Pol. 'Tis most true :

And he beseech'd me to entreat your majesties,

To hear and see the matter.

King. With all my heart; and it doth much con

tent me

To hear him so inclin'd.

30

Good gentlemen, give him a further edge,
And drive his purpose on to these delights.
Ros. We shall, my lord. [Exeunt Ros. and GUIL
King. Sweet Gertrude, leave us too:

For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither;
That he, as 'twere by accident, may here
Affront Ophelia.

Her father, and myself (lawful espials)
Will so bestow ourselves, that, seeing, unseen,
We may of their encounter frankly judge;
And gather by him, as he is behav'd,
If't be the affliction of his love, or no,
That thus he suffers for.

Queen. I shall obey you :———

And, for my part, Ophelia, I do wish,

That your good beauties be the happy cause

40

Of Hamlet's wildness: so shall I hope, your virtues Will bring him to his wonted way again,

To both your honours.

Oph. Madam, I wish it may.

[Exit Queen.

Pol. Ophelia, walk you here :-Gracious, so please

you,

We will bestow ourselves:

-Read on this book; 50

[To OPH.

That

That show of such an exercise may colour

Your loneliness.-We are oft to blame in this,

'Tis too much prov'd,-that, with devotion's visage, And pious action, we do sugar o'er

The devil himself.

King. O, 'tis too true! how smart

A lash that speech doth give my conscience! [Aside.
The harlot's cheek, beauty'd with plast'ring art,

Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it,
Than is my deed to my most painted word:
O heavy burden!

60

Pol. I hear him coming; let's withdraw, my lord. [Exeunt King, and POLONIUS.

Enter HAMLET.

Ham. To be, or not to be, that is the question:Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune; Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing, end them ?-To die ;-to sleep; No more—and, by a sleep, to say we end The heart-ach, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to ;-'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die;-to sleep ;To sleep! perchance, to dream;-Ay, there's the

rub; .

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause: There's the respect,

That makes calamity of so long life :

70

For

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurn's
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To groan and sweat under a weary life ;
But that the dread of something after death,-
The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns-puzzles the will;

And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sickly'd o'er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprizes of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.Soft you, now!

80

[Seeing OPHELIA.

The fair Ophelia ?-Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

Oph. Good my lord,

How does your honour for this many a day?

Ham. I humbly thank you; well.

Oph. My lord, I have remembrances of yours,

That I have longed long to re-deliver;

I pray you, how receive them.

Ham. No, not I;

I never gave you aught.

100

Oph. My honour'd lord, you know right well,

you did;

And, with them, words of so sweet breath compos'd As made the things more rich: their perfume lost, Take these again; for to the noble mind

Rich gifts wax poor, when givers prove unkind. 110 There, my lord.

Ham. Ha, ha! are you honest?

Oph. My lord

Ham. Are you fair?

Oph. What means your lordship?

Ham. That, if you be honest, and fair, you should admit no discourse to your beauty.

Oph. Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty?

119

Ham. Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd, than the force of honesty can translate beauty into its likeness: this was some time a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once.

3

Oph. Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. Ham. You should not have believ'd me: for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock, but we shall relish of it: I lov'd you not.

129

Oph. I was the more deceiv'd. Ham. 'Get thee to a nunnery; why would'st thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest; but yet I could accuse me of such things, that it were better, my mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious; with more

offences

offences at my beck, than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in: What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves, all; believe none of us: Go thy ways to a nunnery: Where's your father?

Oph. At home, my lord.

Ham. Let the doors be shut upon

him;

140

Farewel.

play the fool no where but in's own house. Oph. O, help him, you sweet heavens ! Ham. If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry: Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery; farewel: Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough, what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go;

and quickly too.

Farewel.

Oph. Heavenly powers, restore him!

151

Ham. I have heard of your paintings too well enough; God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and nick-name God's creatures, and make your wantonness your ignorance: Go to; I'll no more on't; it hath made me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages: those that are married already, all but one, shall live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go. [Exit Hamlet. 161

Oph, O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword;

The