To hear of it. They are about the court'; Pol. "Tis most true: And he beseech'd me to entreat your majesties, To hear and see the matter. King. With all my heart; and it doth much content me To hear him so inclin❜d. Good gentlemen, give him a farther edge, King. [Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN. Sweet Gertrude, leave us too; For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither, That he, as 'twere by accident, may here Affront Ophelia': her father, and myself (lawful espials) Will so bestow ourselves, that, seeing, unseen, We may of their encounter frankly judge; And gather by him, as he is behav'd, If't be th' affliction of his love, or no, That thus he suffers for. Queen. I shall obey you.— And, for your part, Ophelia, I do wish, That your good beauties be the happy cause Of Hamlet's wildness; so shall I hope, your virtues To both your honours. Oph. Madam, I wish it may. [Exit Queen. Pol. Ophelia, walk you here.-Gracious, so please you, 2 they are about the court;] So the folio: the quartos read merely "they are here," &c. 66 3 AFFRONT Ophelia :] i. e. face, or confront Ophelia. This use of the word was not uncommon. In the preceding line, the folios have there for here; " and in the following line, " lawful espials" is only in the folios. We will bestow ourselves.-Read on this book; [To OPHELIA. That show of such an exercise may colour The devil himself. King. O! 'tis too true: [Aside.] how smart A lash that speech doth give my conscience! The harlot's cheek, beautied with plastering art, Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it, Than is my deed to my most painted word. O heavy burden! Pol. I hear him coming: let's withdraw, my lord. [Exeunt King and POLONIUS. Enter HAMLET. Ham. To be, or not to be; that is the question :- And by opposing end them?-To die,-to sleep,- To sleep! perchance to dream:-ay, there's the rub; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, • Your LONELINESS.] Thus the folio. The quartos, 1604, &c. with evident corruption read, lowliness. 5 - we do SUGAR o'er] So the quartos. All the folios read " In the next line, they omit " too," found in the quartos. surge o'er." The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay, That patient merit of the unworthy takes, Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, Good my lord, Oph. • The pangs of DESPIS'D love,] Thus every quarto, but that of 1603, which has not the line, and that of 1611, which corruptly reads "The pangs of office," the printer having caught the word from the line below. The folios, dispriz'd. In the preceding line, the folios misprint," the poor man's contumely." 7 With a bare BODKIN?] Many passages from dramatists and other writers of the time might be produced, if necessary, to show that a "bodkin" was the old term for a small dagger. The folios give the rest of the line," who would these fardels bear," which is clearly wrong on every account. 8 - make cowards of us all ;] The words "of us all," which most likely had dropped out at the end of the line in the quarto, 1604, (they are in the quarto, 1603,) are from the folio, 1623. of great PITH and moment,] The quartos, 1604, &c. read, "of great pitch and moment," which Ritson preferred. His opinion will probably not be generally adopted. The line is wanting in the quarto, 1603. 1 — their currents turn AWRY,] So all the quartos, excepting that of 1603, where the line is not found: the folios have away for "awry." * I humbly thank you; well, WELL, WELL.] We adopt the repetition of "well, well" from the folios. I pray you, now receive them. Ham. I never gave you aught. No, not I3; Oph. My honour'd lord, I know right well you did; And with them, words of so sweet breath compos'd, Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. Ham. Ha, ha! are you honest? Ham. Are you fair? Oph. What means your lordship? Ham. That if you be honest, and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty. Oph. Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty? Ham. Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd, than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness: this was some time a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once. Oph. Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. 3 No, not I ;] The folio reads only, "No, no." In the next line but one, it has, "I know," for " You know " of the quartos. 4 THEIR perfume lost,] So the quarto, 1604, and every edition in the same form after it: the folios, "then perfume left;" but some modern editors constantly give a false notion of the value and accuracy of the folio, 1623, by adopting, without the slightest acknowledgment, the better readings of the quartos, as if they were really contained in the folio. The folio, 1623, is on the whole a well printed volume, but it has many errors. 5 - YOUR HONESTY should admit.] That this is the true reading we have the evidence of the quarto, 1603, where, however, the words are transposed, viz. "That if you be fair and honest, your beauty should admit no discourse to your honesty." The quartos, 1604, &c., have merely you for "your honesty" of the folio. In the next line, however, the folio commits an error by substituting your for "with,” found in every quarto. As Mr. Barron Field observes to me, "Hamlet throughout the scene is not speaking of Ophelia personally, but of woman generally e. g. 'I have heard of your paintings too,' &c., where he does not mean that he had heard that Ophelia painted, but that women were in the habit of painting themselves." Ham. You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock, but we shall relish of it. I loved you not. Oph. I was the more deceived. Ham. Get thee to a nunnery: why would'st thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest: but yet I could accuse me of such things, that it were better, my mother had not borne me. I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious; with more offences at my beck, than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling between heaven and earth? We are arrant knaves, all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where's your father? Oph. At home, my lord. Ham. Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool no where' but in's own house. Farewell. Oph. O! help him, you sweet heavens! Ham. If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery; farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go; and quickly too. Farewell. Oph. Heavenly powers, restore him! Ham. I have heard of your paintings too, well enough: God hath given you one face', and you make virtue cannot so INOCULATE,] The word seems to have puzzled the compositor of the quarto, 1604, who prints it euocutat, which in the quarto, 1637, became evacuate. The folio gives the true word. 7 - play the fool no WHERE-] The folio reads, no doubt corruptly, "play the fool no way." 8 farewell.] The folio, "go, farewell." I have heard of your PAINTINGS too, well enough: God hath given you one FACE,] The folio misprints the passage thus :-" I have heard of your prattlings too, well enough: God has given you one pace," &c. That this is wrong is proved by the quarto, 1603, where we find, "I have heard of your paintings too: God hath given you one face." "Too" is not in the quartos, 1604, &c., but in other respects they all concur. |