Hor. Let him bless thee too.
First Sail. He shall, sir, an't please him. There's a[1821][1823]
letter for you, sir; it comes from the ambassador that was[1824]
bound for England; if your name be Horatio, as I am let 10
to know it is.
Hor. [Reads] 'Horatio, when thou shalt have over-looked[1825]
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. 15
Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled
valour: and in the grapple I boarded them: on the instant[1826]
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[1827] 20
for them. Let the king have the letters I have sent; and
repair thou to me with as much speed as thou wouldest[1828]
fly death. I have words to speak in thine ear will make[1829]
thee dumb; yet are they much too light for the bore of[1830]
the matter. These good fellows will bring thee where I[1830] 25
am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course for
England: of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell.[1831]
'He that thou knowest thine, Hamlet.'[1832]
Come, I will make you way for these your letters;[1833]
And do't the speedier, that you may direct me 30
To him from whom you brought them. [Exeunt.[1834]
Scene VII. Another room in the castle.[1835]
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[1836]
Pursued my life.
Laer. It well appears: but tell me 5
Why you proceeded not against these feats,[1837]
So crimeful and so capital in nature,[1838]
As by your safety, wisdom, all things else,[1839]
You mainly were stirr'd up.
King. O, for two special reasons,[1840]
Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinew'd,[1841] 10
But yet to me they're strong. The queen his mother[1842]
Lives almost by his looks; and for myself—
My virtue or my plague, be it either which—[1843]
She's so conjunctive to my life and soul,[1844]
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere, 15
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,[1845] 20
Convert his gyves to graces; so that my arrows,[1846]
Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,[1847]
Would have reverted to my bow again[1848]
And not where I had aim'd them.[1849]
Laer. And so have I a noble father lost;[1850] 25
A sister driven into desperate terms,
Whose worth, if praises may go back again,[1851]
Stood challenger on mount of all the age[1852]
For her perfections: but my revenge will come.[1853]