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out of frame,

      Colleagued with this dream of his advantage,

      He hath not fail'd to pester us with message,

      Importing the surrender of those lands

      Lost by his father, with all bonds of law,

      To our most valiant brother. So much for him.

      Now for ourself and for this time of meeting:

      Thus much the business is: we have here writ

      To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,

      Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears

      Of this his nephew's purpose, to suppress

      His further gait herein; in that the levies,

      The lists, and full proportions are all made

      Out of his subject: and we here dispatch

      You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltemand,

      For bearers of this greeting to old Norway,

      Giving to you no further personal power

      To business with the King, more than the scope

      Of these dilated articles allow.

      Farewell; and let your haste commend your

                               duty.

Cornelius and Voltemand

      In that, and all things, will we show our duty.

King

      We doubt it nothing: heartily farewell.

      [Exeunt Voltemand and Cornelius]

      And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?

      You told us of some suit. What is't, Laertes?

      You cannot speak of reason to the Dane,

      And lose your voice. What wouldst thou beg,

                               Laertes,

      That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?

      The head is not more native to the heart,

      The hand more instrumental to the mouth,

      Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.

      What wouldst thou have, Laertes?

Laertes

      Dread my lord,

      Your leave and favour to return to France,

      From whence though willingly I came to Denmark

      To show my duty in your coronation;

      Yet now I must confess, that duty done,

      My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France,

      And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.

King

      Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?

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 for ever 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.

Hamlet

      Ay, madam, it is common.

Queen

      If it be,

      Why seems it so particular with thee?

Hamlet

      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 forc'd breath,

      No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,

      Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,

      Together with all forms, moods, shows 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 persevere

      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;

      For what we know must be, and is as common

      As any the most vulgar thing to sense,

      Why should we in our peevish opposition

      Take it to heart? Fie, 'tis a fault to heaven,

      A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,

      To reason most absurd, whose common theme

      Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,

      From the first corse till he that died today,

      'This must be so.' 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,

      And with no less nobility of love

      Than that which dearest father bears his son

      Do I impart toward you. For your intent

      In going back to school in Wittenberg,

      It is most retrograde to our desire:

      And we beseech you bend you to remain

      Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,

      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 unforc'd accord of Hamlet

      Sits

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