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was (as I received it, and others, whose judgment, 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 So 4tos. lines, to make the matter savoury; nor no matter 32. in the phrase, that might indite the author of affectation; (47) but called it, an honest method [as wholesome as sweet, and by very much more handsome than fine."] One chief speech in it I chiefly loved:(48) 'twas Eneas' talet to Dido; and there- + talk. about of it especially, where he speaks of Priam's 4tos. slaughter: If it live in your memory, begin at this line; let me see, let me see ;

The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast,– 'tis 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 (49)
With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons;
Bak'd and impasted (50) 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,

a cried in the top of mine] i. e. proclaimed not merely in ad-
dition to my voice and censure, but with a tone of authority,
that mine could not sound. See Rosencr. supra.
"Cried out on
the top of question."

b as much modesty as cunning] i. e. " as much propriety and decorum, as skill."

с

e no sallets in the lines] i. e. licentious jocularity, ribaldry. "For junkets, joci, and for curious sallets, sales." A Banquet of Jests, 1669. STEEVENS.

d an honest method] i. e. plain, subdued and sober.

and by very much more handsome than fine] i. e. with more of elegant and just form and proportion, than of superfluous ornament: and composed in the spirit and taste of the advice just given by Polonius to Laertes as to dress; "rich, not gaudy." fo'er-sized] i. e. covered as with glutinous matter.

So, 4tos. to take geulles.

1623, 32.

lord's

murder.

4tos. vilde. 1623, 32.

* tenable to resist. 1603.

4tos.

this. 4tos.

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,
Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,

Repugnant to command: Unequal match,+

+ 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 his blow, with flaming top
Stoops to his base; and with a hideous crash
Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear: for, lo! his sword
Which was declining (51) 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.

But, as we often see, against some storm,
A silence in the heavens, the racka stand still,
The bold winds speechless, and the orb below
As hush as death: anon the dreadful thunder

"Noah, shutte

a carbuncles] i. e. jewels, resembling coals. uppe in the ark used, as some curious braines have conjectured, a carbuncle or some other radiant precious stone to give light." M. Ant. de Dominis's Sermon, 4to. 1617. p. 69. See Par. Lost, IX. 500.

b Falls with the whiff and wind of his fell sword] Our author employs the same image in almost the same phrase:

"The Grecians fall

"Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword."

Tr. & Cress. V. 3. Tr. And in the next lines he again appears to have been borrowing from himself :

"takes the mountain pine by the top,

"And makes him stoop to the vale." Cymb. IV. 2.

c His sword seem'd i' the air to stick, &c.] As represented in tapestry hangings, the furniture of the age, in which, as Malone observes, their swords "stick in the air and do nothing."

d the rack] i. e. "the clouds or congregated vapour." See Temp. IV. 1. Prosp.

Doth rend the region: So, after Pyrrhus' pause,
A roused vengeance sets him new a work;
And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall
On Mars's armour, forg'd for proof eterne,(52)
With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword
Now falls on Priam.—

Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you gods,
In general synod, take away her power;

1623, 32.

Break all the spokes and fellies* from her wheel,(53) * fallies.
And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven,
As low as to the fiends!

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 baw-+ ah woe! dry,(54) or he sleeps:-say on: Come to Hecuba.

1 PLAY. But who, O who † had seen the mobled‡

queen(55)

HAM. The mobled§ queen?

POL. That's good; mobled || queen is good.

4tos. & 1603.

+ So 4tos. & 1632. inobled.

1623.

§ id.

1 PLAY. Run barefoot up and down, threat'ning || id.

the flame

¶ dames.

With bisson rheum; (56) a clout about** that head, 4tos.
Where late the diadem stood; and for a robe,
About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins,

A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;

** upon. 4tos.

tt th' ala

rum, 1623,

Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd 32,& 1603. 'Gainst fortune's state would treason have pro

nounc'd:

But if the gods themselves did see her then,
When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs ;
The instant burst of clamour that she made,
(Unless things mortal move them not at all,)
Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven,
And passion in the gods.(57)

POL. Look, whether he has not turned his co-‡‡ where. lour, and has tears in's eyes.-Pr'ythee, no more.(58) O. C.

HAM. 'Tis well; I'll have thee speak out the rest §§ 5 of this. soon.-Good my lord, will you see the players well 4tos.

F

bestowed? Do you hear, let them be well used; for they are the abstract, and brief chronicles, of the time: After your death you were better have a bad * live. 4tos. epitaph, than their ill report while you lived.*

& 1603.

+ much better. 4tos.

buy'ye. 1623, 32. buy to.

4tos.

§ dunghill

POL. My lord, I will use them according to their desert.

HAM. God's bodikin, man, 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 PLAY. Ay, my lord.

HAM. We'll have it to-morrow night. You could, for a need, study a speech (59) 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, God be wi' you: 1-Now I am alone. ideote O, what a rogue and peasant slave § am I! slave. 1603. Is it not monstrous,(60) that this player here, So 4tos. But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, 1623, 32. Could force his soul so to his own || conceit,

whole.

¶the

That, from her working, all his ¶ visage warm'd ;(61) wan'd. 4tos. Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,

** in his

aspect. 4tos.

**

A broken voice, and his whole function suiting,(62)
With forms to his conceit ?(63) And all for nothing!
For Hecuba!

++ to her. What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,++

4tos.

That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue (64) for passion,
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears,
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech;
Make mad the guilty, and appal the free,"
Confound the ignorant; and amaze, indeed,
The very faculty of eyes and ears.

Yet I,

A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,(65)
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property, and most dear life,

A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows
beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i'the
throat,

As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this?
Ha!

Why,* I should take it: for it cannot be,
But I am pigeon-liver'd, and lack gall
To make oppression bitter; or, ere this,
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal: Bloody,† bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless vil-

lain!

O vengeance!

Who? What an ass am I? ay sure, this is most brave;
That I, the son of the Dear murdered,‡
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,a
And fall a cursing, like a very drab,

A scullion!

a free] i. e. free from offence, guiltless.

b defeat was made] i. e. overthrow. See M. ado &c. IV. 1. Leon.

e kindless] i. e. unnatural. See "kin and kind," I. 2. Haml. d unpack my heart with words] Such was the language of the day. "There are some, that are never well, but when they are unpacking their bosomes with wordes." I. S's. Anthropophagus. A Sermon, 4to. 1624. p. 38.

* Swounds. 4tos.

+ So 4tos. offal bloudy; a 1623, 32.

dear father murdered, 4tos.

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