Mountague's hand (in token of reconcilement) was all he demanded for
his daughter's jointure: but lord Mountague said he would give him
more, for he would raise her statue of pure gold, that while Verona
kept its name, no figure should be so esteemed for its richness and
workmanship as that of the true and faithful Juliet. And lord Capulet
in return said that he would raise another statue to Romeo. So did
these poor old lords, when it was too late, strive to outgo each other
in mutual courtesies: while so deadly had been their rage and enmity
in past times, that nothing but the fearful overthrow of their
children (poor sacrifices to their quarrels and dissensions) could
remove the rooted hates and jealousies of the noble families.




HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK

(_By Charles Lamb_)


Gertrude, queen of Denmark, becoming a widow by the sudden death of
King Hamlet, in less than two months after his death married his
brother Claudius, which was noted by all people at the time for a
strange act of indiscretion, or unfeelingness, or worse: for this
Claudius did no ways resemble her late husband in the qualities of his
person or his mind, but was as contemptible in outward appearance, as
he was base and unworthy in disposition; and suspicions did not fail
to arise in the minds of some, that he had privately made away with
his brother, the late king, with the view of marrying his widow, and
ascending the throne of Denmark, to the exclusion of young Hamlet, the