Ros. Ay, that they do, my lord; Hercules and his load too."] Ham. It is not very strange: for my uncle is king of Denmark; and those, that would make mouths at him while my father lived, give twenty, forty, fifty, an hundred ducats a-piece, for his picture in little. 'Sblood, there is something in this more than natural, if philosophy could find it out. [Flourish of Trumpets within. Guil. There are the players. Ham. Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your hands. Come then: the appurtenance of welcome is fashion and ceremony: let me comply with you in this garb; lest my extent to the players, which, I tell you, must show fairly outward, should more appear like entertainment than yours. You are welcome: but my unclefather, and aunt-mother, are deceived. Guil. In what, my dear lord? Ham. I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a hand-saw. Enter POLONIUS. Pol. Well be with you, gentlemen! Ham. 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. Ros. Happily, he's the second time come to them; for, they say, an old man is twice a child. Ham. I will prophecy, he comes to tell me of the players; mark it.—You say right, sir; o'Monday morning; 'twas then, indeed. 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. b Hercules and his load too.] The allusion may be to the Globe playhouse on the Bankside, the sign of which was Hercules carrying the globe.-STEEVENS. e It is not very strange: for my uncle-] I do not wonder that the new players have so suddenly risen to reputation, my uncle supplies another example of the facility with which honour is conferred upon new claimants.-JOHNSON. -in little.] i. e. In miniature. d let me comply, &c.] Comply is apparently used in the sense of compliment.-STEEVENS. f -I know a hawk from a hand-saw.] This was a common proverbial speech.-WARBURTON. Ham. Buz, buz! Pol. Upon my honour, Ham. Then came each actor on his ass,1 Pol. The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historicalpastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical, historicalpastoral, 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. 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 can 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, As by lot, God wot, and then, you know, It came to pass, As most like it was,-The first row of the pious chanson' will show you more: for look, my abridg ment comes. 8 Bus, bus!] Mere idle talk.-JOHNSON. Then came each actor on his ass,—] This seems to be a line of a ballad.— JOHNSON. 1 -writ,] i. e. writing, composition. Why, as by lot, God wot, &c.] The old song from which these quotations are taken, has a place in Dr. Percy's Reliques of ancient English Poetry.— STEEVENS. The ballad of "Jepha judge of Israel," which is imperfectly given in Percy's Reliques, I. 189. 1794. is printed in Evans' Old Ballads. 8vo. 1810. 1.7. The first stanza is, "I have read that many years agoe, When Jepha, judge of Israel, Had one fair daughter and no more, And as by lot, God wot, It came to pusse most like it was, Great warrs there should be, And who should be the chiefe but he, but he." the pious chanson-] The pious chansons were a kind of Christmas carols, containing some scriptural history thrown into loose rhymes, and sung about the streets by the common people when they went at that season to solicit alms. Hamlet is here repeating some scraps from a song of this kind, and when Polonius enquires what follows them, he refers him to the first row (i. e. division) of one of these, to obtain the information he wanted.-STEEVENS. m · my abridgment—] He calls the players afterwards the brief chronicles 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 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 (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 salts in the lines," to make the matter savoury; nor no matter in the phrase, that might indite the author of affection; but called it, an honest method, as of the times; but I think he now means only those who will shorten my talk.--JOHNSON. thy face is valanced-] i. e. Fringed with a beard. The valance is the fringes or drapery hanging round the tester of a bed.-MALONE. to beard-] i. e. To set at defiance. P—a chopine.] A chioppine is a high shoe, or rather, a clog, worn by the Italians.-STEEVENS. cracked within the ring.] Flawed so as to destroy its value. There is here a play upon the word ring; a piece of cracked metal will not ring or sound, in the same manner as a cracked voice loses its tone. The words, it must be remembered, are addressed to a boy who played female parts. caviare-] i. e. The spawn of a kind of sturgeon, pickled, salted, and dried. In the time of Shakspeare it was a new and fashionable delicacy, not obtained or relished by the vulgar, and therefore used by him to signify any thing above their comprehension.-NARES. t the general:] i. e. The multitude. cried in the top of mine,)] Were higher than mine.-JOHNSON. salts in the lines,] The old copy sallets, which is a kin to nonsense. The emendation of the text was made by Pope, and is approved by Gifford, Ben Jonson, vol. viii. 177. indite the author of affection :] i. e. Convict the author of being a fantastical affected writer.-STEEVENS. honest-] i. e. Chaste. wholesome as sweet, and by very much more handsome than fine. 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 the Hyrcanian beast,-'tis not so; it begins with Pyrrhus. The rugged Pyrrhus,-he, whose sable arms, To their lord's murder: Roasted in wrath, and fire, 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 rugged Pyrrhus,-] It has been the subject of much controversy among the critics, whether this speech was borrowed from Shakspeare himself or from others, and whether, in the praise of the piece of which it is supposed to be a part, he was speaking seriously, or merely meant to ridicule the tragical bombast of his contemporaries. It never occurred to them that this speech must not be judged of by itself, but in connexion with the place where it is introduced. To distinguish it as dramatic poetry in the play itself, it was necessary that it should rise above the dignified poetry of that, in the same proportion that theatrical elevation does above simple nature. Hence Shakspeare composed the play in Hamlet altogether in sententious rhymes full of antithesis. But this solemn and measured tone did not suit a speech in which violent emotion ought to prevail; and the poet had no other expedient than the one of which he made use, overcharging the pathos.--SCHLEGEL. a b gules;] i. e. Red. The term is heraldick. trick'd-] i. e. Smeared, painted. An heraldick term. Stoops to his base; and with a hideous crash Of reverend Priam, seem'd i'the air to stick : So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood; But, as we often see, against some storm, Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All ye gods, Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel, 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 bawdry, or he sleeps:-say on: come to Hecuba. 1 Play. But who, ah woe! 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 With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head, A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up; rack-]i. e. A moving body of clouds.-NARES. a jig,] i. e. A ludicrous metrical composition. mobled-]i.e. Veiled. bisson-] i. e. Blind. A word still in use in some parts of the north of England.-STEEVENS. |