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Like wonder-wounded hearers? this is I,

Hamlet the Dane.

[Leaps into the grave. Laer. The devil take thy soul! [Grappling with him. Ham. Thou pray'st not well.

I pr'ythee, take thy fingers from my throat ;
For, though I am not splenetive and rash,
Yet have I in me something dangerous,
Which let thy wisdom fear: Hold off thy hand.
King. Pluck them asunder.

Queen. Hamlet, Hamlet!

All. Gentlemen,

Hor. Good my lord, be quiet.

[The Attendants part them, and they come out of the grave.

Ham. Why, I will fight with him upon this theme, Until my eyelids will no longer wag.

Queen. O my son ! what theme?

Ham. I lov'd Ophelia; forty thousand brothers Could not, with all their quantity of love

Make up my sum.-What wilt thou do for her?

King. O, he is mad, Laertes.

Queen. For love of God, forbear him.

Ham. 'Zounds, show me what thou'lt do:

Woul't weep? woul't fight? woul't fast? woul't tear thyself?

Woul't drink up Esil?3 eat a crocodile ?
I'll do't.-Dost thou come here to whine ?
To outface me with leaping in her grave?
Be buried quick with her, and so will I :
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us; till our ground,
Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.

Queen. This is mere madness:

And thus a while the fit will work on him ;
Anon, as patient as the female dove,

When that her golden couplets are disclos'd,4
His silence will sit drooping.

Ham. Hear you, sir ;

[3] Weisel is a considerable river which falls into the Baltic ocean.

STEEVENS.

[4] The young nestlings of the pigeon, when first disclosed, are callow, only covered with a yellow down and for that reason stand in need of being cherished by the warmth of the hen, to protect them from the chillness of the ambient air, for a considerable time after they are hatched. HEATH.

What is the reason that you use me thus ?
I lov'd you ever: But it is no matter;
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.
King. I pray you, good Horatio, wait upon him.—
[Exit HOR.

[Exit.

Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;
[To LAERTES.

We'll put the matter to the present push.-
Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.-
This grave shall have a living monument :
An hour of quiet shortly shall we see ;
Till then, in patience our proceeding be.

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

A Hall in the Castle. Enter HAMLET and HORATIO.

Ham. So much for this, sir: now shall you see the other ;

You do remember all the circumstance?

Hor. Remember it, my lord!

Ham. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting, That would not let me sleep: methought, I lay Worse than the mutines in the bilboes.4 Rashly, And prais'd be rashness for it,-Let us know,

Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well,

When our deep plots do pall: and that should teach us,
There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.s

Hor. That is most certain.
Ham. Up from my cabin,

My sea-gown scarf'd about me, in the dark
Grop'd I to find out them: had my desire ;
Finger'd their packet; and, in fine, withdrew
To mine own room again: making so bold,
My fears forgetting manners, to unseal

[4] Mutines-the French word for seditious or disobedient fellows in the army or fleet. Bilboes-the ship's prison. JOHNSON.

See Illustrations.

[5] Hamlet, delivering an account of his escape, begins with saying, That he rashly--and then is carried into a reflection upon the weakness of human wisdom. I rashly-praised be rashness for it-Let us not think these events casual, but let us know, take notice and remember, that we sometimes succeed by indiscretion, when we fail by deep plots, and infer the perpetual superintendance and agency of the Divinity. The observation is just, and will be allowed by every human being, who shall reflect on the course of his own life. JOHNSON.

Their grand commission; where I found, Horatio,
A royal knavery; an exact command,-
Larded with many several sorts of reasons,
Importing Denmark's health, and England's too,
With, ho! such bugs and goblins in my life,
That, on the supervise, no leisure bated,"
No, not to stay the grinding of the axe,
My head should be struck off.

Hor. Is't possible?

6

Ham. Here's the commission; read it at more leisure. But wilt thou hear now how I did proceed?

Hor. Ay, beseech you.

Ham. Being thus benetted round with villanies,

8Or I could make a prologue to my brains,

They had begun the play ;-I sat me down ;
Devis'd a new commission; wrote it fair :
I once did hold it, as our statists do, 9

A baseness to write fair, and labour'd much
How to forget that learning; but, sir, now
It did me yeoman's service.1

The effect of what I wrote ?

Hor. Ay, good my lord.

Wilt thou know

Ham. An earnest conjuration from the king,As England was his faithful tributary;

As love between them like the palm might flourish.

As peace should still her wheaten garland wear,

And stand a comma 'tween their amities

And many such like as's of great charge, 2-
That, on the view and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further, more, or less,

[6] With such causes of terror, rising from my character and designs.

JOHNSON.

A bug was no less a terrifick being than a goblin. We call it at present a bugbear. STEEVENS.

[7] Bated, for allowed.

WARBURTON.

[8] Or, in old English, signified before. MALONE.

[90 A statist is a statesman. STEEVENS. Most of the great men of Shakspeare's times, whose autographs have been preserved, wrote very bad hands; their secretaries very neat ones. BLACKSTONE.

"I have, in my time, (says Montaigne) seene some, who by writing did earnestly get both their titles and living, to disavow their apprentissage, marre their pen, and affect the ignorance of so vulgar a qualitie." Florio's translation, 603, p. 125. RITSON.

[1] This yeomanly qualification was a most useful servant, or yeoman to me; that is, did me eminent service. The ancient yeomen were famous for their military valour. STEEVENS.

[2] Asses heavily loaded. A quibble is intended between as the conditional particle, and ass the beast of burthen.

25*

VOL. VIII.

JOHNSON.

He should the bearers put to sudden death,
Not shriving-time allow'd.

Hor. How was this seal'd ;

Ham. Why, even in that was heaven ordinant ; I had my father's signet in my purse,

Which was the model of that Danish seal;

Folded the writ up in form of the other;

Subscrib'd it; gave't the impression; plac'd it safely,
The changeling never known:3 Now, the next day
Was our sea-fight; and what to this was sequent
Thou know'st already.

Hor. So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to't.
Ham. Why, man, they did make love to this employ-
ment;

They are not near my conscience; their defeat

Does by their own insinuation grow :4

'Tis dangerous, when the baser nature comes Between the pass and fell incensed points

Of mighty opposites.

Hor. Why, what a king is this!

Ham. Does it not, think thee, stand me now upon ? He that hath kill'd my king, and whor'd my mother; Popp'd in between the election and my hopes; Thrown out his angle for my proper life,

And with such cozenage; is't not perfect conscience, To quit him with this arm ?5 and is't not to be damn'd, To let this canker of our nature come

In further evil?

Hor. It must be shortly known to him from England, What is the issue of the business there.

Ham. It will be short: the interim is mine;

And a man's life's no more than to say, one.

But I am very sorry, good Horatio,

That to Laertes I forgot myself;

For by the image of my cause, I see

The portraiture of his: I'll count his favours;
But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put me
Into a towering passion.

Hor. Peace; who comes here?

[3] A changeling is a child which the fairies are supposed to leave in the room of that which they steal. JOHNSON.

[4] Insinuation, for corruptly obtruding themselves into his service.

WARBURTON.

[5] To requite him, to pay him his due.

JOHNSON.

Enter OSRIC.

Osr. Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark. Ham. I humbly thank you, sir.-Dost know this water-fly ?6

Hor. No, my good lord.

Ham. Thy state is the more gracious; for 'tis a vice to know him: He hath much land, and fertile : let a beast be lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at the king's mess: 'Tis a chough ;7 but, as I say, spacious in the possession of dirt.

Osr. Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should impart a thing to you from his majesty.

Ham. I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit: Your bonnet to his right use; 'tis for the head. Osr. I thank your lordship, 'tis very hot.

Ham. No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is northerly.

Osr. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed.

Ham. But yet, methinks it is very sultry and hot; or my complexion

Osr. Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sultry,-as 'twere, I cannot tell how.-My lord, his majesty bade me signify to you, that he has laid a great wager on your head: Sir, this is the matter,―

Ham. I beseech you remember

[HAMLET moves him to put on his hat. Osr. Nay, good my lord; for my ease, in good faith. Sir, here is newly come to court, Laertes: believe me, an absolute gentleman, full of most excellent differences, of very soft society, and great showing: Indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card or calendar of gentry, for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would see.'

Ham. 2Sir,his definement suffers no perdition in you;-though, I know, to divide him inventorially, would dizzy

[6] A water-fly skips up and down upon the surface of the water, without any apparent purpose or reason, and is thence the proper emblem of a busy trifler. JOHNSON. [7] A kind of jackdaw. JOHNSON,

[8] Full of distinguishing excellencies. JOHNSON.

[9] The general preceptor of elegance; the card by which a gentleman is to direct his course, the calendar by which he is to choose his time, that what he does may be both excellent and seasonable. JOHNSON.

[!] You shall find him containing and comprising every quality which a gentleman would desire to contemplate for imitation. JOHNSON.

[2] This is designed as a specimen, and ridicule of the court jargon amongst the precieux of that time. The sense in english is, "Sir, he suffers nothing in your account of him, though to enumerate his good qualities particularly would be endless; yet when we had done our best, it would still come short

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