Ham. O Jephthah, Judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst thou! Pol. What a treasure had he, my lord? Ham. Why "One fair daughter, and no more, The which he loved passing well." Pol. Still on my daughter. Ham. Am I not i' the right, old Jephthah? [Aside. Pol. If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a daughter The first row of the pious chanson will show you more; for look, where 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. Pray God, your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the ring. 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 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 remem ber, 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 affectation, 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 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 "The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast," 66 't is not so; it begins with Pyrrhus. 'The rugged Pyrrhus, - he, whose sable arms, 'Black as his purpose, did the night resemble "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 a damned light "To their lord's murder: 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. Pol. 'Fore God, my lord, well spoken; with good accent, and good discretion. 1 Play. "Anon he finds him "Striking too short at Greeks: his antique 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 : 66 "But, as we often see, against some storm, แ "On Mars's armour, forg'd for proof eterne, 'With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword "Now falls on Priam. "Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you gods, "Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel, Pol. This is too long. Ham. It shall to the barber's, with your beard. - Pr'ythee, say on: he's for a jig, or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps. - Say on: come to Hecuba. 1 Play. "But who, O! who had seen the mobled queen". Ham. The mobled queen? Pol. That's good; mobled queen is good. 1 Play. "Run barefoot up and down, threat'ning the flames "With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head, "Where late the diadem stood; and, for a robe, "About her lank and all o'erteemed loins, A blanket, in th' alarm of fear caught up; "Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd (Unless things mortal move them not at all) "Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven, "And passion in the gods." Pol. Look, whether he has not turned his colour, and has tears in 's eyes! - Pr'ythee, no more. soon. Ham. 'T is well; I'll have thee speak out the rest of this Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do your 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. Pol. My lord, I will use them according to their desert. Ham. God's bodkin, man, much better: use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping? Use them after your own honour and dignity: the less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in. [Exit POLONIUS, with some of the Players. Ham. Follow him, friends: we 'll hear a play to-morrow. Dost thou hear me, old friend? can you play the murder of Gonzago? 1 Play. 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 Play. Ay, my lord. Ham. Very well. Follow that lord; and look you mock him not. [Exit Player.] My good friends, [To Ros. and GUIL.] I'll leave you till night: you are welcome to Elsinore. Ros. Good my lord! [Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and Guildenstern. Ham. Ay, so, good bye you. Now I am alone. O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Is it not monstrous, that this player here, A broken voice, and his whole function suiting What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for her? What would he do, With this slave's offal. Bloody, bawdy villain! Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave; That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, A scullion! Fie upon 't! foh! About my brain! I have heard, Have by the very cunning of the scene |