a P. QUEEN. Nor earth to give me food," nor heaven light! (53) Sport and repose lock from me, day, and night! HAM. If she should break it now, P. KING. 'Tis deeply sworn. here a while; [To OPHELIA. My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile The tedious day with sleep. P. QUEEN. Sweet, leave me [Sleeps. Sleep rock thy brain; [Exit. And never come mischance between us twain! HAM. Madam, how like you this play? QUEEN. The lady doth protest too much, methinks. HAM. O, but she'll keep her word. KING. Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in't? HAM. No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest; no offence i'the world. KING. What do you call the play? HAM. The mouse-trap. Marry, how? Tropically. (54) This play is the image of a murder (55) done The folio of 1632 has, as the quartos, Queen for PlayerQueen throughout, instead of Bap. b Nor earth to give me food, nor] "Be there neither earth, &c. nor, &c." The quarto, 1604, reads " to me give." the argument] The subject matter. See Ophelia, supra. in Vienna: Gonzago is the duke's name; his wife, Baptista: (5) you shall see anon; 'tis a knavish piece of work: But what of that? your majesty, and we that have free souls, it touches us not: Let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung. Enter LUCIANUS. a This is one Lucianus, nephew to the king. b OPH. You are keen, my lord, you are keen. HAM. It would cost you a groaning, to take off my edge.c OPH. Still better, and worse.d HAM. So you mistake [your*] husbands. (5) Begin, murderer; Pox, leave thy damnable faces, and begin. Come; Doth bellow for revenge. The croaking raven Luc. Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing; Confederate season, else no creature seeing; You are a good chorus, my lord] The quartos read "as good as a." Mr. Henley observes, the use to which Shakespeare converted a chorus, may be seen in H. V. the puppets dullying] The agitations of your bosom. take off my edge] SEYMOUR. "When thou shalt be disedged by her That now thou tir'st on." Cymb. III. 4. Imogen. Still better, and worse] More keen and less decorous. a Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected, On wholesome life usurp immediately. [Pours the Poison into the Sleeper's Ears. HAM. He poisons him i'the garden for his estate. His name's Gonzago: the story is extant, and written in very choice Italian: You shall see anon, how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife. OPH. The king rises. HAM. What! frighted with false fire! POL. Give o'er the play. KING. Give me some light: away! ALL. Lights, lights, lights! Exeunt all but HAMLET and HORATIO. HAM. Why, let the strucken deer go weep, For some must watch, while some must sleep; So runs the world away. Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers, (if HOR. Half a share. (63) HAM. A whole onė, I. For thou dost know, O Damon dear, (6) a midnight weeds] "Root of hemlock, digg'd i'the dark." Macb. get. So, 4tos. STEEVENS. let the strucken deer go weep] See As You, &c. 1 Lord. raced, 1623, 32. • rich, 163. Of Jove himself; and now reigns here HOR. You might have rhymed. HAM. O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a thousand pound. Didst perceive? HOR. Very well, my lord. HAM. Upon the talk of the poisoning, HOR. I did very well note him. HAM. Ah, ha! Come, some musick; come, the recorders. For if the king like not the comedy, Why then, belike, he likes it not, perdie.. GUIL. Good my lord, vouchsafe me a word with you. HAM. Sir, a whole history. GUIL. The king, sir, HAM. Ay, sir, what of him? GUIL. Is, in his retirement, marvellous distempered. (66) HAM. With drink, sir? GUIL. No, my lord, rather with choler. HAM. Your wisdom should show itself more richer,* to signify this to the doctor; for, for me to put him to his purgation, would, perhaps, plunge him into more choler. Why then, belike, he likes it not, perdie] Perdie, or perdy, is par Dieu: and thus he balks the conclusion, or consequence, as just before he had balked the rhyme. GUIL. Good my lord, put your discourse into some frame, and start not so wildly from my affair. HAM. I am tame, sir :-pronounce. GUIL. The queen, your mother, in most great affliction of spirit, hath sent me to you. HAM. You are welcome. GUIL. Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not of the right breed. If it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer, I will do your mother's commandment: if not, your pardon, and my return, shall be the end of my business. HAM. Sir, I cannot. GUIL. What, my lord? wit's HAM. Make you a wholesome answer; my diseased: But, sir, such answer as I can make, you shall command; or, rather, as you say, my mother: therefore no more, but to the matter: My mother, you say, Ros. Then thus she says; Your behaviour hath struck her into amazement and admiration. HAM. O wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother! But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother's admiration? impart. Ros. She desires to speak with you in her closet, ere you go to bed. HAM. We shall obey, were she ten times our mother. Have you any further trade with us?" Ros. My lord, you once did love me, HAM. And do still, by these pickers and stealers. (67) Ros. Good my lord, what is your cause of dis ⚫ trade with us] Occasion of intercourse. |