A worthy pioneer!- Once more remove, good

friends.

Hor. O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!

Ham. And therefore as a stranger give it welcome, There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

But come;

Here, as before, never, so help you mercy!
How strange or odd so'er I bear myself,
As I, perchance, hereafter shall think meet
To put an antick disposition on,-

That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumber'd thus, or this head-shake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As, Well, well, we know ;
would; or, If we list to speak ;·
if they might;

or, We could, an if we

- or, There be, an

This do you swear,

Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
That you know aught of me :-
So grace and mercy at your most need help you!
Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear.

Ham. Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! So gentle

men,

With all my love I do commend me to you:
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is

May do, to express his love and friending to you, Heaven willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together;

And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The time is out of joint; O cursed spite!
That ever I was born to set it right!

Nay, come, let's go together.

[Exeunt.

ACT THE SECOND.

SCENE 1.

A Room in Polonius's House.

Enter POLONIUS and REYNaldo.

Pol. Give him this money, and these notes, Reynaldo.

Rey. I will, my lord.

Pol. You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo,

Before you visit him, to make inquiry

Of his behaviour.

Rey.

My lord, I did intend it.

Pol. Marry, well said: very well said. Look you, sir,

Inquire me first what Danskers3 are in Paris;
And how, and who, what means, and where they

keep,

What company, at what expence ;
and finding,
By this encompassment and drift of question,
That they do know my son, come you more nearer
Than your particular demands will touch it:
Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of

him;

As thus,-I know his father, and his friends,
And, in part, him;-Do you mark this, Reynaldo?
Rey. Ay, very well, my lord.

Pol. And in part him; —but, you may say, not

well:

But, if 't be he I mean, he's very wild;

Addicted so and so;·

and there put on him

3 Danes.

What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
As may dishonour him; take heed of that;
But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips,
As are companions noted and most known
To youth and liberty.

Rey.

As gaming, my lord. Pol. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling.

Rey. My lord, that would dishonour him.

Pol. 'Faith, no; as you may season it in the charge.

You must not put another scandal on him,
That he is open to incontinency;

That's not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly,

That they may seem the taints of liberty:

The flash and out-break of a fiery mind;

A savageness in unreclaimed blood,

Of general assault.

Marry, sir, here's my drift;

And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant :
You laying these slight sullies on my son,
As 'twere a thing a little soil'd i' the working,
Mark you,

Your party in converse, him you would sound,
Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes,
The youth you breathe of, guilty, be assur'd,
He closes with you in this consequence;
Good sir, or so; or, friend, or gentleman,-
According to the phrase, or the addition,
Of man, and country.

Rey.
Very good, my lord.
Pol. And then sir, does he this, He does.

4 Already named.

What was I about to say?-By the mass, I was about to say some something:-Where did I leave? Rey. At, closes in the consequence.

Pol. At, closes in the consequence, — Ay, marry ; He closes with you thus:- I know the gentleman; I saw him yesterday, or t' other day,

Or then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you say,

There was he gaming; there o'ertook in his rouse ; There falling out at tennis: or so forth.

See you now;

Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth:
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,

With windlaces, and with assays of bias,
By indirections find directions out;
So, by former lecture and advice,

Shall you, my son: You have me, have you not?
Rey. My lord, I have.

Pol.

Rey. Good my lord,

Then; fare you well.

Pol. Observe his inclination in yourself.

Rey. I shail, my lord.

Pol. And let him ply his musick.

Rey.

Well, my lord.

[Exit.

Enter OPHELIA.

Pol. Farewell!-How now, Ophelia? what's the

matter;

Oph. O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!

Pol. With what, in the name of heaven? Oph. My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet,—with his doublet all unbrac'd; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved' to his ancle ;

Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; And with a look so piteous in purport,

As if he had been loosed out of hell,

To speak of horrors,
Pol. Mad for thy love?

Oph.

But, truly, I do fear it.
Pol.

- he comes before me.

My lord, I do not know;

What said he?

Oph. He took me by the wrist, and held me hard;

Then goes

he to the length of all his arm; And with his other hand thus o'er his brow, He falls to such perusal of my face,

As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so ;
At last, —a little shaking of mine arm,
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,-
He rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound,
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk,

And end his being: That done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd,
He seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For out o' doors he went without their helps,
And, to the last, bended their light on me.

Pol. Come, go with me; I will go seek the king. This is the very ecstasy of love;

Whose violent property foredoes" itself,
And leads the will to desperate undertakings,
As oft as any passion under heaven,

That does afflict our natures.

What, have

I am sorry,

you given him any hard words of late? Oph. No, my good lord: but, as you did command,

I did repel his letters, and denied

His access to me.

Pol.

That hath made him mad.

I am sorry, that with better heed and judgment,
I had not quoted' him: I fear'd, he did but trifle,