The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion, and the mould of form,
The observ'd of all observers ! quite, quite down !
And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
That suck'd the honey of his musick vows.
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh ; 170
That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth,
Blasted with ecstasy : 0, woe is me!
To have seen what I have seen; see what I see!

Re-enter King, and POLONIUS.
King. Love! his affections do not that way tend;
Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a little,
Was not like madness. There's something in his

soul,
O’er which his melancholy sits on brood ;
And, I do doubt the hatch, and the disclose,
Will be some danger; Which for to prevent,
I have, in quick determination,

180
Thus set it down; He shall with speed to England,
For the demand of our neglected tribute :
Haply, the seas, and countries different,
With variable objects, shall expel
This something-settled matter in his heart;
Whereon his brains still beating, puts him thus
From fashion of himself. What think you on't ?

Pol. It shall do well : But yet do I believe The origin and commencement of his grief Sprung from neglected love.--How now, Ophelia ?

Gij

You

But, if

You need not tell us what lord Hamlet said ; 190
We heard it all. My lord, do as you please ;

you hold it fit, after the play,
Let his queen mother all alone entreat him
To shew his grief; let her be round with him;
And I'll be plac'd, so please you, in the ear
Of all their conference: If she find him not,
To England send him ; or confine him, where
Your wisdom best shall think.

King. It shall be so ;
Madness in greatones must not unwatch'd go. (Excunt.

SCENE II.

1

A Hall. Enter HAMLET, and two or three of the

Players... Ham. Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pro. nounc'd it to you, trippingly on the tongue : but if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lieve the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus; but use all gently : for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) whirlwind of your passion, you must ac, quire and begeţ a temperance, that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul, to hear a robuștious perriwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings; who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb shews, and noise : I would

have such a fellow whipp'd for o'er-doing Termagant; it out-herods Herod : Pray you, avoid it. 1 Play. I warrant your honour.

217 Ham. Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor : suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o'er-step not the modesty of nature: For, any thing so over-done is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first, and now, was, and is, to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature; to shew virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now this, over-done, or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of which one, must, in your allowance, o'er-weigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be players, that I have seen play,—and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of christians, nor the gait of christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted, and bellow'd, that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they imitated hu. manity so abominably.

1 Play. I hope, we have reform’d that indifferently with us.

240 Ham. O, reform it altogether. And let those, that play your clowns, speak no more than is set down for them: For there be of them, that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators

Giij

to

to laugh t90; though, in the mean time, some necessary question of the play be then to be considered : that's villainous; and shews a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. Go, make you ready.-

[Exeunt Players. Enter POLONIUS, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDEN

STERN. How now, my lord ? will the king hear this piece of

work? Pol. And, the queen too, and that presently. Ham. Bid the players make haste.- [Exit Polon, Will you two help to hasten them?

Both. Ay, my lord. [Exeunt Ros, and Guil. Ham. What, ho; Horatio !

Enter HORATIO.

Hor. Here, sweet lord, at your service.

Ham. Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man
As e'er my conversation cop'd withal.
Hor. O, my dear lord,

260
Ham. Nay, do not think I flatter :
For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revenue hast, but thy good spirits,
To feed, and clothe thee? Why should the poor be

flatter'd ? No, let the candy'd tongue lick absurd pomp ; And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee, Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear ? Since my dear soul was mistress of ber choice,

And

And could of men distinguish, her election
Hath seal'd thee for herself: for thou hast been 270
As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing ;
A man, that fortune's buffets and rewards
Hast ta'en with equal thanks: and blest are those,
Whose blood and judgment are so well co-mingled,
That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger
To-sound what stop she please : Give me that man
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee.--Something too much of this.-
There is a play to night before the king; 280
One scene of it comes near the circumstance,
Which I have told thee, of my father's death.
I pr’ythee, when thou see'st that act a-foot,
Even with the very comment of thy soul
Observe my uncle: if his occulted guilt
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,
It is a damned ghost that we have seen;
And my imaginations are as fou!
As Vulcan's stithy: Give him heedful note:
For I mine eyes will riyet to his face;

290 And, after, we will both our judgments join In censure of his seeming.

Hor. Well, my lord:
If he steal aught, the whilst this play is playing,
And scape detecting, I will pay the theft.

Ham. They are coming to the play ; I must be idle : Get you a place.