Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,- To our most valiant brother.-So much for him. To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,- Farewell; and let your haste commend your duty. Cor. Vol. In that, and all things, will we show our duty. King. We doubt it nothing; heartily farewell. [Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELius. 2 Colleagued with this dream of his advantage,] This imaginary advantage, which Fortinbras hoped to derive from the unsettled state of the kingdom. 3 to suppress His further gait herein,] Gate or gait is here used in the northern sense, for proceeding, passage; from the A. S. verb gae. A gate for a path, passage, or street, is still current in the north. more than the scope-] More is comprized in the general design of these articles, which you may explain in a more diffused and dilated style. 5 -+ dilated articles, &c.] i. e. the articles when dilated. And now, Laertes, what's the news with you? And lose your voice: What would'st thou beg, That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? Laer. My dread lord, Your leave and favour to return to France; From whence though willingly I came to Denmark, To show my duty in your coronation; Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France, And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon. King. Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius? 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, King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you? Ham. Not so, my lord, I am too much i'the sun. Queen. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off, 6 Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind.] A little more than kin, is a little more than a common relation. The king was certainly something less than kind, by having betrayed the mother of Hamlet into an indecent and incestuous marriage, and obtained the crown by means which he suspects to be unjustifiable. And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Seek for thy noble father in the dust: Thou know'st, 'tis common; all, that live, must die, Ham. Ay, madam, it is common. Why seems it so particular with thee? If it be, Ham. Seems, madamn! nay, it is; I know not seems. 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, eye, Nor the dejected haviour of the visage, Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief, To give these mourning duties to your father: To do obsequious sorrow: But to perséver 8 7 railed lids] With lowering eyes, cast down eyes. obsequious sorrow:] Obsequious is here from obsequies, or funeral ceremonies. 9 In obstinate condolement,] Condolement, for sorrow. 1 a will most incorrect—] i. e. ill-regulated, not suffi ciently regulated by a sense of duty and submission to the dispensations of Providence. An understanding simple and unschool'd: And, we beseech you, bend you to remain1 Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye, Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. Queen. Let not thy mother lose her prayers, I pray thee, stay with us, go not to Wittenberg. 2 To reason most absurd;] Reason is here used in its common sense, for the faculty by which we form conclusions from argu ments. 3 And, with no less nobility of love,] Eminence and distinction of love. 4 bend you to remain-] i, e. subdue your inclination to go from hence, and remain, &c. No jocund health," that Denmark drinks to-day, [Exeunt King, Queen, Lords, &c. POLONIUS, Ham. O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!" Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! 8 Hyperion to a satyr: so loving to my mother, That he might not beteem' the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! Must I remember? why, she would hang on him, As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on: And yet, within a month,- man! A little month; or ere those shoes were old, 5 No jocund health,] The King's intemperance is very strongly impressed; every thing that happens to him gives him occasion to drink. 6 the king's rouse-] i. e. the King's draught of jollity. resolve itself into a dew!] Resolve means the same as 7 dissolve. 8 merely.] is entirely, absolutely. Hyperion to a satyr:] Hyperion or Apollo is represented in all the ancient statues, &c. as exquisitely beautiful, the satyrs hideously ugly. That he might not beteem-] i. e. permit, or suffer. |