King. Go seek him there.

[To some Attendants. Hamlet. He will stay till ye come. [Exeunt Attendants. King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,— Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve

For that which thou hast done,-must send thee hence
With fiery quickness; therefore prepare thyself.
The bark is ready, and the wind at help,
The associates tend, and every thing is bent

For England.

45

King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. Hamlet. I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for England! Farewell, dear mother.

King. Thy loving father, Hamlet.

50

Hamlet. My mother; father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!

[Exit. King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed abroad.

Delay it not. I'll have him hence to-night.

Away! for every thing is seal'd and done

55

That else leans on the affair. Pray you, make haste.

[Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.

And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught-
As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe°
Pays homage to us-thou mayst not coldly set°
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,

The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
For like the hectic° in my blood he rages,

And thou must cure me. Till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.

60

65

[Exit.

SCENE IV. A Plain in Denmark

Enter FORTINBRAS, a Captain, and Soldiers, marching

Fortinbras. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king.

Tell him that, by his license, Fortinbras

Claims the conveyance of a promis'd march
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
If that his majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his eye;°
And let him know so.

5

Hamlet. Good sir, whose powers are these?

Captain. They are of Norway, sir.

Hamlet. How purpos'd, sir, I pray you?
Captain. Against some part of Poland.

Hamlet. Who commands them, sir?

ΤΟ

Captain. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. Hamlet. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir, 15 Or for some frontier?

Captain. Truly to speak, and with no addition,

We go to gain a little patch of ground

That hath in it no profit but the name.

To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole

A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.

20

Hamlet. Why, then the Polack never will defend it. Captain. Yes, it is already garrison'd.

Hamlet. Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats

Will not debate the question of this straw.

25

This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace, That inward breaks, and shows no cause without Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir. Captain. God be wi' you, sir.

Rosencrantz.

[Exit.

30

Will't please you go, my lord? Hamlet. I'll be with you straight. Go a little before. [Exeunt all except HAMLET.

How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market° of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,°
Looking before and after, gave us not

That capability and god-like reason

To fusto in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple

Of thinking too precisely on the event,

35

40

A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward, I do not know
Why yet I live to say "This thing's to do,"

Sith I have cause and will and strength and means 45
Tó do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me.
Witness this army of such mass and charge

Led by a delicate and tender prince,

Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd

Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure

To all that fortune, death and danger dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw

When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep, while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,°

Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent°
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

SCENE V. Elsinore. A Room in the Castle

Enter QUEEN, HORATIO, and a Gentleman

Queen. I will not speak with her.

50

55

60

65 [Exit.

Gentleman. She is importunate, indeed distract: Her mood will° needs be piti'd.