favours she must come; make her laugh at that.Pr'ythee, Horatio, tell me one thing.

Hor. What's that, my lord?

Ham. Dost thou think, Alexander looked o'this

fashion i'the earth?

Hor. E'en so.

Ham. And smelt so? pah!

Hor. E'en so, my lord.

[Throws down the Scull.

Ham. To what base uses we may return, Horatio! Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping a bung-hole?

Hor. 'Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so.

Ham. No, faith, not a jot; but to follow him thither with modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it: As thus; Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam: And why of that loam, whereto he was converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel?

Imperious Cæsar, dead, and turn'd to clay, Might stop a hole to keep the wind away: O, that the earth, which kept the world in awe, Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw! But soft! but soft! aside;-Here comes the king,

Enter Priests, &c. in Procession; the Corpse of OPHELIA, LAERTES and Mourners following; King, Queen, their Trains, &c.

The queen, the courtiers: Who is this they follow? And with such maimed rites! This doth betoken, The corse, they follow, did with desperate hand

to this favour-] i. e. to this countenance or complexion. winter's flaw!] Winter's blast.

maimed rites!] Imperfect obsequies.

Fordo its own life. "Twas of some estate:

Couch we a while, and mark.

A

[Retiring with HORATIO.

That is Laertes,

Laer. What ceremony else?

Ham.

very noble youth: Mark. Laer. What ceremony else?

1 Priest. Her obsequies have been as far enlarg'd As we have warranty: Her death was doubtful; And, but that great command o'ersways the order, She should in ground unsanctified have lodg'd Till the last trumpet; for charitable prayers, Shards, flints, and pebbles, should be thrown on

her,

2

Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants,2
Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home
Of bell and burial.

Laer. Must there no more be done?
1 Priest.

No more be done!

We should profane the service of the dead,
To sing a requiem,3 and such rest to her
As to peace-parted souls.

Laer.

Lay her i'the earth;

And from her fair and unpolluted flesh,

May violets spring!--I tell thee, churlish priest,
A minist'ring angel shall my sister be,
When thou liest howling.

9

Ham.

What, the fair Ophelia!

[Scattering Flowers.

Queen. Sweets to the sweet: Farewell!

Fordo its own life.] To fordo is to undo, to destroy.

some estate:] Some person of high rank.

Shards,] i. e. broken pots or tiles, called pot-sherds, tilesherds.

2

allow'd her virgin crants,] Evidently corrupted from chants, which is the true word.

3 To sing a requiem,] A requiem, is a mass performed in Popish churches for the rest of the soul of a person deceased.

I hop'd, thou should'st have been my Hamlet's wife; I thought, thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid, And not have strew'd thy grave.

Laer. O, treble woe Fall ten times treble on that cursed head, Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense Depriv'd thee of!-Hold off the earth a while, Till I have caught her once more in mine arms: [Leaps into the Grave. Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead; Till of this flat a mountain you have made, To o'er-top old Pelion, or the skyish head Of blue Olympus.

Ham. [Advancing.] What is he, whose grief Bears such an emphasis? whose phrase of sorrow Conjures the wand'ring stars, and makes them stand Like wonder-wounded hearers? this is I,

Hamlet the Dane.

Laer.

[Leaps into the Grave.

[Grappling with him.

The devil take thy soul!

Ham. Thou pray'st not well.

I pr'ythee, take thy fingers from my throat;
For, though I am not splenetive and rash,
Yet have I in me something dangerous,

Which let thy wisdom fear: Hold off thy hand.
King. Pluck them asunder.

Queen.

All. Gentlemen,

Hor.

Hamlet, Hamlet!

Good my lord, be quiet.

[The Attendants part them, and they come out of the Grave.

Ham. Why, I will fight with him upon this theme, Until my eyelids will no longer wag.

Queen. O my son! what theme?

Ham. I lov'd Ophelia; forty thousand brothers

Could not, with all their quantity of love
Make up my sum.-What wilt thou do for her?

King. O, he is mad, Laertes.

Queen. For love of God, forbear him.
Ham. 'Zounds, show me what thou❜lt do:
Woul't weep? woul't fight? woul't fast? woul't tear
thyself?

Woul't drink up Esil ? eat a crocodile?
I'll do't.-Dost thou come here to whine?
To outface me with leaping in her grave?
Be buried quick with her, and so will I:
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us; till our ground,
Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.

Queen.
This is mere madness:
And thus a while the fit will work on him;
Anon, as patient as the female dove,

When that her golden couplets are disclos'd,
His silence will sit drooping.

Ham.

Hear you, sir;
What is the reason that you use me thus?
I lov'd you ever: But it is no matter;
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.

[Exit.

King. I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon

him.

[Exit HORATIO.

Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;

[To LAERTES. We'll put the matter to the present push.Good Gertrude set some watch over your son.This grave shall have a living monument:

4 Woul't drink up Esil?] This is understood by some of the commentators to mean a river so called, or to mean only vinegar. "When that her golden couplets are disclos'd,] To disclose was anciently used for to hatch.

An hour of quiet shortly shall we see;
Till then, in patience our proceeding be.

SCENE II.

A Hall in the Castle.

Enter HAMLET and HORATIO.

[Exeunt.

Ham. So much for this, sir: now shall you see the other ;

You do remember all the circumstance?

Hor. Remember it, my lord!

Ham. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting, That would not let me sleep: methought, I lay Worse than the mutines in the bilboes.

Rashly, And prais'd be rashness for it,-Let us know, Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well,

When our deep plots do pall; and that should teach us,

mutines in the bilboes.] Mutines, the French word for seditious or disobedient fellows in the army or fleet.

The bilboes is a bar of iron with fetters annexed to it, by which mutinous or disorderly sailors were anciently linked together. The word is derived from Bilboa, a place in Spain where instruments of steel were fabricated in the utmost perfection. To understand Shakspeare's allusion completely, it should be known, that as these fetters connect the legs of the offenders very close together, their attempts to rest must be as fruitless as those of Hamlet, in whose mind there was a kind of fighting that would not let him sleep. Every motion of one must disturb his partner in confinement. The bilboes are still shown in the Tower of London, among other spoils of the Spanish Armada.

And prais'd be rashness for it,—Let us know,
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well,

the

When, &c.] Hamlet delivering an account of his escape, begins with saying-That he rashly--and then is carried into a reflection upon the weakness of human wisdom. I rashlypraised be rashness for it-Let us not think these events casual,