Good morrow, 'tis Saint Valentine's day, And I a maid at your window, To be your Valentine: Then up he rose, and don'd his clothes,* 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, King. How long hath she been thus? Oph. 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, 4 don'd his clothes,] To don is to do on, to put on; as doff is to do off, put off. 5 And dupp'd the chamber door;] To dup is to do up; to lift the latch. 6 By Gis,] Probably the contraction of some saint's name. 7 by Saint Charity,] Saint Charity is a saint among the Roman Catholicks. By cock,] This is a corruption of the sacred name. and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my coach! Good night, ladies; good night, sweet ladies; good night, good night. [Exit. King. Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. [Exit HORATIO. O! this is the poison of deep grief; it springs All from her father's death: and now behold, When sorrows come, they come not single spies, Next, your son gone; and he most violent author greenly, In hugger-mugger to inter him1: Poor Ophelia 9 but greenly,] But unskilfully; with greenness; that is, without maturity of judgment. 1 In hugger-mugger to inter him:] All the modern editions that I have consulted, give it: In private to inter him ; — That the words now replaced are better, I do not undertake to prove; it is sufficient that they are Shakspeare's: if phraseology is to be changed as words grow uncouth by disuse, or gross by vulgarity, the history of every language will be lost; we shall no longer have the words of any author; and, as these alterations will be often unskilfully made, we shall in time have very little of his meaning. JOHNSON. Like to a murdering piece 2, in many places Where are my Switzers3? Let them guard the door : What is the matter? Gent. Save yourself, my lord; The ocean, overpeering of his list, 4 Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste, Than young Laertes, in a riotous head, O'erbears your officers! The rabble call him, lord; Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds, Queen. How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! [Noise within. ? Like to a murdering piece,] The small cannon, which are, or were used in the forecastle, half-deck, or steerage of a ship of war, were within the last century called murdering-pieces. 3 — my Switzers?] In many of our old plays, the guards attendant on kings are called Switzers, and that without any regard to the country where the scene lies, because the Swiss in the time of our poet, as at present, were hired to fight the battles of other nations. 4 The ocean, overpeering of his list,] The lists are the barriers which the spectators of a tournament must not pass. In this place, it signifies boundary, i. e. the shore. 5 O, this is counter,-] Hounds run counter when they trace the trail backwards. Enter LAERTES, armed; Danes following. Laer. Where is this king?-Sirs, stand you all with out. Dan. No, let's come in. Laer. I pray you, give me leave. Dan. We will, we will. [They retire without the Door. Laer. I thank you:-keep the door. O thou vile Calmly, good Laertes. Laer. That drop of blood, that's calm, proclaims me bastard; Cries, cuckold, to my father; brands the harlot King. Laer. Where is my father? Queen. Gertrude; 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. -- 6 unsmirched brow,] i. e. clean, not defiled. King. Who shall stay you? Laer. My will, not all the world's: And, for my means, I'll husband them so well, They shall go far with little. King. Good Laertes, 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, Repast them with my blood. King. Why, now you speak Like a good child, and a true gentleman. That I am guiltless of your father's death, And am most sensibly in grief for it, It shall as level to your judgment 'pear, 7 As day does to your eye. Danes [within.] Let her come in. Laer. How now! what noise is that? Enter OPHELIA, fantastically dressed with Straws and Flowers. O heat, dry up my brains! tears, seven times salt, 7 to your judgment 'pear,] For appear. VOL. VIII. BB |