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; The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England; 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 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. 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. 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; Ros. Will't please you go, my lord? [Exit Captain. Go a little before. [Exeunt Ros. and GUIL. How all occasions do inform against me, 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 : Led by a delicate and tender prince ; To all that fortune, death, and danger, dare, When honour's at the stake. How stand I then, 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; 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: 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. 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, And I a maid at your window, 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, [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, [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, |