And my young mistress thus I did bespeak:
"Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star;
This must not be:" and then I prescripts gave
her,

That she should lock herself from his resort,
Admit no messengers, receive no tokens.
Which done, she took the fruits of my advice:
And he repulsed,—a short tale to make,—
Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,
Thence to a watch,2 thence into a weakness,
Thence to a lightness,3 and, by this declension
Into the madness wherein now he raves
And all we mourn for.

King

150

Do you think 't is this?
Queen. It may be, very likely.
Pol. Hath there been such a time-I'd fain
know that-

That I have positively said "T is so,"
When it prov'd otherwise?

King.
Not that I know.
Pol. [Pointing to his head and shoulder] Take
this from this, if this be otherwise:

If circumstances lead me, I will find
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
Within the centre.

Ham. For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion,+-Have you a daughter?

Pol. I have, my lord.

Ham. Let her not walk i' the sun: conception is a blessing; but not as your daughter may conceive:-friend, look to 't.

Pol. [Aside] How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter: yet he knew me not at first; he said I was a fishmonger: he is far gone, far gone: and truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for love; very near this. I'll speak to him again.-What do you read, my lord?

Ham. Words, words, words.

Pol. What is the matter, my lord?
Ham. Between who?

193

Pol. I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.

Ham. Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue says here, that old men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams: all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down; for you yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if, like a crab, you could go backward.

Pol. [Aside] Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.-Will you walk out of the air, my lord?

Ros. To visit you, my lord; no other occasion.

Ham. Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks; but I thank you: and sure, dear friends, my thanks are too dear a halfpenny. Were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation? Come, deal justly with me: come, come; nay, speak.

Guil. What should we say, my lord? Ham. Why, any thing-but to the purpose. You were sent for; and there is a kind of confession in your looks, which your modesties have not craft enough to colour: I know the good king and queen have sent for you.

Ros. To what end, my lord?

291

Ham. I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the king and queen moult no feather. I have of late-but wherefore I know notlost all my mirth, foregone all custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition, that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of

work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not me; no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so. Ros. My lord, there was no such stuff in my thoughts.

325

Ham. Why did you laugh, then, when I said "man delights not me"?

Ros. To think, my lord, if you delight not in man, what lenten entertainment the players shall receive from you: we coted them on the way; and hither are they coming, to offer you service.

Ham. He that plays the king shall be welcome, his majesty shall have tribute of me; the adventurous knight shall use his foil and target; the lover shall not sigh gratis; the humorous man shall end his part in peace; the clown shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickle o' the sere; and the lady shall say her mind freely, or the blank verse shall halt for 't. What players are they?

340

Ros. Even those you were wont to take such delight in, the tragedians of the city. 1

Ham. How chances it they travel? their residence, both in reputation and profit, was better both ways.

20f, on. Fretted, adorned. 4 Coted, overtook and passed. 5 The humorous man, i.e. the man of "humours" or fantastic caprices.

[Ham. How comes it? do they grow rusty? Ros. Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace: but there is, sir, an aery of children, little eyases, that cry out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically clapped for 't: these are now the fashion; and so berattle the common stages,—so they call them,—that many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills, and dare scarce come thither.

Ham. What, are they children? who maintains 'em? how are they escoted? Will they pursue the quality no longer than they can sing? will they not say afterwards, if they should grow themselves to common players,as it is most like, if their means are no better, --their writers do them wrong, to make them exclaim against their own succession.

368

410

Pol. My lord, I have news to tell you. Ham. My lord, I have news to tell you. When Roscius was an actor in Rome,Pol. The actors are come hither, my lord. Ham. Buz, buz!

Pol. Upon my honour,

Ham. Then came each actor on his ass,

Pol. The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoralcomical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light. For the law of writ and the liberty, these are the only

Ham. O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst thou!

Pol. What treasure had he, my lord?
Ham. Why,

"One fair daughter, and no more,
The which he loved passing well.
Pol. [Aside] Still on my daughter.
Ham. Am I not i' the right, old Jephthah?
Pol. If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have
a daughter that I love passing well.
Ham. Nay, that follows not.
Pol. What follows, then, my lord?
Ham. Why,

4 Happily, haply.

431

VOL. VIII.

49

195

You are welcome, masters; welcome, all; I am glad to see ye well; welcome, good friends. ---O, my old friend! why, thy face is valanced since I saw thee last; comest 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.1 [Pray God, your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the ring.]—Masters, you are all wel

First Play. What speech, my good 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; 't was caviare to the general: but it was as I received it, and others, whose judgments in such matters cried in the top of mine an excellent play, well digested in the scenes, set down with as much modesty as cunning. I remember, one said there were no sallets in the lines to make the matter savoury, nor no matter in the phrase that might indict the author of affection;3 but called it an honest method, as wholesome as sweet, and by very much more handsome than fine. One speech in it I chiefly loved: 't was Eneas' 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:

471

"The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast," 't is not so: it begins with Pyrrhus; "The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms, Black as his purpose, did the night resemble

1 Chopine, high shoe.

2 Sallets, salads.

3 Affection, i.e. affectation.

When he lay couched in the ominous horse,
[Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd
With heraldry more dismal; head to foot
Now is he total gules; horridly trick'd
With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,
Bak'd and impasted with the parching streets,
That lend a tyrannous and damned light
To their vile murders: roasted in wrath and fire,
And thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore,]
With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus
Old grandsire Priam seeks."

So, proceed you.

482

Pol. 'Fore God, my lord, well spoken, with good accent and good discretion.

First Play.
"Anon he finds him 490
Striking too short at Greeks; his antique sword,
Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,
Repugnant to command: unequal match'd,
Pyrrhus at Priam drives; in rage strikes wide;
But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword
The unnerved father falls. [Then senseless Ilium,
Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top
Stoops to his base, and with a hideous crash
Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear: for, lo! his sword,
Which was declining on the milky head
Of reverend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick:
So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood;
And, like a neutral to his will and matter,
Did nothing.]

500