The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Part 60

me. Wee may call it Herbe-Grace a Sundaies: [Sidenote: herbe of Grace a Sondaies, you may weare]

Oh you must weare your Rew with a difference.[1]

There's a Daysie,[2] I would giue you some Violets,[3]

but they wither'd all when my Father dyed: They say, he made a good end; [Sidenote: say a made]

_For bonny sweet Robin is all my ioy._

_Laer_. Thought, and Affliction, Pa.s.sion, h.e.l.l it selfe: [Sidenote: afflictions,]

She turnes to Fauour, and to prettinesse.

[Sidenote:_Song._]

_Ophe. And will he not come againe_, [Sidenote: will a not]

_And will he not come againe_: [Sidenote: will a not]

_No, no, he is dead, go to thy Death-bed, He neuer wil come againe.

His Beard as white as Snow_, [Sidenote: beard was as]

_All[4] Flaxen was his Pole: He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away mone, Gramercy[5] on his Soule._ [Sidenote: G.o.d a mercy on]

And of all Christian Soules, I pray G.o.d.[6]

[Sidenote: Christians soules,]

G.o.d buy ye.[7] _Exeunt Ophelia_[8] [Sidenote: you.]

_Laer_. Do you see this, you G.o.ds? [Sidenote: Doe you this o G.o.d.]

_King. Laertes_, I must common[9] with your greefe, [Sidenote: commune]

Or you deny me right: go but apart, Make choice of whom your wisest Friends you will, And they shall heare and iudge 'twixt you and me; If by direct or by Colaterall hand They finde vs touch'd,[10] we will our Kingdome giue, Our Crowne, our Life, and all that we call Ours To you in satisfaction. But if not, Be you content to lend your patience to vs,[11]

And we shall ioyntly labour with your soule To giue it due content.

_Laer_. Let this be so:[12]

His meanes of death,[13] his obscure buriall; [Sidenote: funerall,]

No Trophee, Sword, nor Hatchment o're his bones,[14]

[Footnote 1: --perhaps the heraldic term. The Poet, not Ophelia, intends the special fitness of the speech. Ophelia means only that the rue of the matron must differ from the rue of the girl.]

[Footnote 2: 'the dissembling daisy': _Greene_--quoted by _Henley_.]

[Footnote 3: --standing for _faithfulness: Malone_, from an old song.]

[Footnote 4: '_All' not in Q._]

[Footnote 5: Wherever else Shakspere uses the word, it is in the sense of _grand merci--great thanks (Skeat's Etym. Dict.)_; here it is surely a corruption, whether Ophelia's or the printer's, of the _Quarto_ reading, '_G.o.d a mercy_' which, spoken quickly, sounds very near _gramercy_. The _1st Quarto_ also has 'G.o.d a mercy.']

[Footnote 6: 'I pray G.o.d.' _not in Q._]

[Footnote 7: 'G.o.d b' wi' ye': _good bye._]

[Footnote 8: _Not in Q._]

[Footnote 9: 'I must have a share in your grief.' The word does mean _commune_, but here is more pregnant, as evidenced in the next phrase, 'Or you deny me right:'--'do not give me justice.']

[Footnote 10: 'touched with the guilt of the deed, either as having done it with our own hand, or caused it to be done by the hand of one at our side.']

[Footnote 11: We may paraphrase thus: 'Be pleased to grant us a loan of your patience,' that is, _be patient for a while at our request_, 'and we will work along with your soul to gain for it (your soul) just satisfaction.']

[Footnote 12: He consents--but immediately _re-sums_ the grounds of his wrathful suspicion.]

[Footnote 13: --the way in which he met his death.]

[Footnote 14: --customary honours to the n.o.ble dead. _A trophy_ was an arrangement of the armour and arms of the dead in a set decoration. The origin of the word _hatchment_ shows its intent: it is a corruption of _achievement_.]

[Page 210]

No n.o.ble rite, nor formall ostentation,[1]

Cry to be heard, as 'twere from Heauen to Earth, That I must call in question.[2] [Sidenote: call't in]

_King_. So you shall: And where th'offence is, let the great Axe fall.

I pray you go with me.[3] _Exeunt_

_Enter Horatio, with an Attendant_. [Sidenote: _Horatio and others_.]

_Hora_. What are they that would speake with me?

_Ser_. Saylors sir, they say they haue Letters [_Gent_. Sea-faring men sir,]

for you.

_Hor_. Let them come in,[4]

I do not know from what part of the world I should be greeted, if not from Lord _Hamlet_.

_Enter Saylor_. [Sidenote: _Saylers_.]

_Say_. G.o.d blesse you Sir.

_Hor_. Let him blesse thee too.

_Say_. Hee shall Sir, and't[5] please him. There's [Sidenote: A shall sir and please]

a Letter for you Sir: It comes from th'Amba.s.sadours [Sidenote: it came fr th' Emba.s.sador]

that was bound for England, if your name be _Horatio_, as I am let to know[6] it is.

_Reads the Letter_[7]

Horatio, _When thou shalt haue ouerlook'd this_, [Sidenote: _Hor. Horatio_ when]

_giue these Fellowes some meanes to the King: They haue Letters for him. Ere we were two dayes[8] old at Sea, a Pyrate of very Warlicke appointment gaue vs Chace. Finding our selues too slow of Saile, we put on a compelled Valour. In the Grapple, I boarded_ [Sidenote: valour, and in the]

_them: On the instant they got cleare of our s.h.i.+ppe, so I alone became their Prisoner.[9] They haue dealt with mee, like Theeues of Mercy, but they knew what they did. I am to doe a good turne for them. Let_ [Sidenote: a turne]

_the King have the Letters I haue sent, and repaire thou to me with as much hast as thou wouldest flye_ [Sidenote: much speede as]

_death[10] I haue words to speake in your eare, will_ [Sidenote: in thine eare]

[Footnote 1: 'formal ostentation'--show or publication of honour according to form or rule.]

[Footnote 2: 'so that I must call in question'--inst.i.tute inquiry; or '--_that_ (these things) I must call in question.']

[Footnote 3: Note such a half line frequently after the not uncommon closing couplet--as if to take off the formality of the couplet, and lead back, through the more speech-like, to greater verisimilitude.]