We'll put on those shall praise your excellence And set a double varnish on the fame

The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine together

And wager on your heads: he, being remiss,7
Most generous, and free from all contriving,
Will not peruse the foils; so that, with ease,
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose
A sword, unbated, and, in a pass of practice,9
Requite him for your father.

Laer.
I will do 't: 140
And for that purpose I'll anoint my sword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank,10
So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood no cataplasm11 so rare,
Collected from all simples that have virtue
Under the moon, can save the thing from
death

That is but scratch'd withal: I'll touch my point

With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,
It may be death
King.

Let's further think of this;

6 Sanctuarize, afford sanctuary to; probably a selfcoined verb.

2 Topp'd, surpassed.

8 Unbated, unblunted.

1 Brooch, an ornamental buckle worn in the hat.

* Scrimers (Fr. escrimeurs), fencers.

Plurisy, plethora.

7 Remiss, careless.

Enter two Clowns, with spades, &c. First Clo. Is she to be buried in Christian burial that wilfully seeks her own salvation?

Sec. Clo. I tell thee she is; and therefore make her grave straight:3 the crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.

First Clo. How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defence? Sec. Clo. Why, 't is found so.

First Clo. It must be se offendendo; it cannot be else. For here lies the point: if I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act: and an act hath three branches; it is, to act, to do, to perform: argal,' she drowned herself wittingly.

13

Sec. Clo. Nay, but hear you, goodman delver,

First Clo. Give me leave. Here lies the water; good: here stands the man; good: if the man go to this water and drown himself, its, will he, nill he, he mark goes; you that; but if the water come to him and drown him, he drowns not himself: argal, he that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life. Sec. Clo. But is this law?

23

First Clo. Ay, marry, is 't; crowner's quest law.

Sec. Clo. Will you ha' the truth on't? If this had not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out of Christian burial.

First Clo. Why, there thou sayst: and the more pity that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves, more than their even Christian. Come, my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers: they hold up' Adam's profession.

Sec. Clo. Was he a gentleman?

First Clo. He was the first that ever bore

First Clo. I like thy wit well, in good faith: the gallows does well; but how does it well? it does well to those that do ill: now, thou dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church: argal, the gallows may do well to thee. To't again, come.

Sec. Clo. "Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a carpenter?"

First Clo. Ay, tell me that, and unyoke.
Sec. Clo. Marry, now I can tell.

First Clo. To't.

Sec. Clo. Mass, I cannot tell.

6 Even Christian, fellow Christian.

7 Hold up,

60

maintain.

O, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.

[Throws up another skull.

4

Ham. There's another: why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddits now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery? [Hum! This fellow might be in 's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries: is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery. of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt? will his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases, and double ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha?

121

Hor. Not a jot more, my lord. Ham. Is not parchment made of sheep-skins? Hor. Ay, my lord, and of calf-skins too. Ham. They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in that.] I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah? First Clo. Mine, sir.

[Sings]

130

O, a pit of clay for to be made For such a guest is meet. Ham. I think it be thine, indeed; for thou liest in 't.

First Clo. You lie out on 't, sir, and therefore it is not yours: for my part, I do not lie in 't, and yet it is mine.

Ham. Thou dost lie in 't, to be in 't, and say it is thine: 't is for the dead, not for the quick; therefore thou liest.

First Clo. 'Tis a quick lie, sir; 't will away again, from me to you.

Ham. What man dost thou dig it for?
First Clo. For no man, sir.

101

Ham. What woman, then? First Clo. For none, neither. Ham. Who is to be buried in 't?

140

3 Quiddits, equivocations. Quillets, nice distinctions. 5 Statutes, mortgages.

6 Assurance, a play on the legal meaning, a conveyance of lands or tenements by deed.