Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself,
She turns to favour and to prettiness.

OPHELIA. (Sings.)

And will a' not come again?
And will a' not come again?
No, no, he is dead,

Go to thy death-bed,
He never will come again.

His beard was as white as snow,

All flaxen was his poll:

He is gone, he is gone,

And we cast away moan:

God ha' mercy on his soul!

And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God be

wi' you.

KING.

Laertes, I must commune with your grief,
Or you deny me right. Go but apart,

(Exit.)

Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will.

And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and

me:

If by direct or by collateral hand

They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give,

Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours, you in satisfaction.

To

LAERTES.

Let this be so;

His means of death, his obscure funeral,

No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones, No noble rite nor formal ostentation,

Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth, That I must call 't in question.

Shetrospeare

So you shall;

And where the offence is let the great axe fall.

Hamlet who hath your noble father slain

Pursued my life.

LAERTES.

And so have I a noble father lost;

A sister driven into desperate terms,

Whose worth,

Stood challenger on mount of all the age

For her perfections: but my revenge will come.

Enter a MESSENGER, with letters.

KING.

How now! what news?

MESSENGER.

Letters, my lord, from Hamlet:

This to your majesty; this to the queen.

KING.

From Hamlet! who brought them?

MESSENGER.

Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not: They were given me by Claudio; he received

them

Of him that brought them.

KING.

Leave us.

Laertes, you shall hear them. (Exit MESSENGER.) (Reads.) "High and mighty, You shall know Í am set naked on your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes: when I shall, first asking your pardon thereunto, recount the occasion of my sudden and more strange return. "HAMLET."