know, It came to pass, As most like it was,-The first row of the pious chanson' will show you more; for look, my abridgment comes. Enter four or five Players. You are welcome, masters; welcome, all:-I am glad to see thee well: welcome, good friends. -O, old friend! Why, thy face is valanced since I saw thee last; Com'st thou to beard me in Denmark?-What! my young lady and mistress! By-'r-lady, your ladyship is nearer to heaven, than when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine. Masters, you are all welcome. We'll e'en to't like French falconers, fly at any thing we see: We'll have a speech straight: Come, give us a taste of your quality; come, a passionate speech. 1 Pl. What speech, my lord? Ham. I heard thee speak me a speech once,-but it was never acted; or, if it was, not above once: for the play, I remember, pleased not the million; 'twas caviare to the general: but it was an excellent play; well digested in the scenes, set down with as much modesty as cunning. One speech in it I chiefly loved: 'twas Æneas' tale to Dido; and thereabout of it especially, where he speaks of Priam's slaughter: If it live in your memory, begin at this line; let me see, let me see ; The rugged Pyrrhus, like th'Hyrcanian beast, 'tis not so; it begins with Pyrrhus. The rugged Pyrrhus, he, whose sable arms, A kind of Christmas carol. * Those who will shorten my talk. 3 Fringed with a beard. 4 A high shoe worn by the Italians. Now is he total gules;1 horridly trick'd2 good accent, and good discretion. 1 Pl. Anon he finds him Striking too short at Greeks; his antique sword, Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you gods, Pol. This is too long. Ham. It shall to the barber's, with your beard.Pr'ythee, say on :-say on: come to Hecuba. 1 Pl. But who, ah woe! had seen the mobled queenHam. The mobled queen? Pol. That's good; mobled queen is good. 1 Pl. Run barefoot up and down, threaťning the With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head, [flames Where late the diadem stood; and, for a robe, About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins, A blanket, in th' alarm of fear caught up. Pol. Look, whether he has not turned his colour, and has tears in's eyes. - Pr'ythee, no more. Ham. 'Tis well; I'll have thee speak out the rest of this soon. Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you hear, let them be well used; for they are the abstract, and brief chronicles, of the 1 A term in heraldry signifying red. 3 huddled, grossly covered. 2 smeared, painted. 4 blinding tears. time: After your death you were better have a bad epitaph, than their ill report while you live. Pol. My lord, I will use them according to their desert. Ham. Odd's bodikin, man, much better: Use every man after his desert, and who shall 'scape whipping. Use them after your own honour and dignity: The less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in. Pol. Come, sirs. [Exit POLONIUS with some of the Players. Ham. Follow him, friends: we'll hear a play tomorrow. Dost thou hear me, old friend; can you play the murder of Gonzago? 1 Pl. Ay, my lord. Ham. We'll have it to-morrow night. You could, for a need, study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which I would set down, and insert in't? could you not? 1 Pl. Ay, my lord. Ham. Very well.-Follow that lord; and look you mock him not. [Exit Player.] - My good friends, [To ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN,] I'll leave you till night: you are welcome to Elsinore. Ros. Good my lord! [Exeunt ROSENcrantz and GUILDENSTERN. What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That I have? He would drown the stage with tears, Yet I, A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak, Ha! Why, I should take it: for it cannot be, A scullion! Fye upon't! foh! About my brains! Humph! I have That guilty creatures, sitting at a play, [heard, For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players The ears of all mankind. • A nickname for any ignorant silly fellow. 3 Having no due sense of. 5 Wits, to your work. * dispossession. Play something like the murder of my father, ACT III. SCENE I.-A room in the castle. Enter King, Queen, POLONIUS, OPHELIA, King. And can you, by no drift of conference Ros. He does confess, he feels himself distracted; But from what cause he will by no means speak. Guil. Nor do we find him forward to be sounded; But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof, When we would bring him on to some confession Of his true state. Queen. Did he receive you well? Ros. Most like a gentleman. Guil. But with much forcing of his disposition. Ros. Niggard of question; but, of our demands, Most free in his reply. search him, observe him. * turn pale. D 3 more extended-embracing more evidence. |