1st Clo. Mine, sir. Sings. 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. 1st Clo. You lie out on 't, sir, and therefore it is not yours: for my part, I do not lie in 't, yet it 1st Clo. 'Faith e'en with losing his wits. 1st Clo. Why, here in Denmark. I have been sexton here, man and boy, thirty years. Ham. How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot? 1st Clo. 'Faith, if he be not rotten before he die (as we have many pocky corses now-a-days, that will scarce hold the laying in), he will last you some eight year, or nine year: a tanner will and Ham. Thou dost lie in 't, to be in 't, last it say year. is thine: 't is for the dead, and not for the quick; therefore thou liest. is mine. you nine Ham. Why he more than another? 1st Clo. Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with 1st Clo. 'Tis a quick lie, sir; 't will away again, his trade, that he will keep out water a great from me to you. Ham. What man dost thou dig it for? 1st Clo. For no man, sir. Ham. What woman then? 1st Clo. For none, neither. Ham. Who is to be buried in 't? 1st Clo. One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she's dead. Ham. How absolute the knave is! we must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I have taken note of it; the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe. How long hast thou been a grave-maker? 1st Clo. Of all the days i' the year, I came to 't that day that our last king Hamlet overcame For tinbras. Ham. How long is that since? while; and your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body. Here's a skull now hath lain you i' the earth three-and-twenty years. Ham. Alas, poor Yorick!-I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chapfaln? Now get you to 1st Clo. Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that it was that very day that young Hamlet was born; he that is mad, and sent into England. Ham. Ay, marry, why was he sent into Eng- my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an land? 1st Clo. Why, because he was mad: he shall recover his wits there; or if he do not, 't is no great matter there. Ham. Why? inch thick, to this favor she must come: make her laugh at that.-Pr'y thee, Horatio, tell me one thing. Hor. What's that, my lord? Ham. Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this 1st Clo. 'T will not be seen in him there; there fashion i' the earth? the men are as mad as he. Ham. How came he mad? 1st Clo. Very strangely they say. Ham. How strangely? Hor. E'en so. Ham. And smelt so? pah! Hor. E'en so, my lord. [Throws down the skull. Ham. To what base uses we may return, Horatio? Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping a bunghole? And from her fair and unpolluted flesh Hor. 'T were to consider too curiously, to con- When thou liest howling. Ham. No, faith, not a jot; but to follow him thither with modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it: - as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam: and why of that loam whereto he was converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel? Imperial Cæsar, dead, and turned to clay, Enter Priests, &c., in procession; the corpse of The What, the fair Ophelia ! Queen. Sweets to the sweet: farewell! [Scattering flowers. Fall ten times treble on that curséd head Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead; Ham. [advancing]. What is he whose grief Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I, Laer. What ceremony else? That is Laertes, A very noble youth mark. Laer. What ceremony else? [Leaps into the grave. The devil take thy soul! [Grappling with him. Ham. Thou pray'st not well. I pr' thee take thy fingers from my throat; 1st Priest. Her obsequies have been as far en- For though I am not splenetive and rash, larged As we have warranty: her death was doubtful; Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants, Laer. Must there no more be done? We should profane the service of the dead, I'll do 't: I'll do 't. - Dost thou come here to Rough-hew them how we will. -- whine? To outface me with leaping in her grave? Be buried quick with her, and so will I: Hor. That is most certain. Ham. Up from my cabin, My sea-gown scarfed about me, in the dark Make Ossa like a wart!-Nay, an thou 'lt My fears forgetting manners, to unseal What is the reason that you use me thus? Let Hercules himself do what he may, [Exit. Till then, in patience our proceeding be. [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Hall in the Castle. Enter HAMLET and HORATIO. Ham. Here's the commission; read it at more But wilt thou hear now how I did proceed? Ham. Being thus benetted round with villanies, Ham. An earnest conjuration from the king, As England was his faithful tributary; As love between them like the palm might flourish; Ham. So much for this, sir: now shall you see As peace should still her wheaten garland wear, the other; You do remember all the circumstance? Hor. Remember it, my lord? And stand a comma 'tween their amities; Ham. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of Without debatement further, more or less, fighting, That would not let me sleep: methought I lay He should the bearers put to sudden death, Not shriving-time allowed. Subscribed it; gav 't the impression; placed it fertile: let a beast be lord of beasts, and his crib safely, shall stand at the king's mess. 'Tis a chough; The changeling never known. Now, the next but, as I say, spacious in the possession of dirt. day Was our sea-fight: and what to this was sequent Hor. So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to 't. They are not near my conscience; their defeat "T is dangerous, when the baser nature comes Of mighty opposites. Hor. Why, what a king is this! Ham. Does it not, think thee, stand me now upon? Osr. Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should impart a thing to you from his majesty. Ham. I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit. Your bonnet to his right use; 't is for the head. Osr. I thank your lordship, 't is very hot. Ham. No, believe me, 't is very cold; the wind is northerly. Osr. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed. Ham. But yet, methinks, it is very sultry and hot; or my complexion Osr. Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sultry,as 't were, I cannot tell how. My lord, his He, that hath killed my king, and whored my majesty bade me signify to you, that he has laid mother; Popped in between the election and my hopes; a great wager on your head: sir, this is the mat ter, Ham. I beseech you, remember · [HAMLET moves him to put on his hat. Osr. Nay, good my lord; for my ease, in good To quit him with this arm? and is 't not to be faith. Sir, here is newly come to court, Laertes : damned, To let this canker of our nature come In further evil? believe me, an absolute gentleman, full of most excellent differences, of very soft society, and great showing: indeed, to speak freely of him, he Hor. It must be shortly known to him from is the card or calendar of gentry, for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would see. England What is the issue of the business there. Ham. It will be short: the interim is mine; who comes here? Peace; Enter OSRIC. - Ham, Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you; though, I know, to divide him inventorially, would dizzy the arithmetic of memory; and yet but raw neither, in respect of his quick sail. But, in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of great article; and his infusion of such dearth and rareness, as, to make true diction of him, his semblable is his mirror; and who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more. Osr. Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him. Ham. The concernancy, sir? why do we wrap Osr. Your lordship is right welcome back to the gentleman in our more rawer breath? Denmark. Osr. Sir? Hor. Is 't not possible to understand in another tongue? You will do 't sir, really. Ham. Sir, I will walk here in the hall: if it please his majesty, it is the breathing time of day Ham. What imports the nomination of this with me: let the foils be brought, the gentleman gentleman? Osr. Of Laertes? willing, and the king hold his purpose, I will win for him, if I can; if not, I will gain nothing but Hor. His purse is empty already; all his my shame, and the odd hits. golden words are spent. Ham. Of him, sir. Osr. I know you are not ignorant Ham. I would you did, sir. Yet in faith, if you did, it would not much approve me.-Well, sir. Osr. You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is Ham. I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with him in excellence; but, to know a man well, were to know himself. Osr. I mean, sir, for his weapon; but in the imputation laid on him by them, in his meed he's unfellowed. Ham. What's his weapon? Osr. Rapier and dagger. Ham. That's two of his weapons: but, well. Osr. The king, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary horses: against the which he has impawned, as I take it, six French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hangers, and 80. Three of the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy, very responsive to the hilts; most delicate carriages, and of very liberal conceit. Ham. What call you the carriages? Hor. I knew you must be edified by the margent, ere you had done. Osr. The carriages, sir, are the hangers. Ham. The phrase would be more german to the matter if we would carry a cannon by our sides; I would it might be hangers till then. But on: six Barbary horses against six French swords, their assigns, and three liberal-conceited carriages; that's the French bet against the Danish. Why is this impawned, as you call it? Osr. The king, sir, hath laid, that in a dozen passes between yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits: he hath laid on twelve for nine; and it would come to immediate trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe the answer. Ham. How if I answer, no? Osr. I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in trial. Osr. Shall I deliver you so? Ham. To this effect, sir; after what flourish your nature will. Osr. I commend my duty to your lordship. [Exit. Ham. Yours, yours.- He does well to commend it himself; there are no tongues else for 's turn. Hor. This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head. Ham. He did comply with his dug, before he sucked it. Thus has he (and many more of the same breed, that I know the drossy age dotes on), only got the tune of the time, and outward habit of encounter; a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out. Enter a Lord. Lord. My lord, his majesty commended him to you by young Osric, who brings back to him, that you attend him in the hall: he sends to know if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that you will take longer time. Ham. I am constant to my purposes; they follow the king's pleasure: if his fitness speaks, mine is ready; now or whensoever, provided I be so able as now. Lord. The king, and queen, and all, are coming down. Ham. In happy time. Lord. The queen desires you to use some gentle entertainment to Laertes, before you fall to play. Ham. She well instructs me. [Exit Lord. Hor. You will lose this wager, my lord. Ham. I do not think so; since he went into France, I have been in continual practice; I shall win at the odds. But thou wouldst not think how ill all's here about my heart: but it is no matter. Hor. Nay, good my lord, Ham. It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gain-giving as would, perhaps, trouble a woman. |