Reading Help HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK
Ham. `
` That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once: how the `
` knave jowls it to the ground,as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that `
` did the first murder! This might be the pate of a politician, `
` which this ass now o'erreaches; one that would circumvent God, `
` might it not? `
` `
` Hor. `
` It might, my lord. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Or of a courtier, which could say 'Good morrow, sweet lord! `
` How dost thou, good lord?' This might be my lord such-a-one, that `
` praised my lord such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg `
` it,--might it not? `
` `
` Hor. `
` Ay, my lord. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Why, e'en so: and now my Lady Worm's; chapless, and knocked `
` about the mazard with a sexton's spade: here's fine revolution, `
` an we had the trick to see't. Did these bones cost no more the `
` breeding but to play at loggets with 'em? mine ache to think `
` on't. `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` [Sings.] `
` A pickaxe and a spade, a spade, `
` For and a shrouding sheet; `
` O, a pit of clay for to be made `
` For such a guest is meet. `
` `
` [Throws up another skull]. `
` `
` Ham. `
` There's another: why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? `
` Where be his quiddits now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, `
` and his tricks? why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock `
` him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him `
` of his action of battery? Hum! This fellow might be in's time a `
` great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his `
` fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries: is this the fine of `
` his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine `
` pate full of fine dirt? will his vouchers vouch him no more of `
` his purchases, and double ones too, than the length and breadth `
` of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his lands will `
` scarcely lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself have no `
` more, ha? `
` `
` Hor. `
` Not a jot more, my lord. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Is not parchment made of sheep-skins? `
` `
` Hor. `
` Ay, my lord, And of calf-skins too. `
` `
` Ham. `
` They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in that. I `
` will speak to this fellow.--Whose grave's this, sir? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Mine, sir. `
` [Sings.] `
` O, a pit of clay for to be made `
` For such a guest is meet. `
` `
` Ham. `
` I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in't. `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` You lie out on't, sir, and therefore 'tis 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. `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` 'Tis a quick lie, sir; 't will away again from me to you. `
` `
` Ham. `
` What man dost thou dig it for? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` For no man, sir. `
` `
` Ham. `
` What woman then? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` For none neither. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Who is to be buried in't? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she's dead. `
` `
` Ham. `
` How absolute the knave is! We must speak by the card, or `
` equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three `
` years I have taken note of it, the age is grown so picked that `
` the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he `
` galls his kibe.--How long hast thou been a grave-maker? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Of all the days i' the year, I came to't that day that our `
` last King Hamlet overcame Fortinbras. `
` `
` Ham. `
` How long is that since? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: it was the `
` very day that young Hamlet was born,--he that is mad, and sent `
` into England. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Ay, marry, why was be sent into England? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Why, because he was mad: he shall recover his wits there; `
` or, if he do not, it's no great matter there. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Why? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` 'Twill not he seen in him there; there the men are as mad as he. `
` `
` Ham. `
` How came he mad? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Very strangely, they say. `
` `
` Ham. `
` How strangely? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Faith, e'en with losing his wits. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Upon what ground? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` 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? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Faith, if he be not rotten before he die,--as we have many `
` pocky corses now-a-days that will scarce hold the laying in,--he `
` will last you some eight year or nine year: a tanner will last `
` you nine year. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Why he more than another? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Why, sir, his hide is so tann'd with his trade that he will `
` keep out water a great while; and your water is a sore decayer of `
` your whoreson dead body. Here's a skull now; this skull hath lain `
` in the earth three-and-twenty years. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Whose was it? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` A whoreson, mad fellow's it was: whose do you think it was? `
` `
` Ham. `
` Nay, I know not. `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! 'a pour'd a flagon of `
` Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's `
` skull, the king's jester. `
` `
` Ham. `
` This? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` E'en that. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Let me see. [Takes the skull.] Alas, poor Yorick!--I knew him, `
` Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he `
` hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred `
` in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at it. Here hung those `
` lips that I have kiss'd I know not how oft. Where be your gibes `
` now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that `
` were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your `
` own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now, get you to my lady's `
` chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this `
` favour she must come; make her laugh at that.--Pr'ythee, Horatio, `
`
` That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once: how the `
` knave jowls it to the ground,as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that `
` did the first murder! This might be the pate of a politician, `
` which this ass now o'erreaches; one that would circumvent God, `
` might it not? `
` `
` Hor. `
` It might, my lord. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Or of a courtier, which could say 'Good morrow, sweet lord! `
` How dost thou, good lord?' This might be my lord such-a-one, that `
` praised my lord such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg `
` it,--might it not? `
` `
` Hor. `
` Ay, my lord. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Why, e'en so: and now my Lady Worm's; chapless, and knocked `
` about the mazard with a sexton's spade: here's fine revolution, `
` an we had the trick to see't. Did these bones cost no more the `
` breeding but to play at loggets with 'em? mine ache to think `
` on't. `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` [Sings.] `
` A pickaxe and a spade, a spade, `
` For and a shrouding sheet; `
` O, a pit of clay for to be made `
` For such a guest is meet. `
` `
` [Throws up another skull]. `
` `
` Ham. `
` There's another: why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? `
` Where be his quiddits now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, `
` and his tricks? why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock `
` him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him `
` of his action of battery? Hum! This fellow might be in's time a `
` great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his `
` fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries: is this the fine of `
` his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine `
` pate full of fine dirt? will his vouchers vouch him no more of `
` his purchases, and double ones too, than the length and breadth `
` of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his lands will `
` scarcely lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself have no `
` more, ha? `
` `
` Hor. `
` Not a jot more, my lord. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Is not parchment made of sheep-skins? `
` `
` Hor. `
` Ay, my lord, And of calf-skins too. `
` `
` Ham. `
` They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in that. I `
` will speak to this fellow.--Whose grave's this, sir? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Mine, sir. `
` [Sings.] `
` O, a pit of clay for to be made `
` For such a guest is meet. `
` `
` Ham. `
` I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in't. `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` You lie out on't, sir, and therefore 'tis 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. `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` 'Tis a quick lie, sir; 't will away again from me to you. `
` `
` Ham. `
` What man dost thou dig it for? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` For no man, sir. `
` `
` Ham. `
` What woman then? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` For none neither. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Who is to be buried in't? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she's dead. `
` `
` Ham. `
` How absolute the knave is! We must speak by the card, or `
` equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three `
` years I have taken note of it, the age is grown so picked that `
` the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he `
` galls his kibe.--How long hast thou been a grave-maker? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Of all the days i' the year, I came to't that day that our `
` last King Hamlet overcame Fortinbras. `
` `
` Ham. `
` How long is that since? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: it was the `
` very day that young Hamlet was born,--he that is mad, and sent `
` into England. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Ay, marry, why was be sent into England? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Why, because he was mad: he shall recover his wits there; `
` or, if he do not, it's no great matter there. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Why? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` 'Twill not he seen in him there; there the men are as mad as he. `
` `
` Ham. `
` How came he mad? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Very strangely, they say. `
` `
` Ham. `
` How strangely? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Faith, e'en with losing his wits. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Upon what ground? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` 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? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Faith, if he be not rotten before he die,--as we have many `
` pocky corses now-a-days that will scarce hold the laying in,--he `
` will last you some eight year or nine year: a tanner will last `
` you nine year. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Why he more than another? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` Why, sir, his hide is so tann'd with his trade that he will `
` keep out water a great while; and your water is a sore decayer of `
` your whoreson dead body. Here's a skull now; this skull hath lain `
` in the earth three-and-twenty years. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Whose was it? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` A whoreson, mad fellow's it was: whose do you think it was? `
` `
` Ham. `
` Nay, I know not. `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! 'a pour'd a flagon of `
` Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's `
` skull, the king's jester. `
` `
` Ham. `
` This? `
` `
` 1 Clown. `
` E'en that. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Let me see. [Takes the skull.] Alas, poor Yorick!--I knew him, `
` Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he `
` hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred `
` in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at it. Here hung those `
` lips that I have kiss'd I know not how oft. Where be your gibes `
` now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that `
` were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your `
` own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now, get you to my lady's `
` chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this `
` favour she must come; make her laugh at that.--Pr'ythee, Horatio, `
`