W

As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
And then this fhould is like a spend-thrift figh
That hurts by eafing.-But to th' quick o'th' ulcer-
Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake

X

To fhew yourself * your father's fon indeed
More than in words?

Laer. To cut his throat i'th' church.

King. No place, indeed, should murder fanctuarife,
Revenge should have no bounds; but, good Laertes,
Will you do this? keep clofe within your chamber;
Hamlet, return'd, fhall know you are come home:
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,
And fet a double varnish on the fame

The Frenchman gave you; bring you in fine together,
And wagery o'er your heads. He being remifs,
Most generous, and free from all contriving,
Will not peruse the foils; fo that with ease,

a

Or with a little fhuffling, you may choose
A fword unbated, and in a pafs of practice
Requite him for

your father.

u Qu's, indeed your father's fon. x The 1st and 2d q. and P. read, Spend-thrift's figh; W. reads spend-tbrift's fign; alluding to a spendthrift's figning bonds and mortgages for prefent relief, who in fo doing brings greater diftreffes on himself in the end.

of the fword is the propofal of Laertes ; but let us fuppofe it to be the king's propofal in the paffage; then we have the king advifing Laertes to choose an envenomed fword out of the number that were to be produced to the combatants; but how is he to know which was en

y So the qu's and C. All the reft venomed (fuppofing any of them were) read, on your beads.

and which not, or who is fuppofed to envenom the fword? If he had advised Laertes to poifon his fword after he had chofen it, he would speak, fenfe; other wife nonfenfe.

a The qu's read pace.

Latr.

Laer. I will do 't;

And for the purpose I'll anoint my fword:

I bought an unction of a mountebank,

So mortal, that but a dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,
Collected from all fimples that have virtue
Under the moon, can fave the thing from death,
That is but fcratch'd withal; I'll touch my point
With this contagion, that if I gall him flightly,
It may be death.

King. Let's further think of this;

Weigh, what convenience both of time and means
May fit us to our fhape. If this fhould fail,

And that our drift look through our bad performance,
'Twere better not affay'd; therefore this project
Should have a back, or fecond, that might hold,
If this should blaft in proof. Soft-let me fee-
We'll make a folemn wager on your cunnings.

h

I hav't-When in your motion you are hot and dry, (As make you bouts more violent to that end)

1

m

And that he calls for drink, I'll have " prepar'd him
A chalice for the " nonce; whereon but fipping,

n

If he by chance escape your venom'd⚫ tuck,

Our purpofe may hold there-P but ftay, what noife?

SCENE X.

Enter Queen.

How now, fweet queen?

Queen. One woe doth tread upon another's heel,

So faft they follow. Your fifter's drown'd, Laertes,
Laer. Drown'd! O where?

Queen. There is a willow grows afcaunt the brook,
That fhews his 'hoary leaves in the glaffy ftream:
u There with fantaftic garlands did fhe make,
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daifies, and long purples,
(That liberal fhepherds give a groffer name *,

W

But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them ;)
There on the pendant boughs, her coronet weeds

a

t All but the qu's read boar; if q, borry.

So the qu's and C. With the willow fhe made a garland of flowers, i. e. the willow was the frame of the garland into which the flowers were ftuck. But the fo's and all the reft read, There with fantaftic garlands did she came, &c. w The 4th f. reads gave.

x After name, R. and W. infert ra. y The 1st and 2d qu's read, But our cull-cold maids, &c. the 3d reads cufcold.

z C. Then for There.

a The ft q. crquet.

Clambring

Clambring to hang, an envious fliver broke;

When down her weedy trophies and herself

d

Fell in the weeping brook; her cloaths fpread wide,
And mermaid-like, a while they a bore her up;
Which time fhe chaunted fnatches of old lauds;
As one incapable of her own distress,

Or like a creature native, and f indued

Unto that element; but long it could not be,
'Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.

h

i

Laer. Too much of water haft thou, poor Ophelia, And therefore I forbid

my tears.

But yet

It is our trick: Nature her custom holds,

Let fhame say what it will. When these are gone,
The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord!

I have a fpeech of fire, that fain would blaze
But that this folly drowns it.

The 2d q. reads fluer; fo does S. but omits giving the reading of the 3d, fhiver.

c The fo's and R. the for her.

d The 4th f. and R. read bear.

e So the qu's; all the reft read tunes. But the word tunes gives an uncertain notion of what the fung; the word lauds, i. e. hymns or pfalms, fixes the idea of the kind of mufic fhe entertained herself with just before she died.

The 2d, 3d and 4th fo's, and R.

read deduced.

g Firft f. ber for their.

[Exit.

h Second and 3d qu's, wench.

i Instead of lay the ift f. reads buy; the other fo's by.

k P. alters Is fhe drown'd? to She is drown'd! followed by the editors after him.

1 The qu's read a fpeech a fire, which may mean a Speech on fire, i. e. fet on

fire.

m The aft f. reads doubts it.

King.

Let's follow, Gertrude.

How much I had to do to calm his rage!
Now fear I, this will give it start again;
Therefore, let's follow.

a P. omits Let's; followed by the seft, except C.

[Exeunt.

• P.'s duodecimo, and the after-editions, except C. read bad I.

ACT