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It could not move thus.

Oph. [Sings]

You must sing a-down a-down,

An you call him a-down-a.

O, how the wheel becomes it! It is the false steward, that stole his master's daughter.

Laer. This nothing's more than matter.

Oph. There's rosemary, that's for remembrance : pray, love, remember: and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.

Laer. A document in madness; thoughts and re- 160 membrance fitted.

Oph. There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for you; and here's some for me; we may call it herb-of-grace o' Sundays; oh, you must wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy; I would give you some violets; but they withered all when my father died; they say he made a good end,

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[Sings] For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.

Laer. Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, She turns to favor and to prettiness.

Oph. [Sings]

And will he not come again?

And will he not come again?

170

180

No, no, he is dead,

Go to thy death-bed,

He never will come again.

His beard was white as snow;

All flaxen was his poll;

He is gone, he is gone,

And we cast away moan!

God ha' mercy on his soul!

And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God be wi'

you!

Laer. Do you see this, O God?

[Exit

King. Laertes, I must cómmune with your grief, Or you deny me right. Go but apart,

Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,
And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me.
If by direct or by collateral hand

They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,
Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours,

190 To you in satisfaction; but if not,

Be you content to lend your patience to us,
And we shall jointly labor with your soul
To give it due content.

Laer.

Let this be so;

His means of death, his obscure burial

No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,
No noble rite, nor formal ostentation

Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth,
That I must call't in question.

King.

So you shall;

And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.
I pray you, go with me.

SCENE VI

[Exeunt 200

Another Room in the Castle

Enter HORATIO and a Servant

Hor. What are they that would speak with me?

Serv. Sailors, sir;

They say they have letters for you.

Hor.

Let them come in.

[Exit Servant

I do not know from what part of the world
I should be greeted, if not from lord Hamlet.

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Hor. Let him bless thee too.

1 Sail. He shall, sir, an't please him. There's a letter for you, sir, — it comes from the ambassador

- if your name be

10 that was bound for England, Horatio, as I am let to know it is.

Hor. [Reads]

Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these fellows some means to the king; they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave us chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled valor; in the grapple I boarded them; on the instant, they got clear of our ship; so I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me like thieves of mercy; but they knew 20 what they did; I am to do a good turn for them. Let the king have the letters I have sent; and repair thou to me with as much haste as thou wouldst fly death. I have words to speak in thine ear will make thee dumb; yet are they much too light for the bore of the matter. These good fellows will bring thee where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course for England; of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell.

He that thou knowest thine, HAMLET.

Come, I will make you way for these your letters; 30 And do't the speedier, that you may direct me To him from whom you brought them.

[Exeunt

SCENE VII

Another Room in the Castle

Enter KING and LAERTES

King. Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,

And you must put me in your heart for friend,
Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,
That he which hath your noble father slain
Pursued my life.

Laer.

It well appears; but tell me
Why you proceeded not against these feats,
So crimeful and so capital in nature,

As by your safety, wisdom, all things else,
You mainly were stirred up.

King.
Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed

Oh, for two special reasons,

But yet to me they are strong. The queen his

mother

Lives almost by his looks; and for myself,
My virtue or my plague, be it either which,
She's so conjunctive to my life and soul,
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,
I could not but by her. The other motive,

10

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