Queen. Alas! he's mad.

[chide, Ham. Do you not come your tardy son to That, laps'd in time and paffion, lets go by Th'important acting of your dread command? O, fay-

Ghoft. Do not forget: this vifitation Is but to whet thy almoft blunted purpofe. But, look! amazement on thy mother fits: Oftep between her and her fighting foul! Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works; Speak to her, Hamlet.

Ham. How is it with you, Lady?
Queen. Alas! how is it with you?
That you do bend your eye on vacancy,
Andwith the incorporeal air do hold difcourfe?
Forth at your eyes your fpirits wildly peep;
And, asthe fleeping foldiers in the alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up and ftands on end. O, gentle fon,
Upon the heat and flame of thy diftemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
Ham. On him I on him! look you, how
pale he glares 1
[ftones,
His form and caufe conjoin'd, preaching to
Would make them capable. Do not look on me,
Left, with this piteous action, you convert
My ftern effects: then, what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears, perchance, for
Queen. To whom do you speak this? [blood.
Ham. Do you fee nothing there?
Pointing to the Ghoft.
Queen. Nothing at all; yet all, that is,I fee.
Ham. Nor did you nothing hear?
Queen. No, nothing, but ourselves.
Ham. Why, look you there! look how it
fteals away!

My father, in his habit as he liv'd!
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the
portal.
Exit Ghoft.
Queen. This is the very coinage of your brain:
This bodilefs creation ecftafy
Is very cunning in.

Ham. Ecftafy!

Mypulfe,as yours,doth temperatelykeeptime, And makes as healthful mufic: it is not mad. That I have utter'd: bring me to the teft,[ness And I the matter will re-word: which madnefs Wouldgambol from, Mother, for love of grace, Lay not that flattering unction to your foul. That not your trefpafs, but my madness speaks: It will but skin and film the ulcerous place; Whiles rank corruption, mining all within, Infects unfeen.-Confefs yourself to heaven; Repent what's past; avoid what is to come. Queen. O Hamlet! thou haft cleft my heart in twain.

Ham. O, throw away the worfer part of it, And leave the purer with the other half. Good night: but go not to my uncle's bed: Affume à virtue, if you have it not. That monster cuftom, who all fenfe doth eat Of habit's devil, is angel yet in this; That to the ufe of actions fair and good He likewife gives a frock, or livery, That aptly is put on: refrain to-night; And that thall lend a kind of,eatinefs.. To the next abftinece: the next more eafy:

Forufe can almost change the ftamp of nature, And either curb the devil or throw him out With wondrous potency. Once more, goodnight!

And when you are defirous to be blest, I'll bleffing beg of you. [do;

Queen. What thall I do?

Ham. Not this, by no means, that I bid you Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed; Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you hit mouse;

And let him for a pair of reechy kiffes,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fin
Make you to ravel all this matter out,fgers,
That I effentially am not in madness, [know,
But mad in craft. 'Twere good, you let him
Queen. Be thou affur'd, if words be made of

breath,

And breath of life, I have no life to breathe What thou haft faid to me.

Ham. I muft to England, you know that? Queen Alack, I had forgot; 'Tis fo concluded on.

Ham. There's letters feal'd; and my two schoolfellows,

Whom I will truft, as I will adders fang', They bear the mandate; they muffweep my way,

And mar fhal me to knavery: let it work; For 'tis the fport, to have the engineer Hoift with his own petar: and it hall go hard, But I will delve one yard below their mine, And blow them at the moon.

Hamlet's Reflection on his own Irrefolution. How all occafions do inform against me, And fpur my dull revenge; What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time Be but to fleep and feed a beaft, no more. Sure, he, that made us with luch large dif Looking before, and after, gave us not courfe, That capability and god-like reason To fuft in us unus'd: now, whether it be Bestial oblivion, or fome craven fcruple Of thinking too precifely on the event, A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom,

And ever three parts coward-I do not know Why yet I live to fay, this thing's to do; Sith I have caufe, and will, and strength,and

means,

Whelton

Let him go,Gertrude; do not fear our perfon: There's fuch divinity doth hedge a king, That treafon can but peep to what it would, A&t little of his will.

Defcription of Ophelia's Drowning. There is a willow grows afcaunt the brook, That fhews his hoar leaves in the glaffy stream; Therewith fantastic garlands did the make, Of crow-flowers, nettles, daifies, and long purples,

them:

That liberal thepherds give a groffer name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call
[weeds
There on the pendant boughs her coronet
Clambering to hang, an envious fliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself,
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread
wide

And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time the chanted fnatches of old tunes,
As one incapable of her own diftrefs,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element; but long it could not be,
Till that her garments heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.

A fpotlefs Virgin buried.

Lay her i'the earth; And from her fair and unpolluted flesh May violets fpring! I tell thee,churlish priest, A minift'ring angel fhall my fifter be, When thou lieft howling.

Melancholy.

This is mere madness: And thus awhile the fit will work on him; Anon, as patient as the female dove, When firft her golden couplets are difclos'd, His filence will fit drooping.

Providence directs our Ations.

And that should teach us, There's a Divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will.

A Health.

Peace after civil War.

So fhaken as we are, fo wan with care,

No more fhall trenching war channel her fields;
Nor bruife her flowrets with the armed hoofs
Of hoftile paces: Thofe oppofed eyes,
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven,
All of one nature, of one fubftance bred—
Did lately meet in the inteftine shock
And furious clofe of civil butchery,
Shall now, in mutual, well-befeeming ranks,
March all one way: and be no more oppos'd
Against acquaintance, kindred, and allies:
The edge of war, like an ill-fheathed knife,
No more fhall cut his master.
King Henry's Character of Percy, and of his Son
Prince Henry.

Yea, there thou mak'ft me fad, and mak'st
In envy that my lord Northumberland [me fin
Should be the father of fo bleft a fon:

A fon, who is the theme of honour's tongue :
Amongst a grove the very ftraightest plant;
Who is fweet fortune's minion, and her pride:
Whilft I, by looking on the praife of him,
See riot and difhonour stain the brow
Of my young Harry.

Prince Henry's Soliloquy.

I know you all, and will awhile uphold
The unyok'd humour of your idleness:
Yet herein will I imitate the fun,
Who doth permit the bafe contagious clouds
To fmother up his beauty from the world;
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may more be wonder'd at,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mifts
Of vapours that did feem to ftrangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To fport would be as tedious as to work;
But, when they feldom come, they wish'd-for
come,

And nothing pleafeth but rare accidents.
So, when this loose behaviour I throw off,
And pay the debt I never promis'd;
By how much better than my word I am,
By fo much shall I falfify men's hopes;
And, like bright metal on a fullen ground,
My reformation, glitt'ring o'er my fault,
Shall fhew more goodly, and attract more eyes,
Than that which hath no foil to fet it off,
I'll fo offend, to make offence a skill;
Redeeming time, when men think least I will.

Hotfpur's Defcription of a finical Courtier. But, I remember, when the fight was done, When I was dry with rage and extreme toil, Breathlefs and faint, leaning upon my fword, Came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly dreft: [reap'd,

Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin, new-
Shew'd like a ftuble land at harveft-home:
He was perfumed like a milliner;
And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held
A pouncet box, which ever and anon
He gave his nofe, and took't away again :-
Who, therewith angry, when it next came
there,
[talk'd,
Took it in fnuff.-And still he fmil'd, and
And, as the foldiers' bare dead bodies by,

He

[cold,

To bring a flovenly unhandfome corfe
Betwixt the wind and his nobility.
With many holiday and lady terms
He queftion'd me, amongst the rest,demanded
My prifoners, in your majefty's behalf.
I then, all fmarting with iny wounds, being
To be fo pefter'd with a popinjay,
Out of my grief and my impatience
Anfwer'd neglectingly I know not what;
Hefhould or hefhouldnot; for he made me mad,
To fee him fhine fo brifk, and fmell fo fweet,
And talk fo like a waiting gentlewoman,
Of guns, and drums, and wounds(God fave
the mark!),

And telling me the fovereign'ft thing on earth
Was parmacity, for an inward bruife;
And that it was great pity, fo it was,
That villainous falt-petre fhould be digg'd
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had deftroy'd
So cowardly; and, but for thefe vile guns,
He would himfelf have been a foldier.

Danger.

I'll read your matter deep and dangerous; As full of peril and advent'rous fpirit, As to o'erwalk a current, roaring loud, On the unfteadfast footing of a fpear. Honour.

By heaven, methinks it were aneafy leap, To pluck bright honour from the pale-fac'd Or dive into the bottom of the deep, [moon; Where fathom line could never touch the ground,

And pluck up drowned honour by the locks;
So he thatdoth redeem her thence, might wear
Without co-rival all her dignities.
But out upon this half fac'd fellowship!

Lady Percy's pathetic Speech to her Husband.
O my good ford, why are you thus alone?
For what offence have I, this fortnight, been
A banish'd woman from my Harry's bed?
Tell me, fweet lord, what is't takes from

thee

Thy ftomach, pleasure, and thy golden fleep?
Whydoft thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,
And start fo often when thou fitt'st alone?
Whyhaftthou loft the fresh blood in thy cheeks?
And giv'n my treasures, and my rights of thee,
To thick ey'd mufing, and curs'd melancholy?
In thy faint flumbers I by thee have watch'd,
And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars:
Speak terms of manage to thy bounding fteed;
Cry, "Courage! to the field!" and thou haft
Of fallies, and retires; of trenches, tents,[talk'd
Of pallifadoes, frontiers, parapets;
Of bafilifks, of cannon, culverin;
Of prifoners' ranfom, and of foldiers flain,
And all the currents of a heady fight.
Thy fpirit within thee hath been fo at war,
And thus hath fo beftirr'd thee in thy fleep,
That beads of fweat have ftood upon thy brow,

Like bubbles in a late difturbed stream:
And in thy face ftrange motions have appear'd,
Suchas we fee when men restrain their breath

are these?

Some heavy bufinefs hath my lord in hand, And I must know it, elfe he loves me not. Prodigies ridiculed.

I cannot blame him: at my nativity, The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes, Of burning creffets, and, at my birth, The frame and huge foundation of the earth Shak'd like a coward.

Hot. Why fo it would have done
At the fame feafon, if your mother's cat
Had kitten'd--tho'yourfelfhadne'erbeenbora
Difeafed nature oftentimes breaks forth
In ftrange eruptions: oft the teeming earth
Is with a kind of cholic pinch'd and vex'd,
By the imprifoning of unruly wind
Within her womb; which, for enlargement
ftriving,

Shakes the old beldame earth, and topples
Steeples, and mofs-grown towers.
[down
On miferable Rhymers.

I had rather be a kitten, and cry-mew,
Than one of these fame metre-ballad mongers;
I had rather hear a brazen cansfick turn'd,
Or a dry wheel grate on the axle-tree;
And that would fet my teeth nothing onedg
Nothing fo much as mincing poetry;
'Tis like the forc'd gait of a shuffling nag
Punctuality in Bargain.

To any well-deferving friend;
I'll give thrice fo much land
But, in the way of bargain, mark ye me,
Ill cavil on the ninth part of a hair.

A Hufband fung to Sleep by a fair Wif
She bids you
Upon the wanton rushes lay you down,
And reft your gentle head upon her lap,
And he will ung the fong that pleafeth you
And on your eye-lids crown the god of fleep.
Charming your blood with pleafing heavinet
Making fuch difference 'twixt wake and beep,
As is the difference betwixt day and night,
The hour before the heavenly harness'd tea
Begins his golden progrefs in the caft.

King Henry the IVth to his Son. Had I fo lavish of my presence been, So common hackney'd in the eyes of men, So ftale and cheap to vulgar company, Opinion, that did help me to the crown, Had still kept loyal to poffeffion; And left me in reputelefs banishment, A fellow of no mark or likelihood. By being feldom feen, I could not ftir, But, like a comet, I was wondered at: [he." That men would tell their children; "This is Others would fay, "Where? which is Bo

linbroke?"

And then I ftole all courtefy from heaven,
And drefs'd myself in fuch humility,
That I didpluck allegiance from men's hearts,
Loud fhouts and falutationsfrom their mouths,
Even in the prefence of the crowned king.
Thus did I keep my perfon fresh and new;
My prefence, like a robe pontifical,

Neer

Ne'er feen but wondered at: and fo my ftate,
Seldom, but fumptuous, thewed like a feaft;
And won, by rarenefs, fuch folemnity.
The fkipping king, he ambled up and down
With thallow jetters, and rath bavin wits,
Scunkindled, and foon burned: 'carded his
Mingled his royaltywith capering fools; [ftate;
Had his great name profaned with their fcorns;
And gave his countenance against his name,
To laugh at gibing boys, and ftand the push
Of every beardlefs vain comparative:
Grew a companion to the common streets,
Enfeoffed him elf to popularity:
That, being daily fwallowed by men's eyes,
They furfeited with honey; and began
To loath the taste of sweetness, whereof a little
More than a little is by much too much.
So, when he had occafion to be seen,
lie was but as the cuckow is in June,
Heard,not regarded; feen, but with fuch eyes,
As, fick and blunted with community,
Afferd no extraordinary gaze,
Such as is bent on fun-like majefty
When it fhines feldom in admiring eyes:
But rather drows'd, and hung their eye-lids
down,

Slept in his face, and rendered fuch afpect
Ascloudy men ufe to their adverfaries; [full.
Being with his prefence glutted, gorg'd, and
Prince Henry's modeft Defence of himself.

-God forgive them, that fo much have fway'd

Your Majefty's good thoughts away from me!
1 will redeem all this on Percy's head,
And, in the clofing of fome glorious day,
Be bold to tell you that I am your fon;
When I will wear a garment all of blood,
And ftain my favours in a bloody mask,
Which, wash'd away, fhall fcour my fhame
with it..

And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,
That this fame child of honour and renown,
This gallant Hotspur, this all-praifed knight,
And your unthought of Harrychance to meet:
For ev'ry honour fitting on his.hehn,
Would they were multitudes; and on my head
My fhames redoubled; for the time will come
That I shall make this northern youth ex-
His glorious deeds for my indignities. [change
Percy is but my factor, good my lord,
To engrofs up glorious deeds on my behalf;
And I will call him to so strict account,
That he shall render every glory up,
Yea, even the flighteft worthip of his time,
Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart.
This, in the name of God, I promise here:
The which, if he be pleas'd I fhall perform,
I do befeech your majefty may falve
The long grown wounds of my intemperance:
If not, the end of life cancels all bonds;

And I will die a hundred thousand deaths,
Ere break the fmallest parcel of this vow.
Gallant Warrior.

I faw young Harry-with his beaver on,

They come like facrifices in their trim,
And to the fire-eyed maid of fmoky war,
All hot and bleeding, will we offer them:
The mailed Mars fhall on his altar fit,
Up to the ears in blood. I am on fire,
To hear this rich reprifal is fo nigh,
And yet not ours: Come, let me take my horfe,
Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt,
Against the bofom of the Prince of Wales:
Harry to Harry fhall, not horfe to horse,
Meet, and ne'er part, till one drop down a
O, that Glendower were come!

I

Prince Henry's modeft Challenge. -Tell your nephew,

[corfe.

[world The Prince of Wales doth join with all the In praife of Henry Percy: by my hopesThis prefent enterprise fet off his headI do not think, a braver gentleman, More active-valiant, or more valiant, young More daring, or more bold, is now alive, To grace this latter age with noble deeds. For my part, I fpeak it to my shame, I have a truant been to chivalry; And fo I hear he doth account me too: Yet this before my father's majeftyI am content that he thall take the odds Of his great name and eftimation; And will, to fave the blood on either fide, Try fortune with him in a fingle fight. Prince Henry's pathetic Speech on the Death of Hot/pur.

-Brave Percy:-fare thee well, great heart! Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou fhrunk !

When that this body did contain a fpirit,
A kingdom for it was too fmall a bound;
But now, two paces of the vileft earth
Is room enough:-This earth that bears thee
Bears not alive, fo ftout a gentleman. [dead,
If thou wert fenfible of courtefy,

fhould not make fo dear a fhow of zeal :-
But let my favours hide thy mangled face;
And, even in thy behalf, I'll thank myself,
For doing thefe fair rites of tenderness. [ven!
Adieu, and take thy praife with thee to hea
Thy ignominy fleep with thee in the grave,
But not remember'd in thy epitaph!
Life demands Action.

O, gentlemen, the time of life is fhort;
Tofpend that shortnefs bafely, were too long.
It life did ride upon a dial's point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour.

§ 20. THE SCOND PART OF HENRY IV.

SHAKSPEARE.

Prologue. Rumour..

Kite from the ground, like feather'd Mercury, And vaulted with fuch eafe into his feat,

Stuffing