You told us of some suit; what is't, Laertes ? And lose your voice: what would'st thou beg, Laertes, That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more instrumental to the mouth, What would'st thou have, Laertes? Laer. My dread lord, Your leave and favour to return to France; Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France, King. Have you your father's leave? What says Pol. He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave', By laboursome petition; and, at last, King. Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine, Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind3. [Aside. King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you? • My DREAD lord,] So every quarto but the first, which reads, "My gracious lord:" the folio, 1623, "Dread my lord," which was not by any means an unusual form of expression. 7 wrung from me my slow leave,] This and the two following lines are in the quarto, 1604, and in every subsequent edition in that form, but not in the folios: the quarto, 1603, reads, "He hath, my lord, wrung from me a fore'd grant, • A little more than kin, and less than kind.] This expression seems to have been proverbial. In Rowley's "Search for Money," 1609, (reprinted for the Percy Society) we meet with the following:-" I would he were not so near to us in kindred, then sure he would be nearer in kindness."-Sign. B. Ham. Not so, my lord; I am too much i'the sun. Thou know'st, 'tis common; all that live must die, Ham. Ay, madam, it is common. Queen. If it be, Why seems it so particular with thee? Ham. Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not seems. Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother2, Nor customary suits of solemn black, King. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, To give these mourning duties to your father: That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound 9 - cast thy NIGHTED colour off,] The quarto, 1603, has no corresponding passage, and all the other quartos have "nighted," which the folio, 1623, injuriously alters to nightly. 1 thy VAILED lids] To "vail" was to lower. See Vol. vi. p. 201, and various previous instances there referred to. 2 good mother,] So the folio, 1623, and no doubt rightly. Boswell informs us that "the quarto" reads "cool mother:" no quarto that I have seen so reads ; but the quarto, 1604, has "coold mother," which the quarto, 1611, changes to could smother, in which it is followed by the subsequent quarto impression. In the quarto, 1603, the whole speech is addressed to the king:-" My lord, 'tis not the sable suit I wear," &c. The quarto, 1604, lower down, reads, "chapes of grief," subsequently altered to "shapes of grief," excepting in the folio, 1623, which has "shows." In the next line, the quarto, 1604, having the letter n, in "denote," turned, led some of the printers of the later quartos to suppose that the word devout was intended. In filial obligation, for some term, Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief: A heart unfortified, a mind impatient, As any the most vulgar thing to sense, Queen. Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet: 3 To do OBSEQUIOUS sorrow :) i.e. sorrow as at obsequies. See Vol. v. pp. 270 and 352. But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away. [Flourish. Exeunt King, Queen, Lords, &c. POLONIUS, and LAERTES. Ham. O! that this too, too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew3; His canon 'gainst self-slaughter. O God! O God! Fie on't! O fie'! 'tis an unweeded garden, 8 That grows to seed; things rank, and gross in nature, 4 And the king's ROUSE-] i. e. carouse: the word "rouse" was often used: and Brand, in his "Popular Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 228, (as Todd remarks) tells us that as late as the reign of Charles II. "the Danish rowsa” was notorious in this country. This may be the same as the German rausch, drunkenness, and hence "rouse" and carouse. 5 RESOLVE itself into a dew ;] "Resolve" is dissolve. See Vol. iv. p. 92. 6 His canon 'gainst SELF-slaughter!] The quartos 1604, &c., read "sealeslaughter." The same remark will apply to "weary," in the next line, which is misprinted wary. The folio is right in both places. 'Fie on't! O fie!] The folio, 1623, to the injury of the metre, and in opposition to the quartos, reads, "Fie on't! O fie fie!" • That he might not BETEEM the winds of heaven] To "beteem" here is to permit or suffer: the word has occurred in a different sense in "MidsummerNight's Dream," Vol. ii. p. 395, being there to be taken as the provincial word teem, which is still used for pour out in the North of England. It stands beteen in the three earliest folios, and between in the fourth, which Southern in his copy altered to permit, as indeed Rowe printed it. The quartos (excepting that of 1603, where the line is wanting) have "beteem." With which she follow'd my poor father's body, But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue! Enter HORATIO, BERNARDO, and MARCELLUS. Hor. Hail to your lordship! I am glad to see you well: Horatio, or I do forget myself. Hor. The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever. Ham. Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you. And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio ?- Mar. My good lord, Ham. I am very glad to see you; good even, sir. But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg? 9 Ham. I would not hear your enemy say so; Nor shall you do mine ear that violence, We'll teach you to drink deep, ere you depart'. 9 I would not HEAR-] So the quartos: the folio, "I would not have." 1 We'll teach you to drink deep, ere you depart.] So the quarto, 1603, and the folio, 1623: the later quartos have the line, "We'll teach you for to drink ere you depart." Three lines farther on, some of the quartos (including those of 1604 and 1611) omit " see." |