Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.

Ham. Why, then the Polack never will defend it. Cap. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd.

Ham. Two thousand souls, and twenty thousand ducats,

Will not debate the question of this straw:
This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace;
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without
Why the man dies.-I humbly thank you, sir.
Cap. God be wi'you, sir.

Ros.

[Exit Captain. Will't please you go, my lord?

Ham. I will be with you straight. Go a little

before..

...

[Exeunt Ros. and GUIL,,
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good, and market of his time,
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he, that made us with such large discourse,7
Looking before, and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason

To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruples

Of thinking too precisely on the event,-
A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part wis
dom,

And, ever, three parts coward,-I do not know
Why yet I live to say, This thing's to do;

Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means,
To do't. Examples, gross as earth, exhort me:
Witness, this army of such mass, and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince;
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd,

6-chief good, and market of his time, &c.] If his highest good, and that for which he sells his time, be to sleep and feed. large discourse,] Such latitude of comprehension, such power of reviewing the past, and anticipating the future.

7

[ocr errors]

some craven scruple-] Some cowardly scruple.

Makes mouths at the invisible event;
Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,
To all that fortune, death, and danger, dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great,
Is, not to stir without great argument;"
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw,
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason, and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy, and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds; fight for a plot1
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough, and continent,"
To hide the slain ?-O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!
[Exit.

2

SCENE V.

Elsinore. A Room in the Castle.

Enter Queen and HORATIO.

Queen. I will not speak with her.

Hor. She is importunate; indeed, distract;

Her mood will needs be pitied.

9

Queen.

What would she have?

Hor. She speaks much of her father; says, she

hears,

Rightly to be great,

Is, not to stir without, &c.] But then, honour is an argument, or subject of debate, sufficiently great, and when honour is at stake, we must find cause of quarrel in a straw.

2

a plot] A piece, or portion.

continent,] Continent, in our author, means that which comprehends or encloses.

There's tricks i'the world; and hems, and beats her

heart;

Spurns enviously at straws ;3 speaks things in doubt, That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing, Yet the unshaped use of it doth move

4

The hearers to collection; they aim at it,5

And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts; Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,

Indeed would make one think, there might be thought,

Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.

Queen. "Twere good, she were spoken with; for she may strew

[ocr errors]

Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds:

Let her come in.

[Exit HORATIO.

To my. sick soul, as sin's true nature is,

Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss:"
So full of artless jealousy is guilt,

It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.

Re-enter HORATIO, with OPHelia.

Oph. Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark? Queen. How now, Ophelia?

3 Spurns enviously at straws;] Envy is much oftener put by our poet (and those of his time) for direct aversion, than for malignity eonceived at the sight of another's excellence or happiness.

4

to collection;] i. e. to deduce consequences from such premises; or, as Mr. M. Mason observes, "endeavour to collect some meaning from them."

5 they aim at it,] To aim is to guess.

Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.] i. e. though her meaning cannot be certainly collected, yet there is enough to put a mischievous interpretation to it.

7 to some great amiss:] Shakspeare is not singular in his use of this word as a substantive. Each toy is, each trifle.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Queen. Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song? Oph. Say you? nay, pray you, mark.

He is dead and gone, lady,

He is dead and gone;
At his head a grass-green turf,

At his heels a stone.

Queen. Nay, but Ophelia,

Q, ho!

Oph.

[Sings.

White his shroud as the mountain snow,

Pray you, mark.

[Sings.

Enter King.

Queen. Alas, look here, my lord.

Oph.

Larded' all with sweet flowers;
Which bewept to the grave did go,

With true-love showers.

8 How should I your true love, &c.] There is no part of this play in its representation on the stage, more pathetick than this scene; which, I suppose, proceeds from the utter insensibility Ophelia has to her own misfortunes,

A great sensibility, or none at all, seems to produce the same effect. In the latter the audience supply what she wants, and with the former they sympathize. SIR J. REYNOLDS.

By his cockle hat and staff,

And his sandal shoon.] This is the description of a pilgrim. While this kind of devotion was in favour, love-intrigues were carried on under that mask. Hence the old ballads and novels made pilgrimages the subjects of their plots. The cockle-shell hat was one of the essential badges of this vocation: for the chief places of devotion being beyond sea, or on the coasts, the pilgrims were accustomed to put cockle-shells upon their hats, to denote the intention or performance of their devotion.

King. How do you, pretty lady?

Oph. Well, God'ield you! They say, the owl was a baker's daughter.3 Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your table!

King. Conceit upon her father.

Oph. Pray, let us have no words of this; but when they ask you what it means, say you this:

Good morrow, 'tis Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,

And I a maid at your window,

To be your Valentine:

Then up he rose, and don'd his clothes,*
And dupp'd the chamber door;5
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.

King. Pretty Ophelia!

Oph. Indeed, without an oath, I'll make an end

on't:

By Gis, and by Saint Charity,

Alack, and fye for shame!

Young men will do't, if they come to't;
By cock, they are to blame.

Larded] The expression is taken from cookery. 2 Well, God'ield you !] i. e. Heaven reward you!

3 the owl was a baker's daughter.] This was a legendary story. Our Saviour being refused bread by the daughter of a baker, is described as punishing her by turning her into an owl.

4 don'd his clothes,] To don is to do on, to put on, as doff is to do off, put off.

5 And dupp'd the chamber door ;] To dup, is to do up; to lift

the latch.

6 By Gis,] Probably the contraction of some Saint's name. by Saint Charity,] Saint Charity is a saint among the Roman Catholicks.

8 By cock,] This is a corruption of the sacred namre

« AnteriorContinuar »