_Ham._ How absolute the knave is! we must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord,[2035] 130 Horatio, this three years I have taken note of it; the age[2036] is grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so[2037] near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe. How long[2038] hast thou been a grave-maker?[2039] _First Clo._ Of all the days i' the year, I came to't that[2040] 135 day that our last king Hamlet o'ercame Fortinbras.[2041] _Ham._ How long is that since? _First Clo._ Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: it was that very day that young Hamlet was born;[2042] he that is mad, and sent into England.[2043] 140 _Ham._ Ay, marry, why was he sent into England? _First Clo._ Why, because a' was mad: a' shall recover[2044] his wits there; or, if a' do not, 'tis no great matter there.[2044][2045] _Ham._ Why? _First Clo._ 'Twill not be seen in him there; there the[2046] 145 men are as mad as he.[2046] _Ham._ How came he mad? _First Clo._ Very strangely, they say. _Ham._ How 'strangely'? _First Clo._ Faith, e'en with losing his wits. 150 _Ham._ Upon what ground? _First Clo._ Why, here in Denmark: I have been sexton[2047] here, man and boy, thirty years.[2048] _Ham._ How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot? _First Clo._ I'faith, if a' be not rotten before a' die--as[2049][2050] 155 we have many pocky corses now-a-days, that will scarce[2051] hold the laying in--a' will last you some eight year or nine[2051] year: a tanner will last you nine year.[2052] _Ham._ Why he more than another? _First Clo._ Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade[2053] 160 that a' will keep out water a great while; and your water is[2054] a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body. Here's a skull[2055] now: this skull has lain in the earth three and twenty years.[2055][2056] _Ham._ Whose was it? _First Clo._ A whoreson mad fellow's it was: whose do[2057] 165 you think it was?[2057] _Ham._ Nay, I know not. _First Clo._ A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! a'[2058] poured a flagon of Rhenish on my head once. This same[2059] skull, sir, was Yorick's skull, the king's jester.[2059][2060] 170 _Ham._ This? _First Clo._ E'en that.