Pol. 'Tis most true : And he beseech'd me to entreat your majesties, To hear and see the matter. King. With all my heart; and it doth much con tent me To hear him so inclin'd. 30 Good gentlemen, give him a further edge, For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither; Her father, and myself (lawful espials) Queen. I shall obey you :——— And, for my part, Ophelia, I do wish, That your good beauties be the happy cause 40 Of Hamlet's wildness: so shall I hope, your virtues Will bring him to his wonted way again, To both your honours. Oph. Madam, I wish it may. [Exit Queen. Pol. Ophelia, walk you here :-Gracious, so please you, We will bestow ourselves: -Read on this book; 50 [To OPH. That That show of such an exercise may colour Your loneliness.-We are oft to blame in this, 'Tis too much prov'd,-that, with devotion's visage, And pious action, we do sugar o'er The devil himself. King. O, 'tis too true! how smart A lash that speech doth give my conscience! [Aside. Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it, 60 Pol. I hear him coming; let's withdraw, my lord. [Exeunt King, and POLONIUS. Enter HAMLET. Ham. To be, or not to be, that is the question:Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune; Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing, end them ?-To die ;-to sleep; No more—and, by a sleep, to say we end The heart-ach, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to ;-'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die;-to sleep ;To sleep! perchance, to dream;-Ay, there's the rub; . For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, Must give us pause: There's the respect, That makes calamity of so long life : 70 For For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The insolence of office, and the spurn's And makes us rather bear those ills we have, 80 [Seeing OPHELIA. The fair Ophelia ?-Nymph, in thy orisons Oph. Good my lord, How does your honour for this many a day? Ham. I humbly thank you; well. Oph. My lord, I have remembrances of yours, That I have longed long to re-deliver; I pray you, how receive them. Ham. No, not I; I never gave you aught. 100 Oph. My honour'd lord, you know right well, you did; And, with them, words of so sweet breath compos'd As made the things more rich: their perfume lost, Take these again; for to the noble mind Rich gifts wax poor, when givers prove unkind. 110 There, my lord. Ham. Ha, ha! are you honest? Oph. My lord Ham. Are you fair? Oph. What means your lordship? Ham. That, if you be honest, and fair, you should admit no discourse to your beauty. Oph. Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty? 119 Ham. Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd, than the force of honesty can translate beauty into its likeness: this was some time a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once. 3 Oph. Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. Ham. You should not have believ'd me: for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock, but we shall relish of it: I lov'd you not. 129 Oph. I was the more deceiv'd. Ham. 'Get thee to a nunnery; why would'st thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest; but yet I could accuse me of such things, that it were better, my mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious; with more offences offences at my beck, than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in: What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves, all; believe none of us: Go thy ways to a nunnery: Where's your father? Oph. At home, my lord. Ham. Let the doors be shut upon him; 140 Farewel. play the fool no where but in's own house. Oph. O, help him, you sweet heavens ! Ham. If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry: Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery; farewel: Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough, what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go; and quickly too. Farewel. Oph. Heavenly powers, restore him! 151 Ham. I have heard of your paintings too well enough; God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and nick-name God's creatures, and make your wantonness your ignorance: Go to; I'll no more on't; it hath made me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages: those that are married already, all but one, shall live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go. [Exit Hamlet. 161 Oph, O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword; The |