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Will you be rul❜d by me?

Laer. Ay; fo you'll not o'er-rule me to a peace. King. To thine own peace. If he be now return'd, As liking not his voyage, and that he means No more to undertake it, I will work him

6

To an exploit now ripe in my device,

Under the which he fhall not chufe but fall:

And for his death no wind of Blame fhall breathe; But ev❜n his mother shall uncharge the practice, And call it accident.

Laer. I will be ruľd,

The rather, if you could devife it fo
That I might be the organ.

King. It falls right.!

You have been talkt of fince your travel much,
And that in Hamlet's Hearing, for a quality
Wherein, they say, you shine; your sum of parts
Did not together pluck fuch envy from him,
As did that one, and that in my regard
? Of the unworthieft fiege.

Laer. What part is that, my Lord?
King. A very riband in the cap of youth,
Yet needful too; for youth no lefs becomes
The light and careless livery that it wears,
Than fettled age his fables, and his weeds,

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Importing health and graveness.-Two months fince, Here was a gentleman of Normandy.

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I've seen myself, and ferv'd against the French,

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And they can well on horfe-back but this Gallant
Had witchcraft in't, he grew unto his feat
And to fuch wondrous doing brought his horse,
As he had been incorps'd and demy-natur'd
With the brave beaft. So far he topp'd my thought,
That I in forgery of shapes and tricks

Come short of what he did.

Laer. A Norman, was't?

King. A Norman.

Laer. Upon my life, Lamond.
King. The fame.

Laer. I know him well. He is the brooch, indeed, And gem of all the nation.

King. He made confeffion of

you,

And gave you fuch a mafterly report,
For art and exercife in your defence;
And for your rapier most especial,

That he cry'd out, 'twould be a Sight indeed,
If one could match you. The Scrimers of their na
tion,

He fwore, had neither motion, guard, nor eye,
If you oppos'd 'em.Sir, this Report of his
Did Hamlet fo envenom with his envy,

That he could do nothing, but wish and beg
Your fudden coming o'er to play with him.
Now out of this-

Laer. What out of this, my Lord?

King. Laertes, was your father dear to you, Or are you like the painting of a forrow,

A face without a heart?

Laer. Why afk you this?

King. Not that I think, you did not love

did not love your fa

ther,

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But that I know, love is begun by time,
And that I fee 3 in paffages of proof,
Time qualifies the fpark and fire of it:
There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick, or fnuff, that will abate it,
And nothing is at a like goodness ftill;
4 For goodness, growing to a pleurify,

Dies in his own too much. What we would do,
We should do when we would; for this would changes,
And bath abatements, and delays as many

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As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents
5 And then this hould is like a fpend-thrift figh
That burts by eafing. But to th' quick o' th' ulcer-
Hamlet comes back; what would
you undertake
To fhew yourself your father's Son indeed
More than in words?

3-in paffages of prof, 1 In tranfactions of daily experience. 4 For goodness, growing to a pleurify, I would believe, for the honour of Shakespear, that he wrote plethory. But I obferve the dramatic writers of that time frequently call a fulness of blood a pleurify, as if it came, not from wvp, but from plus, pluris,

WARBURTON. 5 And then this fhould is like a Spend-thrift's SIGH

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That hurts by casing ; This nonfenfe fhould be read thus,

And then this fhould is like a Spendthrift's SIGN That hurts by eafing ;i. e. tho' a fpendthrift's entering into bonds or mortgages gives him a prefent relief from his ftraits, yet it ends in much greater diftreffes. The application is, If you neglect a fair opportunity

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This conjecture is fo ingenious, that it can hardly be oppofed, but with the fame reluctance as the bow is drawn against a hero, whofe virtues the archer holds in veneration. Here may be applied what Voltaire writes to the Empress :

Le genereux François

Te combatt' admire. Yet this emendation, however fpecious, is mistaken. The ori ginal reading is, not a spendthrift's figh, but a spendthrift figh; a figh that makes an unneceffary wafte of the vital flame. It is a notion very prevalent, that fighs impair the ftrength, and wear out the animal powers.

Laer.

Laer. To cut his throat i' th' church.

King. No place, indeed, should murder fan&tuarises
Revenge fhould have no bounds; but, good Laertes,
Will you do this? keep clofe within your chamber;
Hamlet, return'd, fhall know you are come home :
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,
And fet a double varnish on the fame

The Frenchman gave you; bring you in fine to-
gether,

And wager on your heads. "He being remiss,
Most generous and free from all contriving,
Will not perufe the foils; fo that with ease,
Or with a little fhuffling, you may chufe
7 A fword unbated, and in a país of practice
Requite him for your father.

Laer. I will do't;

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And for the purpose I'll anoint my fword.
I bought an unction of a Mountebank,
So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,
Collected from all fimples that have virtue
Under the Moon, can fave the thing from death,
That is but fcratch'd withal; I'll touch my point
With this contagion, that if I gall him flightly,
It may be death.

King. Let's farther think of this;

Weigh, what convenience both of time and means 9 May fit us to our shape. If this should fail,

infidious firatagem, or privy trea-
fon, a fenfe not incongruous to
this paffage, where yet I rather
Or as
believe, that nothing more is
meant than a thruft for exercife.

He being remifs,] He being not vigilant or cautious. 7 Afword unbated,-]. e. not blunted as foils are. one edition has it embaited or envenomed. РОРЕ.

8 ——a pass of practice] Prac tice is often by Shakespeare, and other old writers, taken for an

9 May fit us to our shape.] May enable us to affume proper charac ters, and to act our part.

T 2

And

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And that our drift look through our bad performance,

'Twere better not affay'd; therefore this project
Should have a back, or fecond, that might hold,
If this fhould' blast in proof. Soft- let me fee-
We'll make a folemn wager on your cunnings,
I ha't-

When in your motion you are hot and dry,

As make your bouts more violent to that end,
And that he calls for Drink, I'll have prepar'd

him

A Chalice for the nonce; wheron but fipping,
If he by chance escape your venom'd tuck,
Our purpofe may hold there.

SCENE X.

Enter Queen.

How now, fweet Queen ?

Queen. One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So faft they follow. Your fifter's drown'd, Laertes. Laer. Drown'd! oh where?

Queen. There is a willow grows aflant a Brook, That fhews his hoar leaves in the glaffy ftream: There with fantaftick garlands did the come, Of crow-flowers, nettles, daifies, and long purples, (That liberal fhepherds give a groffer name; But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them ;)

There on the pendant boughs, her coronet weeds
Clambring to hang, an envious fliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herfelf

1-blast in proof] This, I believe, is a metaphor taken from a mine, which, in the proof

or execution, fometimes breaks out with an ineffectual blast.

Fell

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