The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by George MacDonald (big ebook reader TXT) 📕

doing brought his Horse, As had he beene encorps't and demy-Natur'd With the braue Beast,[3] so farre he past my thought,
[Sidenote: he topt me thought,[4]] That I in forgery[5] of shapes and trickes, Come short of what he did.[6]

Laer . A Norman was't?

Kin . A Norman.

Laer . Vpon my life Lamound . [Sidenote: Lamord .]

Kin . The very same.

Laer . I know him well, he is the Brooch indeed, And Iemme of all our Nation, [Sidenote: all the Nation.]

Kin . Hee mad confession of you, And gaue you such a Masterly report, For Art and exercise in your defence; And for your Rapier most especially, [Sidenote: especiall,] That he cryed out, t'would be a sight indeed,[7] If one could match you [A] Sir. This report of his
[Sidenote: ; sir this] [Sidenote: 120, 264] Did Hamlet so envenom with his Enuy,[8] That he could nothing doe but wish and begge, Your sodaine comming ore to play with him;[9] [Sidenote: with you] Now out of this.[10]

Laer . Why out of this, my Lord? [Sidenote: What out]

Kin. Laertes was your Father deare to you? Or are you like the painting[11] of a sorrow, A face without a heart?

Laer . Why aske you this?

Kin . Not that I thinke you did not loue your Father, But that I know Loue is begun by Time[12]:


[Footnote A: Here in the Quarto:-

; the Scrimures[13] of their nation He swore had neither motion, guard nor eye, If you opposd them;]

[Footnote 1: I think the can of the Quarto is the true word.]

[Footnote 2: -in his horsemanship.]

[Footnote 3: There is no mistake in the order 'had he beene'; the transposition is equivalent to if : 'as if he had been unbodied with, and shared half the nature of the brave beast.'

These two lines, from As to thought , must be taken parenthetically; or else there must be supposed a dash after Beast , and a fresh start made.

'But he (as if Centaur-like he had been one piece with the horse) was no more moved than one with the going of his own legs:'

'it seemed, as he borrowed the horse's body, so he lent the horse his mind:'-Sir Philip Sidney. Arcadia , B. ii. p. 115.]

[Footnote 4: '-surpassed, I thought.']

[Footnote 5: 'in invention of.']

[Footnote 6: Emphasis on did , as antithetic to forgery : 'my inventing came short of his doing.']

[Footnote 7: 'it would be a sight indeed to see you matched with an equal.' The king would strengthen Laertes' confidence in his proficiency.]

[Footnote 8: 'made him so spiteful by stirring up his habitual envy.']

[Footnote 9: All invention.]

[Footnote 10: Here should be a dash: the king pauses. He is approaching dangerous ground-is about to propose a thing abominable, and therefore to the influence of flattered vanity and roused emulation, would add the fiercest heat of stimulated love and hatred-to which end he proceeds to cast doubt on the quality of Laertes' love for his father.]

[Footnote 11: the picture.]

[Footnote 12: 'through habit.']

[Footnote 13: French escrimeurs : fencers.]

[Page 220]

And that I see in passages of proofe,[1] Time qualifies the sparke and fire of it:[2] [A]
Hamlet comes backe: what would you vndertake, To show your selfe your Fathers sonne indeed,
[Sidenote: selfe indeede your fathers sonne] More then in words?

Laer . To cut his throat i'th'Church.[3]

Kin . No place indeed should murder Sancturize; Reuenge should haue no bounds: but good Laertes Will you doe this, keepe close within your Chamber,
Hamlet return'd, shall know you are come home: Wee'l put on those shall praise your excellence, And set a double varnish on the fame The Frenchman gaue you, bring you in fine together, And wager on your heads, he being remisse,[4] [Sidenote: ore your] [Sidenote: 218] Most generous, and free from all contriuing, Will not peruse[5] the Foiles? So that with ease, Or with a little shuffling, you may choose A Sword vnbaited,[6] and in a passe of practice,[7] [Sidenote: pace of] Requit him for your Father.

Laer . I will doo't, And for that purpose Ile annoint my Sword:[8] [Sidenote: for purpose,] I bought an Vnction of a Mountebanke So mortall, I but dipt a knife in it,[9]
[Sidenote: mortall, that but dippe a] Where it drawes blood, no Cataplasme so rare, Collected from all Simples that haue Vertue


[Footnote A: Here in the Quarto :-

There liues within the very flame of loue A kind of weeke or snufe that will abate it,[10] And nothing is at a like goodnes still,[11] For goodnes growing to a plurisie,[12] Dies in his owne too much, that we would doe We should doe when we would: for this would change,[13] And hath abatements and delayes as many, As there are tongues, are hands, are accedents, And then this should is like a spend thrifts sigh, That hurts by easing;[14] but to the quick of th'vlcer,]

[Footnote 1: 'passages of proofe,'- trials . 'I see when it is put to the test.']

[Footnote 2: 'time modifies it.']

[Footnote 3: Contrast him here with Hamlet.]

[Footnote 4: careless.]

[Footnote 5: examine -the word being of general application then.]

[Footnote 6: unblunted . Some foils seem to have been made with a button that could be taken-probably screwed off.]

[Footnote 7: Whether practice here means exercise or cunning, I cannot determine. Possibly the king uses the word as once before 216-to be taken as Laertes may please.]

[Footnote 8: In the 1st Q. this proposal also is made by the king.]

[Footnote 9:

'So mortal, yes, a knife being but dipt in it,' or,
'So mortal, did I but dip a knife in it.']

[Footnote 10: To understand this figure, one must be familiar with the behaviour of the wick of a common lamp or tallow candle.]

[Footnote 11: 'nothing keeps always at the same degree of goodness.']

[Footnote 12: A plurisie is just a too-muchness , from plus, pluris-a plethora , not our word pleurisy , from [Greek: pleura]. See notes in Johnson and Steevens .]

[Footnote 13: The sense here requires an s , and the space in the
Quarto between the e and the comma gives the probability that a letter has dropt out.]

[Footnote 14: Modern editors seem agreed to substitute the adjective
spendthrift : our sole authority has spendthrifts , and by it I hold. The meaning seems this: 'the would changes, the thing is not done, and then the should , the mere acknowledgment of duty, is like the sigh of a spendthrift, who regrets consequences but does not change his way: it eases his conscience for a moment, and so injures him.' There would at the same time be allusion to what was believed concerning sighs: Dr. Johnson says, 'It is a notion very prevalent, that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers.']

[Page 222]

Vnder the Moone, can saue the thing from death, That is but scratcht withall: Ile touch my point, With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly,[1] It may be death.

Kin . Let's further thinke of this, Weigh what conuenience[2] both of time and meanes May fit vs to our shape,[3] if this should faile; And that our drift looke through our bad performance, 'Twere better not assaid; therefore this Proiect Should haue a backe or second, that might hold, If this should blast in proofe:[4] Soft, let me see[5]
[Sidenote: did blast] Wee'l make a solemne wager on your commings,[6] [Sidenote: cunnings[6]] I ha't: when in your motion you are hot and dry, [Sidenote: hate, when] As[7] make your bowts more violent to the end,[8]
[Sidenote: to that end,] And that he cals for drinke; Ile haue prepar'd him
[Sidenote: prefard him] [Sidenote: 268] A Challice for the nonce[9]; whereon but sipping, If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,[10] Our purpose may[11] hold there: how sweet Queene.
[Sidenote: there: but stay, what noyse?]

Enter Queene .

Queen . One woe doth tread vpon anothers heele, So fast they'l follow[12]: your Sister's drown'd Laertes .
[Sidenote: they follow;]

Laer . Drown'd! O where?[13]

Queen . There is a Willow[14] growes aslant a Brooke,