Page 339 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3

LAERTES

To cut his throat i’th’ church. [125]

KING
No place indeed should murder sanctuarize;
Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,
Will you do this, keep close within your chamber;

Hamlet, return’d, shall know your are come home;
We’ll put on those shall praise your excellence, [130]
And set a double varnish on the fame
The Frenchman gave you, bring you, in fine, together,

And wager o’er your heads. He, being remiss,
Most generous, and free from all contriving,
Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease − [135]
Or with a little shuffling − you may choose

A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice
Requite him for your father.

LAERTES
I will do’t.
And for that purpose, I’ll anoint my sword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank [140]

So mortal that but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,
Collected from all simples that have virtue

Under the moon, can save the thing from death
That is but scratch’d withal. I’ll touch my point [145]
With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly,
It may be death.

KING
Let’s further think of this,

Weigh what convenience both of time and means
May fit us to our shape. If this should fail,
And that our drift look through our bad performance, [150]
’Twere better not essay’d. Therefore this project

Should have a back or second that might hold
If this did blast in proof. Soft, let me see.