King. How do you, pretty lady?

259

coph. Well, God 'ield you! They say, the owl was a baker's daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your

table!

King. Conceit upon her father.

Oph. Pray, let us have no words of this; but when they ask you, what it means, say you this:

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,

All in the morning betime,

And I a maid at your window,

To be your Valentine:

Then up he rose, and don'd his clothes,

And dupt the chamber door;

Let in the maid, that out a maid

Never departed more.

King, Pretty Ophelia !

270

Oph. Indeed, without an oath, I'll make an end

on't..

By Gis, and by Saint Charity,

Alack, and fie for shame!

Young men will do't, if they come to't ;

By cock, they are to blame.

Quoth she, before you tumbled me,

You promis'd me to wed: He answers.
So would I ha' done, by yonder sun,

An thou hadst not come to my bed.

King. How long hath she been thus?

280

Oph. I hope, all will be well. We must be patient: but I cannot choose but weep, to think, they

should

should lay him i' the cold ground: My brother shall know of it, and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my coach! Good night, ladies; good night, sweet ladies: good night, good might.

[Exit. King. Follow her close; give her good watch, I

pray you.

[Exit HORATIO. O! this is the poison of deep grief: it springs

a

All from her father's death: And now behold, ✪

-Gertrude, Gertrude,

When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions! First, her father slain;

Next, your son gone; and he most violent author A
Of his own just remove: The people muddy'd,
Thick and unwholsome in their thoughts, and whis-

pers,

300 For good Polonius' death; and we have done but

greenly,

In hugger-mugger to inter him: Poor Ophelia
Divided from herself, and her fair judgment;
Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts.
Last, and as much containing as all these,

Her brother is in secret come from France:
Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds,
And wants not buzzers to infect his ear
With pestilent speeches of his father's death;
Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd,
Will nothing stick our person to arraign
In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this,
Like to a murdering piece, in many places
Gives me superfluous death!

310

[A Noise within.

Queen.

Queen. Alack! what noise is this?

Enter a Gentleman.

King. Attend. Where are my Switzers? Let them

guard the door :

What is the matter?

Gen. Save yourself, my lord;

The ocean, over-peering of his list,

Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste,
Than young Laertes, in a riotous head,

320

O'er-bears your officers! The rabble call him, lord;
And, as the world were now but to begin,

Antiquity forgot, custom not known,
The ratifiers and props of every ward,

They cry, Choose we; Laertes shall be king!

Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds Laertes shall be king, Laertes king!

Queen. How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!

O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs.

King. The doors are broke.

Enter LAERTES, with others.

330

[Noise within.

Laer. Where is this king?-Sirs, stand you all.

Laer. I thank you:-Keep the door.-O thou vile

king,

Give me my father.

Queen.

Queen. Calmly, good Laertes.

Laer. That drop of blood, that's calm, proclaims

me bastard;

Cries, cuckold, to my father; brands the harlot 340
Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow
Of my true mother.

King. What is the cause, Laertes,

That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?—
Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person;
There's such divinity doth hedge a king,
That treason can but peep to what it would,
A&ts little of his will.-Tell me, Laertes,

Why thou art thus incens'd:-Let him go, Gertrude ;

Speak, man.

Laer. Where is my father?

King. Dead.

Queen. But not by him.

King. Let him demand his fill.

350

Laer. How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with :

To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil!
Conscience, and grace, to the profoundest pit!
I dare damnation: To this point I stand,—
That both the worlds I give to negligence,
Let come what comes; only I'll be revenged
Most throughly for my father.

King. Who shall stay you?

360

Laer. My will, not all the world's :

And, for my means, I'll husband them so well,

،

They shall

go far with little.

King. Good Laertes,

If you desire to know the certainty

Of your dear father's death, is't writ in your revenge,

That, sweep-stake, you will draw both friend and

foe,

Winner and loser?

Laer. None but his enemies.

King. Will you know them then?

379

Laer. To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my

arms;

And, like the kind life-rend'ring pelican,

Repast them with my blood.

King. Why, now you speak

Like a good child, and a true gentleman.
That I am guiltless of your father's death,
And am most sensible in grief for it,

It shall as level to your judgment 'pear,

380

As day does to your eye.

Crowd within. Let her come in.

Laer. How now! what noise is that?

Enter OPHELIA, fantastically dress'd with Straws and Flowers.

heat, dry up my brains! tears, seven times salt, Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye!

By heaven, thy madness shall be pay'd with weight, Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May!

Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!

3

O heavens!