Dan. We will, we will. [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 Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow' King. What is the cause, Laertes, That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?— Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person: That treason can but peep to what it would, Why thou art thus incens'd.-Let him go, Gertrude.— Laer. Where is my father? King. Queen. 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, Let come what comes, only I'll be reveng'd Most throughly for my father. King. Who shall stay you? Laer. My will, not all the world's: And, for my means, I'll husband them so well, 9 that's calm,] So the quartos, 1604, &c.; the folio, that calms. 1 — unsmirched brow] To smirch is to make dirty or defile; and it is found used in Vol. ii. pp. 235, 246, and Vol. iii. p. 26. 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-rendering pelican2, Repast them with my blood. King. As day does to your eye. Danes. [Within.] Let her come in*. Re-enter OPHELIA". O heat, dry up my brains! tears seven times salt, O heavens! is't possible, a young maid's wits 2 life-rendering PELICAN,] This is the reading of every quarto: the folio absurdly misprints it politician, and modern editors silently adopt the word in the earlier impressions, as in many other instances, leaving people to imagine that the folio, 1623, is much more accurately printed than it is in reality. 3 to your judgment 'PEAR,] So the quartos: the folio, pierce. Let her come in.] These words are given to Laertes in the quartos; but in the folio they properly stand as uttered by the Danes, who are unseen by the audience. • Re-enter Ophelia.] "Enter Ophelia, fantastically dressed with straws and flowers" say modern editors; but not so the old copies, where we read merely "Enter Ophelia," excepting in the quarto, 1603, which has, "Enter Ophelia, as before." In fact, it is only her "re-entrance," as she has been on the stage before in this scene. Should be as mortal as an old man's life? Oph. They bore him barefac'd on the bier ; Fare you well, my doves! Laer. Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade re venge, 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 is 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 wear3 your 6 After the thing it loves.] This hemistich and the two preceding lines are only in the folios: the quartos read, "a poor man's life," but they are evidently wrong. 7 Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny :] This burden (not uncommon in old songs of the time) is not in any of the quarto impressions. • Fare you well, my dove !] In the folio, these words are erroneously printed in Italics, as if part of the song. 9 It is the false steward, that stole his master's daughter.] No such ballad is known. In the quarto, 1603, Ophelia says, " "Tis o' the king's daughter, and the false steward." 1- and there is PANSIES,] The folio calls them paconcies. 2 - we may call it, herb of grace o'Sundays:] Rue seems to have been also constantly called "herb of grace." Shakespeare so terms it in "Richard II." Vol. iv. p. 181 : "I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace." And in "All's Well that Ends Well," Vol. iii. p. 295, it is spoken of as "herb of grace" only. 3 you MAY wear-] "O! you must wear," in the folio. 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? No, no, he is dead; 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. And of all christian souls! I pray God. God be wi' you! Laer. Do you see this, O God? [Exit OPHELIA. 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, And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me. They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give, To you in satisfaction; but if not, Be you content to lend your patience to us, ♦ God ha' mercy on his soul !] This last stanza is quoted with some variation in "Eastward Ho !" 1605, by Ben Jonson, Marston, and Chapman. See Dodsley's Old Plays, last edit. vol. iv. p. 223. Both Shakespeare and the authors of "Eastward Ho !" probably adopted the words of a well-known ballad of the time. The folio reads, "Gramercy on his soul." I pray God.] Here the quartos are more scrupulous than the folio, as they omit "I pray God." In the next speech of Laertes, the quartos omit "see.” And we shall jointly labour with your soul Laer. Let this be so: His means of death, his obscure funeral, No trophy, sword, nor hatchment, o'er his bones, Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth, King. So you shall; And, where th' offence is, let the great axe fall. [Exeunt. SCENE VI. Another Room in the Same. Enter HORATIO, and a Servant. Hor. What are they, that would speak with me? Serv. Sailors, sir': they say, they have letters for you. Hor. 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. There's a 1 Sail. He shall, sir, an't please him. letter for you, sir: it comes from the ambassador that • his obscure FUNERAL,] So the quartos, 1604, &c. The folio has burial. In the last line of this speech, the quartos seem right in reading, "That I must call't in question :" the folio has "That I must call in question." 7 SAILORS, sir:] For "Sailors," the quartos, 1604, &c. have "Sea-faring men;" but on their entrance they are termed "Sailors," and the prefixes accord with this designation. |