The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - George MacDonald (best ereader for pc .txt) 📗

when he needes what you haue glean'd, it is but squeezing you, and Spundge you shall be dry againe.

Rosin. I vnderstand you not my Lord.

[Footnote A: Here in the Quarto :-

Whose whisper ore the worlds dyameter,[9] [Sidenote: 206] As leuell as the Cannon to his blanck,[10] Transports his poysned shot, may miffe[11] our Name, And hit the woundlesse ayre.]

[Footnote 1: unhappily.]

[Footnote 2: He has hid the body-to make the whole look the work of a mad fit.]

[Footnote 3: This line is not in the Quarto .]

[Footnote 4: Not in Q. See margin above. ]

[Footnote 5: He has put it in a place which, little visited, is very dusty.]

[Footnote 6: He is mad to them-sane only to his mother and Horatio.]

[Footnote 7: euphuistic : 'asked a question by a sponge, what answer should a prince make?']

[Footnote 8: 1st Q. :

For hee doth keep you as an Ape doth nuttes,
In the corner of his Iaw, first mouthes you,
Then swallowes you:]

[Footnote 9: Here most modern editors insert, ' so, haply, slander '. But, although I think the Poet left out this obscure passage merely from dissatisfaction with it, I believe it renders a worthy sense as it stands. The antecedent to whose is friends : cannon is nominative to transports ; and the only difficulty is the epithet poysned applied to shot , which seems transposed from the idea of an
unfriendly whisper. Perhaps Shakspere wrote poysed shot . But taking this as it stands, the passage might be paraphrased thus: 'Whose (favourable) whisper over the world's diameter ( from one side of the world to the other ), as level ( as truly aimed ) as the cannon (of an evil whisper) transports its poisoned shot to his blank ( the white centre of the target ), may shoot past our name (so keeping us clear), and hit only the invulnerable air.' (' the intrenchant air ': Macbeth , act v. sc. 8). This interpretation rests on the idea of over-condensation with its tendency to seeming confusion-the only fault I know in the Poet-a grand fault, peculiarly his own, born of the beating of his wings against the impossible. It is much as if, able to think two thoughts at once, he would compel his phrase to utter them at once.]

[Footnote 10:

for the harlot king
Is quite beyond mine arm, out of the blank
And level of my brain, plot-proof;

The Winter's Tale , act ii. sc. 3.

My life stands in the level of your dreams,

Ibid , act iii. sc. 2.]

[Footnote 11: two ff for two long ss .]

[Page 186]

Ham. I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleepes in a foolish eare.

Rosin. My Lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the King.

Ham. The body is with the King, but the King is not with the body.[1] The King, is a thing--

Guild. A thing my Lord?

Ham. Of nothing[2]: bring me to him, hide Fox, and all after.[3] Exeunt [4]

Enter King. [Sidenote: King, and two or three. ]

King. I have sent to seeke him, and to find the bodie: How dangerous is it that this man goes loose:[5] Yet must not we put the strong Law on him: [Sidenote: 212] Hee's loved of the distracted multitude,[6] Who like not in their iudgement, but their eyes: And where 'tis so, th'Offenders scourge is weigh'd But neerer the offence: to beare all smooth, and euen,
[Sidenote: neuer the] This sodaine sending him away, must seeme [Sidenote: 120] Deliberate pause,[7] diseases desperate growne, By desperate appliance are releeved, Or not at all. Enter Rosincrane.
[Sidenote: Rosencraus and all the rest. ] How now? What hath befalne?

Rosin. Where the dead body is bestow'd my Lord, We cannot get from him.

King. But where is he?[8]

Rosin. Without my Lord, guarded[9] to know your pleasure.

King. Bring him before us.

Rosin. Hoa, Guildensterne? Bring in my Lord.
[Sidenote: Ros. How, bring in the Lord. They enter. ]

Enter Hamlet and Guildensterne [10]

King. Now Hamlet , where's Polonius?

[Footnote 1: 'The body is in the king's house, therefore with the king; but the king knows not where, therefore the king is not with the body.']

[Footnote 2: 'A thing of nothing' seems to have been a common phrase.]

[Footnote 3: The Quarto has not 'hide Fox, and all after.']

[Footnote 4: Hamlet darts out, with the others after him, as in a hunt. Possibly there was a game called Hide fox, and all after .]

[Footnote 5: He is a hypocrite even to himself.]

[Footnote 6: This had all along helped to Hamlet's safety.]

[Footnote 7: 'must be made to look the result of deliberate reflection.' Claudius fears the people may imagine Hamlet treacherously used, driven to self-defence, and hurried out of sight to be disposed of.]

[Footnote 8: Emphasis on he ; the point of importance with the king, is
where he is , not where the body is.]

[Footnote 9: Henceforward he is guarded, or at least closely watched, according to the Folio -left much to himself according to the
Quarto . 192.]

[Footnote 10: Not in Quarto. ]

[Page 188]

Ham. At Supper.

King. At Supper? Where?

Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten,
[Sidenote: where a is] a certaine conuocation of wormes are e'ne at him.
[Sidenote: of politique wormes[1]] Your worm is your onely Emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat vs, and we fat our selfe
[Sidenote: ourselves] for Magots. Your fat King, and your leane Begger is but variable seruice to dishes, but to one
[Sidenote: two dishes] Table that's the end.

[A]

King. What dost thou meane by this?[2]

Ham. Nothing but to shew you how a King may go a Progresse[3] through the guts of a Begger.[4]

King. Where is Polonius .

Ham. In heauen, send thither to see. If your Messenger finde him not there, seeke him i'th other place your selfe: but indeed, if you finde him not
[Sidenote: but if indeed you find him not within this] this moneth, you shall nose him as you go vp the staires into the Lobby.

King. Go seeke him there.

Ham. He will stay till ye come.
[Sidenote: A will stay till you]

K. Hamlet , this deed of thine, for thine especial safety
[Sidenote: this deede for thine especiall] Which we do tender, as we deerely greeue For that which thou hast done,[5] must send thee hence With fierie Quicknesse.[6] Therefore prepare thy selfe, The Barke is readie, and the winde at helpe,[7] Th'Associates tend,[8] and euery thing at bent [Sidenote: is bent] For England.

[Footnote A: Here in the Quarto: -

King Alas, alas.[9]

Ham. A man may fish with the worme that hath eate of a King, and eate of the fish that hath fedde of that worme.]

[Footnote 1: -such as Rosincrance and Guildensterne!]

[Footnote 2: I suspect this and the following speech ought by the printers to have been omitted also: without the preceding two speeches of the Quarto they are not accounted for.]

[Footnote 3: a royal progress.]

[Footnote 4: Hamlet's philosophy deals much now with the worthlessness of all human distinctions and affairs.]

[Footnote 5: 'and we care for your safety as much as we grieve for the death of Polonius.']

[Footnote 6: 'With fierie Quicknesse.' Not in Quarto. ]

[Footnote 7: fair-ready to help.]

[Footnote 8: attend, wait.]

[Footnote 9: pretending despair over his madness.]

[Page 190]

Ham. For England?

King. I Hamlet .

Ham. Good.

King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.

Ham. I see a Cherube that see's him: but [Sidenote: sees them,] come, for England. Farewell deere Mother.

King. Thy louing Father Hamlet .

Hamlet. My Mother: Father and Mother is man and wife: man and wife is one flesh, and so [Sidenote: flesh, so