
An anchor's cheer in prison be my scope![1267][1268]
Each opposite, that blanks the face of joy, 210
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![1269]

_Ham._ If she should break it now![1270]

_P. King._ 'Tis deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me here awhile;[1271] 215
My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with sleep. [_Sleeps._[1272]

_P. Queen._ Sleep rock thy brain;
And never come mischance between us twain! [_Exit._[1273]

_Ham._ Madam, how like you this play?[1274]

_Queen._ The lady doth protest too much, methinks.[1275] 220

_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.[1276] 225

_King._ What do you call the play?

_Ham._ The Mouse-trap. Marry, how? Tropically.[1277]
This play is the image of a murder done in Vienna: Gonzago[1278]
is the duke's name; his wife, Baptista: you shall see[1279]
anon; 'tis a knavish piece of work: but what o' that? your[1280] 230
majesty, and we that have free souls, it touches us not: let[1281]
the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung.[1282]

_Enter_ LUCIANUS.[1283]

This is one Lucianus, nephew to the king.[1284]

_Oph._ You are as good as a chorus, my lord.[1285]

_Ham._ I could interpret between you and your love, if 235
I could see the puppets dallying.

_Oph._ You are keen, my lord, you are keen.

_Ham._ It would cost you a groaning to take off my edge.[1286]

_Oph._ Still better, and worse.[1287]

_Ham._ So you must take your husbands. Begin, murderer;[1288][1289] 240
pox, leave thy damnable faces, and begin. Come:[1289][1290]
the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge.[1291]

_Luc._ Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing;[1292]
Confederate season, else no creature seeing;[1293]
Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected, 245
With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected,[1294]
Thy natural magic and dire property,[1295]
On wholesome life usurp immediately.

[_Pours the poison into the sleeper's ear._[1296]

_Ham._ He poisons him i' the garden for his estate. His[1297]
name's Gonzago: the story is extant, and written in very[1298] 250
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![1299]

_Queen._ How fares my lord? 255

_Pol._ Give o'er the play.

_King._ Give me some light. Away!

_Pol._ Lights, lights, lights!

[_Exeunt all but Hamlet and Horatio._[1300]

_Ham._ Why, let the stricken deer go weep,[1301]
The hart ungalled play;[1302] 260
For some must watch, while some must sleep:[1303]
Thus runs the world away.[1304]

Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers--if the rest of
my fortunes turn Turk with me--with two Provincial roses[1305]
on my razed shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of players,[1306] 265
sir?[1307]

_Hor._ Half a share.

_Ham._ A whole one, I.[1308]
For thou dost know, O Damon dear,
This realm dismantled was[1309] 270
Of Jove himself; and now reigns here[1309]
A very, very--pajock.[1310]

_Hor._ You might have rhymed.

_Ham._ O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a
thousand pound. Didst perceive?[1311] 275

_Hor._ Very well, my lord.

_Ham._ Upon the talk of the poisoning?[1312]

_Hor._ I did very well note him.[1313]

_Ham._ Ah, ha! Come, some music! come, the recorders! 280
For if the king like not the comedy,[1314]
Why then, belike, he likes it not, perdy.
Come, some music!

_Re-enter_ ROSENCRANTZ _and_ GUILDENSTERN.[1315]

_Guil._ Good my lord, vouchsafe me a word with you.[1316]

_Ham._ Sir, a whole history. 285

_Guil._ The king, sir,--[1317]

_Ham._ Ay, sir, what of him?[1318]

_Guil._ Is in his retirement marvellous distempered.

_Ham._ With drink, sir?

_Guil._ No, my lord, rather with choler.[1319] 290

_Ham._ Your wisdom should show itself more richer to[1320]
signify this to the doctor; for, for me to put him to his purgation[1321]
would perhaps plunge him into far more choler.[1322]

_Guil._ Good my lord, put your discourse into some[1323]
frame, and start not so wildly from my affair.[1323][1324] 295

_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.[1325]

_Guil._ Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not of the 300
right breed. If it shall please you to make me a wholesome
answer, I will do your mother's commandment: if not, your
pardon and my return shall be the end of my business.[1326]

_Ham._ Sir, I cannot.

_Guil._ What, my lord?[1327] 305

_Ham._ Make you a wholesome answer; my wit's diseased:[1328]
but, sir, such answer as I can make, you shall command;[1329]
or rather, as you say, my mother: therefore no[1330]
more, but to the matter: my mother, you say,--[1331]

_Ros._ Then thus she says; your behaviour hath struck[1332] 310
her into amazement and admiration.

_Ham._ O wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother![1333]
But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother's admiration?[1334]
Impart.[1335]

_Ros._ She desires to speak with you in her closet, ere 315
you go to bed.

_Ham._ We shall obey, were she ten times our mother.
Have you any further trade with us?

_Ros._ My lord, you once did love me.

_Ham._ So I do still, by these pickers and stealers.[1336] 320

_Ros._ Good my lord, what is your cause of distemper?
you do surely bar the door upon your own liberty, if you[1337]
deny your griefs to your friend.

_Ham._ Sir, I lack advancement.

_Ros._ How can that be, when you have the voice of the 325
king himself for your succession in Denmark?

_Ham._ Ay, sir, but 'while the grass grows,'--the proverb[1338]
is something musty.

_Re-enter_ Players _with recorders_.[1339]

O, the recorders! let me see one. To withdraw with you:--[1340]
why do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you 330
would drive me into a toil?

_Guil._ O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is[1341]
too unmannerly.[1341]

_Ham._ I do not well understand that. Will you play
upon this pipe? 335

_Guil._ My lord, I cannot.[1342]

_Ham._ I pray you.

_Guil._ Believe me, I cannot.

_Ham._ I do beseech you.[1343]

_Guil._ I know no touch of it, my lord.[1344] 340

_Ham._ It is as easy as lying: govern these ventages[1345]
with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your[1346]
mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look[1347]
you, these are the stops.

_Guil._ But these cannot I command to any utterance 345
of harmony; I have not the skill.

_Ham._ Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you
make of me! You would play upon me; you would seem[1348]
to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my
mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the[1349] 350
top of my compass: and there is much music, excellent[1349]
voice, in this little organ; yet cannot you make it speak.[1350]
'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a[1351]
pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can[1352]
fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.[1352][1353] 355

_Enter_ POLONIUS.[1354]

God bless you, sir![1355]

_Pol._ My lord, the queen would speak with you, and
presently.

_Ham._ Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape[1356][1357]
of a camel?[1357][1358][1359] 360

_Pol._ By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.[1360][1359]

_Ham._ Methinks it is like a weasel.[1361]

_Pol._ It is backed like a weasel.[1361][1362]

_Ham._ Or like a whale?[1363]

_Pol._ Very like a whale. 365

_Ham._ Then I will come to my mother by and by.[1364]
They fool me to the top of my bent. I will come by and[1365][1366]
by.[1366]

_Pol._ I will say so. [_Exit Polonius._[1366][1367]

_Ham._ 'By and by' is easily said. Leave me, friends.[1366] 370

[_Exeunt all but Hamlet._[1368]

'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out[1369]
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,[1370]
And do such bitter business as the day[1371]
Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother.[1372] 375
O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever[1373]
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom:
Let me be cruel, not unnatural:[1374]
I will speak daggers to her, but use none;[1375]
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites; 380
How in my words soever she be shent,[1376][1377]
To give them seals never, my soul, consent! [_Exit._[1376][1378]

SCENE III. _A room in the castle._

_Enter_ KING, ROSENCRANTZ, _and_ GUILDENSTERN.[1379]

_King._ I like him not, nor stands it safe with us
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you;[1380]
I your commission will forthwith dispatch,
And he to England shall along with you:
The terms of our estate may not endure[1381] 5
Hazard so near us as doth hourly grow[1382]
Out of his lunacies.

_Guil._ We will ourselves provide:[1383]
Most holy and religious fear it is
To keep those many many bodies safe[1384][1385]
That live and feed upon your majesty.[1384] 10

_Ros._ The single and peculiar life is bound[1386]
With all the strength and armour of the mind
To keep itself from noyance; but much more[1387]
That spirit upon whose weal depends and rests[1388]
The lives of many. The cease of majesty[1389] 15
Dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw
What's near it with it: it is a massy wheel,[1390]
Fix'd on the summit of the highest mount,[1391]
To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things[1392]
Are mortised and adjoin'd; which, when it falls,[1393] 20
Each small annexment, petty consequence,
Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone[1394]
Did the king sigh, but with a general groan.[1395]

_King._ Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage,[1396]
For we will fetters put about this fear,[1397] 25
Which now goes too free-footed.

_Ros._ } We will haste us.
_Guil._}

[_Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern._[1398]

_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:[1399]
And, as you said, and wisely was it said, 30
'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother,
Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear
The speech, of vantage. Fare you well, my liege:[1400]
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,
And tell you what I know.

_King._ Thanks, dear my lord.[1401] 35

[_Exit Polonius._

O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,[1402]
A brother's murder. Pray can I not,[1403][1404]
Though inclination be as sharp as will:[1404][1405]
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,[1406] 40
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[1407]
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens 45
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer but this twofold force,
To be forestalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up;[1408] 50
My fault is past. But O, what form of prayer[1409]
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder?'[1410]
That cannot be, since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,[1411]
My crown, mine own ambition and my queen. 55
May one be pardon'd and retain the offence?[1412]
In the corrupted currents of this world[1413]
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,[1414]
And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself[1415]
Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above; 60
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature, and we ourselves compell'd[1416]
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? 65
Yet what can it when one can not repent?[1417]
O wretched state! O bosom black as death!
O limed soul, that struggling to be free
Art more engaged! Help, angels! make assay![1418]
Bow, stubborn knees, and, heart with strings of steel,[1419] 70
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe!
All may be well. [_Retires and kneels._[1420]

_Enter_ HAMLET.

_Ham._ Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;[1421]
And now I'll do't: and so he goes to heaven:[1422]
And so am I revenged. That would be scann'd:[1423] 75
A villain kills my father; and for that,
I, his sole son, do this same villain send[1424]
To heaven.[1425]
O, this is hire and salary, not revenge.[1426]
He took my father grossly, full of bread,[1427] 80
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May;[1428]
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 revenged,[1429]
To take him in the purging of his soul, 85
When he is fit and season'd for his passage?[1430]
No.[1431]
Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent:[1432]
When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,[1433]
Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed;[1434] 90
At game, a-swearing, or about some act[1435]
That has no relish of salvation in 't;
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven[1436]
And that his soul may be as damn'd and black
As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays: 95
This physic but prolongs thy sickly days. [_Exit._

_King._ [_Rising_] My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:[1437]
Words without thoughts never to heaven go. [_Exit._

SCENE IV. _The Queen's closet._

_Enter_ QUEEN _and_ POLONIUS.[1438]

_Pol._ He will come straight. Look you lay home to him:[1439]
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,[1440]
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between[1441]
Much heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.[1442]
Pray you, be round with him.

_Ham._ [_Within_] Mother, mother, mother![1443] 5

_Queen._ I'll warrant you; fear me not. Withdraw, I[1444][1445][1446]
hear him coming.[1445]

[_Polonius hides behind the arras._

_Enter_ HAMLET.[1447]

_Ham._ Now, mother, what's the matter?

_Queen._ Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.

_Ham._ Mother, you have my father much offended. 10

_Queen._ Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.

_Ham._ Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.[1448]

_Queen._ Why, how now, Hamlet!

_Ham._ What's the matter now?[1449]

_Queen._ Have you forgot me?

_Ham._ No, by the rood, not so:
You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife; 15
And--would it were not so!--you are my mother.[1450]

_Queen._ Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.[1451]

_Ham._ Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;[1452]
You go not till I set you up a glass[1453][1454]
Where you may see the inmost part of you.[1454][1455] 20

_Queen._ What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho![1456][1457]

_Pol._ [_Behind_] What, ho! help, help, help![1457][1458]

_Ham._ [_Drawing_] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead![1457]

[_Makes a pass through the arras._[1459]

_Pol._ [_Behind_] O, I am slain! [_Falls and dies._

_Queen._ O me, what hast thou done?[1460] 25

_Ham._ Nay, I know not: is it the king?[1461]

_Queen._ O, what a rash and bloody deed is this![1462]

_Ham._ A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.

_Queen._ As kill a king!

_Ham._ Ay, lady, 'twas my word.[1463] 30

[_Lifts up the arras and discovers Polonius._

Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell![1464]
I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;[1465]
Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.
Leave wringing of your hands: peace! sit you down,
And let me wring your heart: for so I shall, 35
If it be made of penetrable stuff;
If damned custom have not brass'd it so,[1466]
That it be proof and bulwark against sense.[1467]

_Queen._ What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?

_Ham._ Such an act 40
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose[1468]
From the fair forehead of an innocent love,
And sets a blister there; makes marriage vows[1469]
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed 45
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow;[1470][1471]
Yea, this solidity and compound mass,[1471][1472]
With tristful visage, as against the doom,[1473]
Is thought-sick at the act. 50

_Queen._ Ay me, what act,[1474][1475]
That roars so loud and thunders in the index?[1475]

_Ham._ Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See what a grace was seated on this brow;[1476] 55
Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove himself,
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;[1477]
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;[1478]
A combination and a form indeed,[1479] 60
Where every god did seem to set his seal
To give the world assurance of a man:
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,[1480]
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?[1481] 65
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?[1482]
You cannot call it love, for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,[1483]
And waits upon the judgement: and what judgement 70
Would step from this to this? Sense sure you have,[1484][1485]
Else could you not have motion: but sure that sense[1485][1486]
Is apoplex'd: for madness would not err,[1485]
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd[1485]
But it reserved some quantity of choice,[1485] 75
To serve in such a difference. What devil was't[1485]
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?[1487]
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,[1488]
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,[1488]
Or but a sickly part of one true sense[1488] 80
Could not so mope.[1488][1489]
O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,[1489][1490]
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,[1491]
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame 85
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,[1492]
Since frost itself as actively doth burn,
And reason panders will.[1493]

_Queen._ O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul,[1494]
And there I see such black and grained spots[1495] 90
As will not leave their tinct.[1496]

_Ham._ Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,[1497]
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty,--

_Queen._ O, speak to me no more;[1498]
These words like daggers enter in my ears;[1499] 95
No more, sweet Hamlet!

_Ham._ A murderer and a villain;
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe[1500]
Of your precedent lord; a vice of kings;
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,[1501]
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole 100
And put it in his pocket!

_Queen._ No more![1502]

_Ham._ A king of shreds and patches--

_Enter_ Ghost.[1503]

Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,[1504]
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?[1505]

_Queen._ Alas, he's mad![1506] 105

_Ham._ Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by[1507]
The important acting of your dread command?
O, say![1508]

_Ghost._ Do not forget: this visitation 110
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But look, amazement on thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:[1509]
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works:
Speak to her, Hamlet.

_Ham._ How is it with you, lady? 115

_Queen._ Alas, how is't with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy[1510]
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?[1511]
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm, 120
Your bedded hairs, like life in excrements,[1512]
Start up and stand an end. O gentle son,[1513]
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?

_Ham._ On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares![1514] 125
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,[1515]
Would make them capable. Do not look upon me,[1516]
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects: then what I have to do[1517]
Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood. 130

_Queen._ To whom do you speak this?

_Ham._ Do you see nothing there?[1518]

_Queen._ Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.[1519]

_Ham._ Nor did you nothing hear?

_Queen._ No, nothing but ourselves.

_Ham._ Why, look you there! look, how it steals away![1520]
My father, in his habit as he lived![1521] 135
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal![1522]

[_Exit Ghost._

_Queen._ This is the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy[1523]
Is very cunning in.[1523]

_Ham._ Ecstasy![1524]
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time, 140
And makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test,[1525]
And I the matter will re-word, which madness[1526]
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,[1527]
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,[1528] 145
That not your trespass but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whiles rank corruption, mining all within,[1529]
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past, avoid what is to come,[1530] 150
And do not spread the compost on the weeds,[1531]
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue,[1532][1533][1534]
For in the fatness of these pursy times[1533][1535]
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,[1533]
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.[1533][1536] 155

_Queen._ O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.[1537]

_Ham._ O, throw away the worser part of it,[1538]
And live the purer with the other half.[1539]
Good night: but go not to my uncle's bed;[1540]
Assume a virtue, if you have it not. 160
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,[1541][1542]
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,[1541][1542]
That to the use of actions fair and good[1541]
He likewise gives a frock or livery,[1541]
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,[1541][1543] 165
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence; the next more easy;[1544]
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,[1544][1545]
And either ... the devil, or throw him out[1544][1546]
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night:[1544] 170
And when you are desirous to be blest,
I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,

[_Pointing to Polonius._[1547]

I do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so,[1548]
To punish me with this, and this with me,[1549]
That I must be their scourge and minister. 175
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:[1550]
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.[1550][1551]
One word more, good lady.[1552]

_Queen._ What shall I do? 180

_Ham._ Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;[1553]
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, 185
Make you to ravel all this matter out,[1554]
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 gib,[1555] 190
Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?[1556]
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house's top,
Let the birds fly, and like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep[1557] 195
And break your own neck down.

_Queen._ Be thou assured, if words be made of breath
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe[1558]
What thou hast said to me.

_Ham._ I must to England; you know that?

_Queen._ Alack,[1559][1560] 200
I had forgot: 'tis so concluded on.[1560][1561]

_Ham._ There's letters seal'd: and my two schoolfellows,[1562]
Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd,[1562]
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way,[1562]
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;[1562][1563] 205
For 'tis the sport to have the enginer[1562][1564]
Hoist with his own petar: and't shall go hard[1562][1565]
But I will delve one yard below their mines,[1562]
And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet[1562]
When in one line two crafts directly meet.[1562][1566] 210
This man shall set me packing:[1567]
I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room.
Mother, good night. Indeed this counsellor[1568]
Is now most still, most secret and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.[1569] 215
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.
Good night, mother.

[_Exeunt severally; Hamlet dragging in Polonius._[1570]

FOOTNOTES:

[1007] ACT III. SCENE I.] Q (1676) and Rowe. Omitted in Ff.

A room in the castle] Malone. The Palace. Rowe. Another room in the same. Capell.

Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.] Capell. Rosencraus, Guyldensterne, Lords. Qq. Rosincrance, Guildenstern, and Lords. F₁. Rosincros, Guildenstar, and Lords. F₂ F₃ F₄ (Guildenstare, F₄).

[1008] _circumstance_] Ff. _conference_ Qq.

[1009] _confusion_] _confesion_ Rowe (ed. 2). _confession_ Pope (in margin).

[1010] _he will_] _a will_ Q₂ Q₃ Q₄ Q₅.

[1011] _Nor ... state._] Continued to Ros. by Jennens.

[1012] _state_] _estate_ Q₆.

[1013] _Niggard of ... of our ... Most free_] _Unapt to ... of our ... Most free_ Q (1676). _Most free of ... to our ... Niggard_ Hanmer. _Most free of ... of our ... Niggard_ Warburton. _Niggard of ... to our ... Most free_ Collier MS.

[1014] _Did ... pastime?_] As in Capell. One line in Qq Ff.

[1015] _assay_] _invite_ Q (1676).

[1016] _To_] _unto_ Hanmer.

[1017] _so_] om. Johnson.

[1018] _o'er-raught_] _ore-raught_ Qq. _ore-wrought_ F₁ F₂. _o're-took_ F₃ F₄. _o'er-rode_ Warburton.

[1019] _about_] Ff. _heere about_ Q₂ Q₃ Q₄ Q₅. _here about_ Q₆.

[1020] _With ... delights._] Arranged as by Pope. Five lines ending _hart, ... me, ... inclin'd ... edge, ... delights,_ in Qq. Four lines, ending _me ... gentlemen, ... on ... delights,_ in Ff.

[1021] _drive ... on to_] _drive ... on To_ Ff. _drive ... into_ Qq. _urge him to_ Q (1676).

[1022] [Exeunt....] Exeunt Ros. & Guyl. Qq. Exeunt. Ff.

_Gertrude_] Ff. _Gertrard_ Qq.

_too_] Ff. _two_ Qq.

[1023] _hither_] Ff Q₆. _hether_ The rest.

[1024] _he_] _we_ Jennens.

_here_] Q₆. _heere_ Q₂ Q₃ Q₄ Q₅. _there_ Ff.

[1025] _here Affront Ophelia_] _meet Ophelia here_ Q (1676).

[1026] _Affront ... espials,_] As in Johnson. One line in Ff. One line, ending _myself,_ in Qq.

[1027] _lawful espials_] Omitted in Qq.

[1028] _Will_] Ff. _Wee'le_ Q₂ Q₃ Q₄ Q₅. _Wee'll_ Q₆.]

_unseen_] _and unseen_ Q (1676).

[1029] _frankly_] om. Q (1676).

[1030] _no_] Qq. _no,_ F₄. _no._ F₁ F₂ F₃.

[1031] _for your_] Q₂ Q₃ Ff. _for my_ Q₄ Q₅ Q₆.

[1032] _beauties ... virtues_] _beauty ... virtue_ S. Walker conj.

[1033] _shall_] om. Pope.

[1034] _Will_] _May_ Pope.

[Exit Queen.] Theobald. om. Qq Ff.

[1035] _please you_] Qq. _please ye_ Ff.

[1036] [To Ophelia.] To Oph. Johnson.

[1037] _loneliness_] _lowlines_ Q₂ Q₃. _lowlinesse_ Q₄ Q₅.

_to blame_] Q₆ F₃ F₄. _too blame_ The rest.

[1038] _sugar_] Qq. _surge_ Ff.

[1039] [Aside] First marked by Pope.

_'tis too_] Qq. _'tis_ Ff. _it is but too_ Hanmer.

[1040] Pol.] Erased in Collier MS. See note (II).

_let's_] om. Qq.

[Exeunt....] Capell. Exeunt. Ff. om. Qq. Exeunt all but Ophelia. Rowe.

[1041] SCENE II. Pope.

Enter Hamlet.] As in Ff. After _burthen,_ line 54, in Qq. Enter Hamlet, with a book in his hand. Hunter conj. He would transfer the soliloquy to II. 2. 169.

[1042] _slings_] _sling_ Campbell. _stings_ Fleischer (S. Walker conj.)

_slings and arrows_] _stings and harrows_ Anon. conj. (Misc. Obs. on Hamlet, 1752). _stings and horrors_ Anon. MS.

[1043] _a sea of_] _a siege of_ Theobald conj. (withdrawn). _th' assay of_ or _a 'say of_ Theobald conj. _assailing_ Hanmer conj. _assail of_ Warburton. _assays of_ Keightley conj. _the seat of_ Bailey conj. _assay of_ Brae conj.

[1044] _opposing_] _a poniard_ or _deposing_ Bailey conj.

_them?_] Pope. _them,_ Q₂ Q₃. _them:_ Q₄ Q₅ Ff Q₆. om. S. Evans conj.

[1045] _die: to sleep; No_] _die to sleepe No_ Qq (dye Q₆). _dye, to sleepe No_ F₁. _dye, to sleepe: No_ F₂. _dye, to sleep No_ F₃ F₄. _die,--to sleep--No_ Pope.

[1046] _more;_] F₁ Q₆. _more,_ Q₂ Q₃. _more:_ Q₄ Q₅ F₂ F₃ F₄. _more?_ Capell.

_say we end_] _straightway end_ Bailey conj.

[1047] _to,_] _to;_ Qq. _too?_ F₁. _to?_ F₂ F₃. {to.} F₄.

[1048] _wish'd. To_] Ff. _wisht to_ Q₂ Q₃ Q₄ Q₅. _wisht, to_ Q₆.

[1049] _we have_] _he have_ F₂. _he hath_ F₃ F₄.

_shuffled_] _shuffel'd_ F₁ F₂.

_coil_] _spoil_ Mason conj. _vail_ or _clay_ Elze conj.

[1050] _Must ... life;_] As three lines ending _pause ... calamity ... life;_ S. Walker conj.

[1051] _whips ... time_] _quips ... time_ Grey conj. _whips ... th' time_ Warburton conj. _whips ... tyrants or quips ... title_ Johnson conj. _whips ... o' the times_ Steevens conj. _scorns of weapon'd time_ Becket conj. _scorns of whiphand time_ Id. conj. (withdrawn).

[1052] _proud_] Q₅ Q₆. _proude_ Q₂ Q₃ Q₄. _poore_ F₁ F₂. _poor_ F₃ F₄.

[1053] _pangs_] _pang_ Pope.

_despised love, the_] _despiz'd love, the_ Q₂ Q₃. _office, and the_ Q₄ Q₅. _dispriz'd love, the_ Ff. _despised love, and the_ Q₆. _mispriz'd love, the_ Collier MS. (erased). See note (II).

[1054] _When he_] _When_ Q₄ Q₅. _When as_ Q₆.

_quietus_] _quietas_ Q₂ Q₃ Q₄.

[1055] _who would fardels_] _who'd these fardels_ Grant White (S. Walker conj.)

_fardels_] Qq. _these fardles_ Ff.

[1056] _grunt_] _groan_ Q (1676) and Pope.

[1057] _The undiscover'd_] Qq. _The undiscovered_ Ff. _That undiscover'd_ Pope. _In the undiscover'd_ Keightley.

_bourn_] Capell. _bourne_ Pope. _borne_ Qq F₁ F₂. _born_ F₃ F₄.

[1058] _returns, puzzles_] _returnes. Puzels_ F₁.

[1059] _of us all_] (Q₁) Ff. om. Qq.

[1060] _hue_] F₃ F₄. _hiew_ Qq. _hew_ F₁ F₂.

[1061] _sicklied_] Ff Q₆. _sickled_ The rest.

[1062] _pitch_] Qq. _pith_ Ff. See note (XVI).

[1063] _awry_] Qq. _away_ Ff.

[1064] [Seeing Oph. Rowe.

[1065] _Ophelia!_] _Ophelia?_ Ff. _Ophelia,_ Qq.

_orisons_] Theobald. _orizons_ Q₂ Q₃ Q₄ Q₅ F₁. _horizons_ F₂ F₃ F₄. _orizons?_ Q₆. _oraisons_ Rowe.

[1066] _remember'd._] _remembred?_ Q₆.

[1067] _you: well, well, well._] Ff. _you well._ Q₂ Q₃. _you: well._ Q₄ Q₅. _you, well._ Q₆.

[1068] _long_] om. Q (1676). _much_ Pope.

[1069] _No, not I_] Qq. _No, no_ Ff. _No_ Pope.

[1070] _No ... aught._] Arranged as by Capell. One line in Qq Ff.

[1071] _you know_] Qq. _I know_ Ff.

[1072] _the things_] Ff. _these things_ Qq.

_rich: their perfume lost,_] Q₄ Q₅ Q₆. _rich, their perfume lost,_ Q₂ Q₃. _rich, then perfume left:_ F₁ F₂ F₃. _rich, than perfume left:_ F₄. _rich: that perfume lost,_ Rowe.

[1073] _lord?_] Capell. _lord._ Qq Ff. _lord--_ Rowe.

[1074] _your honesty_] Ff. _you_ Qq.

[1075] _your honesty ... beauty._] _you should admit your honesty to no discourse with your beauty._ Johnson conj.

[1076] _commerce_] Q₅ Q₆ F₄. _comerse_ Q₂ Q₃. _comerce_ Q₄ F₁ F₂ F₃. _converse_ Anon. conj.

[1077] _with_] Qq. _your_ Ff.

[1078] _into_] _in_ Q₅ _to_ Q₆.

_his_] _its_ Pope.

[1079] _sometime_] _sometimes_ F₃ F₄.

[1080] _inoculate_] _innocculate_ F₁. _inocculate_ F₂ F₃. _inocualte_ F₄. _euocutat_ Q₂ Q₃. _euacuat_ Q₄. _euacuate_ Q₅. _evacuate_ Q₆.

[1081] _I loved you not._] _I did love you once._ Rowe (ed. 2).

[1082] _to_] Ff. om. Qq.

[1083] _at my beck_] _on my back_ Long MS. _at my back_ Collier MS.

[1084] _in, imagination to_] Qq. _in imagination, to_ Ff. _in name, imagination to_ Warburton.

[1085] _heaven and earth_] (Q₁) Ff. _earth and heaven_ Qq.

[1086] _all_] (Q₁) Ff. om. Qq.

[1087] _Let ... house._] Prose in Ff. Two lines, the first ending _him,_ in Qq.

[1088] _no where_] Qq. _no way_ Ff.

[1089] _plague_] _plage_ Q₄.

[1090] _go_] Ff. om. Qq.

[1091] _too_] Ff Q₆. _to_ The rest.

[1092] _O_] Ff. om. Qq.

[1093] _paintings_] (Q₁) Qq. _pratlings_ F₁. _pratling_ F₂ F₃ F₄. _painting_ Pope.

_too_] Ff. om. Qq.

[1094] _God_] _Nature_ Q (1676).

_hath_] Qq. _has_ Ff.

_face_] (Q₁) Qq. _pace_ Ff.

_yourselves_] _your selves_ Q₅ Q₆. _your selfes_ Q₂ Q₃ Q₄. _your selfe_ F₁ F₂. _your self_ F₃ F₄.

[1095] _you jig_] _gig_ Q₆. _fig_ (Q₁).

_jig_] Q (1676). _gig_ Qq. _gidge_ Ff.

_you amble_] Ff. _and amble_ Qq.