The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

No noble rite nor formal ostentation, -
Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth,
That I must call't in question.
King. So you shall;
And where th' offence is let the great axe fall.
I pray you go with me.

Exeunt

Scene VI. Elsinore. Another room in the Castle

Enter Horatio with an Attendant.

Hor. What are they that would speak with me?
Servant. Seafaring men, sir. They say they have letters for
you.
Hor. Let them come in.

[Exit Attendant.]

I do not know from what part of the world
I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet.

Enter Sailors.

Sailor. God bless you, sir.
Hor. Let him bless thee too.
Sailor. 'A shall, sir, an't please him. There's a letter for
you,
sir, – it comes from th' ambassador that was bound for
England- if
your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is.
Hor. (reads the letter) 'Horatio, when thou shalt have
overlook'd
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
them. Let the King have the letters I have sent, and repair
thou
to me with as much speed as thou wouldst 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.

Scene VII. Elsinore. Another room in the Castle

Enter King and Laertes.

King. Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,
And You must put me in your heart for friend,
Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,
That he which hath your noble father slain
Pursued my life.
Laer. It well appears. But tell me
Why you proceeded not against these feats
So crimeful and so capital in nature,
As by your safety, wisdom, all things else,
You mainly were stirr'd up.
King. O, for two special reasons,
Which may to you, perhaps, seein much unsinew'd,
But yet to me they are strong. The Queen his mother
Lives almost by his looks; and for myself, -
My virtue or my plague, be it either which, -
She's so conjunctive to my life and soul
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,
I could not but by her. The other motive
Why to a public count I might not go
Is the great love the general gender bear him,
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,
Convert his gives to graces; so that my arrows,
Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,
Would have reverted to my bow again,
And not where I had aim'd them.
Laer. And so have I a noble father lost;
A sister driven into desp'rate terms,
Whose worth, if praises may go back again,
Stood challenger on mount of all the age
For her perfections. But my revenge will come.
King. Break not your sleeps for that. You must not think
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull
That we can let our beard be shook with danger,