KING. Pretty Ophelia ! OPн. Indeed, la, 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; Quoth she, before you tumbled me, You promis'd me to wed": So would I ha' done, by yonder sun, An thou hadst not come to my bed. KING. How long has she been this? ОPн. I hope, all will be well. We must be patient: but I cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him i' the cold ground: My brother shall know of it, and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my coach! Good night, ladies; good night, sweet ladies; good night, good night. KING. Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. Of his own just remove: The people muddied, Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers, Divided from herself, and her fair judgment; Last, and as much containing as all these, In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this, [Exit. [Exit HORATIO. a In the quartos, before the last two lines of the ballad, Ophelia says, "he answers." d In the quartos we find, after this, "And now behold." The words are rejected in the folio. Greenly-unwisely; like novices. Hugger-mugger. The etymology of this ancient word is very uncertain. The Scotch have huggrie-muggrie, which Jamieson interprets, " in a confused state, disorderly." In North's 'Plutarch,' the word is applied to the burial of Cæsar:-"Antonius thinking good his testament should be read openly, and also that his body should be honourably buried, and not in huggermugger" • Murdering-piece-a cannon was so called. [A noise within. Alack! what noise is this? Enter a Gentleman. Gives me superfluous death. QUEEN. KING. Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the door: Eats not the flats with more impitious haste, O'erbears your officers. The rabble call him, lord; They cry, "Choose we; Laertes shall be king! O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs. Enter LAERTES, armed; Danes following. LAER. DAN. We will, we will. [Noise within. I pray you, give me leave. [They retire without the door. LAER. I thank you :-keep the door.—O thou vile king, 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. Let him demand his fill. a Impitious-unpitying; the folio of 1632 gives us impetuous. LAER. How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with : KING. Who shall stay you? LAER. My will, not all the world: And, for my means, I'll husband them so well, If you desire to know the certainty Of dear father's death, is 't writ in your revenge, your 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'ring pelican 22, Repast them with my blood. O heat, dry up my brains! tears, seven times salt, ОРН. They bore him barefac'd on the bier; a Pierce, in the folio; in the quarto, 'pear. 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, love, remember: and there is pansies, that 's for thoughts. LAER. A document in madness; thoughts and remembrance fitted. с OPH. There's fennel for you, and columbines :-there 's rue for you; and here's some for me :—we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays :-oh, you must 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,— LAER. Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, KING. Laertes, I must common with your grief, Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will, They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give, To you in satisfaction; but, if not, [Exit OPHELIA. This is explained, "how well is this ditty adapted to the wheel,"-to be sung by the spinners at the wheel. The burthen of a song, such as down a-down, was, according to Steevens, called the wheel. Rosemary was considered to have the power of strengthening the memory. Rue was meant to express ruth-sorrow. For the same reason it was called herb-grace; for "he whom God loveth he chasteneth." To common, now written commune, is to make common-interchange thoughts. 1 SAIL. He shall, sir, an 't please him. There's a letter for you, sir; it comes from the ambassadors 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 chace: Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled valour; 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 I 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 I have much to tell thee. Farewell. He that thou knowest thine, Hamlet. Come, I will give you way for these your letters; [Exeunt. |