King. Go seek him there. [To some Attendants. Ham. He will stay till you come. [Exeunt Attendants. King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve For that which thou hast done,-must send thee hence The associates tend, and every thing is bent Ham. King. Ham. For England? Ay, Hamlet. Good. King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. Ham. I see a cherub, that sees them.-But, come; for England! Farewel, 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. Come, for England. [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 3 With fiery quickness:] These words are not in the quartos. We meet with fiery expedition in King Richard III. Steevens. the wind at help,] I suppose it should be read— 4 vou. The bark is ready, and the wind at helm. Johnson. at help,] i. e. at hand, ready,-ready to help or assist Ritson. Similar phraseology occurs in Pericles, Prince of Tyre: "At careful nursing." Steevens. 5 thou may'st not coldly set Our sovereign process;] I adhere to the reading of the quarto and folio. Mr. M. Mason observes, that, "one of the common acceptations of the verb set, is to value or estimate; as we say to set at nought; and in that sense it is used here." Steevens. By letters conjuring to that effect, The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England; [Exit. Our poet has here, I think, as in many other places, used an elliptical expression: "thou may'st not coldly set by our sovereign process;" thou may'st not set little by it, or estimate it lightly. "To set by," Cole renders in his Dict. 1679, by estimo. “To set little by," he interprets parvi-facio. See many other instances of similar ellipses, in Cymbeline, Act V, sc. v. Malone. 6 By letters conjuring —] Thus the folio. The quarto reads : By letters congruing Steevens. 66 The reading of the folio may derive some support from the following passage in The Hystory of Hamblet, bl. 1: "— making the king of England minister of his massacring resolution; to whom he purposed to send him, [Hamlet] and by letters desire him to put him to death." So also, by a subsequent line: "Ham. Wilt thou know the effect of what I wrote ? "Ham. An earnest conjuration from the king," &c. The verb to conjure (in the sense of to supplicate) was formerly accented on the first syllable. So, in Macbeth: 7 "I cónjure you, by that which you profess, "Howe'er you come to know it, answer me." Malone. like the hectick in my blood he rages,] So, in Love's Labour's Lost: "I would forget her, but a fever, she "Reigns in my blood." Malone. Scaliger has a parallel sentiment:-Febris hectica uxor, & non nisi morte avellenda. Steevens. 8 Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin.] This being the termination of a scene, should, according to our author's custom, be rhymed. Perhaps he wrote: Howe'er my hopes, my jos are not begun. If haps be retained, the meaning will be, 'till I know 'tis done, The folio reads, in support of Dr. Johnson's remark: Mr. Heath would read: Howe'er 't may hap, my joys will ne'er begin. Steevens. By his haps, he means his successes. His fortune was begun, but his joys were not. M. Mason. Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin.] This is the reading of the quarto. The folio, for the sake of rhyme reads: Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. But this, I think, the poet could not have written. The King is speaking of the future time. To say, till I shall be informed VOL. XV. T SCENE IV. A Plain in Denmark. Enter FORTINBRAS, and Forces, marching. For. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king; And let him know so. Cap. For. Go softly on. I will do 't, my lord. [Exeunt FoR. and Forces. Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, &c. Good sir, whose powers are these?2 Ham. 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. that a certain act has been done, whatever may befal me, my joys never had a beginning, is surely nonsense. Malone. 9 Craves-] Thus the quartos. The folio-Claims. Steevens. 1 We shall express our duty in his eye,] So, in Antony and Cleopatra: 66 tended her the eyes." In his eye, means, in his presence. The phrase appears to have been formularly. See The Establishment of the Household of Prince Henry, A. D. 1610: “Also the gentleman-usher shall be careful to see and informe all such as doe service in the Prince's eye, that they perform their dutyes" &c. Again, in The Regulations for the Government of the Queen's Household, 1627: all such as doe service in the Queen's eye." Steevens. 2 Good sir, &c.] The remaining part of this scene is omitted in the folio. Steevens. To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it; 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. [Exit Cap. Will 't please you go, my lord? Ham. I will be with you straight. Go a little before. [Exeunt Ros. and GUIL. How all occasions do inform against me, To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be 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, 3 chief good, and market of his time, &c.] If his highest good, and that for which he sells his time, be to sleep and feed. Market, I think, here means profit. Malone. 4 Johnson. large discourse,] Such latitude of comprehension, such power of reveiwing the past and anticipating the future. Johnson. •some craven scruple-] Some cowardly scruple. See Vol. VI, p. 68, n. 7. 5 Malone. So, in King Henry VI, P. I: "Or durst not, for his craven heart, say this." Steevens: Exposing what is mortal, and unsure, When honour 's at the stake. How stand I then, 6 Rightly to be great, [Exit. Is, not to stir without &c.] This passage I have printed according to the copy. Mr. Theobald had regulated it thus: 'Tis not to be great, Never to stir without great argument; But greatly &c. The sentiment of Shakspeare is partly just, and partly romantick. Rightly to be great, Is, not to stir without great argument; is exactly philosophical. But greatly to find quarrel in a straw, When honour 's at the stake. is the idea of a modern hero. But then, says he, honour is an aï:gument, or subject of debate, sufficiently great, and when honour is at stake, we must find cause of quarrel in a straw. Johnson. 7 Excitements of my reason, and my blood,] Provocations which excite both my reason and my passions to vengeance. Johnson. a plot.] A piece, or portion. See King Lear, Act III, sc. ii, Vol. XIV. Reed. 8 So, in The Mirror for Magistrates: 9 "Of grounde to win a plot, a while to dwell, "We venture lives, and send our souls to hell." Henderson. continent,] Continent, in our author, means that which comprehends or encloses. So, in King Lear: "Rive your concealing continents." Again, in Chapman's version of the third Iliad: 66 did take "Thy fair form for a continent of parts as fair, .” See King Lear, Act III, sc. ii. Steevens. Again, Lord Bacon, On the Advancement of Learning, 4to. 1633, if there be no fullnesse, then is the continent greater than the content." Reed. p. 7: |