The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Part 69

_Clo_. E'ene that.

_Ham_. Let me see. Alas poore _Yorick_, I knew [Sidenote: _Ham_. Alas poore]

him _Horatio_, a fellow of infinite Iest; of most excellent fancy, he hath borne me on his backe a [Sidenote: bore]

thousand times: And how abhorred[1] my Imagination [Sidenote: and now how in my]

is, my gorge rises at it. Heere hung those [Sidenote: it is:]

lipps, that I haue kist I know not how oft. Where be your Iibes now? Your Gambals? Your Songs?

Your flashes of Merriment that were wont to set the Table on a Rore? No one[2] now to mock your [Sidenote: not one]

own Ieering? Quite chopfalne[3]? Now get you to [Sidenote: owne grinning,]

my Ladies Chamber, and tell her, let her paint an [Sidenote: Ladies table,]

inch thicke, to this fauour[4] she must come. Make her laugh at that: prythee _Horatio_ tell me one thing.

_Hor_. What's that my Lord?

_Ham_. Dost thou thinke _Alexander_ lookt o'this [Sidenote: a this]

fashion i'th' earth?

_Hor_. E'ene so.

_Ham_. And smelt so? Puh.

[Footnote 1: If this be the true reading, _abhorred_ must mean _horrified_; but I incline to the _Quarto_.]

[Footnote 2: 'Not one jibe, not one flash of merriment now?']

[Footnote 3: --chop indeed quite fallen off!]

[Footnote 4: _to this look_--that of the skull.]

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_Hor_. E'ene so, my Lord.

_Ham_. To what base vses we may returne _Horatio_. Why may not Imagination trace the n.o.ble dust of _Alexander_, till he[1] find it stopping a [Sidenote: a find]

bunghole.

_Hor_. 'Twere to consider: to curiously to consider [Sidenote: consider too curiously]

so.

_Ham_. No faith, not a iot. But to follow him thether with modestie[2] enough, and likeliehood to lead it; as thus. _Alexander_ died: _Alexander_ was [Sidenote: lead it. _Alexander_]

buried: _Alexander_ returneth into dust; the dust is [Sidenote: to]

earth; of earth we make Lome, and why of that Lome (whereto he was conuerted) might they not stopp a Beere-barrell?[3]

Imperiall _Caesar_, dead and turn'd to clay, [Sidenote: Imperious]

Might stop a hole to keepe the winde away.

Oh, that that earth, which kept the world in awe, Should patch a Wall, t'expell the winters flaw.[4]

[Sidenote: waters flaw.]

But soft, but soft, aside; heere comes the King.

[Sidenote: , but soft awhile, here]

_Enter King, Queene, Laertes, and a Coffin_, [Sidenote: _Enter K. Q. Laertes and the corse._]

_with Lords attendant._

The Queene, the Courtiers. Who is that they follow, [Sidenote: this they]

And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken, The Coa.r.s.e they follow, did with disperate hand, Fore do it owne life; 'twas some Estate.[5] [Sidenote: twas of some[5]]

Couch[6] we a while, and mark.

_Laer_. What Cerimony else?

_Ham_. That is _Laertes_, a very n.o.ble youth:[7]

Marke.

_Laer_. What Cerimony else?[8]

_Priest_. Her Obsequies haue bin as farre inlarg'd, [Sidenote: _Doct_.]

As we haue warrantis,[9] her death was doubtfull,[10]

[Sidenote: warrantie,]

And but that great Command, o're-swaies the order,[11]

[Footnote 1: Imagination personified.]

[Footnote 2: moderation.]

[Footnote 3: 'Loam, Lome--grafting clay. Mortar made of Clay and Straw; also a sort of Plaister used by Chymists to stop up their Vessels.'--_Bailey's Dict._]

[Footnote 4: a sudden puff or blast of wind.

Hamlet here makes a solemn epigram. For the right understanding of the whole scene, the student must remember that Hamlet is philosophizing--following things out, curiously or otherwise--on the brink of a grave, concerning the tenant for which he has enquired--'what woman then?'--but received no answer.]

[Footnote 5: 'the corpse was of some position.']

[Footnote 6: 'let us lie down'--behind a grave or stone.]

[Footnote 7: Hamlet was quite in the dark as to Laertes' character; he had seen next to nothing of him.]

[Footnote 8: The priest making no answer, Laertes repeats the question.]

[Footnote 9: _warrantise_.]

[Footnote 10: This casts discredit on the queen's story, 222. The priest believes she died by suicide, only calls her death doubtful to excuse their granting her so many of the rites of burial.]

[Footnote 11: 'settled mode of proceeding.'--_Schmidt's Sh. Lex._--But is it not rather _the order_ of the church?]

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She should in ground vnsanctified haue lodg'd, [Sidenote: vnsanctified been lodged]

Till the last Trumpet. For charitable praier, [Sidenote: prayers,]

Shardes,[1] Flints, and Peebles, should be throwne on her: Yet heere she is allowed her Virgin Rites, [Sidenote: virgin Crants,[2]]

Her Maiden strewments,[3] and the bringing home Of Bell and Buriall.[4]