First Clown
One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she’s dead.
Hamlet
How absolute the knave is! we must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I have taken a note of it; the age is grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe. How long hast thou been a grave-maker?
First Clown
Of all the days i’ the year, I came to’t that day that our last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.
Hamlet
How long is that since?
First Clown
Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: it was the very day that young Hamlet was born; he that is mad, and sent into England.
Hamlet
Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?
First Clown
Why, because he was mad: he shall recover his wits there; or, if he do not, it’s no great matter there.
Hamlet
Why?
First Clown
’Twill not be seen in him there; there the men are as mad as he.
Hamlet
How came he mad?