Page 236 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3

With all my imperfections on my head.
O horrible! O horrible! most horrible! [80]
If thou has nature in thee, bear it not,
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be

A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But howsomever thou pursuest this act,
Taint not thy mind nor let thy soul contrive [85]
Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven,

And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once:
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near
And gins to pale his uneffectual fire. [90]

Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me.
Exit.

HAMLET
O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?
And shall I couple bell? O fie! Hold, hold, my heart,

And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffy up. Remember thee? [95]
Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory

I’ll wipe aways all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past [100]
That youth and observation copied there,

And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix’d with baser matter. Yes, by heaven!
O most pernicious woman! [105]
O villain, villain, smiling damned villain!

My tables. Meet it is I set it down
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain −
At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark. [Writes.]

So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word. [110]
It is ‘Adieu, adieu, remember me.’
I have sworn’t.