Antiquity forgot, custom not known, They cry, Choose we; Laertes shall be king! Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds, Queen. How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!' O, this is counter, you' false Danish dogs. King. The doors are broke. [Noise within. Enter LAERTES, armed; Danes following. Laer. Where is this king?-Sirs, stand you all without. Dan. No, let's come in. Laer. Dan. We will, we will. I pray you, give me leave. [They retire without the Door. Laer. I thank you :-keep the door.-O thou vile king, Give me my father. Queen. Calmly, good Laertes. Laer. That drop of blood, that's calm, proclaims me bastard; Cries, cuckold, to my father; brands the harlot King. Laer. Where is my father? King. Queen. go, Gertrude ; Dead. But not by him. King. Let him demand his fill. Laer. How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with: To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience, and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation: To this point I stand, That both the worlds I give to negligence, King. Who shall stay you? Laer. My will, not all the world's: And, for my means, I'll husband them so well, They shall go far with little. King. Good Laertes,' If you desire to know the certainty Of your dear father's death, is't writ in your revenge, That, sweepstake, you will draw both friend and foe, Winner and loser? Laer. None but his enemies. King. Will you know them then? Laer. To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms; And, like the kind life-rend'ing pelican, my blood. Why, now you speak Repast them with Danes. [Within] Let her come in. Laer. How now! what noise is that? Enter OPHELIA, fantastically dressed with Straws and Flowers. O heat, dry up my brains! tears, seven times salt, Oph. They bore him barefac'd on the bier ; And in his grave rain'd many a tear ;- Fare you well, my dove! Laer. Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge, It could not move thus. Oph. You must sing, Down a-down, an you call him a-down-a. O, how the wheel becomes it! It is the false steward, that stole his master's daughter. Laer. This nothing's more than matter. Oph. There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray you, love, remember: and there pansies, that's for thoughts. Laer. A document in madness; thoughts and remembrance fitted. Oph. There's fennel for you, and columbines :— there's rue for you; and here's some for me:-we may call it, herb of grace o'Sundays:-you may wear your rue with a difference.-There's a daisy :-I would give you some violets; but they withered all, when my father died:-They say he made a good end, For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy,- [Sings. Laer. Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, She turns to favour, and to prettiness. Oph. And will he not come again? Go to thy death-bed, He never will come again. His beard was as white as snow, All flaxen was his poll: He is gone, he is gone, And we cast away moan; [Sings. God 'a mercy on his soul! And of all Christian souls! I pray God. wi' you! Laer. Do you see this, O God? King. Laertes, I must commune with your grief, 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, Be you content to lend your patience to us, Laer. Let this be so ; Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth, King [Exeunt. SCENE VI. Another Room in the same. Enter HORATIO and a Servant. Hor. What are they that would speak with me? Sailors, sir; they have letters for you. Let them come in.— [Exit Servant. I do not know from what part of the world 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 chase: Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled valour; and in the grapple I 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 1 have sent; and repair thou to me with as much haste as thou wouldst 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 1 have much to tell thee. Farewell. He that thou knowest thine, HAMLET. Come, I will give you way for these your letters; And do't the speedier, that you may direct me To him from whom you brought them. SCENE VII. [Exeunt. 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; Laer. It well appears:-But tell me, As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else, 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 myself (My virtue, or my plague, be it either which), She is so conjunctive to my life and soul, |