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Let shame say what it will: when these are gone,
The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord!
I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze,

⚫ drowns. But that this folly doubts** it.(70)

4tos. &

1632.

KING.

[Exit.

Let's follow, Gertrude:
How much I had to do to calm his rage!
Now fear I, this will give it start again;
Therefore, let's follow.

when these are gone,

[Exeunt.

The woman will be out] i. e. when these tears are shed, this womanish passion will be over.

ACT V. SCENE I.

A Church Yard.

Enter Two Clowns, with Spades, &c.

1 Czo. Is she to be buried in christian burial, that wilfully seeks her own salvation?

a

2 CLO. I tell thee, she is; and therefore, make her grave straight: the crowner hath set on her, and finds it christian burial.

1 CLO. How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defence?

2 CLO. Why, 'tis found so.

1 CLO. 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 :(1) So 4tos. Argal, she drowned herself wittingly.

2 CLO. Nay, but hear you, goodman delver.

1 CLO. 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

a make her grave straight] i. e. straightways, forthwith; the fact next stated being a warrant for proceeding, without any further question made. "I will arraign them straight." Lear, III. 6. L. & " She must overboard straight." Pericl. III. 1.

It must be se offendendo] A confusion of things as well as of terms used for se defendendo, a finding of the jury in justifiable homicide.

If the man go to this water,—it is, will he, nill he, he goes] Still floundering and confounding himself. He means to represent it as a wilful act, and of course without any mixture of nill or nolens in it. Had he gone, as stated, whether he would or not, it would not have been of his own accord, or his act.

is an act, &c. 1623,

32.

to him, and drown him, he drowns not himself: Argal, he, that is not guilty of his own death, shortens not his own life.

2 CLO. But is this law?

1 Czo. Ay, marry is't; crowner's-questa law.

2 CLO. Will you ha' the truth on't? If this had not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out of christian burial.

b

1 Czo. Why, there thou say'st: And the more pity; that great folks shall have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves, more than their even christian.(2) Come, my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold up Adam's profession. 2 CLO. Was he a gentleman ?(3)

1 CLO. He was the first that ever bore arms. 2 CLO. Why, he had none.

1 Czo. What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand 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

2 CLO. Go to.

с

1 CLO. What is he, that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter? 2 Czo. The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.

1 CLO. 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

• crowner's quest] i. e. coroner's inquest.

b Why, there thou say'st] i. e. say'st something, speak'st to purpose.

с

confess thyself] i. e. admit, or by acknowledgment pass sentence upon, thyself, as a simpleton; pursuing the form and phrase of the common saying, "confess, and be hanged."

the gallows is built stronger than the church; argal, the gallows may do well to thee. To't again;

come.

2 CLO. Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a carpenter?

1 Czo. Ay, tell me that, and unyoke."

2 CLO. Marry, now I can tell.

1 CLO. To't.

2 CLO. Mass, I cannot tell.

Enter HAMLET and HORATIO, at a distance.

1 CLO. 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, lasts till doomsday. Go, get thee to Yaughan, and fetch me a stoup* of liquor.(4) [Exit 2 Clown.

1 Clown digs, and sings.

In youth, when I did love, did love,
Methought, it was very sweet,

To contract, O, the time, for, ah, my behove
O, methought, there was nothing meet.(5)

HAM. Has this fellow no feeling of his business? that he sings at grave-making.

HOR. Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.

HAM. 'Tis e'en so: the hand of little employment hath the daintier sense.b

a tell me that, and unyoke] i. e. unravel this, and your day's work is done, your team you may then unharness.

b the hand of little employment hath the daintier sense] i. e. its " palm less dulled or staled." I. 3. Polon.

soope. 4tos.

(i. e. sup)

clawed. 4tos.

+ into. 4tos.

1 CLO. But age, with his stealing steps,
Hath caught me in his clutch,
And hath shipped me intill the land,
As if I had never been such.(6)

[Throws up a scull.

HAM. That scull 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! It might be the pate of a politician, which this ass o'er-offices; (7) one that could circumvent God, might it not?

HOR. It might, my lord.

HAM. Or of a courtier; which could say, Goodmorrow, 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; (8) might it not?

HOR. Ay, my lord.

HAM. 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?(9) mine ache to think on't.

1 CLO. A pick-axe and a spade, a spade, [Sings. For-and a shrouding sheet:(10)

O, a pit of clay for to be made

For such a guest is meet.

[Throws up a scull.

HAM. There's another: Why might not that be the scull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddits (11) now, his quillets,(12) his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the sconce (13) 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

the trick] i. e. knack, faculty.

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