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⚫ them. 4tos.

The bark is ready, and the wind at help,(12)
The associates tend, and every thing is bent
For England.

[blocks in formation]

KING. So is't, if thou knew'st our purposes.

HAM. I see a cherub," that sees him.* But, come; for England!-Farewell, dear mother.

KING. Thy loving father, Hamlet.

HAM. My mother: Father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England.

[Exit.

KING. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed

aboard;

Delay it not, I'll have him hence to-night:
Away; for every thing is seal'd and done

That else leans on the affair: Pray you, make haste.

[Exeunt Ros. and GUIL.
And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught,
(As my great power thereof may give thee sense;"
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe (13)
Pays homage to us,) thou may'st not coldly set
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,(14)

The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;

a I see a cherub, that sees him] The quartos read them. This beauteous and sudden intimation of heavenly insight and interference, against the insidious purpose of the King's shew of regard for Hamlet's welfare, flashes upon us with a surprise and interest rarely to be found or equalled, and worthy of this great master of the drama.

b Follow him at foot] i. e. close at heels; kara woda.

e thereof may give thee sense] i. e. may make thee a very intelligible suggestion to that effect.

d coldly set our sovereign process] i. e. with indifference regard, or set by, set at defiance.

For like the hectick in my blood he rages, (15)
And thou must cure me: "Till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps," my joys were* ne'er begun.

* will neer

[Exit, begin. 4tos.

SCENE IV.

A Plain in Denmark.

Enter FORTINBRAS, and Forces, marching.

FOR. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish
king;

Tell him, that, by his licence, Fortinbras
Claims + the conveyance of a promis'd march
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
If that his majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his eye,(16)
And let him know so.

CAP.

FOR. Go safely on.

I will do't, my

lord.

craves.

4tos. Craves a free passage and conduct. 1603.

✰ softly.

[Exeunt FORTINBRAS, and Forces. 4tos.

Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, &c.

[blocks in formation]

Howe'er my haps] i. e. turns of fortune or chances.

b Claims the conveyance of a promis'd march] i. e. the way or means of, leave of passage for an army on march, as promised. e safely] i. e. with assurance of safe conduct.

d proposed] Propositum is purpose: and purposed is accordingly without any warrant whatsoever here substituted by Steevens and Reed.

* buy. O.C.

CAP. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.
HAM. Goes it against the main of Poland,* sir,
Or for some frontier?

CAP. Truly to speak, and with no addition,"
We go to gain a little patch of ground,
That hath in it no profit but the name.
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;
Nor will it yield to Norway, or the Pole,
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 debated the question of this straw:

e

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 markets of his time,
Be but to sleep, and feed? a beast, no more.

a the main of Poland]

See Lear, III. 1. Gent.

baddition] i. e. exaggeration.

A ranker rate] i. e. more exuberant, larger. See K. John, V. 3. Salisb.

d debate] i. e. suffice to debate.

e imposthume] "The cankers of a calm world and a long peace." I. H. IV. IV. 2. Falst.

occasions] i. e. occurrences.

8 market] i. e. return had for his time. Market is MERCES, Lat.

all.

h

a beast, no more] i. e. he is no better than a beast, if this is See Hamlet's Solil.

Sure, he, that made us with such large discourse,(17) 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 scruplea
Of thinking too precisely on the event,"

(A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom,

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

с

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,
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,

d

craven scruple] i. e. cowardly; as asking quarter by pronouncing this word of fear and fealty. Tam. of Sh. II. I. Kath. b the event] i. e. consequences.

• Makes mouths at the invisible event] i. e. scoffs at unknown fate, at the unseen issue.

d without great argument, but greatly, &c.] i. e. without sufficient reason, but magnanimously, &c. Johnson says, the sentiment is partly just, and partly romantick.

Rightly to be great,

Is, not to stir without great argument;

is exactly philosophical.

But greatly to find quarrel in a straw,

When honour's at the stake,

is the idea of a modern hero. But then, says he, 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.

e reason and blood] i. e. judgment and passions. See III. 2. Haml.

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 plot,(18)
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough, and continent,(19)
To hide the slain ?-O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!]
[Exit.

QUEEN.

SCENE V.

Elsinore. A Room in the Castle.

Enter Queen and HORATIO.

I will not speak with her.

HOR. She is importunate; indeed, distract; Her mood will needs be pitied.(20)

QUEEN.

What would she have?

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

hears,

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

heart;

b

Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in

doubt,c

That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move

The hearers to collection ;(21) they aim at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts;
Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield
them,

a trick of fame] i. e. point of honour.

b enviously] i. e. " with spleen and passion, as mad dogs snap at whatever they meet." See II. H. VI. II. 4. Glost.

c speaks things in doubt] i. e. without distinct or certain aim: wandering or incoherently.

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