Guil. Ham. Guil. Ham. Pol. Ham. Ros. Ham. a-piece, for his picture in little. 'Sblood, there is some- There are the players. Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your hands, come then; th'appurtenance of welcome is fashion and ceremony; let me comply with you in this garb lest the extent to the players, (which I tell you, must show fairly outwards) should more appear like entertainment than yours! ! You are welcome: but my uncle-father, and aunt-mother, are deceived. In what, my dear lord? I am but mad north-north-west; when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk,-from a hand-saw. Re-enter POLONIUS Well be with you, gentlemen. Hark you, Guildenstern-and you too-at each ear a hearer that great baby you see there is not yet out of his swaddling clouts. Happily he is the second time come to them; for they say an old man is twice a child. I will prophesy, he comes to tell me of the players; mark it you say right, sir-o' Monday morning; 'twas then indeed. My lord, I have news to tell you. My lord, I have news to tell you when Roscius was an actor in Rome,— The actors are come hither, my lord. Pol. Ham. Pol. Ham. Buz, buz! Pol. The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, 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 men. O Jephthah, judge of Israel! what a treasure hadst thou! Ham. Pol. Ham. Why Pol. Ham. Pol. Ham. Pol. Ham. What treasure had he, my lord? One fair daughter, and no more, The which he loved passing well. [Aside] Still on my daughter. Am I not i' the right, old Jephthah ? If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a daughter that It came to pass, as most like it was,— the first row of the pious chanson will show you more; for look where my abridgement comes. Enter four or five Players You are welcome, masters; welcome, all. I am glad see thee well: welcome, good friends. — - O, 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. Pray God, your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the ring. First Player Ham. 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. What speech, my good lord? 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, (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; but called it an honest method, as wholesome as sweet, and by very much, more handsome than fine. One speech in't I chiefly loved; 'twas Æneas' talk to Dido; and there about of it especially, when 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 "-O, I have it So The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms, Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd, 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 lords' murder; roasted in wrath and fire, And thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore, With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus -proceed you. 'Fore God, my lord, well spoken, with good accent and Anon he finds him, Of reverend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick ; Enough my friend, 'tis too long. But, as we often see, against some storm, Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you gods, In general synod take away her power; Break all the spokes, and fellies from her wheel, And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven As low as to the fiends! This is too long! It shall to the barber's, with your beard.-Prithee, say on; he's for a jig, or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps: say -come to Hecuba. on ; But who, (ah woe) had seen the mobled queen"The mobled queen"? Pol. First Pol. Ham. Pol. Ham. Pol. Ham. That's good! "mobled queen" is good; faith, very good. Run barefoot up and down, threatening the flames A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up. Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd, 'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have pronounced: In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs, Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven Look, my lord, if he hath not changed his colour, and hath tears in his eyes: no more good heart: prithee, no more. '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 abstracts and brief chronicles of the time; after your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live. My lord, I will use them according to their desert. God's bodykins, 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. Come, my good fellows. Follow him, friends: we'll hear a play to-morrow. [Exit Polonius, with all the Players, but the First] Dost thou hear me, old friend; can you play the Murder of Gonzago ? |