Hamlet
[Footnote IV.23: _How well the wheel becomes it!_] This probably
means that the song or charm is well adapted to those who are
occupied at spinning at the wheel.]
[Footnote IV.24: _There's rosemary, that's for remembrance_;]
Rosemary was anciently supposed to strengthen the memory, and was
carried at funerals and wore at weddings. It was also considered
the emblem of fidelity in lovers; and at weddings it was usual to
dip the rosemary in the cup, and drink to the health of the new
married couple.]
[Footnote IV.25: _There is pansies_,] _i.e._, a little flower
called _heart's-ease_. Pansies in French signifies _thoughts_.]
[Footnote IV.26: _There's fennel for you, and columbines:_]
Fennel was considered an emblem of flattery, and columbine was
anciently supposed to be a _thankless flower_; signifying
probably that the courtiers flattered to get favours, and were
thankless after receiving them. Columbine was emblematical of
forsaken lovers.]
[Footnote IV.27: _There's rue for you; and here's some for
me:--we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays:_] Probably a
quibble is meant here, as _rue_ anciently signified the same as
_ruth_, _i.e._, sorrow. In the common dictionaries of
Shakespeare's time, it was called _herb of grace_. Ophelia wishes
to remind the Queen of the sorrow and contrition she ought to
feel for her unlawful marriage; and that she may wear her rue
with peculiar propriety on Sundays, when she solicits pardon for
the crime which she has so much occasion to _rue_ and repent
of.--MALONE.]
[Footnote IV.28: _You may wear your rue with a difference._]
_i.e._, to distinguish it from that worn by Ophelia, herself:
because her tears flowed from the loss of a father--those of the
Queen ought to flow for her guilt.]
[Footnote IV.29: _There's a daisy:_] A daisy signified a warning
to young women, not to trust the fair promises of their lovers.]
[Footnote IV.30: _I would give you some violets_,] Violets
signified faithfulness.]
[Footnote IV.31: _For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy,--_] Part
of an old song.]
[Footnote IV.32: _Thought and affliction_,] Thought here, as in
many other places, means melancholy.]
[Footnote IV.33: _I must commune with your grief_,] _i.e._,
confer, discuss, or argue with.]
[Footnote IV.34: _No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his
bones_,] Not only the sword, but the helmet, gauntlet, spurs, and
tabard, (_i.e._, a coat whereon the armorial ensigns were
anciently depicted, from whence the term _coat_ of armour), are
hung over the grave of every knight.]
[Footnote IV.35: _Cry to be heard_,] All these multiplied
incitements are things which cry, &c.]
[Footnote IV.36: _Let the great axe fall._] _i.e._, the axe that
is to be laid to the root.]
[Footnote IV.37: _Naked on your kingdom_,] _i.e._, unprovided and
defenceless.]
[Footnote IV.38: _'Tis Hamlet's character_,] Peculiar mode of
shaping his letters.]
[Footnote IV.39: _Made confession of_] Acknowledged.]
[Footnote IV.40: _In your defence_,] _i.e._, "in your art and
science of defence."]
[Footnote IV.41: _He, being remiss_,] _i.e._, unsuspicious, not
cautious.]
[Footnote IV.42: _Peruse the foils_;] Closely inspect them.]
[Footnote IV.43: _A sword unbated_,] Not blunted, as foils are by
a button fixed to the end.]
[Footnote IV.44: _In a pass of practice_,] This probably means
some favourite pass, some trick of fencing, with which Hamlet was
inexperienced, and by which Laertes may be sure of success.]
[Footnote IV.45: _No cataplasm_,] _i.e._, poultice--a healing
application.]
[Footnote IV.46: _Collected from all simples_,] _i.e._, from all
ingredients in medicine.]
[Footnote IV.47: _On your cunnings_,] _i.e._, on your dexterity.]
[Footnote IV.48: _In your motion_] Exercise, rapid evolutions.]
[Footnote IV.49: _For the nonce_;] _i.e._, present purpose or
design.]
[Footnote IV.50: _Venom'd stuck_,] Thrust. Stuck was a term of
the fencing school.]
[Footnote IV.51: _Long purples_,] One of the names for a species
of orchis, a common English flower.]
[Footnote IV.52: _Our trick:_] Our course, or habit; a property
that clings to, or makes a part of, us.]
[Footnote IV.53:
_When these are gone_,
_The woman will be out._]
When these tears are shed, this womanish passion will be over.]
[Footnote IV.54: _But that this folly drowns it._] _i.e._, my
rage had flamed, if this flood of tears had not extinguished it.]
ACT V.
SCENE I.--A CHURCH YARD.
_Enter two_ Clowns,[1] _with spades, &c._ (L.H.U.E.)
_1st Clo._ (R.) Is she to be buried in christian burial that wilfully
seeks her own salvation?
_2nd Clo._ (L.) I tell thee she is; therefore make her grave
straight:[2] the crowner[3] hath set on her, and finds it christian
burial.
_1st Clo._ How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own
defence?
_2nd Clo._ Why, 'tis found so.
_1st Clo._ It must be _se offendendo_;[4] it cannot be else. For 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:[5]
argal,[6] she drowned herself wittingly.
_2nd Clo._ Nay, but hear you, goodman delver.[7]
_1st Clo._ 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,[8] 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.
_2nd Clo._ But is this law?
_1st Clo._ Ay, marry is't; crowner's-quest law.[9]
_2nd Clo._ Will you ha' the truth on't? If this had not been a
gentlewoman, she should have been buried out of christian burial.
_1st Clo._ Why, there thou say'st:[10] And the more pity that great
folks should have countenance in this world to drown or hang
themselves, more than their even christian.[11] Come, my spade. There
is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers:
they hold up Adam's profession.
_2nd Clo._ Was he a gentleman?[12]
_1st Clo._ He was the first that ever bore arms. I'll put another
question to thee: if thou answerest me not to the purpose, confess
thyself----[13]
_2nd Clo._ Go to.
_1st Clo._ What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the
shipwright, or the carpenter?
_2nd Clo._ The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a thousand
tenants.
_1st Clo._ I like thy wit well, in good faith: the gallows 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.
_2nd Clo._ Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a
carpenter?
_1st Clo._ Ay, tell me that, and unyoke.[14]
_2nd Clo._ Marry, now I can tell.
_1st Clo._ To't.
_2nd Clo._ Mass, I cannot tell.
_1st Clo._ Cudgel thy brains no more about it,[15] 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, and fetch me a stoup of
liquor.[16]
[_Exit_ 2nd Clown, L.H.U.E.]
_Enter_ HAMLET _and_ HORATIO (L.H.U.E.)
First Clown _digs and sings._
_In youth, when I did love, did love_,[17]
_Methought, it was very sweet_,
_To contract, O, the time, for, ah, my behove_
_O, methought, there was nothing meet._
_Ham._
(_Behind the grave._)
Has this fellow no feeling of his business, he sings at grave-making?
_Hor._
(_On_ HAMLET'S R.)
Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.
_Ham._ 'Tis e'en so: the hand of little employment hath the daintier
sense.[18]
_1st Clo._
_But age, with his stealing steps_,
_Hath clawed me in his clutch_,
_And hath shipped me into the land_,
_As if I had never been such._
[_Throws up a skull._]
_Ham._ 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 murder! This might be the pate of a politician, which this
ass now o'er-reaches; one that would circumvent Heaven, might it not?
_Hor._ It might, my lord.
[_Gravedigger throws up bones._]
_Ham._ Did these bones cost no more the breeding, but to play at
loggats with them?[19] mine ache to think on't.
_1st Clo._
[_Sings._]
_A pick-axe and a spade, a spade_,
_For and a shrouding sheet:_[20]
_O, a pit of clay for to be made_
_For such a guest is meet._
[_Throws up a skull._
_Ham._ There's another: Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer?
Where be his quiddits now, his quillets,[21] his cases, his tenures,
and his tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him
about the sconce[22] with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of
his action of battery? I will speak to this fellow.--Whose grave's
this, sirrah?
_1st Clo._ Mine, sir.--
[_Sings._]
_O, a pit of clay for to be made_
_For such a guest is meet._
_Ham._ (R. _of grave._) I think it be thine, indeed; for thou liest
in't.
_1st Clo._ You lie out on't, sir, and therefore it is not yours: for
my part, I do not lie in't, yet it is mine.
_Ham._ Thou dost lie in't, to be in't, and say it is thine: 'tis for
the dead, not for the quick; therefore thou liest.
_1st. Clo._ 'Tis a quick lie, sir; 'twill away again, from me to you.
_Ham._ What man dost thou dig it for?
_1st Clo._ For no man, sir.
_Ham._ What woman, then?
_1st Clo._ For none, neither.
_Ham._ Who is to be buried in't?
_1st Clo._ One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she's dead.
_Ham._ How absolute the knave is![23] we must speak by the card,[24]
or equivocation will undo us,
[_To_ HORATIO, R.]
How long hast thou been a grave-maker?
_1st Clo._ Of all the days i'the year, I came to't that day that our
last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.
_Ham._ How long's that since?
_1st Clo._ Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: It was the
very day that young Hamlet was born,[25] he that is mad, and sent
into England.
_Ham._ Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?
_1st Clo._ Why, because he was mad: he shall recover his wits there;
or, if he do not, 'tis no great matter there.
_Ham._ Why?
_1st Clo._ 'Twill not be seen in him there; there the men are as mad
as he.
_Ham._ How came he mad?
_1st Clo._ Very strangely, they say.
_Ham._ How strangely?
_1st Clo._ 'Faith, e'en with losing his wits.
_Ham._ Upon what ground?
_1st Clo._ Why, here in Denmark: I have been sexton here, man and
boy, thirty years.
_Ham._ How long will a man lie i'the earth ere he rot?
_1st Clo._ 'Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, he will last
you some eight year or nine year: a tanner will last you nine year.
_Ham._ Why he more than another?
_1st Clo._ Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he
will keep out water a great while; and your water is a sore decayer
of your ill-begotten dead body. Here's a skull now, hath lain in the
earth three-and-twenty years.
_Ham._ Whose was it?
_1st Clo._ O, a mad fellow's it was: Whose do you think
it was?
_Ham._ Nay, I know not.
_1st Clo._ A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! he poured a flagon of
Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's skull,
the king's jester.
_Ham._ This?
[_Takes the skull._]
_1st Clo._ E'en that.