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KING. What is the cause, Laertes, That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?— Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person; There's such divinity doth hedge* a king, 4to. 1603. That treason can but peep to what it would, Acts little of his will.(37)Tell me, Laertes,

* wall.

Why thou art thus incensed;-Let him go, Gertrude ;

Speak, man.

LAER. Where is my father?

KING.

QUEEN.

Dead.

But not by him.

+ world's. 4tos.

KING. Let him demand his fill.

LAER. How came he dead? I'll not be juggled
with :

To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil!
Conscience, and grace," to the profoundest pit!
I dare damnation: To this point I stand,-
That both the worlds I give to negligence,"
Let come what comes; only I'll be reveng'd
Most throughly for my father.

KING.

Who shall stay you?

LAER. My will, not all the world:+

And, for my means, I'll husband them so well,

They shall go far with little.

KING.

Good Laertes,

If you desire to know the certainty

1 So 4tos. Of your dear father's death, is't writ in your re

if. 1623,32.

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venge,

That, §sweepstake, you will draw both friend and

foe,

stake-like. Winner and loser?

4to. 1603.

a grace] i. e. a religious feeling, a disposition to yield obedience to the divine laws.

b Both the worlds I give to negligence] i. e. I am careless of my present and future prospects, my views in this life, as well as that which is to come.

с

sweepstake] i. e. by wholesale, undistinguishingly.

LAER. None but his enemies.

KING.

Will you know them then?

LAER. To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my

arms;

And, like the kind life-rend'ring pelican,* (38)
Repast them with my blood.

* So 4tos. & 1632. Politician.

KING.
Like a good child, and a true gentleman.
That I am guiltless of your father's death,
And am most sensible in grief for it,
It shall as level to your judgment pierce,+
As day does to your eye.

Why, now you speak 1623.

DANES [within.]

Let her come in.

LAER. How now! what noise is that?

Enter OPHELIA, fantastically dressed with Straws and Flowers.

O heat, dry up my brains! tears seven times salt,
Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye!—
By heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight,
Till our scale turn § the beam. O rose of May!
Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia !—
O heavens! is't possible, a young maid's wits
Should be as mortal as an old man's life?
Nature is fine in love: and, where 'tis fine,
It sends some precious instance of itself,
After the thing it loves. (39)

OPH. They bore him barefac'd on the bier ;
Hey non nonny, nonny hey nonny :(40)
And on his grave rains many a tear ;-

Fare you well, my dove!

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⚫ sensible in grief] i. e. " poignantly affected with." Adjectives, having this termination, are, in our author, frequently used adverbially. The quarto, 1604, reads sensibly.

b pierce] i. e. make its way.

+ peare. 4tos.

So 4tos. by. 1623,

32.

§ So 4tos. turns. 1623, 32.

Il in. 4tos.

¶rain'd. 4tos.

LAER. Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade

revenge,

It could not move thus.

OPH. You must sing, Down a-down,(41) an you call him a-down-a. O, how the wheel becomes it !(42) It is the false steward, that stole his master's daughter. LAER. This nothing's more than matter."

OPH. There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (43) pray [you,] love, remember: and there So 4tos. is pansies, that's for thoughts.(44)

paconcies. 1623.

+ the King.

grace. 4tos.

LAER. A document in madness; thoughts and remembrance fitted.

OPH. There's fennel for you, and columbines:(45)-there's rue for you; and here's some herb of for me:-we may call it, herb-grace o'Sundays:(46) -you must § wear your rue with a difference.(47) you may. There's a daisy ;(48)-I would give you some violets; but they withered all, when my father died :-They say, he made a good end,

4tos.

For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy,—(49)

[Sings.

LAER. Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself,

She turns to favour, and to prettiness.

OPH. And will he not come again?

And will he not come again?
No, no, he is dead,

Go to thy death-bed,

He never will come again.

a This nothing's more than mutter] See "O matter," &c. Lear, IV. 6. Edg.

b Thought] "Thought or hevynesse of herte. Molestia. Mæstitia." Promptuar. parvulor. 4to. 1514. Ant. & Cl. III. 2. Enobarb. "Think and die." See Tw. N. II. 4. Viola.

His beard as white as snow,(50)
All flaxen was his poll,
He is gone, he is gone,
And we cast away moan;
Gramercy on his soul!

And of all christian souls!" I pray God. God be

wi' you!

LAER. Do you see this, O God?‡

was as.

4tos.

+ God a. 4tos.

[Exit OPHELIA. So 4tos.

KING. Laertes, I must common § with your grief,(51)

Or you deny me right. Go but apart,

Make choice of whom your wisest friends" you will,
And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me:
If by direct or by collateral hand

They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give,
Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours,
To you in satisfaction; but, if not,

Be you content to lend your patience to us,
And we shall jointly labour with your soul
To give it due content.

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His means of death, his obscure burial, ||

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you Gods. 1623, 32.

Scommune. 4tos. & Fo. 1632.

|| funeral.

No trophy, sword, nor hatchment, o'er his bones,(52) 4tos.
No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,—

Cry to be heard,(53) as 'twere from heaven to earth,
That I must call't ¶ in question.

KING.

So you shall;

And, where the offence is, let the great axe (54) fall. pray you go with me.

I

[Exeunt.

a And of all christian souls] This was the old and common benison of the Romish Church.

b of whom your wisest friends] i. e. of whom, or which of. Any amongst

¶ So 4tos.

call. 1623, 32.

* seafaring

SCENE VI.

Another Room in the same.

Enter HORATIO, and a Servant.

HOR. What are they, that would speak with me?

SERV.

men. 4tos. They say, they have letters for you.

HOR.

Sailors,* sir;

Let them come in.

[Exit Servant.

I do not know from what part of the world
I should be greeted, if not from lord Hamlet.

Enter Sailors.

1 SAIL. God bless you, sir.

HOR. Let him bless thee too.

1 SAIL. He shall, sir, an't please him. There's a letter for you, sir; it comes from the ambassadors that was bound for England; if your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is.

HOR. [Reads.] Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these fellows some means to the king; they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave us chace: Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled valour; [and] in the grapple I boarded them: on the instant, they got clear of our ship; so I alone became their prisoner. They have

means to the king] i. e. means of access, introduction.

b Ere we were two days old at sea] i. e. at the end of a second day's voyage. See M. for M. IV. 2. Prov.

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