No More Learning

Take heed the queen come not within his sight:
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy, stol'n from an Indian king;
She never had so sweet a changeling:
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild;
But she perforce withholds the loved boy,
Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy:
And now they never meet in grove, or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen,
But they do square; that all their elves, for fear,
Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there.
Fairy Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Called Robin Goodfellow. Are you not he
That frights the maidens of the villagery;
Skims milk, and sometimes labors in the quern,
And bootless makes the breathless housewife churn;
And sometimes makes the drink to bear no barm;
Misleads night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck :
Are not you he?
Puck-
Fairy, thou speak'st aright:
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon, and make him smile,
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal.
And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab;
And when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her withered dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me:
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And "tailor" cries, and falls into a cough;
And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,
And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there. -
But room, Fairy: here comes Oberon.
Oberon - My gentle Puck, come hither: thou remember'st
Since once I sat upon a promontory,


## p. 13199 (#647) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
―
Puck-
I remember.
Oberon - That very time I saw (but thou couldst not)
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all armed: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal throned by the west,
Puck-
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's music.
-
And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon,
And the imperial votaress passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower,- the herb I showed thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid,
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that is seen.
Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.
I'd put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes.
THE DIVERSIONS OF THE FAIRIES
From Midsummer Night's Dream'
BERON-
-
O Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove,
Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love. -
Re-enter Puck
Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.
Puck
Ay, there it is.
Oberon —
13199
I pray thee, give it me.
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows;


## p. 13200 (#648) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13200
Puck-
-
Quite overcanopied with lush woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,
Lulled in these bowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enameled skin,—
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:
And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove.
A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond on her than she upon her love.
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.
Fear not, my lord: your servant shall do so.
[Exeunt.
Scene: Another part of the Wood. Enter Titania, with her train.
Titania - Come, now a roundel, and a fairy song;
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence:
Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds;
Some war with rear-mice for their leathern wings,
To make my small elves coats; and some keep back
The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders
At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;
Then to your offices, and let me rest.
FAIRIES' SONG
First Fairy-You spotted snakes, with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong:
Come not near our fairy queen.
CHORUS
Philomel, with melody,
Sing now your sweet lullaby:
Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby.
Never harm,
Nor spell nor charm,


## p. 13201 (#649) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13201
Second Fairy - Weaving spiders, come not here;
Oberon -
P
UCK-
Come our lovely lady nigh;
So good-night, with lullaby.
Second Fairy - Hence, away! now all is well.
One, aloof, stand sentinel.
XXII-826
Hence, you long-legged spinners, hence:
Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm, nor snail, do no offense.
CHORUS
Philomel, with melody,
Sing now your sweet lullaby:
Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby.
Never harm,
Nor spell nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;
So good-night, with lullaby.
[Exeunt Fairies.
Enter Oberon
What thou seest, when thou dost wake,
[Anointing Titania's eyelids. ]
Do it for thy true love take;
Love, and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wak'st, it is thy dear.
Wake when some vile thing is near.
Titania sleeps.
THE FAIRIES' WEDDING CHARM
From Midsummer Night's Dream'
Enter Puck with a broom on his shoulder
Now the hungry lion roars,
And the wolf behowls the moon;
Whilst the heavy plowman snores,
All with weary task fordone.
Now the wasted brands do glow,
Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud,
[Exit.


## p. 13202 (#650) ##########################################

13202
SHAKESPEARE
-
By the triple Hecate's team,
From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic; not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallowed house:
I am sent with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the door.
Enter Oberon and Titania with all their train
Oberon Through the house give glimmering light,
By the dead and drowsy fire;
Every elf, and fairy sprite,
Hop as light as bird from brier:
And this ditty after me
Sing, and dance it trippingly.
- First, rehearse your song by rote,
To each word a warbling note:
Hand in hand with fairy grace
Will we sing, and bless this place.
Titania
Puts the wretch that lies in woe,
In remembrance of a shroud.
Now it is the time of night
That the graves, all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite,
In the church-way paths to glide.
And we fairies, that do run
THE SONG
Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we:
Which by us shall blessed be;
And the issue there create
Ever shall be fortunate.
So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be:
And the blots of nature's hand
Shall not in their issue stand:
Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar,
Nor mark prodigious, such as are
Despised in nativity,
Shall upon their children be.
With this field-dew consecrate.
Every fairy take his gait,


## p. 13203 (#651) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13203
All
MIENS
A
WHERE IS FANCY BRED
From the Merchant of Venice'
A SONG [the whilst Bassanio comments on the caskets to himself]
TELL
ELL me, where is fancy bred,-
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?
Reply, reply.
It is engendered in the eyes,
With gazing fed; and fancy dies
In the cradle where it lies.
Let us all ring fancy's knell;
I'll begin it,- Ding, dong, bell.
Ding, dong, bell.
And each several chamber bless,
Through this palace with sweet peace;
Ever shall it safely rest,
And the owner of it blest.
Trip away; make no stay:
Meet me all by break of day.
-
UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE
From As You Like It'
Under the greenwood tree,
Who loves to lie with me,
And tune his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat,-
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall we see no enemy
But winter and rough weather.
All together-Who doth ambition shun,
And loves to live i' the sun,
Seeking the food he eats,
And pleased with what he gets,-
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see no enemy
But winter and rough weather.


## p. 13204 (#652) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13204
Jaques - I'll give you a verse to this note, that I made yesterday
in despite of my invention.
Amiens And I'll sing it.
Jaques Thus it goes:-
--
-
-
If it do come to pass,
That any man turn ass,
Leaving his wealth and ease,
A stubborn will to please,
Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame:
Here shall he see gross fools as he,
An if he will come to me.
Amiens-What's that ducdame?
Jaques 'Tis a Greek invocation to call fools into a circle. I'll go
sleep if I can; if I cannot, I'll rail against all the first-born of Egypt.
B
BLOW, BLOW, THOU WINTER WIND
From As You Like It'
LOW, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude:
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh, ho! sing, heigh, ho! unto the green holly.
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.
Then, heigh, ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
That dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remembered not.
Heigh, ho! sing, heigh, ho! unto the green holly.
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.
Then, heigh, ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.


## p. 13205 (#653) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13205
LOVE IN SPRINGTIME
From As You Like It'
T WAS a lover and his lass,
I¹ With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o'er the green cornfield did pass
In the springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.
Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
These pretty country folks would lie,
In the springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.
This carol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that our life was but a flower,
In the springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.
And therefore take the present time,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crowned with the prime
In the springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.
ONE IN TEN
From All's Well That Ends Well'
WAS
As this fair face, quoth she, the cause
Why the Grecians sacked Troy?
Fond done, done fond, good sooth it was:
Was this King Priam's joy?
With that she sighed as she stood,
And gave this sentence then:
Among nine bad if one be good,
There's yet one good in ten.


## p. 13206 (#654) ##########################################

13206
SHAKESPEARE
SWEET AND TWENTY
From Twelfth Night'
O
MISTRESS mine! where are you roaming?
Oh, stay, for here your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low.
Trip no farther, pretty sweeting:
Journeys end in lovers' meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.
What is love? 'tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies no plenty;
Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty,-
Youth's a stuff will not endure.
Co
LOVE'S LAMENT
From Twelfth Night'
OME away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
Oh, prepare it:
My part of death no one so true
Did share it.
Not a flower, not a flower sweet,
On my black coffin let there be strown;
Not a friend, not a friend greet
My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown:
A thousand thousand sighs to save,
Lay me, oh, where
Sad true lover never find my grave,
To weep there.


## p. 13207 (#655) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13207
THE RAIN IT RAINETH
From Twelfth Night'
Clown sings, to pipe and tabor
HEN that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.
WHE
But when I came to man's estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came unto my bed,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still I had drunken head,
For the rain it raineth every day.
1
A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day.
WHEN
WHEN DAFFODILS BEGIN TO PEER
From the Winter's Tale'
Enter Autolycus, singing
HEN daffodils begin to peer,—
With, heigh! the doxy over the dale,-
Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year;
For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale.
The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,—
With, heigh! the sweet birds, oh, how they sing! -
Doth set my prigging tooth on edge;
For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.


## p. 13208 (#656) ##########################################

13208
SHAKESPEARE
The lark, that tirra-lirra chants,
With heigh! with heigh! the thrush and the jay,
Are summer songs for me and my aunts,
While we lie tumbling in the hay.
WHAT MAIDS LACK
From the Winter's Tale'
Enter Autolycus, singing
AWN, as white as driven snow;
Cyprus, black as e'er was crow;
Gloves, as sweet as damask roses:
Masks for faces, and for noses;
Bugle-bracelet, necklace amber,
Perfume for a lady's chamber;
Golden quoifs, and stomachers,
For my lads to give their dears;
Pins and poking-sticks of steel,
What maids lack from head to heel:
Come, buy of me, come; come buy, come buy,
Buy, lads, or else your lasses cry:
Come, buy.
Will you buy any tape,
Or lace for your cape,
My dainty duck, my dear-a?
Any silk, any thread,
Any toys for your head,
Of the new'st, and fin'st, fin'st wear-a?
Come to the peddler;
Money's a meddler,
That doth utter all men's ware-a.
SWEET MUSIC
From King Henry VIII. '
Ο
RPHEUS with his lute made trees,
And the mountain-tops, that freeze,
Bow themselves, when he did sing:
To his music, plants and flowers
Ever sprung; as sun and showers
There had made a lasting spring.


## p. 13209 (#657) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13209
PHELIA-
Everything that heard him play-
Even the billows of the sea-
Hung their heads, and then lay by.
In sweet music is such art,
Killing care and grief of heart
Fall asleep, or, hearing, die.
D
Queen
DOUBT NOT
From Hamlet'
OUBT thou the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love.
Enter Horatio, with Ophelia distracted
O' Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark?
Queen-How now, Ophelia ?
DEAD AND GONE
From 'Hamlet'
Oh, ho!
Ophelia [singing] - How should I your true love know
From another one? -
-
-
By his cockle hat and staff,
And his sandal shoon.
Queen- Alas, sweet lady! what imports this song?
Ophelia - Say you? nay, pray you, mark.
[Singing]- He is dead and gone, lady,
He is dead and gone;
At his head a green grass turf,
At his heels a stone.
Queen
Ophelia -
Pray you, mark:-
[Singing]- White his shroud as the mountain snow
Enter King
- Alas! look here, my lord.
Nay, but, Ophelia —
-
-


## p. 13210 (#658) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13210
Ophelia -
Ο
PHELIA [sings] —
Larded with sweet flowers;
Which bewept to the grave did go,
With true-love showers.
―――
OPHELIA'S LAMENT
From Hamlet'
They bore him bare-faced on their bier;
Hey, non nonny, nonny, hey nonny:
And in his grave rained many a tear;-
-
Fare you well, my dove!
Laertes Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge,
It could not move thus.
Ophelia
You must sing, Down a-down, an you call him a-down-a.
Oh, how the wheel becomes it! It is the false steward, that stole his
master's daughter.
Laertes - This nothing's more than matter.
Ophelia - There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray you,
love, remember: and there is pansies; that's for thoughts.
Laertes - A document in madness; thoughts and remembrance
fitted.
Ophelia - There's fennel for you, and columbines; - there's rue
for you; and here's some for me; we may call it herb of grace o'
Sundays: you may wear your rue with a difference. - There's a
daisy: I would give you some violets; but they withered all when
my father died. They say he made a good end.
[Sings]- For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.
Laertes-Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself,
She turns to favor and to prettiness.
Ophelia [sings] - And will he not come again?
And will he not come again?
No, no, he is dead;
Gone to his death-bed,
He never will come again.
His beard was 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!
[Exit Ophelia, dancing distractedly.


## p. 13211 (#659) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13211
F
――
Scene: A Church-Yard. Enter two Clowns with Spades, etc.
IRST CLOWN
-
- Is she to be buried in Christian burial, that
willfully seeks her own salvation?
Second Clown-I tell thee, she is; and therefore make
her grave straight: the crowner hath set on her, and finds it
Christian burial.
First Clown How can that be, unless she drowned herself in
her own defense?
Second Clown - Why, 'tis found so.
First Clown-It must be se offendendo; 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: argal, she drowned herself wittingly.
Second Clown-Nay, but hear you, goodman delver.
First Clown. 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, mark you that; but
if the water come to him, and drown him, he drowns not him-
self: argal, he that is not guilty of his own death shortens not
his own life.
Second Clown But is this law?
First Clown - Ay, marry, is 't; crowner's-quest law.
Second Clown-Will you ha' the truth on 't? If this had
not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out of
Christian burial.
-
-
IN THE CHURCH-YARD
From Hamlet >
First Clown-Why, there thou say'st; and the more pity, that
great folk shall have countenance in this world to drown or hang
themselves, more than their even Christian. Come, my spade.
There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-
makers; they hold up Adam's profession.
Second Clown-Was he a gentleman?
First Clown · He was the first that ever bore arms.
Second Clown - Why, he had none.
First Clown - What, art a heathen?
How dost thou under-
stand the Scripture? The Scripture says, Adam digged: could he
dig without arms? I'll put another question to thee: if thou
answerest me not to the purpose, confess thyself.


## p. 13212 (#660) ##########################################

13212
SHAKESPEARE
Second Clown — Go to.
First Clown-What is he that builds stronger than either the
mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter?
Second Clown - The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a
thousand tenants.
First Clown-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.
Second Clown-Who builds stronger than a mason, a ship-
wright, or a carpenter?
First Clown-Ay, tell me that, and unyoke.
Second Clown - Marry, now I can tell.
First Clown-To 't.
Second Clown - 'Mass, I cannot tell.
Enter Hamlet and Horatio, at a distance
First Clown-Cudgel thy brains no more about it, 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 yon'; fetch me a stoop
of liquor.
[Exit Second Clown.
First Clown [digs, and sings]
In youth, when I did love, did love,
Methought it was very sweet
To contract. Oh! the time, for, ah! my behove,
Oh! methought, there was nothing meet.
Hamlet - Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that he
sings at grave-making?
Horatio- Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.
Hamlet-Tis e'en so: the hand of little employment hath the
daintier sense.
First Clown
But age, with his stealing steps,
Hath clawed me in his clutch,
And hath shipped me intill the land,
As if I had never been such.
[Throws up a skull. ]


## p. 13213 (#661) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13213
Hamlet - 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 cir-
cumvent God,- might it not?
Horatio- It might, my lord.
Hamlet-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?
Horatio- Ay, my lord.
Hamlet-Why, e'en so, and now my lady Worm's; chapless,
and knocked about the mazzard 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 loggats with them?
mine ache to think on 't.
First Clown [sings]
A pickaxe, and a spade, a spade,
For and a shrouding sheet:
Oh, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
[Throws up another skull. ]
Hamlet — 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? Humph! This fellow might
be in 's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recog
nizances, 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 hardly lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself
have no more? ha?
Horatio- Not a jot more, my lord.
Hamlet Is not parchment made of sheepskins?
Horatio- Ay, my lord, and of calfskins too.
Hamlet-They are sheep, and calves, which seek out assurance
in that. I will speak to this fellow. -Whose grave's this, sir?
――――


## p. 13214 (#662) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13214
First Clown - Mine, sir.
[Sings]-Oh, a pit of clay for to be made.
For such a guest is meet.
Hamlet-I think it be thine indeed; for thou liest in 't.
First Clown-You lie out on 't, sir, and therefore it is not
yours; for my part, I do not lie in 't, and yet it is mine.
Hamlet - 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.
First Clown-'Tis a quick lie, sir: 'twill away again, fro
me to you.
Hamlet-What man dost thou dig it for?
First Clown. - For no man, sir.
Hamlet What woman, then?
First Clown
For none, neither.
Hamlet Who is to be buried in 't?
First Clown-One that was a woman, sir; but rest her soul,
she's dead.
-
――――――
Hamlet-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?
First Clown-Of all the days i' the year, I came to 't that day
that our last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.
Hamlet - How long is that since?
First 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.
Hamlet-Ay, marry: why was he sent into England?
First Clown. Why, because he was mad: he shall recover his
wits there; or if he do not, 'tis no great matter there.
Hamlet-Why?
-
First Clown-Twill not be seen in him there: there, the
men are as mad as he.
Hamlet How came he mad?
First Clown-Very strangely, they say.
Hamlet How strangely?
First Clown-Faith, e'en with losing his wits.
Hamlet-Upon what ground?
First Clown - Why, here in Denmark. I have been sexton
here, man and boy, thirty years.


## p. 13215 (#663) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13215
Hamlet-How long wi a man lie i' the art ere he rot?
First Clown-Faith, if he be not rotten before he die (as
we have many pocky corses nowadays, that will scarce hold the
laying in), he will last you some eight year, or nine year: a tan-
ner will last you nine year.
Hamlet - Why he more than another?
First Clown-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 whoreson dead body. Here's a skull now:
this skull hath lain i' the earth three-and-twenty years.
Hamlet-Whose was it?
First Clown-A whoreson mad fellow's it was: whose do you
think it was?
Hamlet - Nay, I know not.
First Clown-A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! 'a
poured a flagon of Rhenish on my head once. This same skull,
sir, this same skull, sir, was Yorick's skull, the king's jester.
Hamlet-This?
[Takes the skull.
First Clown- E'en that.
Hamlet-Let me see. 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 kissed 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 chapfallen. Now,
Now, get
you to my lady's chamber and tell her, let her paint an inch
thick, to this favor she must come; make her laugh at that.
Pr'ythee, Horatio, tell me one thing.
Horatio- What's that, my lord?
Hamlet - Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion i'
the earth?
Horatio- E'en so.
Hamlet - And smelt so? pah!
Horatio- E'en so, my lord.
――――――
[Puts down the skull.
Hamlet-To what base uses we may return, Horatio. Why
may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he
find it stopping a bung-hole?
Horatio-"Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so.
Hamlet-No, faith, not a jot: but to follow him thither with
modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it; as thus: Alexander


## p. 13216 (#664) ##########################################

13216
SHAKESPEARE
died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returned into dust; the
dust is earth; of earth we make loam; and why of that loam,
whereto he was converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel ?
D
Imperial Cæsar dead, and turned to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away:
Oh! that that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall t' expel the winter's flaw!
IAGO'S SOLDIER-SONGS
From Othello>
Lay by these. -
AND
ND let me the canakin clink, clink;
And let me the canakin clink:
A soldier's a man;
A life's but a span:
Why then let a soldier drink.
KING STEPHEN was a worthy peer,
His breeches cost him but a crown;
He held them sixpence all too dear,
With that he called the tailor-lown.
He was a wight of high renown,
And thou art but of low degree:
'Tis pride that pulls the country down,
Then take thine auld cloak about thee.
ESDEMONA [singing] —
DESDEMONA'S LAST SONG
From Othello'
A poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree,
Sing all a green willow;
Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,-
Sing willow, willow, willow:
The fresh streams ran by her and murmured her moans;
Sing willow, willow, willow;
Her salt tears fell from her, and softened the stones. -
Sing willow, willow, willow. -
--


## p. 13217 (#665) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13217
Pr'ythee, hie thee; he'll come anon. -
-
Sing all a green willow must be my garland.
Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve,—
Nay, that's not next. - - Hark! who is it that knocks?
――
Emilia It is the wind.
Desdemona -
-
-
XXII-827
I called my love false love; but what said he then?
Sing willow, willow, willow:
If I court no women, you'll couch with no men.
HARK! HARK! THE LARK
From Cymbeline ›
H
ARK! hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings,
And Phoebus 'gins arise,
His steeds to water at those springs
On chaliced flowers that lies;
And winking Mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes:
With everything that pretty is,
My lady sweet, arise;
Arise, arise!
F
FEAR NO MORE
From Cymbeline'
EAR no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages:
Golden lads and lasses must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
Fear no more the frown o' the great,
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke;
Care no more to clothe, and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.


## p. 13218 (#666) ##########################################

13218
SHAKESPEARE
Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor th' all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan:
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.
No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renownèd be thy grave!
TIME'S GLORY
From the Rape of Lucrece›
IME'S glory is to calm contending kings,
TIM
To unmask falsehood, and bring truth to light;
To stamp the seal of time in aged things,
To wake the morn, and sentinel the night,
To wrong the wronger till he render right;
To ruinate proud buildings with thy hours,
And smear with dust their glittering golden towers;
To fill with worm-holes stately monuments,
To feed oblivion with decay of things,
To blot old books, and alter their contents,
To pluck the quills from ancient ravens' wings,
To dry the old oak's sap, and cherish springs;
To spoil antiquities of hammered steel,
And turn the giddy round of Fortune's wheel.
To show the beldame daughters of her daughter,
To make the child a man, the man a child,
To slay the tiger that doth live by slaughter,
To tame the unicorn and lion wild;
To mock the subtle, in themselves beguiled;
To cheer the plowman with increaseful crops,
And waste huge stones with little water-drops.


## p. 13219 (#667) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13219
WEAR
SONNETS
EARY with toil I haste me to my bed,-
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head,
To work my mind when body's work's expired.
For then my thoughts (from far where I abide)
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see;
Save that my soul's imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new.
Lo! thus by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.
LET me confess that we two must be twain,
Although our undivided loves are one;
So shall those blots that do with me remain,
Without thy help by me be borne alone.
In our two loves there is but one respect,
Though in our lives a separable spite,
Which though it alter not love's sole effect,
Yet doth it steal sweet hours from love's delight.
I may not evermore acknowledge thee,
Lest my bewailèd guilt should do thee shame:
Nor thou with public kindness honor me,
Unless thou take that honor from thy name;
But do not so: I love thee in such sort,
As, thou being mine, mine is thy good report.
WHEN most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
For all the day they view things unrespected;
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,
And darkly bright are bright in dark directed.
Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright,
How would thy shadow's form, form happy show
To the clear day with thy much clearer light,
When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so?
How would, I say, mine eyes be blessèd made
By looking on thee in the living day,


## p. 13220 (#668) ##########################################

13220
SHAKESPEARE
When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade
Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay?
All days are nights to see, till I see thee,
And nights bright days, when dreams do show thee me.
How heavy do I journey on the way,
When what I seek (my weary travel's end)
Doth teach that ease and that repose to say,
"Thus far the miles are measured from thy friend! "
The beast that bears me, tired with my woe,
Plods dully on to bear that weight in me,
As if by some instinct the wretch did know,
His rider loved not speed being made from thee.
The bloody spur cannot provoke him on
That sometimes anger thrusts into his hide,
Which heavily he answers with a groan,
More sharp to me than spurring to his side;
For that same groan doth put this in my mind,-
My grief lies onward, and my joy behind.
WHAT is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you, but one, can every shadow lend.
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you;
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new;
Speak of the spring, and foison of the year,
The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty doth appear:
And you in every blessed shape we know.
In all external grace you have some part,
But you like none, none you, for constant heart.
OH, HOW much more doth beauty beauteous seem,
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odor which doth in it live.
The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumed tincture of the roses;
Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly
When summer's breath their maskèd buds discloses :


## p. 13221 (#669) ##########################################

SHAKESPEARE
13221
But, for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwooed, and unrespected fade;
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odors made:
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,-
When that shall fade, my verse distils your truth.
NoT marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,-
Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity,
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the Judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.
-
LIKE as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light.
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned,
Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,
And time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth,
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow;
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.
SINCE brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,
But sad mortality o'ersways their power,
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a flower?
Oh!