That we can let our beard be shook with danger, And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more : I lov'd your father, and we love ourself; And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine, 52Q How now? what news? Enter a Messenger. Mess. Letters, my lord, from Hamlet: This to your majesty; this to the queen. King. From Hamlet! Who brought them? Mess. Sailors, my lord, they say: I saw them not; They were given me by Claudio, he receiv'd them Of him that brought them. King. Laertes, you shall hear them :Leave us. [Exit Mess. HIGH and mighty, you shall know, I am set naked on your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes: when I shall, first asking your pardon thereunto, recount the occasion of my sudden and more strange return. Hamlet. What should this mean? Are all the rest come back? King. 'Tis Hamlet's character. Naked, And, in a postscript here, he says, alone: 549 Laer. I am lost in it, my lord. But let him come; It warms the very sickness in my heart, That I shall live and tell him to his teeth, King. If it be so, Laertes, As how should it be so ?-how otherwise? Will you be rul'd by me? So Laer. Ay, my lord; you will not o'er-rule me to a peace. King. To thine own peace. turn'd, If he be now re As checking at his voyage, and that he means Under the which he shall not choose but fall: 550 And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe; But even his mother shall uncharge the practice, Laer. My lord, I will be rul'd; The rather, if you could devise it so, That I might be the organ. King. It falls right. You have been talk'd of since your travel much, Laer. What part is that, my lord? King. A very ribband in the cap of youth, Yet needful too; for youth no less becomes 570 The The light and careless livery that it wears, since, Here was a gentleman of Normandy, Two months I have seen myself, and serv'd against, the French, Come short of what he did. Laer. A Norman, was't? King. A Norman. Laer. Upon my life, Lamond. King. The very same. 581 Laer. I know him well: he is the brooch, indeed, And gem of all the nation. King. He made confession of you; And gave you such a masterly report, That he cried out, 'Twould be a sight indeed, 590 If one could match you: the scrimers of their nation, 600 Now King. Laertes, was your father dear to you? Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, A face without a heart? Laer. Why ask you this? King. Not that I think, you did not love your father; But that I know, love is begun by time; There lives within the very flame of love 610 A kind of wick, or snuff, that will abate it; And nothing is at a like goodness still; For goodness, growing to a pleurisy, Dies in his own too much: That we would do, We should do when we would; for this would changes, And hath abatements and delays as many, As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents; And then this should is like a spendthrift sigh That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o' the ulcer: More than in words? • Laer. To cut his throat i' the church. 621 King. No place, indeed, should murder sanctua rize; Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes, Will you do this, keep close within your chamber: Hamlet, Hamlet, return'd, shall know you are come home: We'll put on those shall praise your excellence, And set a double varnish on the fame The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, to gether, And wager o'er your heads: he, being remiss, Most generous, and free from all contriving, Will not peruse the foils; so that, with ease, Or with a little shuffling, you may choose A sword unbated, and, in a pass of practice, Requite him for your father. Laer. I will do't: And, for the purpose I'll anoint my sword. King. Let's further think of this; 630 640 Weigh, what convenience, both of time and means, May fit us to our shape: If this should fail, And that our drift look through our bad perform ance, 650 'Twere better not assay'd; therefore, this project I ha't: |