ht and affliction,[32] passion, hell itself,
She turns to favour and to prettiness.

_Oph._

_And will he not come again?_
_And will he not come again?_
_No, no, he is dead_,
_Gone to his death-bed_,
_He never will come again._

_His beard was white as snow_,
_All flaxen was his poll:_
_He is gone, he is gone_,
_And we cast away moan:_
_Heaven 'a mercy on his soul!_

And of all christian souls, I pray Heaven. Heaven be wi' you.

[_Exit_ OPHELIA, R.C., QUEEN _following._]

_Laer._ Do you see this, O Heaven?

_King._ (L.C.) Laertes, I must commune with your grief,[33]
Or you deny me right.
Be you content to lend your patience to us,
And we shall jointly labour with your soul
To give it due content.

_Laer._ (R.C.) Let this be so;
His means of death, his obscure funeral,--
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,[34]
No noble rite nor formal ostentation,--
Cry to be heard,[35] as 'twere from heaven to earth,
That I must call't in question.

_King._ So you shall;
And where the offence is let the great axe fall.[36]
How now! what news?

_Enter_ BERNARDO (R.H.C.)

_Ber._ (C.) Letters, my lord, from Hamlet:
This to your majesty; this to the Queen.

_King._ From Hamlet! who brought them?

_Ber._ Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not.

_King._ Laertes, you shall hear them.--
Leave us.

[_Exit_, L.H.C.]
[Reads.]

_High and mighty, You shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.[37]
To morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes: when I shall,
first asking your pardon thereunto, recount the occasion of my sudden
and more strange return._ HAMLET.

What should this mean? Are all the rest come back?
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?

_Laer._ (R.) Know you the hand?

_King._ (L.) 'Tis Hamlet's character:[38] _Naked,--_

And in a postscript here, he says, _alone_.
Can you advise me?

_Laer._ I am lost in it, my lord. But let him come;
It warms the very sickness in my heart,
That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,
_Thus diddest thou_.

_King._ If it be so, Laertes,
Will you be rul'd by me?

_Laer._ Ay, my lord;
So you will not o'er-rule me to a peace.

_King._ To thine own peace.
Some two months since,
Here was a gentleman of Nor