The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 8 of 9]Shakespeare, William
General
The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 8 of 9]
Shakespeare, William
English drama
_Ham._ Why, e'en so: and now my Lady Worm's;[2010]
chapless, and knocked about the mazzard with a sexton's[2011] 85
spade: here's fine revolution, an we had the trick to see't.[2012]
Did these bones cost no more the breeding, but to play at
loggats with 'em? mine ache to think on't.[2013]
_First Clo._ [_Sings_] A pick-axe, and a spade, a spade,[1998]
For and a shrouding sheet:[2014] 90
O, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
[Throws up another skull.[2015]
_Ham._ There's another: why may not that be the skull[2016]
of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillets, his[2017]
cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why does he suffer this 95
rude knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty[2018]
shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery? Hum![2019]
This fellow might be in 's time a great buyer of land, with
his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers,
his recoveries: is this the fine of his fines and the recovery[2020] 100
of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt? will[2020][2021]
his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases, and double[2022][2023]
ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures?[2023]
The very conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in[2024]
this box; and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha? 105
_Hor._ Not a jot more, my lord.
_Ham._ Is not parchment made of sheep-skins?
_Hor._ Ay, my lord, and of calf-skins too.[2025]
_Ham._ They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance[2026]
in that. I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's 110
this, sirrah?[2027]
_First Clo._ Mine, sir.[2028]
[_Sings_] O, a pit of clay for to be made[2028][2029]
For such a guest is meet.[2030]
_Ham._ I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in't.[2031] 115
_First Clo._ You lie out on't, sir, and therefore 'tis not[2032]
yours: for my part, I do not lie in't, and yet it is mine.[2033]
_Ham._ 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 Clo._ 'Tis a quick lie, sir; 'twill away again, from[2034] 120
me to you.
_Ham._ What man dost thou dig it for?
_First Clo._ For no man, sir.
_Ham._ What woman then?
_First Clo._ For none, neither. 125
_Ham._ Who is to be buried in 't?
_First Clo._ One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her
soul, she's dead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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