Laer. And so have I a noble father lost; For her perfections:- But my revenge will come. King. Break not your sleeps for that: you must not think, That we are made of stuff so flat and dull, That we can let our beard be shook with danger, And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine,— Mess. Enter a Messenger. Letters, my lord, from Hamlet: This to your majesty; this to the queen. King. From Hamlet! Who brought them? Mess. Sailors, my lord, they say: I saw them not; They were given me by Claudio, he receiv'd them Of him that brought them. King. Leave us. Laertes, you : shall hear them [Reads.] High and mighty, you shall know, I am set naked on your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes: when I shall, first asking your pardon thereunto, recount the occasion of my sudden and more strange return. Hamlet. What should this mean? Are all the rest come back? Or is it some abuse, and no such thing? Laer. Know you the hand? And, in a postscript here, he says, alone: 9 if praises may go back again,] If I may praise what has been, but is now to be found no more. Laer. I am lost in it, my lord. But let him come; It warms the very sickness in my heart, That I shall live and tell him to his teeth, Thus diddest thou. King. If it be so, Laertes, As how should it be so? how otherwise? Will you be rul❜d by me? Laer. Ay, my lord; So you will not o'er-rule me to a peace. King. To thine own peace. If he be now return'd, — As checking at his voyage1, and that he means No more to undertake it, I will work him To an exploit, now ripe in my device, Under the which he shall not choose but fall; And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe; But even his mother shall uncharge the practice, Laer. The rather, if you could devise it so, My lord, I will be rul'd; It falls right. That I might be the organ. King. You have been talk'd of since your travel much, As did that one; and that, in my regard, Laer. 1 As checking at his voyage,] i. e. objecting to. The phrase is from falconry. 2 of the unworthiest siege.] Of the lowest rank. Siege, for seat, place. 3 Importing health and graveness.] i. e. implying, denoting. Here was a gentleman of Normandy, I have seen myself, and serv'd against, the French, With the brave beast: so far he topp'd my thought, Come short of what he did. Laer. King. A Norman. A Norman, was't? Laer. Upon my life, Lamord. King. The very same. Laer. I know him well: he is the brooch, indeed, And gem of all the nation. King. He made confession of you; And gave you such a masterly report, And for your rapier most especial, That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed, If one could match you: the scrimers of their nation, Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy, That he could nothing do, but wish and beg Laer. What out of this, my lord? King. Laertes, was your father dear to you? Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, A face without a heart? Laer. Why ask you this? King. Not that I think, you did not love your father; 4 in your defence,] That is, in the science of defence. 5 fencer. the scrimers] The fencers. From escrimeur, Fr.; a But that I know, love is begun by time;" For goodness, growing to a plurisy, Dies in his own too-much: That we would do, We should do when we would; for this would changes, And hath abatements and delays as many As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents; More than in words? Laer. To cut his throat i'the church. The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together, 6 love is begun by time ;] This is obscure. The meaning may be, love is not innate in us, and co-essential to our nature, but begins at a certain time from some external cause, and being always subject to the operations of time, suffers change and dimi nution. JOHNSON. 7 passages of proof,] In transactions of daily experience. And then this should is like a spendthrift sigh, That hurts by easing.] A spendthrift sigh is a sigh that makes an unnecessary waste of the vital flame. It is a notion very prevalent, that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers. JOHNSON. Or with a little shuffling, you may choose Laer. Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare, King. Let's further think of this; Weigh, what convenience, both of time and means, May fit us to our shape 3: if this should fail, And that our drift look through our bad performance, 'Twere better not assay'd: therefore this project Should have a back, or second, that might hold, If this should blast in proof. Soft; - let me see: We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings, I ha't : 9 A sword unbated,] i. e. not blunted as foils are. a pass of practice,] Practice is often by Shakspeare, and other writers, taken for an insidious stratagem, or privy treason, a sense not incongruous to this passage, where yet it may mean a thrust for exercise; or perhaps, a favourite pass, one he has well practised in. • It may be death.] It is a matter of surprise, that no one of Shakspeare's numerous and able commentators has remarked, with proper warmth and detestation, the villainous assassin-like treachery of Laertes in this horrid plot. There is the more occasion that he should be here pointed out an object of abhorrence, as he is a character we are, in some preceding parts of the play, led to respect and admire. RITSON. 3 May fit us to our shape :] May enable us to assume proper characters, and to act our part. blast in proof] A metaphor taken from the trying or proving fire-arms or cannon, which often blast or burst in the proof. |