The plays and poems of Shakespeare, Volume 14 ; according to the improved text of Edmund Malone, including the latest revisions, with a life, ... from designs by English artists

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1844 Excerpt: ...Ham. I humbly thank you, sir.--Dost know this water-fly? Ho. No, my good lord. Ham. Thy state is the more gracious; for 'tis a vice to know him: he hath much land, and fertile: let a beast be lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at the king's mess: 'tis a chough;l but, as I say, spacious in the possession of dirt. Os. Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should impart a thing to you from his majesty. Ham. I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit.--Your bonnet to his right use; 'tis for the head. Os. I thank your lordship, 'tis very hot. Ham. No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is northerly. Os. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed. Ham. But yet, methinks, it is very sultry and hot; or my complexion Os. Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sultry,--as 'twere,--I cannot tell how.--My lord, his majesty bade me signify to you, that he has laid a great wager on your head: Sir, this is the matter; 1 A bird of the jackdaw kind. Ham. I beseech you, remember Hamlet moves him to put on his hat. Os, Nay, good my lord; for my ease, in good faith. Sir, here is newly come to court, Laertes: believe me, an absolute gentleman, full of most excellent differences,1 of very soft society, and great showing: indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card 2 or calendar of gentry; for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would see.3 Ham. Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you; though, I know, to divide him inventorially, would dizzy the arithmetic of memory; and yet but raw neither, in respect of his quick sail: but, in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of great article; and his infusion of such dearth and rareness, as, to make true diction of him, his semblable is his mirror; and, who else would tr...