bate the question of this straw:
me imposthume3 of much wealth and
peace,

That inward breaks, and shows no cause without
Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.
Cap. God be wi' you, sir.
Ros.

before.

[Exit.

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Will't please you go, my lord? Ham. I'll be with you straight. Go a little [Exeunt all except Hamlet. How all occasions do inform against me, And spur my dull revenge! What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,1 Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and godlike reason To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple Of thinking too precisely on the event,A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom,

40

Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,

That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing,

Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
The hearers to collection; they aim at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own
thoughts;

10

Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them,

Indeed would make one think there might be thought,

Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.

Queen. [Aside] "Twere good she were spoken with; for she may strew

Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.]

7 Continent, i.e. that which contains.

Queen. Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?

Oph. Say you? nay, pray you, mark. [Sings] He is dead and gone, lady,

He is dead and gone;

At his head a grass-green turf,

At his heels a stone.

Queen. Nay, but, Ophelia,--
Oph. Pray you, mark.

[Sings] White his shroud as the mountain snow, Enter KING.

Queen. Alas, look here, my lord.
Oph. [Sings]

Larded with sweet flowers;
Which bewept to the grave did go

With true-love showers.

King. How do you, pretty lady?

Oph. Well, God 'ild you!

you for your good counsel. Come,

Good night, ladies; good night, s

30

good night, good night.

40

They say the Lord, we know

owl was a baker's daughter. what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your table!

King. Conceit upon her father.

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

[Sings] 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 donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;

50

coach!

dies;

Erit.

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,
Cock, a vulgarism for God.

7 Gis, i.e. Jesus.

This is, pronounce this'. 10 In hugger-mugger, secretly.

Like to a murdering-piece,1 in many places
Gives me superfluous death.] [A noise within.
Queen.
Alack, what noise is this?
King. Where are my Switzers? Let them
guard the door.

Enter a Gentleman.

What is the matter?

Gent.

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Save yourself, my lord: The ocean, overpeering of his list,2 Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste Than young Laertes, in a riotous head,3 O'erbears 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 word,] 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!

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Good Laertes, [If you desire to know the certainty Of your dear father's death, is 't writ in your? revenge,

That, swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe,

Winner and loser?

Laer. None but his enemies.

And, like the kind life-rendering pelican Repast them with my blood.

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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 sensibly in grief for it, It shall as level to your judgment pierce As day does to your eye. Danes. [Within] Let her come in. Laer. How now! what noise is that?

Re-enter OPHELIA.

O heat, dry up my brains! tears seven-times salt,

Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye! By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight, Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May! Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!

Hor. [Reads] "Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these fellows some means1 to the king: they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of very warlike appoint-j ment gave us chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled valour; and in the grapple I boarded them: on the instant they got clear of our ship; so I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me like thieves of mercy: but they knew what they did; I am to do a good turn for them.) Let the king have the letters I have sent; and repair thou to me with as much haste as thou wouldst fly death. I have words to speak in thine ear will make thee dumb; yet are they much too light for the bore of the matter. These good fellows will bring thee where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course for England: of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell.

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Enter KING and LAERTES.

King. Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,

And you must put me in your heart for friend,
Sith
you have heard, and with a knowing ear,
That he which hath your noble father slain
Pursued my life.

Laer.
It well appears: [but tell me
Why you proceeded not against these feats,
So crimeful and so capital in nature,
As by your safety, wisdom, all things else,
You mainly were stirr'd up.

King. O, for two special reasons, Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew'd,

10

And yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother

1 Means, i.e. means of access.