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And my young mistress thus I did bespeak;
Lord Hamlet is a prince out of thy sphere,
This must not be; and then, I precepts gave her,
That the fhould lock her felf from his refort,
Admit no messengers, receive no tokens:
Which done, she took the fruits of my advice,
And he repulfed, a fhort tale to make,
Fell to a sadness, then into a fast,

'Thence to a watching, thence into a weakness,
Thence to a lightness, and by this declenfion
Into the madness wherein now he raves,
And all we wail for.

King. Do you think this?

Queen. It may be very likely.

Pol. Hath there been fuch a time, I'd fain know that, That I have pofitively said, 'tis so,

When it prov'd otherwife?

King. Not that I know.

Pol. Take this from this, if this be otherwise,

If circumstances lead me, I will find

Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed

Within the center.

King. How may we try it further?

Pol. You know fometimes he walks four hours together,

Here in the lobby.

Queen. So he does indeed.

Pol. At fuch a time I'll loofe my daughter to him,

Be and I behind an arras then,

you

Mark the encounter: If he love her not,

And be not from his reason faln thereon,
Let me be no affiftant for a state,

And keep a farm and carters.

King. We will try it.

SCENE

SCENE V.

Enter Hamlet reading.

Queen. But look where, fadly, the poor wretch comes reading.

Pol. Away, I do befeech you, both away.

I'll board him presently.

[Exe. King and Queen.

Oh give me leave. How does my good lord Hamlet?

Ham. Well, God-a-mercy.

Pol. Do you know me, my lord?

Ham. Excellent well; y' are a fishmonger?

Pol. Not I, my lord.

Ham. Then I would you were fo honest a man.

Pol. Honeft, my lord?

Ham. Ay, Sir; to be honest as this world goes, is to be one

pick'd out of ten thousand.

Pol. That's very true, my lord.

Ham. For if the fun breed maggots in a dead dog,

Being a good kiffing carrion

Have you a daughter?

Pol. I have, my lord.

Ham. Let her not walk i'th' fun; conception is a bleffing,

but not as your daughter may conceive.

Friend, look to't.

Pol. How fay you by that? ftill harping on my daughter

Yet he knew me not at firft; he said I was a fifhmonger.
He is far gone; and truly in my youth,

I suffered much extremity for love;

Very near this. I'll speak to him again.
What do you read, my lord?

Ham. Words, words, words.

Pol. What is the matter, my lord?
Ham. Between whom?

Pol. I mean the matter that you read, my lord.

[afide.

VOL.

V o L. VI.

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Ham. Slanders, Sir: for the satyrical slave says here, that old men have gray beards? that their faces are wrinkled; their eyes purging thick amber, and plum-tree gum; and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams. All which, Sir, though I moft powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus fet down: for your self, Sir, shall be as old as-I-am, if like a crab you could go backward.

Pol. Though this be madness, yet there's method in't:
Will you walk out of the air, my lord?
Ham. Into my grave?

Pol. Indeed that is out o'th' air:
How pregnant (fometimes) his replies are?
A happiness that often madness hits on,
Which fanity and reafon could not be
So profp'roufly deliver'd of. I'll leave him,
And fuddenly contrive the means of meeting
Between him and my daughter.

My honourable lord, I will moft humbly
Take my leave of you.

Ham. You cannot, Sir, take from me any thing, that I will

more willingly part withal, except my life.

Pol. Fare you well, my lord.

Ham. These tedious old fools.

Pol. You go to seek lord Hamlet; there he is.

[Exit.

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Ham. My excellent good friends! how doft thou Guildenstern?

Oh, Rofincrofe, good lads! how do ye both?

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Rof. As the indifferent children of the earth.

Guil. Happy, in that we are not over-happy; on fortune's

cap, we are not the very button.

Ham. Nor the foals of her fhooe?

Ref. Neither, my lord.

Ham. Then you live about her waste, or in the middle of her favours?

Guil. Faith, her privates we.

Ham. In the fecret parts of fortune? oh, moft true; she is a trumpet. What news?

Rof. None, my lord, but that the world's grown honest.

Ham. Then is dooms-day near; but your news is not true. Let me question more in particular: what have you, my good friends, deferved at the hands of fortune, that the fends you to prifon hither?

Guil. Prison, my lord!

Ham. Denmark's a prison.
Rof. Then is the world one.

Ham. A goodly one, in which there are many confines, wards, and dungeons; Denmark being one o'th' worst.

Rof. We think not fo, my lord.

Ham. Why then, 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so: to me it is a prison.

Rof. Why then your ambition makes it one: 'tis too narrow for your mind.

Ham. Oh God, I could be bounded in a nut-fhell, and count my self a King of infinite space; were it not that I have bad dreams.

Guil. Which dreams indeed are ambition; for the

for the very fubstance of the ambitious, is meerly the fhadow of a dream. Ham. A dream it self is but a fhadow.

Rof. Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and light a quality, that it is but a fhadow's fhadow.

Ccc 2

From this mark, feveral speeches are not in the old edition.

Ham.

Ham. Then are our beggars bodies, and our monarchs and out-ftretch'd heroes, the beggars fhadows; Shall we to th' court? for by my fay, I cannot reason.

Both. We'll wait upon you.

Ham. No fuch matter.

I will not fort you with the rest of

my fervants: for to speak to you like an honeft man, I am most dreadfully attended; but in the beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elfinoor?

Rof. To vifit you, my lord; no other occafion.

Ham. Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks; but I thank you; and fure, dear friends, my thanks are too dear a half-penny. Were you not fent for? is it your own inclining? is it a free vifitation? come, deal juftly with me; come, come; nay, speak.

Guil. What fhould we fay, my lord?

Ham. Any thing but to the purpose. You were sent for; and there is a kind of confeffion in your looks, which your modefties have not craft enough to colour. I know the good King and

Queen have fent for you.

Rof. To what end, my lord?

Ham. That you must teach me; but let me conjure you by the rights of our fellowship, by the confonancy of our youth, by the obligation of our ever-preferved love, and by what more dear, a better propofer could charge you withal; be even and direct with me, whether you were sent for or no?

Rof. What fay you?

Ham. Nay then I have an eye of you: if you love me, hold

not off.

Guil. My lord, we were fent for.

Ham. I will tell you why; fo fhall my anticipation prevent your discovery, and your fecrecy to the King and Queen moult no feather. I have of late, but wherefore I know not, loft all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercise; and indeed, it goes

fo

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