But, if you hold it fit, after the play,

Let his queen mother all alone entreat him

To fhow 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 the find him not,

To England fend him; or confine him, where
Your wisdom best shall think.

Ham. Speak the fpeech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines. Nor do not faw the air too much with your hand, thus; but ufe all gently: for in the very torrent, tempeft, and (as I may fay) whirlwind of your paffion, you must acquire and beget a temperance, that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the foul, to hear buftious perriwig-pated fellow tear a paffion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings; who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable. dumb fhows, and noife: I would have fuch a fellow whipp'd for o'er-doing Termagant; it out-herods Herod :: Pray you, avoid it.

1. Play. I warrant your honour.

ro

Ham. Be not too tame neither; but let your own difcretion be your tutor: fuit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this fpecial observance, that you

o'erstep

o'erftep not the modefy of nature: for any thing fo overdone is from the purpose of playing, whofe end, both at the first, and now, was, and is, to hold, as 'twere a mirror up to nature; to fhow virtue her own feature, fcorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time, his form and preffure. Now this, overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unfkilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the cenfure of which one, must, in your allowance, o'er-weigh a whole theatre of others.

there be players, that I have seen play-and heard others praife, and that highly-not to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of chriftians, nor the gait of chriftian, pagan, nor man, have fo ftrutted, and bel low'd, that I have thought fome of nature's journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity fo abominably.

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

Ham. O, reform it altogether. And let thofe, that play your clowns, fpeak no more than is fet down for them: for there be of them, that will themselves laugh, to fet on fome quantity of barren fpectators to laugh too; though in the mean time, fome neceffary question of the play be then to be confidered: that's villainous; and shows a moft pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it.-Go, make you ready.— [Exeunt Players. Enter POLONIUS, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN. 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 hafte. [Exit POLONIUS. Will you two help to haften them?

Both. Ay, my lord.

[Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.

Ham. What, ho; Horatio!

Enter HORATIO.

Hor. Here, fweet 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-

Ham. Nay, do not think I flatter:

For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revenue haft, but thy good fpirits,

To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flatter'd ?
No, let the candied tongue lick abfurd pomp;

And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,

Where thrift may follow fawning. Doft thou hear?
Since my dear foul was miftrefs of her choice,

And could of men distinguish her election,

She hath feal'd' thee for herself; for thou hast been
As one, in fuffering all, that suffers nothing;
A man, that fortune's buffets and rewards

Haft ta'en with equal thanks: and bless'd are those
Whose blood and judgement are fo well co-mingled,
That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger

To found what stop she please: Give me that man
That is not paffion's flave, 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;
One scene of it comes near the circumstance,
Which I have told thee of my father's death.
I pr'ythee, when thou seest that act a-foot,
Even with the very comment of thy foul
Obferve my uncle: if his occulted guilt
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,
It is a damned ghost that we have seen;

And

And my imaginations are as foul

As Vulcan's stithy.

Give him heedful note:

For I mine eyes will rivet to his face;

And, after, we will both our judgements join

In cenfure of his feeming.

Hor. Well, my lord:

If he steal aught, the whilft this play is playing,

And fcape detecting, I will pay the theft.

Ham. 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 coufin Hamlet?

Ham. Excellent, i'faith; of the camelion's dish: Ieat the air, promife cramm'd: You cannot feed capons fo. King. I have nothing with this anfwer, Hamlet; thefe words are not mine.

Ham. No, nor mine now. My lord-you play'd once in the university, you fay. [To POLONIUS. Pol. That did I, my lord; and was accounted a good actor.

Ham. And what did you enact?

Pol. I did enact Julius Cæfar: I was kill'd i'the Capi tol; Brutus kill'd me.

Ham. It was a brute part of him, to kill fo capital a calf there. Be the players ready?

Rof. Ay my lord; they ftay upon your patience.
Queen. Come hither, my dear Hamlet, fit by me.

Ham. No, good mother, here's metal more attractive.

Pol. O ho! do you mark that?

[To the KING.

Ham. Lady, fhall I lie in your lap

[Lying down at OPHELIA's feet. Oph.

Oph. No, my lord.

Ham. I mean, my head upon your lap?

Opb. Ay, my lord.

Ham. Do you think I meant country matters?

Oph. I think nothing, my lord.

Ham. That's a fair thought to lay between maids' legs. Oph. What is, my lord?

Ham. Nothing.

Oph. You are merry, my lord.

Ham. Who, I?

Opb. Ay, my lord.

Ham. O! 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 thefe two hours.

Oph. Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord.

Ham. So long? Nay then let the devil wear black, for I'll have a fuit of fables. O heavens'! die two months ago, and not forgotten yet? Then there's hope, a great man's memory may outlive his life half a-year: But, by'r lady, he must build churches then; or elfe fhall he fuffer not thinking on, with the hobby-horse, whofe epitaph is, For, O, for, O, the hobby-horse is forgot.

Trumpets found. The dumb show follows.

Enter a king and a queen, very lovingly; the queen embrac ing him, and he her. She kneels, and makes show of proteftation unto him. He takes her up, and declines his head upon her neck: lays him down upon a bank of flowers; he, feeing him afleep, leaves him. Anon, comes in a fellow, takes off his crown, kisses it, and pours poifon in the king's ears, and exit. The queen returns ; finds the king dead, and makes paffionate action. The poifoner, with fame two or three mutes, comes in again, feeming to lament with her. The dead body is carried