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GUIL. Believe me, I cannot.

HAM. I do beseech you.

GUIL. I know no touch of it, my lord.

HAM. 'Tis as easy as lying: govern these ventages with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most excellent music. Look you, these are the stops.

GUIL. But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I have not the skill.

HAM. Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me? You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass and there is much musick, excellent voice, in this little organ; yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think, I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.(70)

Enter POLONIUS.

God bless you, sir!

POL. My lord, the

queen

would speak with you,

and presently.

HAM. Do you see yonder cloud, that's almost in shape of a camel?

POL. By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed. HAM. Methinks, it is like a weasel.

POL. It is backed like a weasel.

HAM. Or, like a whale?

govern these ventages-and it will discourse most excellent music] Justly order these vents, or air-holes, and it will breathe or utter, &c. For excellent, the quartos read eloquent.

• loose, O.C.

POL. Very like a whale.

HAM. Then will I come to my mother by and by.(7) They fool me to the top of my bent. I will come by and by.

POL. I will say so.

[Exit POLONIUS.

HAM. By and by is easily said.-Leave me, friends. [Exeunt Ros. GUIL. HOR. &c. 'Tis now the very witching time of night;

When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes

out

Contagion to this world: Now could I drink hot blood,(73)

And do such bitter business as the day

Would quake to look on. Soft; now to my mo-
ther.

O, heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom :
Let me be cruel, not unnatural:

I will speak daggers to her, but use none;
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites:
How in my words soever she be shent,(75)
To give them seals" never, my soul, consent!

[Exit.

They fool me to the top of my bent] To the height; as far as they see me incline to go: an allusion to the utmost flexure of a bow.

give my words seals] Make my "sayings a deed;" as is nearly his language in I. 3. Laert. and Tim. V. 1. Painter.

SCENE III.

A Room in the same.

Enter King, ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.

KING. I like him not; nor stands it safe with us,"
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you;
I your commission will forthwith despatch,
And he to England shall along with you:
The terms of our estate may not endure
Hazard so dangerous*, as doth hourly grow
Out of his lunacies. (76)

GUIL.
We will ourselves provide:
Most holy and religious fear it is,
To keep those many many bodies safe,
That live, and feed, upon your majesty.

# near us, 4tos.

Ros. The single and peculiar life is bound, With all the strength and armour of the mind, To keep itself from 'noyance; but much more That spirit, upon whose spirit* depends and rests weal, 4tos. The lives of many. The cease of majesty Dies not alone; but, like a gulf, doth draw What's near it, with it: it is a massy wheel, Fix'd on the summit* of the highest mount,

somnet,

To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things 0.c.
Are mortis'd and adjoined; which, when it falls,
Each small annexment, petty consequence,
Attends the boist'rous ruin. Never alone
Did the king sigh, but with a general groan.

b

stands it safe with us] Is it consistent with our security.

the cease of majesty] Demise, fall. Throughout our author a strong sense is attached to the verb cease. See "fall and cease," Lear, last sc. Alb. The quartos give cesse.

KING. Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy

voyage;

For we will fetters put upon this fear,"

Which now goes too free-footed.

Ros. GUIL.

We will haste ús.

[Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and Guildenstern.

Enter POLONIUS.

POL. My lord, he's going to his mother's closet: Behind the arras I'll convey myself;

To hear the process; I'll warrant, she'll tax him home:

And, as you said, and wisely was it said,

'Tis meet, that some more audience than a mo

ther,

Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear The speech of vantage." Fare you well, my liege: I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,

And tell you what I know.

KING.

Thanks, dear my lord.
[Erit POLONIus.

O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't,
A brother's murder!-Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will;
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;

this fear] Bugbear. See Ant. and Cl. II. 3. Sooths. bo'erhear the speech of vantage] If conveying any thing distinctly; "that gives the means of availing itself of occur

rences.'

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O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven] Even there, where the odour of sacrifice only should rise, to the seat of the gods, its offensive steam reaches.

d Though inclination be as sharp as will] as will] "Though desire, though my wishes, be as earnest as my willingness:" bias, inclination to any thing, being stronger than mere will or consent to it. Something of the nature of contrast or opposition, by how licentious an use soever of the word " inclination," must have been here meant.

And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood?
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens,
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy,
But to confront the visage of offence?"

And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,
To be forestalled," ere we come to fall,

Or pardon'd, being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder?
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.
May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence?(77)
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice;
And oft 'tis seen, the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law: But 'tis not so above:
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature, and we ourselves compell'd,
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try what repentance can: What can it not?
Yet what can it, when one can not repent? d
O wretched state! O bosom, black as death!
O limed soul; that struggling to be free,
Art more engaged! Help, angels, make assay!

Whereto serves mercy,

But to confront the visage of offence?] With a benign and softened aspect to meet or encounter the harsh features of crime.

b

To be forestalled ere we come to fall] Prevented from falling. there the action lies

In his true nature, and we ourselves compell'd.] The transaction shews, or presents itself; the suit, stripped of all chicane, is entertained and prosecuted simply as it is; and there it is that we are compelled, &c. For the use of the personal pronoun here, see "his own scandal." I. 4. Haml.

Yet what can it, when one can not repent] What can that course, though it can do all, do, if I cannot pursue it?

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