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HAMLET
[ACT I.
To tell us[a 1] this.
Ham. Why, right; you are i' the[a 2] right;
And so, without more circumstance[b 1] at all,
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part;
You, as your business and desire[a 3] shall point you;
For every man hath[a 4] business and desire, 130
Such as it is; and, for mine[a 5] own poor part,
Look you, I'll[a 6] go pray.
Hor. These are but wild and whirling[a 7] words, my lord.
Ham. I'm[a 8] sorry they offend you, heartily;
Yes, faith, heartily.
Hor. There's no offence, my lord. 135
Ham. Yes, by Saint Patrick,[b 2] but there is, Horatio,[a 9][b 3]
And much offence too. Touching[a 10] this vision here,
It is an honest[b 4] ghost, that let me tell you;
For your desire to know what is between us,
- ↑ 126. us] you Q 1.
- ↑ 126. i' the] Capell, in the Q, i' th' F.
- ↑ 129. desire] Q; desires Q 1, F.
- ↑ 130. hath] Q, ha's F.
- ↑ 131. mine] F, my Q.
- ↑ 132. Look you, I'll] F, I will Q.
- ↑ 133. whirling] Theobald, wherling Q 1, whurling Q, hurling F.
- ↑ 134. I'm] F, I am Q.
- ↑ 136. Horatio] Q 1, Q; my Lord F.
- ↑ 137. too. Touching] Rowe, too, touching Q 1, F; to, touching Q; too: touching Q 6.
- ↑ 127. circumstance] beating about the bush, circumlocution, as in Merchant of Venice, I. i. 154.
- ↑ 136. Saint Patrick] In connection with "the offence" there is special propriety in the oath. It was given out that a serpent stung Hamlet's father; the serpent now wears his crown. St. Patrick was the proper saint to take cognisance of such an offence, having banished serpents from Ireland. In Richard II. II. i. 157, Shakespeare alludes to the freedom of Ireland from venomous creatures, Campion in his History of Ireland, written in 1571, mentions the legend. In Shirley's Saint Patrick for Ireland, serpents come on the stage, are banned by the saint, and creep away. Tschischwitz supposes that the oath alludes to St. Patrick's Purgatory, and I find mention of this place of torment in Dekker's Olde Fortunatus (Pearson's Dekker, vol. i. p. 155).
- ↑ 136. Horatio] Corson defends the F "my lord," as a retort to Horatio's "my lord," line 135.
- ↑ 138. honest] Hudson supposes that this means a real ghost, just what it appears to be, not "the Devil" in "a pleasing shape."
