"AND NOW MY COUSIN HAMLET AND MY SON."

POLONIUS.

He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave
By laboursome petition, and at last

Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent:
I do beseech you, give him leave to go.

KING.

Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,
And thy best graces spend it at thy will!
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,-
HAMLET. (Aside.)

A little more than kin, and less than kind.

KING.

How is it that the clouds still hang on you?

HAMLET.

Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.

QUEEN.

Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not forever with thy vailed lids

Seek for thy noble father in the dust:

Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity.

Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not "seems.” 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,

Nor customary suits of solemn black,

Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,

No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,
Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,
That can denote me truly: these indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might play:
But I have that within which passeth show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
KING.

'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,

To give these mourning duties to your father:
But, you must know, your father lost a father,
That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound
In filial obligation for some term

To do obsequious sorrow: but to persever
In obstinate condolement is a course

Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief:
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,
An understanding simple and unschool'd.
We pray you, throw to earth

This unprevailing woe, and think of us
As of a father: for let the world take note,
You are the most immediate to our throne,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin and our son.

QUEEN.

Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet:
I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg.

HAMLET.

I shall in all my

best obey you,

madam.

KING.

Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply:

Be as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come;
This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet