_Horatio_. If your mind dislike anything, obey it. I will
forestal their repair hither, and say you are not fit.

The fatalist Hamlet, whom we have seen coming ever closer to the doctrine
of Predestination, answers as follows:--

'Not a whit; we defy augury; there is special providence in
the fall of a sparrow. [55] If it be now, 'tis not to come;
if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet
it will come; the readiness is all. Since no man has aught
of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes? Let be.'

This time it is a 'Let be!'--even as it was a 'Let it go' when he was
sent to England.

Now let us read Montaigne's Essay, [56] 'To Philosophise is to Learn
how to Die:'--

'Our religion has had no surer human foundation than the contempt of
life. Not only does the course of our reason lead us that way; for,
why should we fear to lose a thing which, when lost, cannot be
regretted?--but also, seeing that we are threatened by so many kinds
of death, is it not a greater inconvenience to fear them all than to
endure one? What does it matter when Death comes, since it is
inevitable?... Moreover, nobody dies before his hour. The time you
leave behind was no more yours than that which was before your birth,
and concerns you no more.'

No further comment is needed to prove that Hamlet's and Montaigne's
thoughts are in so close a connection that it cannot be a mere accident.