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King. Go seek him there.

[To some Attendants. [Exeunt Attendants. King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve

Ham. He will stay till you come.

For that which thou hast done,-must send thee hence With fiery quickness: Therefore, prepare thyself; The bark is ready, and the wind at help,

The associates tend, and every thing is bent

For England.

Ham. For England?

King. Ay, Hamlet.

Ham. Good.

King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.

Ham. I see a cherub, that sees them.-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.

for England.

Come,

[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
Pays homage to us,) thou may'st not coldly set
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,

The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me: Till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin.

SCENE IV.

[Exit.

A Plain in Denmark. Enter FORTINERAS, and Forces, march

ing.

For. Go, captain, for me greet the Danish king; Tell him, that, by his licence, Fortinbras

[8] Our poet has here, I think, used an elliptical expression: "thou mayest not coldly set by our sovereign process;" thou mayest not set little by it, or estimate it lightly. See many other instances of similar ellipses in Cymbeline, act v. sc. 5.

MALONE.

6

VOL. X.

D 2

Craves 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,

And let him know so.

Cap. I will do't, my lord.

For. Go softly on.

[Exe. FORTINBRAS, and Forces.

Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, &c.

Ham. Good sir, whose powers are these?

Cap. They are of Norway, sir.

Ham. How purpos'd, sir,

I pray you?

Cap. Against some part of Poland.
Ham. Who

Commands them, sir?

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

Cap. Truly to speak, sir, and with no addition, We go to gain a little patch of ground,

That hath in it no profit but the name.

Το 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 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. Will't please you go, my lord?
Ham. I will be with you straight.

[Exit Captain.

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,
Looking before, and after, gave us not

That capability and godlike reason

To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be

[9] Large discourse---such latitude of comprehension, such power of reviewing the

past, and anticipating the future.

JOHNSON.

Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple

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;

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,'
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
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!

SCENE V.

[Exit.

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.

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; 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

[1] Provocations which excite both my reason and my passions to vengeance. JOHNSON.

[2] A piece or portion.

REED.

[$] Envy is much oftener put by our poet, and those of his time, for direct aver. sion, than for malignity conceived at the sight of others' excellence. So in K. Henry VIII. you turn the good we offer into envy." STEEVENS.

The hearers to collection; they aim at it,

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

Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds :

Let her come in.

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

[Exit HORATIO.

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 ?

Oph. How should I your true love know

From another one?

By his cockle hat and staff,

And his sandal shoon."

Queen. Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?

Oph. Say you? nay, pray you, mark.

O, ho!

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,

Oph. Pray you, mark.

White his shroud as the mountain snow,

[Singing.

[Sings.

[Sings.

[4] As Mr. Mason observes, "endeavour to collect some meaning from them." So in Cymbeline, last scene,

"whose containing

"Is so from sense to hardness, that I can

"Make no collection of it."

STEEVENS.

[5] Though her meaning cannot be certainly collected, yet there is enough to put a mischievous interpretation to it.

WARBURTON.

[6] There is no part of this play in its representation on the stage, more pathetic 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.

[7] 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. WARBURT.

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.

King. How do you, pretty lady?

Oph. Well, God 'ield you! They say, the owl was a baker's daughter. 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 ;1

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.

Quoth she, before you tumbled me,
You promis'd me to wed:

[He answers.]

So would I ha done, by yonder sun,

And thou hadst not come to my bed.

King. How long hath she been thus ?

Oph. I hope, all will be well. We must be patient:

[8] Heaven reward you. So in Antony and Cleopatra.

"Tend me to-night two hours, I ask no more,
"And the gods yield you for't!" THEOBALD.

[9] See Illustrations, Vol. X.

[1] To don is to do on, to put on doff is to do off To dup is to do

the latch.

JOHNSON.

up, to lift up

[2] I believe this word to be a corrupted abbreviation of Jesus, the letters I. H. S. being anciently all that was set down to denote that sacred name, on altars, the covers of books, &c. RIDLEY.

[3] St. Charity is a known saint among the Roman Catholics.

STEEVENS.

This is likewise a corruption of the sacred name. Many instances are given in a note at the beginning of the fifth act of the Second Part of Henry IV. STÊEV,

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