His beard was as white as snow, He is gone, he is gone, And we cast away moan; And of all christian souls! I pray God. God be buy, O.C. wi'* you! LAER. Do you see this, O God? [Exit OPHELIA. KING. Laertes, I must common with your grief,(51) Or you deny me right. Go but apart, Make choice of whom your wisest friends" you will, They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give, To Be you content to lend your patience to us, LAER. Let this be so ; His means of death, his obscure funeral,- No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,— Cry to be heard,(53) as 'twere from heaven to earth, a * of whom your wisest friends] Of whom, or which of. Any amongst. SCENE VI. Another Room in the same. Enter HORATIO, and a Servant. HOR. What are they, that would speak with me? SERV. They say, they have letters for you. HOR. Sailors, sir; Let them come in. [Exit Servant. I do not know from what part of the world I should be greeted, if not from lord Hamlet. Enter Sailors. 1 SAIL. God bless you, sir. HOR. Let him bless thee too. 1 SAIL. He shall, sir, an't please him. There's a letter for you, sir; it comes from the ambassador that was bound for England; if your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is. HOR. [Reads.] Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these fellows some means to the king; they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave us chace: Finding ourselves too slow of sail, a means to the king] Means of access, introduction. Ere we were two days old at sea] At the end of a second day's voyage. See M. for M. IV. 2. Prov. appointment] Equipment. O. C. we put on a compelled valour; and in the grapple I *boorded, boarded them: on the instant, they got clear of our ship; so I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me, like thieves of mercy; but they knew what they did; I am to do a good turn for them. Let the king have the letters I have sent; and repair thou to me with as much haste as thou would'st fly death. I have words to speak in thine ear, will make thee dumb; yet are they much too light for the bore of the matter. These good fellows will bring thee where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course for England: of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell. He that thou knowest thine, Hamlet. Come, I will give you way for these your letters; [Exeunt. SCENE VII. Another Room in the same. Enter King and LAERTES. KING. Now must your conscience my acquittance seal, And you must put me in your heart for friend; *for the bore of the matter] or the capacity of the barrel. carry heavier words. JOHNSON. The bore is the caliber of a gun, I will give you way for these your letters] Way is passage, means of conveyance. put me] Set me down, register me. Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,* LAER. It well appears :-But tell me, As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else, You mainly were stirr'd up. KING. O, for two special reasons; Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew'd, But yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother, Lives almost by his looks; and for my self, LAER. And so have I a noble father lost; knowing ear] Well satisfied. be it either which] Whichever of the two it be; be it either [of them, that] which [I speak of.] count] Investigation, account. the general gender] The common people or race. See "the general," II. 2. Haml. * driven into desperate terms] Into a state or condition of despair. • So 4tos, 1632. arm'd, 1623. • So 4tos, who was, 1623, 32. Stood challenger on mount of all the age For her perfections:-But my revenge will come. KING. Break not your sleeps for that: you must not think, That we are made of stuff so flat and dull, That we can let our beard be shook with dan ger, (57) And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more: And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine,- MESS. Enter a Messenger. Letters, my lord, from Hamlet: This to your majesty; this to the queen. KING. From Hamlet! who brought them? MESS. Sailors, my lord, they say: I saw them KING. Leave us. not: They were given me by Claudio, he receiv'd them. Laertes, you shall hear them :[Exit Messenger. [Reads.] High and mighty, you shall know, I am set naked on your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes: when I shall, first asking your pardon thereunto, recount the occasion of my sudden and more strange return. Hamlet. What should this mean! Are all the rest come back? Or is it some abuse, and no such thing? Whose worth, if praises may go back again, Stood challenger on mount of all the age For her perfections] Whose merits, if the report of them may, where she can never return, be here re-echoed, stood (on the highest ground, and in the fullest presence of the age) like a champion for their mistress, to give a general challenge in support of her excellence. |