The Tragical History of HAMLET Prince of Denmark.  Enter two Sentinels. 1. 
STand: who is that?  2. 
Tis. I.  1. 
O you comemost carefully upon your watch,  2. 

And if you meet Marcellus and Horatio,  
The partners of my watch, bid them make haste.   1. 
I will: See who goes there.  Enter Horatio and Marcellus. Hor. 
Friends to this ground.  Mar. 

And leegemen to the Dane,  
O farewell honest soldier, who hath relieved you?   1. 
Bernardo hath my place, give you good night.  Mar. 
Holla, Bernardo.  2. 
Say, is Horatio there?  Hor. 
A piece of him.  2. 
Welcome Horatio, welcome good Marcellus.  Mar. 
What hath this thing appeared again to night.  2. 
I have seen nothing.  Mar. 

Horatio says 'tis but ourfantasie,  
And will not let belief take hold of him,  
Touching this dreaded sight twice seen by us,  
Therefore I have entreated him along with us  
To watch the minutes of this night,  
That if again this apparition come,  
He may approve our eyes, and speak to it.   Hor. 
Tut. 'twill not appear.  2. 

Sat down I pray, and let us once again  
Assail your ears that are so fortified,  
What we have two nights seen.   Hor. 
Well, sit we down, and let us hear Bernardo speak of this.  2. 

Last night of all, when yonder star that's west  
ward from the pole, had made his course to  
Illumine that part of heaven. Where now it burns,  
The bell then tolling one.   Enter Ghost. Mar. 
Break off your talk, see where it comes again.  2. 
In the same figure like the King that's dead,  Mar. 
Thou art a scholar, speak to it Horatio.  2. 
Looks it not like the king?  Hor. 
Most like, it horrors me with fear and wonder.  2. 
It would be spoke to.  Mar. 
Question it Horatio.  Hor. 

What art thou that thus usurps the state, in  
Which the Majesty of buried Denmark did sometimes  
Walk? By heaven I charge thee speak.   Mar. 
It is offended.  exit Ghost. 2. 
See, it stalks away.  Hor. 
Stay, speak, speak, by heaven I charge thee speak.  Mar. 
'tis gone and makes no answer.  2. 

How now Horatio, you tremble and look pale,  
Is not this something more than fantasy?  
What think you on't?   Hor. 
Afore my God, I might not this believe, without the sensible and true avouch of my own eyes.  Mar. 
Is it not like the King?  Hor. 

As thou art to thyself,  
Such was the very armour he had on,  
When he the ambitious Norway combated.  
So frowned he once, when in an angry parley  
He smote the sleaded pole-axe on the ice,  
'tis strange.   Mar. 

Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,  
With Marshal stalk he passed through our watch.   Hor. 

In what particular to work, I know not,  
But in the thought and scope of my opinion,  
This bodes some strange eruption to the state.   Mar. 

Good, now sit down, and tell me he that knows  
Why this same strict and most observant watch,  
So nightly toils the subject of the land,  
And why such daily cost of brazen Cannon  
And foreign mart, for implements of war,  
Why such impress of ship-writes, whose sore task  
Does not divide the sunday from the week:  
What might be toward that this sweaty march  
Doth make the night joint labourer with the day,  
Who is't that can inform me?   Hor. 

Mary that can I, at least the whisper goes so,  
Our late King, who as you know was by Forten▪  
Brass of Norway,  
Thereto pricked on by a most emulous cause, dared to  
The combat, in which our valiant Hamlet,  
For so this side of our known world esteemed him,  
Did slay this Fortenbrasse,  
Who by a seal compact well ratified, by law  
And heraldry, did forfeit with his life all those  
His lands which he stood seized of by the conqueror,  
Against the which a moiety competent,  
Was gauged by our King:  
Now sir, young Fortenbrasse,  
Of inapproved mettle hot and full,  
Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there,  
Sharkt up a sight of lawless Resolutes  
For food and diet to some enterprise,  
That hath a stomach in't: and this (I take it) is the  
Chief head and ground of this our watch.   Enter the Ghost. 

But lo, behold, see where it comes again,  
He cross it, though it blast me: stay illusion,  
If there be any good thing to be done,  
That may do ease to thee, and grace to me,  
Speak to me.  
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,  
Which haply foreknowing may prevens, O speak to me,  
Or if thou hast extorted in thy life,  
Or hoardward treasure in the womb of earth,  
For which they say you Spirits oft walk in death, speak to me, stay and speak, speak, stop it Marcellus.   2. 
'tis here.  exit Ghost. Hor. 
'tis here.  Marc. 

'tis gone, O we do it wrong, being so majestical, to offer it the show of violence,  
For it is as the air invelmorable,  
And our vain blows malicious mockery.   2. 
It was about to speak when the Cock crew.  Hor. 

And then it faded like a guilty thing,  
Upon a fearful summons: I have heard  
The Cock, that is the trumpet to the morning,  
Doth with his early and shrill crowing throat,  
Awake the god of day, and at his sound,  
Whether in earth or air, in sea or fire,  
The extravagant and erring spirit hies  
To his confines, and of the truth here of  
This present object made probation.   Marc. 

It faded on the crowing of the Cock,  
Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes,  
Wherein our saviours birth is celebrated▪  
The bird of dawning singeth all night long,  
And then they say, no spirit dare walk abroad,  
The nights are wholesome, than no planet strikes,  
No Fairy takes, nor Witch hath power to charm,  
So gracious, and so hallowed is that time.   Hor. 

So have I heard, and do in part believe it:  
But see the Sun in russet mantle clad,  
Walks o'er the dew of yond high mountain top,  
Break we our watch up▪ and by my advise,  
Let us impart what we have seen to night  
Unto young Hamlet▪ for upon my life  
This Spirit dumb to us will speak to him:  
Do you consent, we shall acquaint him with it,  
As needful in our love, fitting our duty?   Marc. 

Let's do't I pray, and I this morning know,  
Where we shall find him most conveniently.   Enter King, Queen, Hamlet, Leartes, Corambis, and the two Ambassadors, with Attendants. King 

Lords, we here have writ to Fortenbrasse▪  
Nephew to old Norway, who impotent  
And bedrid, scarcely hears of this his  
Nephew's purpose: and We here dispatch  
Young good Cornelu●●, and you Vol 〈…〉  
For bearers of these greetings to old  
Norway, giving to you no further personal power  
To business with the King,  
Then those related articles do show:  
Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.   Gent. 
In this and all things will we show our duty.  King. 

We doubt nothing, heartily farewell▪  
And now Leartes; what's the news with you?  
You said you had a suit what is't Leartes   Lea. 

My gracious Lord, your favourable licence,  
Now that the funeral rites are all performed,  
I may have leave to go again to France,  
For though the favour of your grace might stay me,  
Yet something is there whispers in my heart,  
Which makes my mind and spirits bend all for France.   King 
Have you your father's leave, Leartes?  Cor. 

He hath, my lord, wrung from me aforced grant,  
And I beseech you grant your highness leave.   Kiug 
With all our heart, Leartes far thee well.  Lear. 
I in all love and duty take my leave.  King. 

And now princely Son Hamlet,  
What means these sad and melancholy moods?  
For your intent going to Wittenberg,  
We hold it most unmeet and unconvenient,  
Being the joy and half heart of your mother.  
Therefore let me entreat you stay in Court,  
All Denmark's hope our cousin and dearest Son.   Exit. Ham. 

My lord, ti's not the sable suit I wear:  
No nor the tears that still stand in my eyes,  
Nor the distracted haviour in the visage,  
Nor all together mixed with outward semblance,  
Is equal to the sorrow of my heart,  
Him have I lost I must os force forego,  
These but the ornaments and suits of woe.   King 

This shows a loving care in you, Son Hamlet,  
But you must think your father lost a father,  
That father dead, lost his, and so shallbe until the  
General ending▪ Therefore cease laments;  
It is a fault 'gainst heaven, fault 'gainst the dead,  
A fault 'gainst nature, and in reasons  
Common course most certain,  
None lives on earth, but he is borne to die.   Que. 

Let not thy mother lose her prayers Hamlet,  
Stay here with us▪ go not to Wittenberg.   Ham. 
I shall in all my best obey you madam.  King 

Spoke like a kind and a most loving Son,  
And there's no health the King shall drink today,  
But the great Canon to the clouds shall tell  
The rouse the King shall drink unto Prince Hamlet.   Exeunt all but Hamlet. Ham. 

O that this too much grieved and sallied flesh  
Would melt to nothing, or that the universal  
Globe of heaven would turn all to a Chaos▪  
O God, within two months; no not two ● married,  
Mine uncle: O let me not think of it,  
My father's brother: but no more like  
My father, than I to Hercules.  
Within two months, ere yet the salt of most  
Unrighteous tears had left their flushing  
In her galled eyes: she married, O God, a beast  
Devoid of reason would not have made  
Such speed: Frailty, thy name is Woman,  
Why she would hang on him, as if increase  
Of appetite had grown by what it looked on.  
O wicked wicked speed, to make such  
Dexterity to incestuous sheets,  
Ere yet the shoes were old,  
The which she followed my dead father's corpse  
Like Niobe, all tears: married, well it is not,  
Nor it cannot come to good:  
But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue.   Enter Horatio and Marcellus. Hor. 
Health to your Lordship.  Ham. 
I am very glad to see you, (Horatio) or I much forget myself.  Hor. 
The same my Lord, and your poor servant ever.  Ham. 
O my good friend, I change that name with you▪ but what make you from Wittenberg Horatio?  Marcellus. Marc. 
My good Lord.  Ham. 

I am very glad to see you, good even sirs:  
But what is your affair in Elsenoure?  
we'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.   Hor. 
A trowant disposition, my good Lord▪  Ham. 

Nor shall you make me truster  
Of your own report against yourself:  
Sir, I know you are no trowant▪  
But what is your affair in Elsenoure▪   Hor. 
My good Lord, I came to see your father's funeral.  Ham. 

O I pray thee do not mock he fellow student,  
I think it was to see my mother's wedding▪   Hor. 
Indeed my Lord, it followed hard upon.  Ham. 

Thrift, thrift, Horatio, the funeral baked meats  
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables,  
Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven  
Ere ever I had seen that day Horatio;  
O my father, my father, me thinks I see my father.   Hor. 
Where my Lord?  Ham. 
Why, in my minds eye Horatio.  Hor. 
I saw him once, he was a gallant King.  Ham. 

He was a man, take him for all in all,  
I shall not look upon his like again.   Hor. 
My Lord, I think I saw him yesternight,  Ham. 
Saw, who:  Hor. 
My Lord, the King your father.  Ham. 
Ha, ha, the King my father keyou▪  Hor. 

Ceasen your admiration for a while▪  
With an attentive ear, till I may deliver,  
Upon the witness of these Gentlemen  
This wonder to you.   Ham. 
For God's love let me hear it.  Hor. 

Two nights together had these Gentlemen,  
Marcelllus and Bernardo, on their watch,  
In the dead vast and middle of the night.  
Been thus encountered by a figure like your father,  
Armed to point, exactly Capapie  
Appears before them thrice, he walks  
Before their weak and fear oppressed eyes  
Within his tronchions length,  
While they distilled almost to jelly.  
With the act of fear stands dumb,  
And speak not to him: this to me  
In dreadful secrecy impart they did.  
And I with them the third night kept the watch,  
Where as they had delivered form of the thing.  
Each part made true and good,  
The Apparition comes: I knew your father,  
These hands are not more like.   Ham. 
'tis very strange.  Hor. 

As I do live, my honoured lord, 'tis true,  
And we did think it right done,  
In our duty to let you know it.   Ham. 
Where was this?  Mar. 
My Lord, upon the platform where we watched.  Ham. 
Did you not speak to it?  Hor. 

My Lord we did, but answer made it none,  
Yet once me thought it was about to speak,  
And lifted up his head to motion,  
Like as he would speak, but even then  
The morning cock crew loud, and in all haste,  
It shrunk in haste away, and vanished  
Our fight.   Ham. 

Indeed, indeed sirs, but this troubles me:  
Hold you the watch to night?   All 
We do my Lord.  Ham. 
Armed say ye?  All 
Armed my good Lord.  Ham. 
From top to toe?  All. 
My good Lord, from head to foot.  Ham. 
Why then saw you not his face?  Hor. 
O yes my Lord, he wore his beaver up.  Ham. 
How looked he, frowningly?  Hor. 
A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.  Ham. 
Pale, or red?  Hor. 
Nay, very pal  Ham. 
And fixed his eyes upon you.  Hor. 
Most constantly.  Ham. 
I would I had been there.  Hor. 
It would a much amazed you.  Ham. 
Yea very like, very like, stayed it long?  Hor. 

While one with moderate pace  
Might tell a hundred.   Mar. 
O longer, longer.  Ham. 
His beard was grisleld, no.  Hor. 

It was as I have seen it in his life,  
A sable silver.   Ham. 
I will watch to night, perchance 'twill walk again.  Hor. 
I warrant it will.  Ham. 

If it assume my noble father's person,  
I'll speak to it, if hell itself should gape,  
And bid me hold my peace, Gentlemen,  
If you have hither consealed this sight,  
Let it be tenible in your silence still,  
And whatsoever else shall chance to night,  
Give it an understanding, but no tongue,  
I will requited your loves, so far you well,  
Upon the platform, twixt eleven and twelve,  
I'll visit you.   All. 
Our duties to your honour.  excunt. Ham. 

O your loves, your loves, as mine to you,  
Farewell, my father's spirit in Arms,  
Well, all's not well. I doubt some foul play,  
Would the night were come,  
Till then, sit still my soul, foul deeds will ris  
Though all the world o'erwhelm them to men's eyes.   Exit. Enter Leartes and Ofelia. Leart. 

My necessaries are inbarkt, I must aboard,  
But ere I part, mark what I say to thee:  
I see Prince Hamlet makes a show of love  
Beware Ofelia, do not trust his vows,  
Perhaps he loves you now, and now his tongue,  
Speaks from his heart, but yet take heed my sister,  
The Chariest maid is prodigal enough,  
If she unmask her beauty to the Moon.  
Virtue itself escapes not calumnious thoughts,  
Believe't Ofelia, therefore keep a loof  
Lest that he trip thy honour and thy fame.   Ofel. 

Brother, to this I have lent attentive ear,  
And doubt not but to keep my honour firm,  
But my dear brother, do not you  
Like to a cunning Sophister,  
Teach me the path and ready way to heaven,  
While you forgetting what is said to me,  
Yourself, like to a careless libertine  
Doth give his heart, his appetite at full,  
And little recks how that his honour dies.   Lear. 

No, fear it not my dear Ofelia,  
Here comes my father, occasion smiles upon a second leave.   Enter Corambis. Cor. 

Yet here Leartes? aboard, aboard, for shame,  
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,  
And you are stayed for, there▪ my blessing with thee  
And these few precepts in thy memory.  
" Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar;  
" Those friends thou hast, and their adoptions tried,  
" Grapple them to thee with a hoop of steel,  
" But do not dull the palm with entertain,  
" Of every new unfledged courage,  
" Beware of entrance into a quarrel; but being in,  
" Bear it that the opposed may beware of thee,  
" Costly thy apparel, as thy purse can buy.  
" But not expressed in fashion,  
" For the apparel oft proclaims the man.  
And they of France of the chief rank and station  
Are of a most select and general chief in that:  
" This above all, to thy own self be true,  
And it must follow as the night the day,  
Thou canst not then be false to any one,  
Farewell, my blessing with thee.   Lear. 

I humbly take my leave, farewell Ofelia,  
And remember well what I have said to you.   exit. Ofel. 

It is already locked within my heart,  
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.   Cor. 
What is't Ofelia he hath said to you?  Ofel. 
Something touching the prince Hamlet.  Cor. 

Mary well thought on, 'tis given me to understand,  
That you have been too prodigal of your maiden presence  
Unto Prince Hamlet, if it be so,  
As so 'tis given to me, and that in way of caution  
I must tell you; you do not understand yourself  
So well as befits my honour, and your credit.   Ofel. 
My lord, he hath made many tenders of his love to me.  Cor. 
Tenders, I, I, tenders you may call them.  Ofel. 
And withal, such earnest vows.  Cor. 

Springs to catch woodcocks,  
What, do not I know when the blood doth burn,  
How prodigal the tongue lends the heart vows,  
In brief, be more scanter of your maiden presence,  
Or tendering thus you'll tender me a fool.   Ofel. 
I shall obey my lord in all I may.  Cor. 

Ofelia, receive none of his letters,  
" For lovers lines are snares to entrap the heart;  
" Refuse his tokens, both of them are keys  
To unlock Chastity unto Desire;  
Come in Ofelia, such men often prove,  
" Great in their words, but little in their love.   Ofel. 
I will my lord.  exeunt. Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus. Ham. 

The air bites shrewd; it is an eager and  
An nipping wind, what hour is't?   Hor. 
I think it lacks of twelve,  Sound Trumpets. Mar. 
No, 'tis struck.  Hor. 
Indeed I heard it not, what doth this mean my lord?  Ham. 

O the king doth wake to night, & takes his rouse,  
Keep wassail, and the swaggering upspring reels,  
And as he dreams, his draughts of rhenish down,  
The kettle, drum, and trumpet, thus bray out,  
The triumphs of his pledge.   Hor. 
Is it a custom here?  Ham. 

I mary is't and though I am  
Native here, and to the manner borne,  
It is a custom, more honoured in the breach,  
Then in the observance.   Enter the Ghost. Hor. 
Look my Lord, it comes.  Ham. 

Angels and Ministers of grace defend us,  
Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damned,  
Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell:  
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,  
Thou comest in such questionable shape,  
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 say why thy canonized bones hearsed in death  
Have burst their ceremonies: why thy Sepulchre,  
In which we saw thee quietly interred,  
Hath burst his ponderous and marble jaws,  
To cast thee up again: what may this mean,  
That thou, dead corpse, again in complete steel,  
Revissets' thus the glimpses of the Moon,  
Making night hideous, and we fools of nature,  
So horridely to shake our disposition,  
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?  
Say, speak, wherefore, what may this mean?   Hor. 

It beckons you, as though it had something  
To impart 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 my Lord.  Ham. 
It will not speak, then will I follow it.  Hor. 

What if it tempt you toward the flood my Lord.  
That beccles o'er his base, into the sea,  
And there assume some other horrible shape,  
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason,  
And drive you into madness: think of it.   Ham. 
Still am I called, go on, i'll follow thee.  Hor. 
My Lord, you shall not go.  Ham. 

Why what should be the fear?  
I do not set my life at a pings fee,  
And for my soul, what can it do to that?  
Being a thing immortal, like itself,  
Go on, i'll follow thee.   Mar. 
My Lord be ruled, you shall not go.  Ham. 

My fate cries out, and makes each petty Artive  
As hardy as the Nemeon lions nerve,  
Still am I called, unhand me gentlemen;  
By heaven i'll make a ghost of him that lets me,  
Away I say, go on, i'll follow thee.   Hor. 
He waxeth desperate with imagination.  Mar. 
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.  Hor. 
Have after; to what issue will this sort?  Mar. 
Let's follow, 'tis not fit thus to obey him.  exit. Enter Ghost and Hamlet. Ham. 
I'll go no farther, whither wilt thou lead me?  Ghost 
Mark me.  Ham. 
I will.  Ghost 

I am thy father's spirit, doomed for a time  
To walk the night, and all the day  
Confined in flaming fire,  
Till the foul crimes done in my days of Nature  
A repurged and burnt away.   Ham. 
Alas poor Ghost.  Ghost 

Nay pity me not, but to my unfolding  
Lend thy listening ear, but that I am forbid  
To tell the secrets of my prison house  
I would a tale unfold, whose lightest word  
Would harrow up thy soul, frieze thy young blood,  
Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,  
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,  
And each particular hair to stand on end  
Like quills upon the fretful Porpentine,  
But this same blazon must not be, to ears of flesh and blood  
Hamlet, if ever thou didst thy dear father love.   Ham. 
O God.  Gho. 
Revenge his foul, and most unnatural murder:  Ham. 
Murder.  Ghost 

Yea, murder in the highest degree,  
As in the least 'tis bad,  
But mine most foul, beastly, and unnatural.   Ham. 
Haste me to know it, that with wings as swift as meditation, or the thought of it, may sweep to my revenge.  Ghost 

O I find thee apt, and duller shouldst thou be  
Then the fat weed which roots itself in ease  
On Lethe wharf: brief let me be.  
'tis given out, that sleeping in my orchard,  
A Serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark  
Is with a forged Prosses of my death rankly abused:  
But know thou noble Youth: he that did sting  
Thy father's heart, now wears his Crown.   Ham. 
O my prophetic soul, my uncle! my uncle!  Ghost 

Yea he, that incestuous wretch, won to his will with gifts,  
O wicked will, and gifts! that have the power  
So to seduce my most seeming virtuous Queen,  
But vertne, as it never will be moved,  
Though Lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,  
So Lust, though to a radiant angle linked,  
Would fate itself from a celestial bed,  
And prey on garbage: but soft, me thinks  
I sent the morning's air, brief let me be,  
Sleeping within my Orchard, my custom always  
In the after noon, upon my secure hour  
Thy uncle came, with juice of Hebona  
In a vial, and through the porches of my ears  
Did power the leprous distilment, whose effect  
Hold such an enmity with blood of man,  
That swift as quicksilver, it posteth through  
The natural gates and allies of the body,  
And turns the thin and wholesome blood  
Like eager droppings into milk.  
And all my smooth body, barked, and tetterd over.  
Thus was I sleeping by a brother's hand  
Of Crown, of Queen, of life, of dignity  
At once deprived, no reckoning made of,  
But sent unto my grave,  
With all my accounts and sins upon my head,  
O horrible, most horrible!   Ham. 
O God  ghost 

If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not,  
But howsoever, let not thy heart  
Conspire against thy mother aught,  
Leave her to heaven,  
And to the burden that her conscience bears.  
I must be gone, the Glow-worm shows the Mattin  
To be near, and 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:  
Hamlet adieu, adieu, adieu: remember me.   Exit Ham. 

O all you host of heaven! O earth, what else?  
And shall I couple hell; remember thee?  
Yes thou poor Ghost; from the tables  
Of my memory, i'll wipe away all saws of Books,  
All trivial fond conceits  
That ever youth, or else observance noted,  
And thy remembrance, all alone shall sit.  
Yes, yes, by heaven, a damned pernicious villain,  
Murderons, bawdy, 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.  
So uncle, there you are, there you are.  
Now to the words; it is adieu adieu: remember me,  
So 'tis enough I have sworn.   Hor. 
My lord, my lord.  Enter. Horatio, and Marcellus. Mar. 
Lord Hamlet.  Hor. 
Ill, lo, lo, ho, ho.  Mar. 
Ill, lo, lo, so, ho, so, come boy, come.  Hor. 
heavens secure him.  Mar. 
How is't my noble lord?  Hor. 
What news my lord?  Ham. 
O wonderful, wonderful.  Hor. 
Good my lord tell it.  Ham. 
No not I, you'll reveal it.  Hor. 
Not I my Lord by heaven.  Mar. 
Nor I my Lord.  Ham. 

How say you then? would heart of man  
Once think it? but you'll be secret.   Both. 
I by heaven, my lord.  Ham. 

There's never a villain dwelling in all Denmark,  
But he's an arrant knave.   Hor. 
There need no Ghost come from the grave to tell you this.  Ham. 

Right, you are in the right, and therefore  
I hold it meet without more circumstance at all,  
We shake hands and part; you as your business  
And desires shall lead you: for look you,  
Every man hath business, and desires, such  
As it is, and for my own poor part, i'll go pray.   Hor. 
These are but wild and wherling words, my Lord.  Ham. 
I am sorry they offend you; heartily, yes faith heartily.  Hor. 
there's no offence my Lord.  Ham. 

Yes by Saint Patrick but there is Horatio,  
And much offence too, touching this vision,  
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you,  
For your desires to know what is between us,  
Or emaister it as you may:  
And now kind friends, as yond are friends,  
Scholars and gentlemen,  
Grant me one poor request.   Both. 
What isst my Lord?  Ham. 
Never make known what you have seen to night  Both. 
My lord, we will not.  Ham. 
Nay but swear.  Hor. 
In faith my Lord not I.  Mar. 
Nor I my Lord in faith.  Ham. 
Nay upon my sword, indeed upon my sword.  Gho. 
Swear.  The Ghost under the stage. Ham. 

Ha, ha, come you here, this fellow in the sellerige,  
Here consent to swear.   Hor. 
Propose the oath my Lord.  Ham. 

Never to speak what you have seen to night,  
Swear by my sword.   Gost. 
Swear.  Ham. 

Hic & ubique; nay then we'll shift our ground:  
Come hither Gentlemen, and lay your hands  
Again upon this sword, never to speak  
Of that which you have seen, swear by my sword.   Ghost 
Swear.  Ham. 
Well said old Mole, canst work in the earth? so fast, a worthy Pioneer, once more remove.  Hor. 
Day and night, but this is wondrous strange.  Ham. 

And therefore as a stranger give it welcome,  
There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio,  
Then are Dreamt of, in your philosophy,  
But come here, as before you never shall  
How strange or odd socre I bear myself,  
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet,  
To put an Antic disposition on,  
That you at such times seeing me, never shall  
With Arms, encumbered thus, or this head shake,  
Or by pronouncing some undoubtful phrase,  
As well well, we know, or we could and if we would,  
Or there be, and if they might, or such ambiguous:  
Giving out to note, that you know aught of me,  
This not to do, so grace, and mercy  
At your most need help you, swear   Ghost. 
swear.  Ham. 

Rest, rest, perturbed spirit: so gentlemen,  
In all my love I do commend me to you,  
And what so poor a man as Hamlet may,  
To pleasure you, God willing shall not want,  
Nay come let's go together,  
But still your fingers on your lips I pray,  
The time is out of joint, O cursed spite,  
That ever I was borne to set it right,  
Nay come let's go together.   Exeunt. Enter Corambis, and Montano. Cor. 

Montano, here, these letters to my son,  
And this same money with my blessing to him,  
And bid him ply his learning good Montano.   Mon. 
I will my lord.  Cor. 

You shall do very well Montano, to say thus,  
I knew the gentleman, or know his father,  
To inquire the manner of his life,  
As thus; being amongst his acquaintance,  
You may say, you saw him at such a time, mark you me,  
At game, or drinking, swearing, or drabbing,  
You may go so far.   Mon. 
My lord, that will impeach his reputation.  Cor. 

I faith not a whit, no not a whit,  
Now happily he closeth with you in the consequence,  
As you may bridle it not disparaged him a jot.  
What was I about to say,   Mon. 
He closeth with him in the consequence.  Cor. 

I, you say right, he closeth with him thus,  
This will he say, let me see what he will say,  
Mary this, I saw him yesterday, or other day,  
Or then, or at such a time, a dicing,  
Or at Tennis, I or drinking drunk, or entering  
Of a house of lightness viz. brothel,  
Thus sir do we that know the world, being men of reach,  
By indirections, find directions forth,  
And so shall you my son; you ha' me, ha you not?   Mon. 
I have my lord.  Cor. 
Well, far you well, commend me to him.  Mon. 
I will my lord.  Cor. 
And bid him ply his music  Mon. 
My lord I wil  exit. Enter, Ofelia. Cor. 
Farewell, how now Ofelia, what's the news with you?  Ofe. 

O my dear father, such a change in nature,  
So great an alteration in a Prince,  
So pitiful to him, fearful to me,  
A maiden's eye ne'er looked on.   Cor. 
Why what's the matter my Ofelia?  Of. 

O young Prince Hamlet, the only flower of Denmark,  
He is bereft of all the wealth he had,  
The jewel that ador'nd his feature most  
Is filched and stolen away, his wit's bereft him,  
He found me walking in the gallery all alone,  
There comes he to me, with a distracted look,  
His garters lagging down, his shoes untied,  
And fixed his eyes so steadfast on my face,  
As if they had vowed, this is their latest object.  
Small while he stood, but gripes me by the wrist,  
And there he holds my pulse till with a sigh  
He doth unclasp his hold, and parts away  
Silent, as is the mid time of the night:  
And as he went, his eye was still on me,  
For thus his head over his shoulder looked,  
He seemed to find the way without his eyes:  
For out of doors he went without their help,  
And so did leave me.   Cor. 

Mad for thy love,  
What have you given him any cross words of late?   Ofelia 

I did repel his letters, deny his gifts,  
As you did charge me.   Cor. 

Why that hath made him mad:  
By heaven 'tis as proper for our age to cast  
Beyond ourselves, as 'tis for the younger fort  
To leave their wantonness. Well, I am sorry  
That I was so rash: but what remedy?  
Let's to the King, this madness may prove,  
Though wild a while, yet more true to thy love.   exeunt. Enter King and Queen, Rossencraft, and Gilderstone. King 

Right noble friends, that our decree cousin Hamlet  
Hath lost the very heart of all his sense,  
It is most right, and we most sorry for him:  
Therefore we do desire, even as you tender  
Our care to him, and our great love to you,  
That you will labour but to wring from him  
The cause and ground of his distemperancie.  
Do this, the king of Denmark shall be thankful.   Ros. 

My Lord, whatsoever lies within our power  
Your majesty may more command in words  
Then use persuasions to your liege men, bound  
By love, by duty, and obedience.   Guil. 

What we may do for both your Majesties  
To know the grief troubles the Prince your son,  
We will endeavour all the best we may,  
So in all duty do we take our leave.   King 
Thanks Guilderstone, and gentle Rossencraft.  Que: 
Thanks Rossencraft, and gentle Gilderstone.  Enter Corambis and Ofelia. Cor. 

My Lord, the Ambassadors are joyfully  
Returned from Norway.   King 
Thou still hast been the father of good news.  Cor. 

Have I my Lord? I assure your grace,  
I hold my duty as I hold my life,  
Both to my God, and to my sovereign King:  
And I believe, or else this brain of mine  
Hunts not the train of policy so well  
As it had wont to do, but I have found  
The very depth of Hamlets lunacy.   Queen 
God grant he hath.  Enter the Ambassadors. King 
Now Uoltemar, what from our brother Norway?  Uolt. 

Most fair returns of greetings and desires,  
Upon our first he sent forth to suppress  
His nephew's levies, which to him appeared  
To be a preparation 'gainst the Polacke:  
But better looked into, he truly found  
It was against your Highness, whereat grieved,  
That so his sickness, age, and impotence,  
Was falsely borne in hand, sends out arrests  
On Fortenbrasse, which he in brief obays,  
Receives rebuke from Norway: and in fine,  
Makes vow before his uncle, never more  
To give the assay of Arms against your Majesty,  
Whereon old Norway overcome with joy,  
Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee,  
And his Commission to employ those soldiers,  
So levied as before, against the Polacke,  
With an entreaty herein further shown,  
That it would please you to give quiet pass  
Through your dominions, for that enterprise  
On such regards ofsafety and allowances  
As therein are set down.   King 

It likes us well, and at fit time and leisure  
we'll read and answer these his Articles,  
Mean time we thank you for your well  
took labour: go to your rest, at night we'll feast together:  
Right welcome home.   exeunt Ambassadors. Cor. 

This business is very well dispatched.  
Now my Lord, touching the young Prince Hamlet,  
Certain it is that he is mad: mad let us grant him then:  
Now to know the cause of this effect,  
Or else to say the cause of this defect,  
For this effect defective comes by cause.   Queen 
Good my Lord be brief.  Cor. 

Madam I will: my Lord, I have a daughter,  
Have while she's mine: for that we think  
Is surest, we often lose: now to the Prince.  
My Lord, but note this letter,  
The which my daughter in obedience  
Delivered to my hands.   King 
Read it my Lord.  Cor. 

Mark my Lord.  
Doubt that in earth is fire,  
Doubt that the stars do move,  
Doubt truth to be a liar,  
But do not doubt I love.  
To the beautiful Ofelia:  
Thine ever the most unhappy Prince Hamlet.  
My Lord, what do you think of me?  
I, or what might you think when I saw this?   King 
As of a true friend and a most loving subject.  Cor. 

I would be glad to prove so.  
Now when I saw this letter, thus I bespoke my maiden:  
Lord Hamlet is a Prince out of your star,  
And one that is unequal for your love:  
Therefore I did command her refuse his letters,  
Deny his tokens, and to absent herself.  
She as my child obediently obeyed me.  
Now since which time, seeing his love thus crossed,  
Which I took to be idle, and but sport,  
He straightway grew into a melancholy,  
From that unto a fast, then unto distraction,  
Then into a sadness, from that unto a madness,  
And so by continuance, and weakness of the brain  
Into this frenzy, which now possesseth him:  
And if this be not true, take this from this.   King 
Think you 'tis so?  Cor. 

How? so my Lord, I would very feign know  
That thing that I have said 'tis so, positively,  
And it hath fallen out otherwise.  
Nay, if circumstances lead me on,  
I'll find it out, if it were hid  
As deep as the centre of the earth.   King. 
how should we try this same?  Cor. 

Mary my good lord thus,  
The Prince's walk is here in the gallery,  
There let Ofelia, walk until he comes:  
Yourself and I will stand close in the study,  
There shall you hear the effect of all his heart,  
And if it prove any otherwise then love,  
Then let my censure fail an other time.   King. 
see where he comes poring upon a book.  Enter Hamlet. Cor. 

Madame, will it please your grace  
To leave us here?   Que. 
With all my heart.  exit. Cor. 

And here Ofelia, read you on this book,  
And walk aloof, the King shall be unseen.   Ham. 

To be, or not to be, I there's the point,  
To Die, to sleep, is that all? I all:  
No, to sleep, to dream, I mary there it goes,  
For in that dream of death, when we awake,  
And borne before an everlasting judge,  
From whence no passenger ever retur'nd,  
The undiscovered country, at whose sight  
The happy smile, and the accursed damned.  
But for this, the joyful hope of this,  
Wholed bear the scorns and flattery of the world,  
Scorned by the right rich, the rich cursed of the poor?  
The widow being oppressed, the orphan wronged,  
The taste of hunger, or a tyrants reign,  
And thousand more calamities beside,  
To grunt and sweat under this weary life,  
When that he may his full Quietus make,  
With a bare bodkin, who would this endure,  
But for a hope of something after death?  
Which puzzles the brain, and doth confound the sense,  
Which makes us rather bear those evils we have,  
Than fly to others that we know not of.  
I that, O this conscience makes cowards of us all,  
Lady in thy orisons, be all my sins remembered.   Ofel. 
My Lord, I have sought opportunity, which now I have, to redeliver to your worthy hands, a small remembrance, such tokens which I have received of you.  Ham. 
Are you fair?  Ofel. 
My Lord.  Ham. 
Are you honest?  Ofel. 
What means my Lord?  Ham. 

That if you be fair and honest,  
Your beauty should admit no discourse to your honesty.   Ofel. 
My Lord, can beauty have better privilege than with honesty?  Ham. 

Yea mary may it; for Beauty may transform  
Honesty, from what she was into a bawd:  
Then Honesty can transform Beauty:  
This was sometimes a Paradox,  
But now the time gives it scope.  
I never gave you nothing.   Ofel. 

My Lord, you know right well you did,  
And with them such earnest vows of love,  
As would have moved the stoniest breast alive,  
But now too true I find,  
Rich gifts wax poor, when givers grow unkind.   Ham. 
I never loved you.  Ofel. 
You made me believe you did.  Ham. 

O thou shouldst not a believed me!  
Go to a Nunnery go, why shouldst thou  
Be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest,  
But I could accuse myself of such crimes  
It had been better my mother had ne'er borne me,  
O I am very proud, ambitious, disdainful,  
With more sins at my beck, than I have thoughts  
To put them in, what should such fellows as I  
Do, crawling between heaven and earth?  
To a Nunnery go, we are arrant knaves all,  
Believe none of us, to a Nunnery go.   Ofel. 
O heavens secure him!  Ham. 
where's thy father?  Ofel. 
At home my lord.  Ham. 

For God's sake let the doors be shut on him,  
He may play the fool no where but in his  
Own house: to a Nunnery go.   Ofel. 
Help him good God.  Ham. 

If thou dost marry, I'll give thee  
This plague to thy dowry:  
Be thou as chaste as ye, as pure as snow,  
Thou shalt not scape calumny, to a Nunnery go.   Ofel. 
Alas, what change is this?  Ham. 

But if thou wilt needs many, marry a fool,  
For wisemen know well enough,  
What monsters you make of them, to a Nunnery go.   Ofel. 
Pray God restore him▪  Ham. 

Nay, I have heard of your paintings too,  
God hath given you one face,  
And you make yourselves another,  
You fig, and you amble, and you nickname God's creatures,  
Making your wantonness, your ignorance,  
A pox, 'tis scurvy, I'll no more of it,  
It hath made me mad: I'll no more marriages,  
All that are married but one, shall live,  
The rest shall keep as they are, to a Nunnery go,  
To a Nunnery go.   exit. Ofe. 

Great God of heaven, what a quick change is this?  
The Courtier, Scholar, Soldier, all in him,  
All dashed and splinterd thence, O woe is me,  
To a seen what I have seen, see what I see.   exit. King 

Love? No, no, that's not the cause,  
Some deeper thing it is that troubles him.   Enter King and Corambis. Cor. 

Well, something it is: my Lord, content you a while,  
I will myself go feel him: let me work,  
I'll try him every way: see where he comes,  
Send you those Gentlemen, let me alone  
To find the depth of this, away, be gone.  
Now my good Lord, do you know me?   exit King. Enter Hamlet. Ham. 
Yea very well, y'are a fishmonger.  Cor. 
Not I my Lord.  Ham. 

Then sir, I would you were so honest a man,  
For to be honest, as this age goes,  
Is one man to be picked out of ten thousand.   Cor. 
What do you read my Lord?  Ham. 
Words, words.  Cor. 
What's the matter my Lord?  Ham. 
Between who?  Cor. 
I mean the matter you read my Lord.  Ham. 

Mary most vile heresy:  
For here the Satirical Satire writes,  
That old men have hollow eyes, weak backs,  
Grey beards, pitiful weak hams, gouty legs,  
All which sir, I most potently believe not:  
For sir, yourself shallbe old as I am,  
If like a Crab, you could go backward.   Cor. 

How pregnant his replies are, and full of wit:  
Yet at first he took me for a fishmonger:  
All this comes by love, the vemencie of love,  
And when I was young, I was very idle,  
And suffered much ecstasy in love, very near this:  
Will you walk out of the air my Lord?   Ham. 
Into my grave.  Cor. 

By the mass that's out of the air indeed,  
Very shrewd answers,  
My lord I will take my leave of you.   Enter Gilderstone, and Rossencraft. Ham. 

You can take nothing from me sir,  
I will more willingly part with all,  
Old doting fool.   Cor, 
You seek Prince Hamlet, see, there he is.  exit. Gil. 
Health to your Lordship.  Ham. 

What, Gilderstone, and Rossencraft,  
Welcome kind Schoolfellows to Elsanoure.   Gil. 

We thank your Grace, and would be very glad  
You were as when we were at Wittenberg.   Ham. 

I thank you, but is this visitation free of  
Yourselves, or were you not sent for?  
Tell me true, come, I know the good King and Queen  
Sent for you, there is a kind of confession in your eye:  
Come, I know you were sent for.   Gil. 
What say you?  Ham. 

Nay then I see how the wind sits,  
Come, you were sent for.   Ross. 

My lord, we were, and willingly if we might,  
Know the cause and ground of your discontent.   Ham. 
Why I want preferment.  Ross. 
I think not so my lord.  Ham. 

Yes faith, this great world you see contents me not,  
No nor the spangled heavens, nor earth, nor sea,  
No nor Man that is so glorious a creature.  
Contents not me, no nor woman too, though you laugh.   Gil. 
My lord, we laugh not at that.  Ham. 

Why did you laugh then,  
When I said, Man did not content me?   Gil. 

My Lord, we laughed, when you said, Man did not content you.  
What entertainment the Players shall have,  
We boarded them a the way: they are coming to you.   Ham. 
Players, what Players be they?  Ross. 

My Lord, the Tragedians of the City,  
Those that you took delight to see so often.   Ham. 
How comes it that they travel? Do they grow resty?  Gil. 
No my Lord, their reputation holds as it was wont.  Ham. 
How then?  Gil. 

I'faith my Lord, novelty carries it away,  
For the principal public audience that  
Came to them, are turned to private plays,  
And to the humour of children.   Ham. 

I do not greatly wonder of it,  
For those that would make mops and moes  
At my uncle, when my father lived,  
Now give a hundred, two hundred pounds  
For his picture: but they shall be welcome,  
He that plays the King shall have tribute of me,  
The venturous Knight shall use his foil and target,  
The lover shall sigh gratis,  
The clown shall make them laugh  
That are tickled in the lungs, or the blank verse shall halt for't,  
And the Lady shall have leave to speak her mind freely.   The Trumpets sound, Enter Corambis. 

Do you see yonder great baby?  
He is not yet out of his swaddling clouts.   Gil. 

That may be, for they say an old man  
Is twice a child.   Ham. 

I'll prophecy to you, he comes to tell me a the Players,  
You say true, a monday last, 'twas so indeed.   Cor. 
My lord, I have news to tell you.  Ham. 

My Lord, I have news to tell you:  
When Rossios was an Actor in Rome.   Cor. 
The Actors are come hither, my lord.  Ham. 
Buzz, buzz.  Cor. 

The best Actors in Christendom,  
Either for Comedy, Tragedy, History, Pastoral,  
Pastoral, Historical, Historical, Comical,  
Comical historical, Pastoral, Tragedy historical:  
Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plato too light▪  
For the law hath writ those are the only men.   Ha. 
O jepha judge of Israel! what a treasure hadst thou?  Cor. 
Why what a treasure had he my lord?  Ham. 

Why one fair daughter, and no more,  
The which he loved passing well.   Cor. 

A, still harping a my daughter! well my Lord,  
If you call me jepha, I have a daughter that  
I love passing well.   Ham. 
Nay that follows not.  Cor. 
What follows then my Lord?  Ham. 

Why by lot, or God wots, or as it came to pass,  
And so it was, the first verse of the godly Ballet  
Will tell you all: for look you where my abridgement comes:  
Welcome masters, welcome all, Enter player's.  
What my old friend, thy face is vallanced  
Since I saw thee last, comest thou to beard me in Denmark?  
My young lady and mistress, burlady but your  
Ladyship is grown by the altitude of a chopine higher than you were:  
Pray God sir your voice, like a piece of uncurrent  
Gold, be not cracked in the ring: come on masters,  
we'll even to't, like French Falconers,  
Fly at any thing we see, come, a taste of your  
Quality, a speech, a passionate speech.   Player's 
What speech my good lord?  Ham. 

I heard thee speak a speech once,  
But it was never acted: or if it were,  
Never above twice, for as I remember,  
It pleased not the vulgar, it was caviar  
To the million: but to me  
And others, that received it in the like kind,  
Cried in the top of their judgements, an excellent play,  
Set down with as great modesty as cunning:  
One said there was no salads in the lines to make them savoury,  
But called it an honest method, as wholesome as sweet.  
Come, a speech in it I chief remember  
Was Aeneas tale to Dido,  
And then especially where he talks of Prince's slaughter,  
If it live in thy memory begin at this line,  
Let me see.  
The rugged Pyrrus, like th'arganian beast:  
No 'tis not so, it gins with Pirrus:  
O I have it.  
The rugged Pirrus, he whose sable arms,  
Black as his purpose did the night resemble,  
When he lay couched in the ominous horse,  
Hath now his black and grim complexion smeered  
With Heraldry more dismal, head to foot,  
Now is he total guise, horridely tricked  
With blood offathers, mothers, daughters, sons,  
Backed and imparched in calagulate gore,  
Rifted in earth and fire, old grandsire Priam seeks:  
So go on.   Cor. 
Afore God, my Lord, well spoke, and with good accent.  Play. 

A none he finds him striking too short at Greeks,  
His a 〈…〉 d rebellious to his Arm,  
Lies where it falls, unable to resist.  
Pyrrus at Priam drives, but all in rage,  
striketh wide, but with the whiff and wind  
Of his fell sword, th'unnerved father falls.   Cor. 
Enough my friend, 'tis too long.  Ham. 

It shall to the Barbers with your beard:  
A pox, he's for a jig, or a tale of bawdry,  
Or else he sleeps, come on to Hecuba, come.   Play. 
But who O who had seen the mobled Queen?  Cor. 
Mobled Queen is good, faith very good.  Play. 

All in the alarm and fear of death rose up,  
And o'er her weak and all ore-teeming loins, a blanket  
And a kercher on that head, where late the diadem stood,  
Who this had seen with tongue envenomed speech,  
Would treason have pronounced,  
For if the gods themselves had seen her then,  
When she saw Pirrus with malicious strokes,  
Mincing her husbands limbs,  
It would have made milk the burning eyes of heaven,  
And passion in the gods.   Cor. 

Look my lord if he hath not changed his colour,  
And hath tears in his eyes: no more good heart, no more.   Ham. 

'tis well, 'tis very well, I pray my lord,  
Will you see the Players well bestowed,  
I tell you they are the Chronicles  
And brief abstracts of the time,  
After your death I can tell you,  
You were better have a bad Epiteeths,  
Then their ill report while you live.   Cor. 
My lord, I will use them according to their deserts.  Ham. 

O far better man, use every man after his deserts,  
Then who should scape whipping?  
Use them after your own honour and dignity,  
The less they deserve, the greater credit yours.   Cor. 
Welcome my good fellows.  exit. Ham. 
Come hither masters, can you not play the murder of Gonsage?  player's 
Yes my Lord.  Ham. 

And couldst not thou for a need study me  
Some dozen or sixteen lines,  
Which I would set down and insert?   player's 
Yes very easily my good Lord.  Ham. 

'tis well, I thank you: follow that lord:  
And do you hear sirs? take heed you mock him not.  
Gentlemen, for your kindness I thank you,  
And for a time I would desire you leave me.   Gil. 
Our love and duty is at your command.  Exeunt all but Hamlet. Ham. 

Why what a dunghill idiot slave am I?  
Why these Players here draw water from eyes:  
For Hecuba, why what is Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba?  
What would he do and if he had my loss?  
His father murdered, and a Crown bereft him,  
He would turn all his tears to drops of blood,  
Amaze the standers by with his laments,  
Strike more than wonder in the ividiciall ears,  
Confound the ignorant, and make mute the wise,  
Indeed his passion would be general.  
Yet I like to an ass and john a Dreams,  
Having my father murdered by a villain,  
Stand still, and let it pass, why sure I am a coward:  
Who plucks me by the beard, or twites my nose,  
Give's me the lie i'th' throat down to the lungs,  
Sure I should take it, or else I have no gall,  
Or by this I should a fatted all the region kites  
With this slaves offell, this damned villain,  
Treacherous, bawdy, murderous villain:  
Why this is brave, that I the son of my dear father,  
Should like a scallion, like a very drab  
Thus rail in words. About my brain,  
I have heard that guilty creatures sitting at a play,  
Hath, by the very cunning of the scene, confessed a murder  
Committed long before.  
This spirit that I have seen may be the Devil,  
And out of my weakness and my melancholy,  
As he is very potent with such men,  
Doth seek to damn me, I will have sounder proofs,  
The play's the thing,  
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.   exit. Enter the King, Queen, and Lords. King 

Lords, can you by no means find  
The cause of our son Hamlets lunacy?  
You being so near in love, even from his youth,  
Me thinks should gain more than a stranger should.   Gil. 

My lord, we have done all the best we could,  
To wring from him the cause of all his grief,  
But still he puts us off, and by no means  
Would make an answer to that we exposed.   Ross. 

Yet was he something more inclined to mirth  
Before we left him, and I take it,  
He hath given order for a play to night,  
At which he craves your highness company.   King 

With all our heart, it likes us very well:  
Gentlemen, seek still to increase his mirth,  
Spare for no cost, our coffers shall be open,  
And we unto yourselves will still be thankful.   Both 
In all we can, be sure you shall command.  Queen 

Thanks gentlemen, and what the Queen of Denmark  
May pleasure you, be sure you shall not want.   Gil. 
we'll once again unto the noble Prince.  King 
Thanks to you both: Gertred you'll see this play.  Queen 

My lord I will, and it joys me at the soul  
He is inclined to any kind of mirth.   Cor. 

Madame, I pray be ruled by me:  
And my good Sovereign, give me leave to speak,  
We cannot yet find out the very ground  
Of his distemperance, therefore  
I hold it meet, if so it please you,  
Else they shall not meet, and thus it is.   King 
What is't Corambis?  Cor. 

Mary my good lord this, soon when the sports are done,  
Madam, send you in haste to speak with him,  
And I myself will stand behind the Arras,  
There question you the cause of all his grief,  
And then in love and nature unto you, he'll tell you all:  
My Lord, how think you on't?   King 
It likes us well, Gerterd, what say you?  Queen 
With all my heart, soon will I send for him.  Cor. 

Myself will be that happy messenger,  
Who hopes his grief will be revealed to her.   exeunt omnes Enter Hamlet and the Players. Ham. 

Pronounce me this speech trippingly a the tongue as I taught thee,  
Mary and you mouth it, as a many of your players do  
I'd rather hear a town bull bellow,  
Then such a fellow speak my lines.  
Nor do not saw the air thus with your hands,  
But give every thing his action with temperance.  
O it offends me to the soul, to hear a robustious periwig fellow,  
To tear a passion in totters, into very rags,  
To split the ears of the ignoraut, who for the  
Most part are capable of nothing but dumb shows and noises,  
I would have such a fellow whipped, for o'er doing, termagant  
It out, Herodes Herod.   Player's 
My Lord, we have indifferently reform that among us.  Ham. 

The better, the better, mend it all together:  
There be fellows that I have seen play,  
And heard others commend them, and that highly too,  
That having neither the gate of Christian, Pagan,  
Nor Turk, have so strutted and bellowed,  
That you would a thought, some of Nature's journeymen  
Had made men, and not made them well,  
They imitated humanity, so abominable:  
Take heed, avoid it.   Player's 
I warrant you my Lord.  Ham. 

And do you hear? let not your Clown speak  
More th●n is set down, there be of them I can tell you  
That will laugh themselves, to set on some  
Quantity of barren spectators to laugh with them,  
Albeit there is some necessary point in the Play  
Then to be observed: O 'tis vile, and shows  
A pitiful ambition in the fool that useth it.  
And then you have some again, that keeps one suit  
Osieasts, as a man is known by one suit of  
Apparel, and Gentlemen quotes his jests down  
In their tables, before they come to the play as thus:  
Cannot you stay till I eat my porridge? and, you own me  
A quarters wages: and, my coat wants a cullison:  
And your beer is sour: and, blabbering with his lips,  
And thus keeping in his cinkapase of jests,  
When, God knows, the warm Clown cannot make a jest  
Unless by chance, as the blind man catcheth a hare:  
Masters tell him of it.   player's 
We will my Lord.  Ham. 
Well, go make you ready.  exeunt players. Horatio. 
Hear my Lord.  Ham. 

Horatio, thou art even as just a man,  
As e'er my conversation coped withal.   Hor. 
O my lord!  Ham. 

Nay why should I flatter thee?  
Why should the poor be flattered?  
What gain should I receive by flattering thee,  
That nothing hath but thy good mind?  
Let flattery sit on those time-pleasing tongues,  
To gloze with them that loves to hear their praise,  
And not with such as thou Horatio.  
There is a play to night, wherein one Scene they have  
Comes very near the murder of my father,  
When thou shalt see that Act afoot,  
Mark thou the King, do but observe his looks,  
For I mine eyes will rivet to his face:  
And if he do not bleach, and change at that,  
It is a damned ghost that we have seen.  
Horatio, have a care, observe him well.   Hor. 

My lord, mine eyes shall still be on his face,  
And not the smallest alteration  
That shall appear in him, but I shall note it.   Ham. 
Hark, they come.  Enter King, Queen, Corambis, and other Lords. King 
How now son Hamlet, how far you, shall we have a play?  Ham. 
Y faith the Chameleons dish, not capon crammed, feed a the air.  
I father: My lord, you played in the University.  Cor. 
That I did my L: and I was counted a good actor.  Ham. 
What did you enact there?  Cor. 
My lord, I did act julius Caesar, I was killed in the Capitol, Brutus killed me.  Ham. 

It was a brute part of him,  
To kill so capital a calf.  
Come, be these Players ready?   Queen 
Hamlet come sit down by me.  Ham. 

No by my faith mother, here's a mettle more attractive:  
Lady will you give me leave, and so forth:  
To lay my head in your lap?   Ofel. 
No my Lord.  Ham. 
Upon your lap, what do you think I meant contrary matters?  Enter in a Dumb Show, the King and the Queen, he sits down in an Arbour, she leaves him: Then enters Lucianus with poison in a Vial, and powers it in his ears, and goes away: Then the Queen cometh and finds him dead: and goes away with the other. Ofel. 
What means this my Lord? Enter the Prologue.  Ham. 
This is mitching Mallico, that means my chief.  Ofel. 
What doth this mean my lord?  Ham. 
you shall hear anon, this fellow will tell you all.  Ofel. 
Will he tell us what this show means?  Ham. 

I, or any show you'll show him,  
Be not afeard to show, he'll not be afeard to tell:  
O these Players cannot keep counsel, they'll tell all.   Prol. 

For us, and for our Tragedy,  
Hear stowpiug to your clemency,  
We beg your hearing patiently.   Ham. 
Is't a prologue, or a poesy for a ring?  Ofel. 
'tis short my Lord.  Ham. 
As women's love.  Enter the Duke and Duchess. Duke 

Full forty years are past, their date is gone,  
Since happy time joined both our hearts as one:  
And now the blood that filled my youthful veins,  
Runs weakly in their pipes, and all the strains  
Of music, which whilom pleased mine ear,  
Is now a burden that Age cannot bear:  
And therefore sweet Nature must pay his due,  
To heaven must I, and leave the earth with you.   Duchess 

O say not so, lest that you kill my heart,  
When death takes you, let life from me departed.   Duke 

Content thyself, when ended is my date,  
Thou mayst (perchance) have a more noble mate,  
More wise, more youthful, and one.   Duchess 

O speak no more for then I am accursed,  
None weds the second, but she kills the first:  
A second time I kill my Lord that's dead,  
When second husband kisses me in bed.   Ham. 
O wormwood, wormwood!  Duke 

I do believe you sweet, what now you speak,  
But what we do determine oft we break,  
For our demises still are overthrown,  
Our thoughts are ours, their end's none of our own:  
So think you will no second husband wed,  
But die thy thoughts, when thy first Lord is dead.   Duchess 

Both here and there pursue me lasting strife,  
If once a widow, ever I be wife.   Ham. 
If she should break now.  Duke 
'tis deeply sworn, sweet leave me here a while, My spirits grow dull, and feign I would beguile the tedious time with sleep.  Duchess 

Sleep rock thy brain,  
And never come mischance between us twain.   exit Lady Ham. 
Madam, how do you like this play?  Queen 
The Lady protests too much.  Ham. 
O but she'll keep her word.  King 
Have you heard the argument, is there no offence in it?  Ham. 
No offence in the world, poison in jest, poison in jest.  King 
What do you call the name of the play?  Ham. 

Mousetrap: mary how trapically: this play is  
The image of a murder done in guyana, Albertus  
Was the Duke's name, his wife Baptista,  
Father, it is a knavish piece a work: but what  
A that, it toucheth not us, you and I that have free  
Souls, let the galld jade wince, this is one  
Lucianus nephew to the King.   Ofel. 
you're as good as a Chorus my lord.  Ham. 
I could interpret the love you bear, if I saw the poopies dallying.  Ofel. 
Y'are very pleasant my lord.  Ham. 
Who I, your only jig-maker, why what should a man do but be merry? for look how cheerfully my mother looks, my father died within these two hours.  Ofel. 
Nay, 'tis twice two months, my Lord.  Ham. 

Two months, nay then let the devil wear black,  
For i'll have a suit of Sables: jesus, two months dead,  
And not forgotten yet? nay then there's some  
Likelihood, a gentleman's death may outlive memory,  
But by my faith he must build churches then,  
Or else he must follow the old Epitithe,  
With hoh, with ho, the hobi-horse is forgot.   Ofel. 
Your jests are keen my Lord.  Ham. 
It would cost you a groaning to take them off.  Ofel. 
Still better and worse.  Ham. 

So you must take your husband, begin. Murdered  
Begin, a pox, leave thy damnable faces and begin,  
Come, the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge.   Murd. 

Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing.  
Confederate season, else no creature seeing:  
Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected,  
With Hecate's bane thrice blasted, thrice infected,  
Thy natural magic, and dire property,  
One wholesome life usurps immediately.   exit. Ham. 
He poisons him for his estate.  King 
Lights, I will to bed.  Cor. 
The king rises, lights ho.  Exeunt King and Lords. Ham. 

What, frighted with false fires?  
Then let the stricken dear go weep,  
The heart ungalled play,  
For some must laugh, while some must weep,  
Thus runs the world away.   Hor. 
The king is moved my lord.  Hor. 

I Horatio, i'll take the Ghosts word  
For more than all the coin in Denmark.   Enter Rossencraft and Gilderstone. Ross. 
Now my lord, how is't with you?  Ham. 

And if the king like not the tragedy,  
Why then belike he likes it not pardie.   Ross. 

We are very glad to see your grace so pleasant,  
My good lord, let us again entreat  
To know of you the ground and cause of your distemperature   Gil. 
My▪ lord, your mother craves to speak with you.  Ham. 
We shall obey, were she ten times our mother.  Ross. 
But my good Lord, shall I entreat thus much?  Ham. 
I pray will you play upon this pipe?  Ross. 
Alas my lord I cannot.  Ham. 
Pray will you.  Gil. 
I have no skill my Lord.  Ham. 

why look, it is a thing of nothing,  
'tis but stopping of these holes,  
And with a little breath from your lips,  
It will give most delicate music.   Gil. 
But this cannot we do my Lord.  Ham. 
Pray now, pray heartily, I beseech you.  Ros. 
My lord we cannot.  Ham. 

Why how unworthy a thing would you make of me?  
You would seem to know my stops, you would play upon me,  
You would search the very inward part of my heart,  
And dive into the secret of my soul.  
'Zounds do you think jam easier to be played  
On, than a pipe? call me what Instrument  
You will, though you can fret me, yet you can not  
Play upon me, beside, to be demanded by a sponge.   Ros. 
How a sponge my Lord?  Ham. 

I sir, a sponge, that soaks up the king's  
Countenance, favours, and rewards, that makes  
His liberality your store house: but such as you,  
Do the king, in the end, best service;  
For he doth keep you as an Ape doth nuts,  
In the corner of his law, first mouths you,  
Then swallows you: so when he hath need  
Of you, 'tis but squeefing of you,  
And sponge, you shall be dry again, you shall.   Ros. 
Well my Lord we'll take our leave.  Ham 
Farewell, farewell, God bless you.  Exit Rossencraft and Gilderstone. Enter Corambis Cor. 
My lord, the Queen would speak with you.  Ham. 
Do you see yonder cloud in the shape of a camel?  Cor. 
'tis like a camel in deed.  Ham. 
Now me thinks it's like a weasel.  Cor. 
'tis backed like a weasel.  Ham. 
Or like a whale.  Cor. 
Very like a whale.  exit Coram. Ham. 

Why then tell my mother i'll come by and by.  
Good night Horatio.   Hor. 
Good night unto your Lordship.  exit Horatio. Ham. 

My mother she hath sent to speak with me:  
O God, let ne'er the heart of Nero enter  
This soft bosom.  
Let me be cruel, not unnatural.  
I will speak daggers▪ those sharp words being spent,  
To do her wrong my soul shall ne'er consent.   exit. Enter the King. King 

O that this wet that falls upon my face  
Would wash the crime clear from my conscience!  
When I look up to heaven, I see my trespass,  
The earth doth still cry out upon my fact,  
Pay me the murder of a brother and a king,  
And the adulterous fault I have committed:  
O these are sins that are unpardonable:  
Why say thy sins were blacker then is jet,  
Yet may contrition make them as white as snow:  
I but still to persever in a sin,  
It is an act 'gainst the universal power,  
Most wretched man, stoop, bend thee to thy prayer,  
Ask grace of heaven to keep thee from despair.   he kneels. enter▪ Hamlet Ham. 

I so, come forth and work thy last,  
And thus he dies: and so am I revenged:  
No, not so: he took my father sleeping, his sins brim full,  
And how his soul stood to the state of heaven  
Who knows, save the immortal powers,  
And shall I kill him now,  
When he is purging of his soul?  
Making his way for heaven this is a benefit,  
And not revenge: no, get thee up again,  
When he's at game swaring, taking his carouse, drinking drunk,  
Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed,  
Or at some act that hath no relish  
Of salvation in't, then trip him  
That his heels may kick at heaven,  
And fall as low as hell: my mother stays,  
This physic but prolongs thy weary days.   exit Ham. King 

My words fly up, my sins remain below.  
No King on earth is safe, if Gods his foe.   exit King. Enter Queen and Corambis. Cor. 

Madame, I hear young Hamlet coming,  
I'll shroud myself behind the Arras.   exit Cor. Queen 
Do so my Lord.  Ham. 

Mother, mother, O are you here?  
How is't with you mother?   Queen 
How is't with you?  Ham, 
I'll tell you, but first we'll make all safe.  Queen 
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.  Ham. 
Mother, you have my father much offended.  Queen 
How now boy?  Ham. 
How now mother! come here, sit down, for you shall hear me speak.  Queen 
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me: Help ho.  Cor. 
Help for the Queen.  Ham. 

I a Rat, dead for a Ducat.  
Rash intruding fool, farewell,  
I took thee for thy better.   Queen 
Hamlet, what hast thou done?  Ham. 

Not so much harm, good mother,  
As to kill a king, and marry with his brother.   Queen 
How▪ kill a king!  Ham. 

ja King: nay sit you down, and ere you part,  
If you be made of penitrable stuff,  
I'll make your eyes look down into your heart,  
And see how horrid there and black it shows.   Queen 
Hamlet, what meanest thou by these kill words?  Ham. 

Why this I mean, see here, behold this picture,  
It is the portraiture, of your deceased husband,  
See here a face, to outface Mars himself,  
An eye, at which his foes did tremble at,  
A front wherein all virtue▪ are set down  
For to adorn a king, and gild his crown,  
Whose heart went hand in hand even with that vow,  
He made to you in marriage, and he is dead.  
Murdered, damnably murdered, this was your husband,  
Look you now, here is your husband,  
With a face like Unlcan.  
A look fit for a murder and a rape,  
A dull dead hanging look, and a hellbred eye,  
To affright children and amaze the world:  
And this same have you left to change with this.  
What Devil thus hath cozened you at hob-man blind?  
A! have you eyes and can you look on him  
That slew my father, and your dear husband,  
To live in the incestuous pleasure of his bed?   Queen 
O Hamlet, speak no more.  Ham. 

To leave him that bore a monarch mind,  
For a king of clouts, of very shreds.   Queen 
Sweet Hamlet cease.  Ham. 

Nay but still to persist and dwell in fin,  
To sweat under the yoke of insamie,  
To make increase of shame, to seal damnation.   Queen 
Hamlet, no more.  Ham. 

Why appetite with you is in the wain,  
Your blood runs backward now from whence it came,  
Who'll chide hot blood within a Virgin's heart,  
When lust shall dwell within a matron's breast?   Queen 
Hamlet, thou cleaves my heart in twain.  Ham. 
O throw away the worse part of it, and keep the better.  Enter the ghost in his night gown. 

Save me, save me, you gracious  
Powers above, and hover over me,  
With your celestial wings.  
Do you not come your tardy son to chide,  
That I thus long have let revenge slip by?  
O do not glare with looks so pitiful!  
Lest that my heart of stone yield to compassion,  
And every part that should assist revenge,  
forego their proper powers, and fall to pity.   Ghost 

Hamlet, I once again appear to thee,  
To put thee in remembrance of my death:  
Do not neglect, nor long time put it off.  
But I perceive by thy distracted looks,  
Thy mother's fearful, and she stands amazed:  
Speak to her Hamlet, for her sex is weak,  
Comfort thy mother, Hamlet, think on me.   Ham. 
How is't with you Lady?  Queen 

Nay, how is't with you  
That thus you bend your eyes on vacancy,  
And hold discourse with nothing but with air?   Ham. 
Why do you nothing hear?  Queen 
Not I  Ham. 
Nor do you nothing see?  Queen 
No neither.  Ham. 

No, why see the king my father, my father, in the habit  
As he lived, look you how pale he looks,  
See how he steals away out of the portal,  
Look, there he goes.   exit ghost. Queen 

Alas, it is the weakness of thy brain,  
Which makes thy tongue to blazon thy heart's grief:  
But as I have a soul, I swear by heaven,  
I never knew of this most horrid murder:  
But Hamlet, this is only fantasy,  
And for my love forget these idle fits.   Ham. 

Idle, no mother, my pulse doth beat like yours,  
It is not madness that possesseth Hamlet.  
O mother, if ever you did my dear father love,  
Forbear the adulterous bed to night,  
And win yourself by little as you may,  
In time it may be you will loath him quite:  
And mother, but assist me in revenge,  
And in his death your infamy shall die.   Queen 

Hamlet, I vow by that majesty,  
That knows our thoughts, and looks into our hearts,  
I will conceal, consent, and do my best,  
What stratagem soe'er thou shalt devise.   Ham. 

It is enough, mother good night:  
Come sir, I'll provide for you a grave,  
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.   Exit Hamlet with the dead body. Enter the King and Lords. King 
Now Gertred, what says our son, how do you find him?  Queen 

Alas my lord, as raging as the sea:  
Whenas he came, I first bespoke him fair,  
But then he throws and tosses me about,  
As one forgetting that I was his mother:  
At last I called for help: and as I cried, Corambis  
Called, which Hamlet no sooner heard, but whips me  
Out his rapier, and cries, a Rat, a Rat, and in his rage  
The good old man he kills.   King 

Why this his madness will undo our state.  
Lords go to him, inquire the body out.   Gil. 
We will my Lord.  Exeunt Lords. King 

Gertred, your son shall presently to England,  
His shipping is already furnished,  
And we have sent by Rossencraft and Gilderstone,  
Our letters to our dear brother of England,  
For Hamlets welfare and his happiness:  
Haply the air and climate of the Country  
May please him better than his native home:  
See where he comes.   Enter Hamlet and the Lords. Gil. 

My lord, we can by no means  
Know of him where the body is.   King 
Now son Hamlet, where is this dead body?  Ham. 

At supper, not where he is eating, but  
Where he is eaten, a certain company of politic worms are even now at him.  
Father, your fat King, and your lean Beggar  
Are but variable services, two dishes to one mess:  
Look you, a man may fish with that worm  
That hath eaten of a King,  
And a Beggar eat that fish,  
Which that worm hath caught.   King 
What of this?  Ham. 

Nothing father, but to tell you, how a King  
May go a progress through the guts of a Beggar.   King 
But son Hamlet, where is this body?  Ham. 

In heaven, if you chance to miss him there,  
Father, you had best look in the other parts below  
For him, and if you cannot find him there,  
You may chance to nose him as you go up the lobby.   King 
Make haste and find him out.  Ham. 

Nay do you hear? do not make too much haste,  
I'll warrant you he'll stay till you come.   King 

Well son Hamlet, we in care of you: but specially in tender preservation of your health,  
The which we price even as our proper self,  
It is our mind you forthwith go for England,  
The wind fits fair, you shall aboard to night,  
Lord Rossencraft and Gilderstone shall go along with you.   Ham. 
O with all my heart: farewell mother.  King 
Your loving father, Hamlet.  Ham. 

My mother I say: you married my mother,  
My mother is your wife, man and wife is one flesh,  
And so (my mother) farewell: for England ho.   exeunt all but the king. king 

Gertred, leave me,  
And take your leave of Hamlet,  
To England is he gone, ne'er to return:  
Our Letters are unto the King of England,  
That on the sight of them, on his allegiance,  
He presently without demanding why,  
That Hamlet lose his head, for he must die,  
There's more in him than shallow eyes can see:  
He once being dead, why then our state is free.   exit. Enter Fortenbrasse, Drum and Soldiers. Fort. 

Captain, from us go greet  
The king of Denmark:  
Tell him that Fortenbrasse nephew to old Norway,  
Craves a free pass and conduct over his land,  
According to the Articles agreed on:  
You know our Rendezvous, go march away.   exeunt all. enter King and Queen. King 

Hamlet is shipped for England, far him well,  
I hope to hear good news from thence ere long,  
If every thing fall out to our content,  
As I do make no doubt but so it shall.   Queen 

God grant it may, heavens keep my Hamlet safe:  
But this mischance of old Corambis death,  
Hath piersed so the young ofelia's heart,  
That she, poor maid, is quite bereft her wits.   King 

Alas dear heart! And on the other side,  
We understand her brother's come from Francé,  
And he hath half the heart of all our Land,  
And hardly he'll forget his father's death,  
Unless by some means he be pacified.   Qu. 
O see where the young Ofelia is!  Enter Ofelia playing on a Lute, and her hair down singing. Ofelia 

How should I your true love know  
From another man?  
By his cockle hat, and his staff,  
And his sandal shone.  
White his shroud as mountain snow,  
Larded with sweet flowers,  
That bewept to the grave did not go  
With true lovers showers:  
He is dead and gone Lady, he is dead and gone,  
At his head a grass green turf,  
At his heels a stone.   king 
How is't with you sweet Ofelia?  Ofelia 

Well God yield you,  
It grieves me to see how they laid him in the cold ground,  
I could not choose but weep:  
And will he not come again?  
And will he not come again?  
No, no, he's gone, and we cast away moan,  
And he never will come again.  
His beard as white as snow:  
All flaxen was his pole,  
He is dead, he is gone,  
And we cast away moan:  
God a mercy on his soul.  
And of all christian souls I pray God.  
God be with you Ladies, God be with you.   exit Ofelia. king 

A pretty wretch! this is a change indeed:  
O Time, how swiftly runs our joys away?  
Content on earth was never certain bred,  
To day we laugh and live, to morrow dead.  
How now, what noise is that?   A noise within. enter Leartes. Lear. 

Stay there until I come,  
O thou wild king, give me my father:  
Speak, say, where's my father?   king 
Dead.  Lear. 

Who hath murdered him? speak, i'll not  
Be juggled with, for he is murdered.   Queen 
True, but not by him.  Lear. 
By whom, by heaven I'll be resolved.  king 

Let him go Gertred, away, I fear him not,  
There's such divinity doth wall a king,  
That treason dares not look on.  
Let him go Gertred, that your father is murdered,  
'tis true, and we most sorry for it,  
Being the chiefest pillar of our state:  
Therefore will you like a most desperate gamester,  
Swoop-stake-like, draw at friend, and foe, and all?   Lear. 

To his good friends thus wide I'll open mine arms,  
And lock them in my heart, but to his foes,  
I will no reconcilement but by blood.   king 

Why now you speak like a most loving son:  
And that in soul we sorrow for for his death,  
Yourself ere long shall be a witness,  
Mean while be patiented, and content yourself.   Enter Ofelia as before. Lear. 

Who's this, Ofelia? O my dear sister!  
Is't possible a young maids life,  
Should be as mortal as an old man's saw?  
O heavens themselves! how now Oselia?   Ofel. 

Well God a mercy, I a been gathering of flowers  
Here, here is rue for you,  
You may call it herb a grace a Sundays,  
here's some for me too: you must wear your rue  
With a difference, there's a daisy.  
Here Love, there's rosemary for you  
For remembrance: I pray Love remember,  
And there's pansey for thoughts.   Lear. 
A document in madness, thoughts, remembrance: O God, O God  Ofelia 

There is fennel for you, I would a given you  
Some violets, but they all withered, when  
My father died: alas, they say the owl was  
A Baker's daughter, we see what we are,  
But can not tell what we shall be.  
For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.   Lear. 
Thoughts & afflictions, torments worse than hell.  Ofel. 

Nay Love, I pray you make no words of this now:  
I pray now, you shall sing a down,  
And you a down a, 'tis a the King's daughter  
And the false steward, and if any body  
Ask you of any thing, say you this.  
tomorrow is saint Valentine's day,  
All in the morning betime,  
And a maid at your window,  
To be your Valentine:  
The young man rose, and daned his clothes,  
And dupt the chamber door,  
Let in the maid, that out a maid  
Never departed more.  
Nay I pray mark now,  
By gisle, and by saint Charity,  
Away, and fie for shame:  
Young men will do't when they come too'●●  
By cock they are too blame.  
Quoth she, before you tumbled me,  
You promised me to wed.  
So would I a done, by yonder Sun,  
If thou hadst not come to my bed.  
So God be with you all, Good bye Ladies.  
Good bye you love.   exit Ofelia. Lear. 

Grief upon grief, my father murdered,  
My sister thus distracted:  
Cursed be his soul that wrought this wicked act.   king 

Content you good Leartes for a time,  
Although I know your grief is as a flood,  
Brim full of sorrow, but forbear a while,  
And think already the revenge is done  
On him that makes you such a hapless son.   Lear. 

You have prevailed my Lord, a while I'll strive,  
To bury grief within a tomb of wrath,  
Which once unhearsed, than the world shall hear  
Leartes had a father he held dear.   king 

No more of that, ere many days be done,  
You shall hear that you do not dream upon.   exeunt om. Enter Horatio and the Queen. Hor. 

Madame, your son is safe arriv'de in Denmark,  
This letter I even now received of him,  
Whereas he writes how he escaped the danger,  
And subtle treason that the king had plotted,  
Being crossed by the contention of the winds,  
He found the Packet sent to the king of England,  
Wherein he saw himself betrayed to death,  
As at his next conversion with your grace,  
He will relate the circumstance at full.   Queen 

Then I perceive there's treason in his looks  
That seemed to sugar o'er his villainy:  
But I will sooth and please him for a time,  
For murderous minds are always jealous,  
But know not you Horatio where he is?   Hor. 

Yes Madam, and he hath appointed me  
To m● eat h●m on the east side of the City  
To morrow morning.   Queen 

O fail not, good Horatio, and withal, commend me  
A mother's care to him, bid him a while  
Be wary of his presence, lest that he  
Fail in that he goes about.   Hor. 

Madam, never make doubt of that:  
I think by this the news be come to court:  
He is arriv'de, observe the king, and you shall  
Quickly find, Hamlet being here,  
Things fell not to his mind.   Queen 
But what became of Gilderstone and Rossencraft?  Hor. 

He being set a shore, they went for England,  
And in the Packet there writ down that doom  
To be performed on them pointed for him:  
And by great chance he had his father's Seal,  
So all was done without discovery.   Queen 

Thanks be to heaven for blessing of the prince,  
Horatio once again I take my leave,  
With thousand mother's blessings to my son.   Horat. 
Madam adieu.  Enter King and Leartes. King. 

Hamlet from England! is it possible?  
What chance is this? they are gone, and he come home.   Lear. 

O he is welcome, by my soul he is:  
At it my jocund heart doth leap for joy,  
That I shall live to tell him, thus he dies.   king 

Leartes, content yourself, be ruled by me,  
And you shall have no let for your revenge.   Lear. 
My will, not all the world.  King 

Nay but Leartes, mark the plot I have laid,  
I have heard him often with a greedy wish,  
Upon some praise that he hath heard of you  
Touching your weapon, which with all his heart,  
He might be once tasked for to try your cunning.   Lea. 
And how for this?  King 

Mary Leartes thus: I'll lay a wager,  
shallbe on Hamlets side, and you shall give the odds,  
The which will draw him with a more desire,  
To try the mastery, that in twelve venies  
You gain not three of him: now this being granted,  
When you are hot in midst of all your play,  
Among the foils shall a keen rapier lie,  
Steeped in a mixture of deadly poison,  
That if it draws but the least dram of blood,  
In any part of him, he cannot live:  
This being done will free youfrom suspicion,  
And not the dearest friend that Hamlet loved  
Will ever have Leartes in suspect.   Lear. 

My lord, I like it well:  
But say lord Hamlet should refuse this match.   King 

I'll warrant you, we'll put on you  
Such a report of singularity,  
Will bring him on, although against his will.  
And lest that all should miss,  
I'll have a potion that shall ready stand,  
In all his heat when that he calls for drink,  
Shall be his period and our happiness.   Lear. 

'tis excellent, O would the time were come!  
Here comes the Queen.   enter the Queen. king 
How now Gertred, why look you heavily?  Queen 

O my Lord, the young Ofelia  
Having made a garland of sundry sorts of flowers,  
Sitting upon a willow by a brook,  
The envious sprig broke, into the brook she fell,  
And for a while her clothes spread wide abroad,  
Bore the young Lady up: and there she sat smiling,  
Even Mermaid▪ like, twixt heaven and earth,  
Chanting old sundry tunes uncapable  
As it were of her distress, but long it could not be,  
Till that her clothes, being heavy with their drink,  
Dragged the sweet wretch to death.   Lear. 

So, she is drowned:  
Too much of water hast thou Ofelia,  
Therefore I will not drown thee in my tears,  
Revenge it is must yield this heart relief,  
For woe begets woe, and grief hangs on grief.   exeunt. enter Clown and an other. Clown 

I say no, she ought not to be buried  
In christian burial.   2. 
Why sir?  Clown 
Mary because she's drowned.  2. 
But she did not drown herself.  Clown 
No, that's certain, the water drowned her.  2. 
Yea but it was against her will.  Clown 

No, I deny that, for look you sir, I stand here,  
If the water come to me, I drown not myself:  
But if I go to the water, and am there drowned,  
Ergo I am guilty of my own death:  
Y'are gone, go y'are gone sir.   2. 

I but see, she hath christian burial,  
Because she is a great woman.   Clown 

Mary more's the pity, that great folk  
Should have more authority to hang or drown  
Themselves, more than other people:  
Go fetch me a stoup of drink, but before thou  
Goest, tell me one thing, who builds strongest,  
Of a Mason, a Shipwright, or a Carpenter?   2. 

Why a Mason, for he builds all of stone,  
And will endure long.   Clown 
That's pretty, to't again, to't again.  2. 

Why then a Carpenter, for he builds the gallows,  
And that brings many a one to his long home.   Clown 
Pretty again, the gallows doth well, mary how does it well? the gallows does well to them that do ill, go get thee gone:  

And if any one ask thee hereafter, say,  
A Grave-maker, for the houses he builds  
Last till Doomsday. Fetch me a stoup of beer, go.   Enter Hamlet and Horatio. Clown 

A pickeaxe and a spade,  
A spade for and a winding sheet,  
Most fit it is, for 'twill be made, he throws up a shovel.  
For such a guest most meet.   Ham. 

Hath this fellow any feeling of himself,  
That is thus merry in making of a grave?  
See how the slave joles their heads against the earth.   Hor. 
My lord, Custom hath made it in him seem nothing.  Clown 

A pickax and a spade, a spade,  
For and a winding fheete,  
Most fit it is for to be made,  
For such a guest most meet.   Ham. 

Look you, there's another Horatio.  
 
 
Why may't not be the skull of some Lawyer?  
Me thinks he should indite that fellow  
Of an action of Battery, for knocking  
Him about the pate with's shovel: now where is your  
Quirks and quillets now, your vouchers and  
Double vouchers, your leases and freehold,  
And tenements? why that same box there will scarce  
Hold the conveyance of his land, and must  
The honour lie th●re? O pitiful transformance!  
I prithee tell me Horatio,  
Is parchment made of sheep-skinnes?   Hor. 
I my Lord, and of calues-skinnes too.  Ham. 

I faith they prove themselves sheep and calves  
That deal with them, or put their trust in them.  
There's another, why may not that be such a ones  
skull, that praised my Lord such a ones horse,  
When he meant to beg him? Horatio, I prithee  
Let's question yonder fellow.  
Now my friend, whose grave is this?   Clown 
Mine sir.  Ham. 
But who must lie in it?  Clown 
If I should say, I should, I should lie in my throat sir.  Ham. 
What man must be buried here?  Clown 
No man sir▪  Ham. 
What woman?  Clown. 

No woman neither sir, but indeed  
One that was a woman.   Ham. 

An excellent fellow by the Lord Horatio,  
This seven years have I noted it: the toe of the peasant,  
Comes so near the heel of the courtier,  
That he gawles his kibe, I prithee tell me one thing,  
How long will a man lie in the ground before he rots?   Clown 

I faith sir, if he be not rotten before  
He be laid in, as we have many pocky corpses,  
He will last you, eight years, a tanner  
Will last you eight years full out, or nine.   Ham. 
And why a tanner  Clown 

Why his hide is so tanned with his trade,  
That it will hold out water that's a perilous  
Devourer of your dead body, a great soaker.  
Look you, here's a skull hath been here this dozen year,  
Let me see, I ever since our last king Hamlet  
Slew Fortenbrasse in combat, young Hamlets father,  
He that's mad.   Ham. 
I mary, how came he mad?  Clown 
I faith very strangely, by losing of his wits.  Ham. 
Upon what ground?  Clown 
A this ground, in Denmark.  Ham. 
Where is he now?  Clown 
Why now they sent him to England.  Ham. 
To England! wherefore?  Clown 

Why they say he shall have his wits there,  
Or if he have not, 'tis no great matter there,  
It will not be seen there.   Ham. 
Why not there?  Clown 
Why there they say the men are as mad as he.  Ham. 
Whose skull was this?  Clown 

This, a plague on him, a mad rogues it was,  
He powered once a whole flagon of Rhenish of my head,  
Why do not you know him? this was one Yorickes skull.   Ham. 
Was this? I prithee let me see it, alas poor Yoricke I knew him Horatio,  
A fellow of infinite mirth, he hath carried me twenty times upon his back, here hung those lips that I have Kissed a hundred times, and to see, now they abhor me: Where's your jests now Yoricke? your flashes of merriment: now go to my Lady's chamber, and bid her paint herself an inch thick, to this she must come Yoricke. Horatio, I prithee tell me one thing, dost thou think that, Alexander looked thus?  Hor. 
Even so my Lord.  Ham. 
And smelled thus?  Hor. 
I my lord, no otherwise.  Ham. 
No, why might not imagination work, as thus of Alexander, Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander became earth, of earth we make clay, and Alexander being but clay, why might not time bring to pass, that he might stop the boung hole of a beer barrel?  

Imperious Caesar dead and turned to clay,  
Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.   Enter King and Queen, Leartes, and other lords, with a Priest after the coffin. Ham. 

What funerall's this that all the Court laments?  
It shows to be some noble parentage:  
Stand by a while.   Lear. 
What ceremony else? say, what ceremony else?  Priest 

My Lord, we have done all that lies in us,  
And more than well the church can tolerate,  
She hath had a Dirge sung for her maiden soul:  
And but for favour of the king, and you,  
She had been buried in the open fields,  
Where now she is allowed christian burial.   Lear. 
So, I tell thee churlish Priest, a ministering Angel shall my sister be, when thou liest howling.  Ham. 
The fair Ofelia dead!  Queen 

Sweets to the sweet, farewell:  
I had thought to adorn thy bridal bed, fair maid,  
And not to follow thee unto thy grave.   Lear. 
Forbear the earth a while: sister farewell:  Leartes leaps into the grave. 

Now power your earth on, Olympus hie,  
And make a hill to o'er top old Pellon: Hamlet leaps in after Leartes  
What's he that conjures so?   Ham. 
Behold 'tis I, Hamlet the Dane.  Lear. 
The devil take thy soul.  Ham. 

O thou prayest not well,  
I prithee take thy hand from off my throat,  
For there is something in me dangerous,  
Which let thy wisdom fear, hold off thy hand▪  
I loved Ofelia as dear as twenty brothers could:  
Show me what thou wilt do for her:  
Wilt fight, wilt fast, wilt pray,  
Wilt drink up vessels, eat a crocodile? I'll do't:  
Comest thou here to whine?  
And where thou talk'st of burying thee a live,  
Here let us stand: and let them throw on us,  
Whole hills of earth, till with the height thereof,  
Make Oosell as a Wart.   King. 

Forbear Leartes, now is he mad, as is the sea,  
Anon as mild and gentle as a Dove:  
Therefore a while give his wild humour scope.   Ham. 

What is the reason sir that you wrong me thus?  
I never gave you cause: but stand away,  
A Cat will meaw, a Dog will have a day.   Exit Hamlet and Horatio. Queen. 

Alas, it is his madness makes him thus,  
And not his heart, Leartes.   King. 

My lord, 'tis so: but we'll no longer trifle,  
This very day shall Hamlet drink his last,  
For presently we mean to send to him,  
Therefore Leartes be in readiness.   Lear. 
My lord, till than my soul will not be quiet.  King. 

Come Gertred, we'll have Leartes, and our son,  
Made friends and Lovers, as befits them both,  
Even as they tender us, and love their country.   Queen 
God grant they may.  exeunt omnes. Enter Hamlet and Horatio Ham. 

believe me, it grieves me much Horatio,  
That to Leartes I forgot myself:  
For by myself me thinks I feel his grief,  
Though there's difference in each others wrong.   Enter a Braggart Gentleman. Horatio, 

but mark yond waterflie,  
The Court knows him, but he knows not the Court.   Gent. 
Now God save thee, sweet prince Hamlet.  Ham. 
And you sir: foh, how the musk-cod smells!  Gen. 
I come with an embassage from his majesty to you  Ham. 

I shall sir give you attention:  
By my troth me thinks 'tis very cold.   Gent. 
It is indeed very rawish cold.  Ham. 
'tis hot me thinks.  Gent. 

Very swoltery hot:  
The King, sweet Prince, hath laid a wager on your side,  
Six Barbary horse, against six french rapiers,  
With all their acoutrements too, a the carriages:  
In good faith they are very curiously wrought.   Ham. 
The carriages sir, I do not know what you mean.  Gent. 
The girdles, and hangers sir, and such like.  Ham. 

The word had been more cousin german to the phrase, if he could have carried the canon by his side,  
And how's the wager? I understand you now.   Gent. 

Mary sir, that young Leartes in twelve venies  
At Rapier and Dagger do not get three odds of you,  
And on your side the King hath laid,  
And desires you to be in readiness.   Ham. 

Very well, if the King dare venture his wager,  
I dare venture my skull: when must this be?   Gent. 

My Lord, presently, the king, and her majesty,  
With the rest of the best judgement in the Court,  
Are coming down into the outward palace.   Ham. 
Go tell his majesty, I will attend him.  Gent. 
I shall deliver your most sweet answer.  exit. Ham. 

You may sir, none better, for y'are spiced,  
Else he had a bad nose could not smell a fool.   Hor. 
He will disclose himself without inquiry.  Ham. 

Believe me Horatio, my heart is on the sudden  
Very sore, all here about.   Hor. 
My lord▪ forbear the challenge then.  Ham. 
No Horatio, not I, if danger be now,  
Why then it is not to come, there's a predestivate providence in the fall of a sparrow: here comes the King.  Enter King, Queen, Leartes, Lords. King 

Now son Hamlet, we have laid upon your head,  
And make no question but to have the best.   Ham. 
Your majesty hath laid a the weaker side.  King 
We doubt it not, deliver them the foils.  Ham. 

First Leartes, here's my hand and love,  
Protesting that I never wronged Leartes.  
If Hamlet in his madness did amiss,  
That was not Hamlet, but his madness did it,  
And all the wrong I e'er did to Leartes,  
I here proclaim was madness, therefore let's be at peace,  
And think I have shot mine arrow o'er the house,  
And hurt my brother.   Lear. 

Sir I am satisfied in nature,  
But in terms of honour I'll stand aloof,  
And will no reconcilement,  
Till by some elder masters of our time  
I may be satisfied.   King 
Give them the foils.  Ham. 

I'll be your foil Leartes, these foils,  
Have all a laughed, come on sir:   a hit. Lear. 
No none.  Hear they play: Ham. 
judgement.  Gent. 
A hit, a most palpable hit.  Lear. 
Well, come again.  They play again. Ham. 
Another. judgement.  Lear. 
I, I grant, a tuch, a touch.  King 
Here Hamlet, the king doth drink a health to thee  Queen 
Here Hamlet, take my napkin, wipe thy face.  King 
Give him the wine.  Ham. 

Set it by, I'll have another bout first,  
I'll drink anon.   Queen 
Here Hamlet, thy mother drinks to thee.  She drinks. King 
Do not drink Gertred: O 'tis the poisoned cup▪  Ham. 

Leartes come, you dally with me,  
I pray you pass with your most cunningest play.   Lear. 

I! say you so? have at you,  
I'll hit you now my Lord:  
And yet it goes almost against my conscience.   Ham. 
Come on sir.  They catch one another's Rapiers, and both are wounded, Leartes falls down, the Queen falls down and dies. King 
Look to the Queen.  Queen 
O the drink, the drink, Hamlet, the drink.  Ham. 
Treason, ho, keep the gates.  Lords 
How be't my Lord Leartes?  Lear. 

Even as a coxcomb should,  
Foolishly slain with my own weapon:  
Hamlet, thou hast not in thee half an hour of life,  
The fatal Instrument is in thy hand.  
Unbated and envenomed: thy mother's poisoned  
That drink was made for thee.   Ham. 

The poisoned Instrument within my hand?  
Then venom to thy venom, die damned villain:  
Come drink, here lies thy union here.   The king dies. Lear. 

O he is justly served:  
Hamlet, before I die, here take my hand,  
And withal, my love: I do forgive thee.   Leartes dies. Ham. 
And I thee, O I am dead Horatio, far thee well.  Hor. 

No, I am more an antic Roman,  
Then a Dane, here is some poison left.   Ham. 

Upon my love I charge thee let it go,  
O fie Horatio, and if thou shouldst die,  
What a scandal wouldst thou leave behind?  
What tongue should tell the story of our deaths,  
If not from thee? O my heart sinks Horatio,  
Mine eyes have lost their sight, my tongue his use:  
Farewell Horatio, heaven receive my soul.   Ham. dies. Enter Uoltemar and the Ambassadors from England. enter Fortenbrasse with his train. Fort. 
Where is this bloody sight?  Hor. 

If aught of woe or wonder you'd behold,  
Then look upon this tragic spectacle.   Fort. 

O imperious death! how many Princes  
Hast thou at one draft bloodily shot to death?   Ambass. 

Our embassy that we have brought from England,  
Where be these Princes that should hear us speak?  
O most most unlooked for time! unhappy country.   Hor. 

Content yourselves, I'll show to all, the ground,  
The first beginning of this Tragedy:  
Let there a scaffold be reared up in the market place,  
And let the State of the world be there:  
Where you shall hear such a sad story told,  
That never mortal man could more unfold.   Fort. 

I have some rights of memory to this kingdom,  
Which now to claim my leisure doth invite me:  
Let four of our chiefest Captains  
Bear Hamlet like a soldier to his grave:  
For he was likely, had he lived,  
To a proved most royal.  
Take up the body, such a fight as this  
Becomes the fields, but here doth much amiss   
Finis