LAER. Know you the hand? KING. 'Tis Hamlet's character." Naked, And, in a postscript here, he says, alone: Can you advise me? LAER. I am lost in it, my lord. But let him come; It warms the very sickness in my heart, KING. If it be so, Laertes, As how should it be so? how otherwise? be rul❜d by me? Will you So LAER. Ay, my lord; you will not o'er-rule me to a peace. KING. To thine own peace. If he be now re turn'd, As checking at his voyage, (58) and that he means No more to undertake it, I will work him To an exploit, now ripe in my device, Under the which he shall not choose but fall: And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe; But even his mother shall uncharge the practice," And call it, accident. LAER. [My lord, I will be rul'd; The rather, if you could devise it so, It falls right. KING. You have been talk'd of since your travel much, And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality Wherein, they say, you shine: your sum of parts Did not together pluck such envy from him, • 'Tis Hamlet's character] Peculiar mode of shaping letters. See "charactery," M. W. of W. V. 5. Mrs. Quickly. b uncharge the practice] Acquit the expedient pursued, of blame. sum of parts] Total. See M. of V. Portia, III. 2. K • Two months As did that one; and that, in my regard, LAER. What part is that, my lord? since, 4tos. Here was a gentleman of Normandy, I have seen myself, and serv'd against the French, a siege] Place or rank. See Othel. I. 2. Othel. b Importing health and graveness] Carrying with them those ideas; denoting as well that, from which this stage of life derives health (viz. warm clothing), as that which also ought to accompany it, gravity, or an exterior of sobriety and decorum. Here was a gentleman of Normandy, I have seen myself, and serv'd against the French, And they ran well, &c.] With this punctuation, that of the quartos also, the construction may be," Here was a gen tleman [whom] I've seen myself, and [I have also] served against the French, and they, &c." or, if the reading of the folio of 1632 is adopted, viz. "Here was a gentleman of Normandy," we must read and punctuate the next line with the modern editors: "I have seen myself, and serv'd against, the French." They, also, with the quartos, read can instead of ran. Had witchcraft in't] In this exercise, in the art and feats of horsemanship. pass'd my thought; That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks, Come short] Outwent all that my imagination could frame. For pass'd my, the quartos read topp'd me. a LAER. I know him well: he is the brooch, in deed, And gem of all the nation. C. KING. He made confession of you; And gave you such a masterly report, For art and exercise in your defence, And for your rapier most especial, That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed, If one could match you: [the scrimers of their nation, He swore, had neither motion, guard, nor eye, LAER. What out of this, my lord? KING. Laertes, was your father dear to you? Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, A face without a heart? LAER. Why ask you this? KING. Not that I think, you did not love your father; But that I know, love is begun by time brooch] Bosom jewel. made confession of] Acknowledged. * in your defence] Used for "in your art and science of defence." scrimers] From escrimeur, Fr. a fencer. Hence scrimish, says Mr. Pegge, by transposition of letters made skirmish, became the encounter." Anecd. of Engl. Language, 8vo. 1903, P. 68. Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.(60) Dies in his own too-much: That we would do, We should do when we 'would; for this would changes,b a And hath abatements and delays as many, As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents; And then this should is like a spendthrift sigh, That hurts by easing.(62) But, to the quick o'the ulcer :] Hamlet comes back; What would you undertake, LAER. To cut his throat i'the church. KING. No place, indeed, should murder sanc tuarize; Revenge should have no bounds. (6) But, good Laertes, Will you do this? keep close within your chamber! Hamlet, return'd, shall know you are come home: We'll put on those shall praise your excellence, The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together, And wager o'er your heads: he, being remiss, We should do when we would] i. e. at the heat, at the time of the resolution taken. b for this would changes] Inclination is fluctuating and uncertain. SEYMOUR. Or with a little shuffling, you may choose LAER. I will do't: And, for the purpose, I'll anoint my sword. Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare, KING. Let's further think on this; Weigh, what convenience, both of time and means, May fit us to our shape: if this should fail, ance, "Twere better not assay'd; therefore this project Should have a back, or second, that might hold, If this should blast in proof. Soft; let me see: We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings,* a and in a pass of practice] A favourite pass; in which experience assured him of success: but fraud or artifice, a sense in which it occurs throughout our author, can hardly be supposed here to be excluded: for such was the use of an unfair weapon. Upon the origin of the use of this word in this sense we are indebted to Mr. Todd for new information. "Præc, Sax. is cunning, sliness and thence Prat in Gaw. Douglas, is a trick of fraud. Latter times, forgetting the original of words, applied to practise the sense of prat." Dict. : b fit us to our shape] An image taken from the tailor's board: may suit us. с • If this should blast in proof] Burst in the explosion or proof. Blast is a term in mining, • So 4tos. commings, 1623, 32. |