Guildenstern.
King.
I like him not, nor stands it safe with us
To let his madness range. Therefore, prepare you;
I your Commission will forthwith dispatch,
And he to England shall along with you.
The terms of our estate may not endure
Hazard so near us, as doth hourly grow
-- 232 --
8 note
Out of his Lunacies.
Guil.
We will provide ourselves;
Most holy and religious fear it is
To keep those many, many Bodies, safe,
That live and feed upon your Majesty.
Ros
The single and peculiar life is bound,
With all the strength and armour of the mind,
To keep itself from noyance; but much more,
9 note
That spirit, on whose weal depends and rests
The lives of many. The cease of Majesty
Dies not alone, but, like a gulf, doth draw
What's near it with it. It's a massy wheel
Fixt on the summit of the highest mount,
To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things
Are mortiz'd and adjoin'd; which, when it falls,
Each small annexment, petty consequence,
Attends the boist'rous ruin. Ne'er alone
Did the King sigh; but with a general groan.
King.
Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage;
For we will fetters put upon this fear,
Which now goes too free-footed.
Both.
We will haste us.
[Exeunt Gentlemen.
Enter Polonius.
Pol.
My Lord, he's going to his mother's closet;
Behind the arras I'll convey myself
-- 233 --
To hear the process. I'll warrant, she'll tax him home.
And, as you said, and wisely was it said,
'Tis meet, that some more audience than a mother,
Since nature makes them partial, should o'er-hear
The speech, 1 noteof vantage. Fare you well, my Liege;
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,
And tell you what I know.
[Exit.
King.
Thanks, dear my Lord.
Oh! my offence is rank, it smells to heav'n,
It hath the primal, eldest, curse upon't;
A brother's murder. Pray I cannot,
2 note
Though inclination be as sharp as 't will;
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent:
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood?
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heav'ns
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves Mercy,
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,
To be fore-stalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is past. But oh, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder!
That cannot be, since I am still possest
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My Crown, mine own Ambition, and my Queen.
-- 234 --
3 note
May one be pardon'd, and retain th' offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice;
And oft 'tis seen, the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law; but 'tis not so above:
There, is no shuffling; there, the action lies
In his true nature, and we ourselves compell'd,
Ev'n to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try, what repentance can. What can it not?
4 note
Yet what can it, when one cannot repent?
-- 235 --
Oh wretched state! oh bosom, black as death!
Oh limed soul, that, struggling to be free,
Art more engag'd! Help, angels! make assay!
Bow, stubborn knees; and, heart, with strings of steel,
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe!
All may be well.
[The King retires and kneels.
Samuel Johnson [1765], The plays of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of Various Commentators; To which are added notes by Sam. Johnson (Printed for J. and R. Tonson [and] C. Corbet [etc.], London) [word count] [S11001].
