Horatio.
Horatio
Here, sweet lord, at your service.
Hamlet
Horatio, thou art eāen as just a man
As eāer my conversation coped withal.
Horatio
O, my dear lordā ā
Hamlet
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 flatterād?
No, let the candied 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 her choice
And could of men distinguish, her election
Hath sealād thee for herself; for thou hast been
As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing,
A man that fortuneās buffets and rewards
Hast taāen with equal thanks: and blest are those
Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled,
That they are not a pipe for fortuneās finger
To sound what stop she please. Give me that man
That is not passionās slave, and I will wear him
In my heartās core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee.ā āSomething too much of this.ā ā
There is a play to-night before the king;
One scene of it comes near the circumstance
Which I have told thee of my fatherās death:
I prithee, when thou seest that act afoot,
Even with the very comment of thy soul
Observe mine 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 foul
As Vulcanās stithy. Give him heedful note;
For I mine eyes will rivet to his face,
And after we will both our judgments join
In censure of his seeming.
Horatio
Well, my lord:
If he steal aught the whilst this play is playing,
And āscape detecting, I will pay the theft.
Hamlet
They are coming to the play; I must be idle:
Get you a place.
Danish march. A flourish. Enter
King,
Queen,
Polonius,
Ophelia,
Rosencrantz,
Guildenstern, and others.
King
How fares our cousin Hamlet?
Hamlet
Excellent, iā faith; of the chameleonās dish: I eat the air, promise-crammed: you cannot feed capons so.
King
I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet; these words are not mine.
Hamlet
No, nor mine now.
To Polonius. My lord, you played once iā the university, you say?
Polonius
That did I, my lord; and was accounted a good actor.
Hamlet
What did you enact?
Polonius
I did enact Julius Caesar: I was killed iā the Capitol; Brutus killed me.
Hamlet
It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there. Be the players ready?
Rosencrantz
Ay, my lord; they stay upon your patience.
Queen
Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me.
Hamlet
No, good mother, hereās metal more attractive.
Polonius
To the King. O, ho! do you mark that?
Hamlet
Lady, shall I lie in your lap?
Lying down at Opheliaās feet.
Ophelia
No, my lord.
Hamlet
I mean, my head upon your lap?
Ophelia
Ay, my lord.
Hamlet
Do you think I meant country matters?
Ophelia
I think nothing, my lord.
Hamlet
Thatās a fair thought to lie between maidsā legs.
Ophelia
What is, my lord?
Hamlet
Nothing.
Ophelia
You are merry, my lord.
Hamlet
Who, I?
Ophelia
Ay, my lord.
Hamlet
O God, your only jig-maker. What should a man do but be merry? for, look you, how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within these two hours.
Ophelia
Nay, ātis twice two months, my lord.
Hamlet
So long? Nay then, let the devil wear black, for Iāll have a suit of sables. O heavens! die two months ago, and not forgotten yet? Then thereās hope a great manās memory may outlive his life half a year: but, byār lady, he must build churches, then; or else shall he suffer not thinking on, with the hobby-horse, whose epitaph is āFor, O, for, O, the hobby-horse is forgot.ā
Hautboys play. The dumb-show enters.
Enter a King and a Queen very lovingly; the Queen embracing him, and he her. She kneels, and makes show of protestation unto him. He takes her up, and declines his head upon her neck: lays him down upon a bank of flowers: she, seeing him asleep, leaves him. Anon comes in a fellow, takes off his crown, kisses it, and pours poison in the Kingās ears, and exit. The Queen returns; finds the King dead, and makes passionate action. The Poisoner, with some two or three Mutes, comes in again, seeming to lament with her. The dead body is carried away. The Poisoner wooes the Queen with gifts: she seems loath and unwilling awhile, but in the end accepts his love. Exeunt.
Ophelia
What means this, my lord?
Hamlet
Marry, this is miching mallecho; it means mischief.
Ophelia
Belike this show imports the argument of the play.
Enter
Prologue.
Hamlet
We shall know by this fellow: the players cannot keep counsel; theyāll tell all.
Ophelia
Will he tell us what this show meant?
Hamlet
Ay, or any show that youāll show him: be not you ashamed to show, heāll not shame to tell you what it means.
Ophelia
You are naught, you are naught: Iāll mark the play.
Prologue
For us, and for our tragedy,
Here stooping to your clemency,
We beg your hearing patiently. Exit.
Hamlet
Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?
Ophelia
āTis brief, my lord.
Hamlet
As womanās love.
Enter two
Players,
King and
Queen.
Player King
Full thirty times hath Phoebusā cart gone round
Neptuneās salt wash and Tellusā orbed ground,
And thirty dozen moons with borrowād sheen
About the world have times twelve thirties been
Since love our hearts and Hymen did our hands
Unite commutual in most sacred bands.
Player Queen
So many journeys may the sun and moon
Make us again count oāer ere love be done!
But, woe is me, you are so sick of late,
So far from cheer and from your former state,
That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must:
For womenās fear and love holds quantity;
In neither aught, or in extremity.
Now, what my love is, proof hath made you know;
And as my love is sized, my fear is so:
Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear;
Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.
Player King
āFaith,
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