This above all,-To thine ownself be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell; my blessing season this in thee!
Laer. Most humble do I take my leave, my
lord.

Pol. The time invites you; go, your servants tend. +

Laer. Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well What I have said to you.

Oph. 'Tis in memory lock'd,
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
Laer. Farewell.

[Exit LAERTES. Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you? Oph. So please you, something touching the lord Hamlet.

Pol. Marry, well bethought:

'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you; and you yourself
Have of your audience been most free and
bounteous,

If it be so, (as so 'tis put on me,
And that in way of cantion,) I must tell you,
You do not understand yourself so clearly,
As it behoves my daughter and your honour:
What is between you? give me up the truth.
Oph. He hath, my lord, of late, made many
Of his affection to me.
[tenders
Pol. Affection? puh! you speak like a green
girl,

Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
Oph. I do not know, my lord, what I should
think.

Pol. Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby ;

That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay, Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;

Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Wronging it thus,) you'll tender me a fool.
Oph. My lord he hath impórtun'd me with love,
In honourable fashion. §

Pol. Ay, fashiou you may call it; go to, go

to.

Oph. And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,

With almost all the holy vows of heaven.

Pol. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do

know,

When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than beat,-extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a making,-
You must not take for fire. From this time,
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;
Set your entreatments || at a higher rate,
Than a command to parley. For lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, That he is young;
And with a larger tether ¶ may he walk,
Then may be given you: In few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers, **
Not of that die which their investments show,
But mere implorators + of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bonds,
The better to beguile. This is for all,-

I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,

Have you so slander any moment's leisure,
As to give words or talk with the lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you; come your ways.
Oph. I shall obey, my lord.

SCENE IV.-The Platform.

[Exeunt.

This heavy-headed revel, east and west,
Makes us traduc'd, and tax'd of other nations:
They clepe us, drunkards, and with swili-h
phrase

Soil our addition; and, indeed it takes
From our achievements, though perform'd at
height,

The pith and marrow of our attribute.
So, oft it chances in particular men,
That, for some vicious mode of nature in them,
As, in their birth, (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin,)
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion, ||
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of rea
son;

Or by some habit, that too much o'er-leavens The form of plausive manners;-that these men,

Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect;
Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,-
Their virtues else (he they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo,

Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault: The dram of base
Doth all the noble substance often dout, ¶
To his own scandal.

shape,

Be thy intents wicked, or charitable,
Thou com'st in such a questionable
That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee, Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane: O answer me:
Let me not burst in ignorance! but tell,
Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements! why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly in-urn'd,
Hath op'd his ponderous and marbie jaws,
To cast thee up again! What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again, in cómplete steel,
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous; and we fools of nature
So horridly to shake our disposition, +
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we
do?

Hor. It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.

Mar. Look, with what courteous action

It waves you to a more removed ‡‡ ground:
But do not go with it.

Hor. No, by no means.

Ham. It will not speak; then I will follow it. Hor. Do not, my lord.

Ham. Why, what should be the fear?

I do not set my life at a pin's fee ; ýý

And, for my soul, what can it do to that, Being a thing immortal as itself?

It waves me forth again;-I'll follow it.

As meditation, or the thoughts of love,

May sweep to my revenge.
Ghost. I find thee apt;

my lord,

Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff,
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
And there assume some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of rea-
son,

And draw you into madness?-think of it;
The very place puts toys+ of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain,
That looks so many fathoms to the sea,
And hears it roar beneath.

Ham. It waves me still :-
Go on, I'll follow thee.

Mar. You shall not go, my lord.
Ham. Hold off your hands.
Hor. Be rul'd, you shall not go.
Ham. My fate cries out,

And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Némean lion's nerve.—

[GHOST beckons. Still am I call'd ;-unhand me, gentlemen ;[Breaking from them. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets t I say, away:-Go on, I'll follow thee. [me: [Exeunt GHOST and HAMLET. Hor. He waxes desperate with imagination. Mar. Let's follow: 'tis not fit thus to obey him.

Hor. Have after :-To what issue will this come?

Mar. Something is rotten in the
Denmark.

Hor. Heaven will direct it.
Mar. Nay, let's follow him.

state of

[Exeunt.

When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames

Must render up myself.

Ham. Alas, poor ghost!

That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, [hear:
Wouldst thon not stir in this. Now Hamlet,
'Tis given out, that, sleeping in mine orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Den-
Is by a forged process of my death [mark
Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life,
Now wears his crown.

Ham. O my prophetic soul! my uncle!
Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate
beast,

With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,
(O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce !) won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming virtuous queen:
O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me whose love was of that dignity,
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!

But virtue, as it never will be mov'd,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven ;
So lust, though to a radiant angel link’d,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.

But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief let me be :-Sleeping within mine or-
My custom always of the afternoon, [chard,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of mine ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man,
That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body;
And, with a sudden vigour, it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine.
And a most instant tetter § bark'd abost,
Most lazar -like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand,

Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatch'd: ¶

Cut off even in blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, ** unanointed, unanel'd : ++

hearing

To what I shall unfold.

Ham. Speak, I am bound to hear.

shalt hear.

Ham. What?

Ghost. I am thy father's spirit;
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night;
And, for the day, contin'd to fast in fires, (n)
Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature,
Are burn'd and purg'd away. But that I am
To tell the secrets of my prison-house, [forbid
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young
blood;
[spheres ;
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:
But this eternal blazon 6 must not be

To ears of flesh and blood :-List, list, oh! list-
If thou didst ever thy dear father love,-
Ham. O heaven!

Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

Ham. Murder?

Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. Ham. Haste me to know it; that I, with wings as swift

• Hang..

† Whims. Display.

t Hinders.

A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But, howsoever thou pursu'st this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught; leave her to heav'n,
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at
once!

The glow-worin shows the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
Adieu, adieu, adieu! remember me.
Ham. O all you host of heaven! O earth!
What else?

[Erit.

• Garden. Scab, scurf. Without having received the sacrament. tt Without extreme unction. tt Head.

That youth and observation copied there;
And thy courtnandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heav'u !
O most pernicious woman!

O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My tables, -meet it is, I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least, I am sure, it may be so in Denmark :
[Writing.
So, uncle, there vou are. Now to my word:
It is, Adieu, adieu! remember me.
I have sworn't.

Hor. [Within.] My lord, my lord,----
Mar. Within.] Lord Hamlet,-
Hor. Within.] Heaven secure him!

Ham. So be it!

Mar. [Within.] Illo, ho, ho, my lord!
Ham. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come.

Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS.

Mar. How is't, my noble lord ?

Hor. What news, my lord?

Ham. O wonderful!

Hor. Good my lord, tell it.

Ham. No;

You will reveal it.

Hor. Not I, my lord, by heaven,

Mar. Nor I, my lord.

man once think it ?

But you'll be secret,

Hor. Mar. Ay, by heaven my lord.

Or such ambiguous giving out to note

That you know aught of me :-This do you swear,

[you!

Denmark,

But he's an arrant knave,

Hor. There needs uo ghost, my lord, come

from the grave

To tell us this.

Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear.

Ham. Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! So, gen

As may dishonour him; take heed of that; But, Sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips, As are companions noted and most known To youth and liberty.

Rey. As gaming, my lord,

so

Pol. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling,

Drabbing :-You may go so far.

Rey. My lord, that would dishonour him.
Pol. 'Faith, no; as you may season it in the
charge.

You must not put another scandal on him,
That he is open to incontinency;

That's not my mending: but breathe his faults so quaintly,

That they may seem the taints of liberty;
The flash and out-break of a fiery mind;
A savageness in unreclaimed blood,
Of general assault.

Rey. But, my good lord,

Pol. Wherefore should you do this?
Rey. Ay, my lord,

I would know that.

Pol. Marry, Sir, here's my drift;
And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant :
You laying these slight sullies on my son,
As 'twere a thing a little soil'd i'the working,
Mark you,

Your party in converse, him you would sound,
Having ever seen in the prenominate + crimes,
The youth you breathe of guilty, be assur'd,
He closes with you in this consequence ;
Good Sir, or so; or friend, or gentleman,-
According to the phrase, or the addition,
Of man, and country.

Rey. Very good, my lord.

Pol. And then, Sir, does he this,-He doesWhat was I about to say?-By the mass, was about to say something :-Where did leave?

Rey. At, closes in the consequence.

Pol. At, closes in the consequence,-Ay,

marry:

He closes with you thus :-I know the gentleI saw him yesterday, or t'other day, [man; Or then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you say,

There was he gaming; there o'ertook in his

rouse;

There falling out at tennis: or, perchance,
I saw him enter such a house of sale,
(Videlicet, a brothel,) or so forth.-
See you now;

Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth:
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
With windlaces, and with assays of bias,
By indirections find directions out;

So, by former lecture and advice,

As if he had been loosed out of hell,

To speak of horrors,-be comes before me. Pol. Mad for thy love?

Oph. My lord, I do not know;

But, truly, I do fear it.

Pol. What said he?

Oph. He took me by the wrist, and held me hard;

Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face,

As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;
At last, a little shaking of mine arm,
And thrice his head thus waving up and
down,-

He rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound,
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk, *
And end his being: That, done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd,
He seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For out o'doors he went without their helps,
And, to the last, bended their light on me.

Pol. Come, go with me; I will go seek the
This is the very ecstasy of love;
[king.
Whose violent property foredoes + itself,
And leads the will to desperate undertakings,
As oft as any passion under heaven,

That does afflict our natures. I am sorry ;What, have you given him any hard words of Jate ?

Oph. No, my good lord: but, as you did com mand,

I did repel his letters, and denied
His access to me.

Pol. That hath made him mad.

I am sorry, that with better heed and judgment,

I had not quoted him; fear'd he did but trifle, [jealousy!

And meant to wreck thee; but, beshrew my
It seems it is as proper to our age

To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions,
As it is common for the younger sort

To lack discretion. Come, go we to the king: This must be known; which, being kept close, might move

More grief to hide, than hate to utter love.
Come.

[Exeunt.

SCENE 11.-A Room in the Castle. Enter KING, QUEEN, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and Attendants.

King. Welcome, dear Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern!

Moreover that we much did long to see you,
The need, we have to use you did provoke
Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
Of Hamlet's transformation; so I call it,
Since not the exterior nor the inward inan
Resembles that it was: What it should be,

Pol. God be wi' you; fare you well.

Rey. Good my lord,

Pol. Observe his inclination in yourself.

Rey. I shall, my lord.

Pol. And let him play his music.
Rey. Well, my lord.

Enter OPHELIA.

him

Pol. Farewell!-How now, Ophelia? what's the matter;

Oph. O my lord, my lord, 1 have been so affrighted!

Pol. With what, in the name of heaven? Oph. My lord, as I was sewing in my clo. set,

Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd ;
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved ý to his ankle;
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport,

court

Some little time: so by your companies
To draw him on to pleasures; and to gather,
So much as from occasion you may glean,
Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus,
That, open'd, lies within our remedy.

Queen. Good gentlemen, he bath much talk'd of you;

And sure I am, two men there are not living, To whom he more adheres. If it will please you

To show us so much gentry and good-will,
As to expend your time with us a while,
For the supply and profit of our hope,