Was not like madness.

Σ

There's fomething in his foul,

O'er which his melancholy fits on brood;

And I doubt, the hatch and the disclose

Will be fome danger; which for to prevent
I have in quick determination.

Thus fet it down: He fhall with speed to England,

For the demand of our neglected tribute :
Haply the feas, and countries different,
With variable objects, fhall expel
This fomething settled matter in his
Whereon his brains ftill beating,
From fashion of himself. What

Pol. It shall do well. But yet

heart,

puts him thus

b

think you on 't?

do I believe,

The origin and commencement of his grief
Sprung from neglected love. How now, Ophelia?
You need not tell us what lord Hamlet faid;
We heard it all. My lord, do as you please.
But if you hold it fit, after the play

Let his queen-mother all alone entreat him

f

To fhew his grief; let her be round with him,
And I'll be plac'd, fo please you, in the ear
Of all their conference. If fhe find him not,

x P. alters this to, Something's in bis foul, &c. followed by all the editors after him, but C.

y So the qu's and C. The 1ft and ad fo's have omitted for; the 3d and 4th fo's fupply boru inftead thereof; and are followed by the other editors.

2 The 2d and 3d qu's omit it.
a Firft and ad qu's, bart. So S. but

gives not the reading of 3d, beart.

b S. reads tinke.

The 3d q. reads I doe.

d So the ift q. and C. The fo's and the rest read this grief. The ad and 3d qu's read it for bis grief.

e Here T. gives this direction [Exit Ophelia. Followed by the editors after him, except H. and C.

f The fo's and all editions after, exeept C, read griefs.

Το

To England fend him; or confine him, where

Your wifdom beft fhall think.

King. It fhall be fo.

Madness in great ones muft not & unwatch'd go.

[Exeunt.

hSCENE IV.

Enter Hamlet and three of the Players.

о

Ham. Speak the fpeech, I pray you, as I pronounc'd it to you, trippingly on the tongue. But if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as m lieve the town-crier fpoke 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) P whirlwind of your paffion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it fmoothness. Oh! it offends me to the foul, to

hear a ro

tatters, to

buftious periwig-pated fellow tear a paffion to very rags; to fplit the ears of the groundlings; who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb fhews, and noise: I would have fuch a fellow whipt for

o'erdoing Termagant, it out-herods Herod; pray you avoid it.

Play. I warrant your honour.

W

Ham. Be not too tame neither; but let your own difcre→ tion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special obfervance that you' o'erftep not the modefty of nature; for any thing fo" overdone is from the purpose of playing; whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature; to fhew Virtue her own feature, Scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the Time, his form and preffure. Now this over-done, or come tardy off, though it make the unfkilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the cenfure of which one, muft in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. Oh there be players that I have feen play, and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it prophanely, that [neither having the action of f chriftians, nor the gait of chriftian, pagan, nor man,] have fo ftrutted and bellow'd, that I have thought fome of Nature's journey-men had made men,

h

The fo's and R. read o'erftop. u Firft and 2d qu's, ore-doone. w The 3d q. omits the.

x The qu's and C. omit can before feature.

y J. fays the age of the time can hardly pafs; and therefore propofes, either face, or page, instead of age. But I be lieve nobody but himfelf would have any objection to the words as they ftand.

z Second q. trady.

a The qu's and C. makes.

d

c The 1ft f. had fpelt this, o're-way} the 2d, 3d and 4th, make it are fway; fo R. P. and H.

The 1ft and ad qu's read praysd (which reading only S. gives) the 3d q. and the other editions read praise.

e W. is of opinion that the words between the crotchets are a foolish interpolation.

f P. alters this to chriftian, followed by all but C.

g R. and P. read or.

h P. H. and J. or. The fo's and R.

b. H, alters this to, of one of which, read, or Norman.

and

and not made them well; they imitated humanity fo1 abominably.

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

m

Ham. Oh, reform it altogether. And let those that play your clowns, fpeak no more than is fet down for them: For there be of them that will themfelves 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, fhews a most pitiful ambition in the fool that ufes it. Go make you ready.

n

[Exeunt Players.

• Enter Polonius, Rofencraus, 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.

Willou two help to haften them?
Rof. Ay, my lord.

P [Exit Polonius.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Enter Horatio to Hamlet.

Ham. What, ho, Horatio!

Hor. Here, fweet lord, at your fervice. Ham. Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man, my conversation cop'd withal.

As e'er

Ham. Nay, do not think I flatter:

For what advancement may I hope from thee,
Thou no revenue haft, but thy good spirits,

t

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

And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,

Where thrift may follow fawning. Doft thou hear?
Since my z dear foul was mistress of a her choice
And could of men diftinguish her election,
Sh'ath feal'd thee for herself; for thou haft been
As one, in fuffering all, that fuffers nothing;
A man, that fortune's buffets and rewards

r First q. bowe; 2d, bow; zd, boe. only reading. First, 2d and 3d fo's, boa.

y The 1ft, 2d and 3d fo's, read, fain

• Qu's, copt; fo's, R. P. T. and W, ing; the 4th f. and R. feigning. coap'd.

First and 2d qu's, reuenew; 1st and

2d fo's, revennerv.

z J. conjectures this might be clear.
a The fo's read my instead of ber.
b So the qu's. The fo's, R. and the

u P. and the editors, except C, after reft read, him, omit Way.

w The fo's, like.

The ad q. obfurd; which is S.'s

And could of men diftinguish, ber election
Hath feal'd thee for berfelf, &c.

The 3d and 4th fo's read fortune.
d Haft