SCENE I. A Churchyard.

Enter two Clowns, with spades, etc.

I Clown. Is she to be buried in Christian burial that wil

fully seeks her own salvation?

2 Clown. I tell thee she is; and therefore make her grave my straight: the crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian

burial.

I Clown. How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defence?

2 Clown. Why, 't is found so.

I Clown. It must be se offendendo; it cannot be else. For

in

a

verdict.

se defendendes

of injust if istle homede was jestigiater homicide.

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here lies the point: if I drown myself wittingly, it argues an
act, and an act hath three branches; it is, to act, to do, and
to perform argal, she drowned herself wittingly. ego
2 Clown. Nay, but hear you, goodman delver,—
I Clown. Give me leave. Here lies the water; good:
here stands the man; good: if the man go to this water,
and drown himself, it is, will he nill he, he goes,-mark you
that; but if the water come to him and drown him, he
drowns not himself: argal, he that is not guilty of his own
death shortens not his own life.

2 Clown. But is this law?

I Clown. Ay, marry, is 't; crowner's quest law.

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2 Clown. Will you ha' the truth on 't? If this had not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o' Christian burial.

I Clown. Why, there thou say'st; and the more pity that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves, more than their even-Christian.-Come, fellow my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold up Adam's profession. beepup, mainta30

2 Clown. Was he a gentleman?

I Clown. He was the first that ever bore arms.

2 Clown. Why, he had none.

I Clown. What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand the Scripture? The Scripture says 'Adam digged;' could he dig without arms? I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the purpose, confess thyself

2 Clown. Go to.

I Clown. What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter?

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2 Clown. The gallows - maker; for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.

I Clown. I like thy wit well, in good faith: the gallows

K

Christian

does well; but how does it well? it does well to those that do ill; now thou dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church: argal, the gallows may do well to thee. To 't again, come.

2 Clown. Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a carpenter?

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Clown. Ay, tell me that, and unyoke. quit work. knock off. 2 Clown. Marry, now I can tell.

I Clown. To 't.

2 Clown. Mass, I cannot tell.

Enter HAMLET and HORATIO, at a distance.

1 Clown. Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your dull ass will not mend his pace with beating; and when you are asked this question next, say ‘a grave-maker:' the houses that he makes last till doomsday. Go, get thee to Yaughan; fetch me a stoup of liquor. [Exit 2 Clown. drinking cuf. [He digs, and sings.

In youth, when I did love, did love,

Methought it was very sweet,

To contract-O!—the time, for-ah!—my behove,

O, methought, there was nothing meet.

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Hamlet. Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that he sings at grave-making?

farticular quality Sch Horatio. Custom hath made it in him a property of easieasy property or easy feculanty

ness.

Hamlet. 'T is e'en so; the hand of little employment hath the daintier sense. 1 Clown. [Sings] without attention But age, with his stealing steps, Hath claw'd me in his clutch, And hath shipped me intil the land,

As if I had never been such.

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into

Clemmer til

[Throws up a skull.

Hamlet. That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing

once; how the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were
Cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murther! It might be
the pate of a politician, which this ass now o'er-reaches;
one that would circumvent God, might it not?

Horatio. It might, my lord.

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Hamlet. Or of a courtier, which could say 'Good morrow, sweet lord! How dost thou, good lord?' This might be my lord such-a-one, that praised my lord such-a-one's horse, when he meant to beg it, might it not?

Horatio. Ay, my lord.

Hamlet. Why, e'en so; and now my Lady Worm's, chapless, and knocked about the mazzard with a sexton's spade: here 's fine revolution, an we had the trick to see 't. Did these bones cost no more the breeding, but to play at loggats with 'em? mine ache to think on 't.

I Clown. [Sings]

A pick-axe, and a spade, a spade,

For and a shrouding sheet;

O, a pit of clay for to be made

For such a guest is meet.

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[Throws up another skull.

quiditus which

two wit

Hamlet. There's another; why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddits now, his quillets, his nicates cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery? Hum! This fellow might be in 's time a great buyer of land, with his quemment a. statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, this recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt? will his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases, and double ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha? cover, peas Horatio. Not a jot more, my lord.

(صناع)

the end

all his freedo

Dafety

Hamlet. Is not parchment made of sheep-skins?
Horatio. Ay, my lord, and of calf-skins too.

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Hamlet. They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in that. I will speak to this fellow.—Whose grave ́s this, sirrah?

1 Clown. Mine, sir.

[Sings] O, a pit of clay for to be made

For such a guest is meet.

Hamlet. I think it be thine, indeed, for thou liest in 't. I Clown. You lie out on 't, sir, and therefore it is not yours; for my part, I do not lie in 't, and yet it is mine. Hamlet. Thou dost lie in 't, to be in 't and say it is thine; 't is for the dead, not for the quick: therefore thou liest. live 1 Clown. 'T is a quick lie, sir; 't will away again, from me to you.

Hamlet. What man dost thou dig it for?

I Clown. For no man, sir.

Hamlet. What woman, then?

1 Clown. For none, neither.

Hamlet. Who is to be buried in 't?

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I Clown. One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she 's dead.

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positive curtain Hamlet. How absolute the knave is! we must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I have taken a note of it; the age is refired grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.-How long hast thou been a grave-maker? chillblain.

1 Clown. Of all the days i' the year, I came to 't that day that our last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras. Hamlet. How long is that since?

I Clown. Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: it was the very day that young Hamlet was born; he that is mad, and sent into England.

Hamlet. Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?

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