SCENE VI.
Another Room in the Same.
Enter Horatio, and a Servant.
Hor.
What are they, that would speak with me?
Serv.
Sailors, sir7 note: they say, they have letters for you.
Hor.
Let them come in.—
[Exit Servant.
I do not know from what part of the world
I should be greeted, if not from lord Hamlet.
Enter Sailors.
1 Sail.
God bless you, sir.
Hor.
Let him bless thee too.
1 Sail.
He shall, sir, an't please him. There's a
letter for you, sir: it comes from the ambassador that
-- 313 --
was bound for England, if your name be Horatio, as I
am let to know it is.
Hor. [Reads.]
“Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked
this, give these fellows some means to the king:
they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old
at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave us
chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a
compelled valour; and in the grapple I boarded them:
on the instant they got clear of our ship, so I alone
became their prisoner. They have dealt with me, like
thieves of mercy; but they knew what they did;
I am to do a good turn for them8 note. Let the king have
the letters I have sent; and repair thou to me with as
much haste as thou would'st fly death. I have words
to speak in thine ear will make thee dumb; yet
are they much too light for the bore of the matter.
These good fellows will bring thee where I am. Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern hold their course for England:
of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell;
He that thou knowest thine, Hamlet.”
Come, I will give you way for these your letters;
And do't the speedier, that you may direct me
To him from whom you brought them.
[Exeunt.
J. Payne Collier [1842–1844], The works of William Shakespeare. The text formed from an entirely new collation of the old editions: with the various readings, notes, a life of the poet, and a history of the Early English stage. By J. Payne Collier, Esq. F.S.A. In eight volumes (Whittaker & Co. [etc.], London) [word count] [S10101].
