Stockdale's Edition of Shakespeare

Ham. O wonderful fon, that can fo aftonish al mother! But is there no fequel at the heels of this mother's admiration? impart.

Rof. She defires to speak with you in her closet, ere you go to bed.

Ham. We fhall obey, were fhe ten times our mother. Have you any further trade with us? Rof. My lord, you once did love me.

Ham. Methinks it is like a weazel.
Pol. It is back'd like a weazel.
Ham. Or, like a whale ?
Pol. Very like a whale.

Ham. Then will I come to my mother by and
by.-They fool me to the top of my bent 7.-1 w
come by and by.
Pol. I will fay fo.
Ham. By and by
friends.

-Leave me,

is eafily faid.-
[Exeunt Rof. Guil. Her. 3

Ham. And do ftill, by thefe pickers and stealers2. Rǝf. Good my lord, what is your cause of diftemper? you do, furely, bar the door upon your 'Tis now the very witching time of night; When church-yards yawn, and hell itself bretha

own liberty, if you deny your griefs to your friend. Ham. Sir, I lack advancement.

Rof. How can that be, when you have the voice of the king himself for your fucceffion in Denmark?

Ham. Ay, fir, but While the grafs grows,-the proverb is fomething musty.

Enter the Players, with Recorders 3.

O, the recorders :

-let me fee one.—To with

out

Contagion to this world: Now could I drink hot
And do fuch business as the bitter day
Would quake to look on. Soft; now to my mo-

ther.

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

draw with you:-Why do you go about to reco-I will speak daggers to her, but use none; ver the wind of me, as if you would drive me in- My tongue and foul in this be hypocrites: to a toil? How in my words foever the be thent 9, To give them feals 10 never, my foul, confent! SCENE III.

Guil. O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly 4.

Ham. I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this pipe?

Guil. My lord, 1 cannot.

Ham. I pray you.

Guil. Believe me, I cannot.

Ham. I do beseech you.

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

A Room in the Palace.

Enter King, Rofenerantz, and Guildenfor.
King. I like him not; nor ftands it fafe with us,
To let his madnefs range. Therefore, prepare you;
1 your commiflion will forthwith dispatch,
ven-And he to England shall along with you :
The terms of our eftate may not endure
Hazard fo near us, as doth hourly grow
Out of his lunes 1.

Ham. 'Tis as eafy as lying: govern the fe tages with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will difcourfe most eloquent mufic. Look you, thefe are the ftops.

Guil. But thefe cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I have not the skill.

Guil. We will ourselves provide : Mott holy and religious fear it is Ham. Why, look you now, how unworthy a To keep thofe many many bodies fafe, thing you make of me! You would play upon That live, and feed, upon your majesty. me; you would feem to know my ftops; you Rof. The fingle and peculiar life is bound, would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you With all the strength and armour of the mind, would found me from my loweft note to the top To keep itself from 'noyance; but much more, of my compass: and there is much music, excel-That spirit, upon whofe weal depend and reft lent voice, in this little organ; yet cannot you The lives of many. The cease of majesty make it fpeak. Why, do you think, that I am eafier to be play'd on than a pipe? Call me what inftrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me. [Enter Polonius]- -God bless you, fir!

Pol. My lord, the queen would fpeak with you, and presently.

Ham. Do you fee yonder cloud, that's almost in hape of a camel?

Pol. By the mafs, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.

Dies not alone; but, like a gulf, doth draw
What's near it, with it: It is a mafly wheel,
Fix'd on the fummit of the highest mount,
To whofe huge fpokes ten thousand letter things
Are mortis'd and adjoin'd; which, when it falls,
Each small annexment, petty confequence,
Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone
Did the king sigh, but with a general groan.

King. Arm you, I pray you, to this fpeedy
For we will fetters put upon this fear, [voyage;
Which now goes too free-footed.

i. e. further bufinefs, further dealing. 2 i. e. by thefe hands.

3 i. e. a kind of finte

5 The holes of a flute.

The 7 i. e. They compel me to play the fool, tiil I

4 i. e. If my duty to the king makes me prefs you a little, my love to you makes me ftill more impor tunate. If that makes me bold, this makes me even unmannerly. weafel is remarkable for the length of its back. can endure to do it no longer. miffion of fome act of mischief. guage.

8 The bitter day is the day rendered hateful or bitter by the com9 To fhend, is to reprove harthly, to treat with injuries lan11 i. e. his madness, frenzy.

10 i. c. put them in execution.

Both. We will hafte us.

[Exeunt Rof. and Guil. Enter Polonius.

;

Pol. My lord, he's going to his mother's clofet Behind the arvas I'll convey myself, [honie: To hear the procefs; I'll warrant, fhe'll tax him And, as you faid, and wifely was it faid,

With all his crimes broad-blown, as flush as May;
And, how his audit ftands, who knows, fave heaven?
But, in our circumstance and course of thought,
'Tis heavy with him: And am I then reveng'd,
To take him in the purging of his foul,
When he is fit and feafon'd for his paffage ?
No.

'Tis meet, that fome more audience than a mother, Up, fword; and know thou a more horrid hent 5: Since nature makes them partial, should o'er-hear | When he is drunk, asleep, or in his rage;

The fpecch of vantage 1. 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.

;

[Exit.

O, my offence is rank, it fmells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldeft curfe upon't,
A brother's murder!-Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will 2
My stronger guilt defeats my ftrong intent;
And, like a man to double bufinefs bound,
I ftand in paufe where I fhall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this curfed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood?
Is there not rain enough in the fweet heavens,
To wash it white as fnow? Whereto ferves mercy,
But to confront the vifage of offence?
And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,-
To be fore-stalled, ere we come to fall,

Or pardon'd, being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is paft. But O, what form of prayer
Can ferve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder!-
That cannot be; fince I am still poffefs'd
Of thofe effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.
May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may fhove by justice;
And oft 'tis feen, the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law: But 'tis not so above:
There is no fhuffling, 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 refts?
Try what repentance can: What can it not?
Yet what can it, when one cannot repent?
O wretched state! O bofom, black as death!
O limed 8 foul; that, ftruggling to be free,
Art more engag'd! Help, angels, make affay!
Bow, ftubborn knees! and, heart, with ftrings of
steel,

Be foft as finews of the new-born babe;
All may be well!

[The King kneels.

Enter Hamlet.
Ham. Now might I do it, pat, now he is praying;
And now I'll do't ;-And fo he goes to heaven:
And fo am I reveng'd? That would be fcann'd 4 :
A villain kills my father; and, for that,

I, his fole fon, do this fame villain send
To heaven.

Why this is hire and falary, not revenge.
He took my father groisly, full of bread;

Ham. Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Queen. Why, how now, Hamlet ?
Ham. What's the matter now?
Queen. Have you forgot me ?

Ham. No, by the rood, not fo:

You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife ; And-'would it were not fo!-you are my mother. Queen. Nay, then I'll fet thofe to you that can speak. {not budge; Ham. Come, come, and fit you down; you shall You go not, 'tili I set you up a glass Where you may fee the inmoft part of you. Queen. What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?

Help, help, ho!

Pol. [Bebind] What, ho help! Ham. How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead.

2 Will is command, dire&ion.

1 i. e. by fome opportunity of fecret obfervation. alludes to bird-lime. 4 i. e. that should be confidered, eftimated.

3 This

5 Hent is hold, or jeizure.

Lay hold on him, fword, at a more horrid time. 6. e. I'll ufe no more words.

[Hamlet frikes at Polonius through the arras. Nor fenfe to ecftafy was ne'er fo thrall'&,

Pol. [Bebind O, I am flain.

Queen. O me, what haft thou done?

Ham. Nay, I know not:

Is it the king?

Queen. O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
Ham. A bloody deed;-almost as bad, good
mother,

As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
Queen. As kill a king?

Ham. Ay, lady, 'twas my word.-
Thou wretched, rafh, intruding fool, farewel!
[To Polonius.
I took thee for thy better; take thy fortune :
Thou find'ft, to be too busy, is fome danger.-
Leave wringing of your hands: Peace; fit you down,
And let me wring your heart: for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff;

If damned cuftom have not braz'd it fo,
That it be proof and bulwark against sense.

Queen. What have I done, that thou dar'ft wag thy tongue

In noife fo rude against me?

Ham. Such an act,

That blurs the grace and blush of modesty ;
Calls virtue, hypocrite; takes off the rofe '
From the fair forehead of an innocent love,
And fets a blifter 2 there; makes marriage vows
As falfe as dicers' oaths: O, fuch a deed,
As from the body of contraction 3 plucks
The very foul; and fweet religion makes

A rhapfody of words: Heaven's face doth glow;
Yea, this folidity and compound mafs,
With triftful vifage, as against the doom,
Is thought-fick at the act.

Queen. Ay me, what act,

That roars fo loud, and thunders in the index ?
Ham. Look here, upon this picture, and on this;
The counterfeit prefentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was feated on this brow:
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A ftation like the Herald Mercury,
New-lighted on a heaven-kiffing hill;
A combination, and a form, indeed,

Where every god did feem to fet his feal,
To give the world affurance of a man:

But it referv'd fome quantity of choice

To ferve in fuch a difference. What devil was 't,
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without fight,
Ears without hands or eyes, fmelling fans all,
Or but a fickly part of one true fenfe
Could not fo mope.

Ohame! where is thy blush Rebellious hell,
If thou canft mutiny in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no fhame,
When the compulfive ardour gives the charge;
Since froft itself as actively doth burn,
And reafon panders will.

Queen. O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'ft mine eyes into my very foul;
And there I fee fuch black and grained spots,
As will not leave their tin&t.

Ham. Nay, but to live

In the rank fweat of an incestuous bed;

Stew'd in corruption; honeying, and making love Over the nafty stye ;

Queen. O, fpeak to me no more;

Thefe words like daggers enter in mine ears;
No more, fweet Hamlet.

Ham. A murderer, and a villain :

A flave, that is not twentieth part the tythe
Ot your precedent lord :—a vice of kings :
A cutpurfe of the empire and the rule;
That from a fhelf the precious diadem itole,
And put it in his pocket!

Queen. No more.

Ham. Do you not come your tardy fon to chele, That, laps'd in time and pallion, lets go by The important acting of your dread command? O, fay!

Ghaft. Do not forget: This vifitation

Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But, look amazement on thy mother fits:

This was your husband.---Look you now, what O, ftep between her and her fighting foul;

follows:

Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blafting his wholfome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
You cannot call it, love: for, at your age,
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment; And what judgment
Would ftep from this to this? Senfe, fure, you
have,

Elfe, could you not have motion: But,fure, that fenfe
Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err;

1 It was once the custom of those who were confpicuous mark of their mutual engagement. riage contract.

Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works;
Speak to her, Hamlet.

Ham. How is it with you, lady?
Queen. Alas, how is 't with you?
That you do bend your eye on vacancy,
And with the incorporal air do hold difcourfe?
Forth at your eyes your fpirits wildly peep;
And, as the fleeping foldiers in the alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up, and ftands on end. O gentle fon,
Upon the heat and flame of thy diftemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?

etrothed, to wear fome flower as an external and
* See note 3, p. 389. 3 Contraction for may-

Ham

Ham. On him! on him!

pale he glares!

-Look you, how And when you are defirous to be blest,
I'll bletting beg of you.-For this fame lord,
[Pointing to Polonius.

His form and caufe conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable.-Do not look upon me;
Left, with this piteous action, you convert
My ftern effects: then, what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears, perchance, for blood.
Queen. To whom do you speak this?
Ham. Do you fee nothing there?
Queen. Nothing at all; yet all, that is, I fee.
Ham. Nor did you nothing hear?
Queen. No, nothing, but ourselves.

Ham. Why, look you there! look, how it steals
away!

My father, in his habit as he liv'd!

Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
[Exit Ghoft.
Queen. This is the very coinage of your brain:
This bodilefs creation ecftafy
Is very cunning in.

Ham. Ecftafy!

My pulfe, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful mufic: It is not madness,
That I have utter'd: bring me to the teft,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that flattering unction to your foul,
That not your trefpafs, but my madness, ípeaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place;
Whiles rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unfeen. Confefs yourfelf to heaven;
Repent what's paft; avoid what is to come;
And do not fpread the compoft on the weeds,
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue:
For, in the fatness of these purfy times,
Virtue itfelf of vice mult pardon beg;
Yea, curb 2, and woo, for leave to do him good.
Queen. O, Hamlet! thou haft cleft my heart in

twain.

Ham. O, throw away the worfer part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Affume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all fenfe doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this;
That to the ufe of actions fair and good
He likewife gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on: Refrain to-night;
And that fhall lend a kind of eafinefs

To the next abftinence: the next, more eafy:
For ufe can almost change the stamp of nature,
And either master the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night! |

I do repent; But heaven hath pleas'd it fo,---
To punith him with me, and me with this,-
That I must be their fcourge and minifter.
I will bestow him, and will anfwer well
The death I gave him. So, again good night!-
I must be cruel, only to be kind :

Thus bad begins, and worfe remains behind.-
One word more, good lady.

Queen. What thall I do?

Ham. Not this, by no means, that I bid you do :
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;
Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you, his moufe 3;
And let him, for a pair of reechy 4 kiffes,
Or padling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I effentially am not in madness,

But mad in craft. 'Twere good, you let him know.
For who, that's but a queen, fair, fober, wife,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib 5,
Such dear concernings hide? who would do fo?
No, in defpight of fenfe, and fecrecy,
Unpeg the baiket on the house's top,
Let the birds fly; and, like the famous ape,
To try conclufions, in the basket creep,
And break your neck down.

Queen. Be thou atfur'd, if words be made of breath,

And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou haft faid to me.

Ham. I muft to England; you know that?
Queen. Alack, I had forgot; 'tis fo concluded on.
Ham. There's letters feal'd: and my two school-
fellows,-

Whom I will truft, as I will adders fang`d 7,—
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way,
And marshal me to knavery: Let it work;
For 'tis the sport, to have the engineer

Hoift with his own petar: and it shall go hard,
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet!--
This man fhall fet me packing.

I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room :-
Mother, good night.-Indeed, this counsellor
Is now moft ftili, moft fecret, and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.
Come, fir, to draw toward an end with you :-
Good night, mother.

[Exit the Queen, and Hamlet dragging in Polonius.

Ecftafy in this place, and many others, means a temporary alienation of mind, a fit.

2 That

is, bend and truckle. Fr. courber. 3 Moufe was once a term of endearment. 4 Reechy is fmoky.

5 Gib was a common name for a cat.

6 i. e. experiments.

7 That is, adders with their

fangs, or poisonous teeth, undrawn. • Hpift for hoifed; as past for passed.

ACT

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

A Royal Apartment.

Enter King, Queen, Rofencrantz, and Guildenftern.

King, '1

'HERE's matter in thefe fighs, thefe
profound heaves;

You must tranflate; 'tis fit we understand them :
Where is your fon ?

Queen. Beltow this place on us a little while.-
[To Rof. and Guil. who go out.
Ah, my good lord, what have I seen to-night?
King, What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
Queen. Mad as the fea, and wind, when both
contend

Which is the mightier: In his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing fomething stir,

He whips his rapier out, and cries, A rat! a rat!
And, in this brainish apprehenfion, kills
The unfeen good old man.

King. O heavy deed!

It had been fo with us, had we been there :
His liberty is full of threats to all;
To you yourself, to us, to every one.

Alas! how fhall this bloody deed be answer'd?
It will be laid to us; whofe providence
Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt',
This mad young man: but fo much was our love,
We would not understand what was moft fit;
But, like the owner of a foul disease,
To keep it from divulging, let it feed
Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?
Queen. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd:
O'er whom his very madness, like fome ore 2,
Among a mineral of metals bafe,

Shews itself pure; he weeps for what is done.

King. O, Gertrude, come away!

The fun no fooner thall the mountains touch,
But we will fhip him hence: and this yile deed
We muft, with all our majesty and skifl,
Both countenance and excuse.—Ho! Guildenftern!
Enter Rofencrantz and Guildenstern.
Friends both, go join you with fome further aid :
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius flain,
And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him :
Go, feek him out; speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. I pray you, hafte in this.
[Exeunt Ref. and Guil.
Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wifeft friends;
And let them know, both what we mean to do,
And what's untimely done: for haply, flander,
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,

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Ham.
Ref. &c. within. Hamlet! Lord Hamlet!
Ham. What noife? who calls on Hamlet? 0,
here they come.

Enter Rofencrantz and Guildenstern.

Rof. What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?

Ham. Compounded it with duft, whereto 'tis kin. Rof. Tell us where 'tis; that we may take a thence,

And bear it to the chapel.

Ham. Do not believe it.

Rof. Believe what?

Ham. That I can keep your counsel, and not mine own. Befides, to be demanded of a spunge! -what replication should be made by the ion of a king?

Rof. Take you me for a spunge, my lord?

Ham. Ay, fir; that foaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But fuch officers do the king best service in the end: He keeps them, like an ape 3, in the corner of his jaw; firft mouth'd, to be last swallow'd: When be needs what you have glean'd, it is but squeezing you, and, fpunge, you shall be dry again.

Ref. 1 understand you not, my lord.

Ham. I am glad of it: A knavish speech fleeps in a foolish ear.

Rof. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the king.

Ham. The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body 4. The king is a thing— Guil. A thing, my lord?

Ham. Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after. [Excunt.

1 Out of haunt means out of company. 2 Shakspeare feems to think ore to be or, that is, gold. Bafe metals have ore no lefs than precious. 3 Hanmer has illuftrated this paffage with the following note: "It is the way of monkeys in eating, to throw that part of their food which they take up firit, into a pouch they are provided with on the fide of their jaw, and there they keep it till they have done with the reft." 4 This anfwer Dr. Johnfon fays he does not comprehend. Perhaps it should be, The body is not with the king, for the king is not with the body. 's There is a play among children called, Hide fox, and all after.

He's

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Stockdale's Edition of Shakespeare: Including, in One Volume, the Whole of ...