Would have reverted to my bow again, y And not where I had aim'd them. Laer. And fo bhave I a noble father loft, A fifter driven into desperate terms, с Whofe worth, if praises may go back again, Stood challenger on mount of all the age For her perfections. But my revenge will come. King. Break not your fleeps for that. You must not think That we are made of ftuff fo flat and dull, That we can let our beard be fhook with danger, And think it paftime. You fhortly fhall hear more. i Enter a meffenger with letters. Me: Letters, my lord, from Hamlet. Meff. Sailors, my lord, they fay; I saw them not: y The qu's read but instead of and. z The qu's read bave instead of bad. a The if f. reads arm'd. The 3d q. reads I have. after him, except C. 8 The 2d, 3d and 4th fo's, R. and P. read yourself. h How now? what news? omitted The fo's read was inftead of worth; in qu's, P. and H. J. Who bas if, &c. d P. and H. omit my. The 3d q. reads beards. f P. alters this to, You fhall foon bear more; and is followed by all the editors H. i This line omitted in qu's, P. and k Fo's and R. This for These. 1 Thefe words in italic are omitted by all editions but the qu's and C. King. Laertes, you fhall hear them.-Leave us ". [Exit messenger. High and mighty, you shall know I am fet naked on your kingdom. To-morrow I fhall beg leave to fee your kingly eyes. When I fhall, first asking your pardon thereunto, recount the occafion of my fudden return ". What fhould this mean? Are all the reft come back? Or is it fome abufe, and no fuch thing. Laer. Know you the hand? King. 'Tis Hamlet's character; Naked, and (in a poftfcript here, he fays) Alone. Can you advise me? Laer. I'm loft in it, my lord; but let him come; It warms the very fickness in my heart, S That I fhall live and tell him to his teeth, Thus did thou. King. If it be fo, Laertes, (As how fhould it be fo?-how otherwife?-) you be rul'd by me? Will In After us P. inferts all to make up the measure, to which he has facrificed fenfe by this means; for no edition makes any more than three perfons prefent in this feene, viz. the king, Laertes, and the messenger: Now if the king had wanted Laertes and the meffenger to depart, he should not fay, Leave us, all; he might indeed have faid, Leave us, BOTH: But Laertes is to ftay to hear the letter read, therefore the king only bids che messenger depart; Leave us. But that this blunder of P. fhould be followed (as it is) by all the after-editors till C. is aftonishing. n The fo's and R. read occafiont The fo's and R. read fudden and more ftrange return. P All but the qu's put the 'fubfcrip tion, Hamlet, at the bottom of the let ter; but this was unneceffary for the king to read, as it is before mentioned that the letter came from Hamlet. q The fo's and R. read or inftead of and. The qu's read devife. Laer. Laer. Ay, my lord, fo you will not o'er-rule me to a peace. King. To thine own peace. If he be now return'd, As liking not his voyage, 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 fhall not choose but fall: And for his death no wind of blame fhall breathe; You have been talkt of fince your travel much, As did that one, and that in my regard Laer. What part is that, my lord? b King. A very riband in the cap of youth, Yet needful too; for youth no lefs becomes The fo's and R. read, If so you'll not, &c. P. and thofe after, I, (J. Ay) fo you'll not, &c. except C. who reads, I will, my lord, fo you, &c. The Itt q. reads, As the king at bis voyage, &c. The fo's and R. read, As checking at bis voyage, &c. 7. is mistaken in saying the folio (it is the 3d folio he tells us he has) reads As choking at bis, c. L x The lines in italic are not in the fo's. y P. omits My lord, fo do all after him but C. z R. alters organ to inftrument; followed by P. a of the unworthieft fiege ] Of the lowest rank. Siege for feat, place. J. b R. alters riband to feather; fol lowed by all but J. and C. The The light and careless livery that it wears, Importing health and gravenefs. Two months fince, I've seen myself, and ferv'd against the French, Come fhort of what he did. Laer. A Norman was't? King. A Norman. Laer. Upon my life, h Lamord. Laer. I know him well: he is the brooch indeed, And gem of all the nation. King. He made confeffion of you, And gave you fuch a mafterly report, For art and exercife in your defence, n That he cried out, 'twould be a fight indeed, e The fo's read, Some two months the 3d, viz. my thought. bence. d The fo's read, ran well. e The fo's and R. read into. f The fo's, R. P. and H. read paft for topt. 8 The Ift and 2d qu's read me thought; fo does S. but gives not the reading of h The qu's, Lamord; the fo's and Lamound; all the reft, Lamond. i W. and J. omit very. k The fo's read our nation. 1 First f. mad. m The fo's and R. read especially. n R. and P. read fight. If one could match you. The Scrimers of their nation, Laer. 9 What out of this, my lord? King. Laertes, was your father dear to you? Or are you like the painting of a forrow, A face without a heart? Laer. Why ask you this? King. Not that I think, you did not love your father, And that I fee in paffages of proof, * There lives within the very flame of love S A kind of wick, or fnuff, that will abate it, t For goodness, growing to a pleurify, Dies in his own too much. u That we would do, We should do when we would; for this would changes, • Scrimers; i. e. fencers. J. The Ift q. reads Scimures. What is in italic is not the fo's, R. P. or H. P P. and H. omit Sir. t I would believe, for the honour of Shakespeare, that he wrote pletbory. But I obferve the dramatic writers of that timè frequently call a fulness of blood a 4 The fo's and R. read, Why out of pleurify, as if it came not from waruga, this, &c. but from plus, pluris. W. H. reads These lines in italic are not in the plethory. fo's. • First and ad qu's, wecke ; zd, wieke. w P. alters that to what followed by the reft, except C. |