[Footnote 6: I presume it should be the present tense, _beratle_--except
the _are_ of the preceding member be understood: 'and so beratled _are_
the common stages.' If the _present_, then the children 'so abuse the
grown players,'--in the pieces they acted, particularly in the new
_arguments_, written for them--whence the reference to _goose-quills_.]
[Footnote 7: --of the play-going public.]
[Footnote 8: --for dread of sharing in the ridicule.]
[Footnote 9: _paid_--from the French _escot_, a shot or reckoning: _Dr.
Johnson_.]
[Footnote 10: --the quality of players; the profession of the stage.]
[Footnote 11: 'Will they cease playing when their voices change?']
[Footnote 12: Either _will_ should follow here, or _like_ and _most_
must change places.]
[Footnote 13: 'those that write for them'.]
[Footnote 14: --what they had had to come to themselves.]
[Footnote 15: 'to incite the children and the grown players to
controversy': _to tarre them on like dogs_: see _King John_, iv. 1.]
[Footnote 16: 'No stage-manager would buy a new argument, or prologue,
to a play, unless the dramatist and one of the actors were therein
represented as falling out on the question of the relative claims of the
children and adult actors.']
[Footnote 17: 'Have the boys the best of it?']
[Footnote 18: 'That they have, out and away.' Steevens suggests that
allusion is here made to the sign of the Globe Theatre--Hercules bearing
the world for Atlas.]
[Footnote 19: amateur-plays.]
[Footnote 20: whimsical fashion.]
[Page 98]
forty, an hundred Ducates a peece, for his picture[1]
[Sidenote: fortie, fifty, a hundred]
in Little.[2] There is something in this more then
[Sidenote: little, s'bloud there is]
Naturall, if Philosophic could finde it out.
_Flourish for tke Players_.[3] [Sidenote: _A Florish_.]
_Guil_. There are the Players.
_Ham_. Gentlemen, you are welcom to _Elsonower_:
your hands, come: The appurtenance of [Sidenote: come then, th']
Welcome, is Fashion and Ceremony. Let me
[Sidenote: 260] comply with you in the Garbe,[4] lest my extent[5] to
[Sidenote: in this garb: let me extent]
the Players (which I tell you must shew fairely
outward) should more appeare like entertainment[6]
[Sidenote: outwards,]
then yours.[7] You are welcome: but my Vnckle
Father, and Aunt Mother are deceiu'd.
_Guil_. In what my deere Lord?
_Ham_. I am but mad North, North-West: when
the Winde is Southerly, I know a Hawke from a
Handsaw.[8]
_Enter Polonius_.
_Pol_. Well[9] be with you Gentlemen.
_Ham_. Hearke you _Guildensterne_, and you too:
at each eare a hearer: that great Baby you see
there, is not yet out of his swathing clouts.
[Sidenote: swadling clouts.]
_Rosin_. Happily he's the second time come to [Sidenote: he is]
them: for they say, an old man is twice a childe.
_Ham_. I will Prophesie. Hee comes to tell me
of the Players. Mark it, you say right Sir: for a
[Sidenote: sir, a Monday]
Monday morning 'twas so indeed.[10] [Sidenote: t'was then indeede.]
_Pol_. My Lord, I haue Newes to tell you.
_Ham_. My Lord, I haue Newes to tell you.
When _Rossius_ an Actor in Rome----[11] [Sidenote: _Rossius_ was an]
_Pol_. The Actors are come hither my Lord.
_Ham_. Buzze, buzze.[12]
_Pol_. Vpon mine Honor.[13] [Sidenote: my]
_Ham_. Then can each Actor on his Asse---- [Sidenote: came each]
[Footnote 1: If there be any logical link here, except that, after the
instance adduced, no change in social fashion--nothing at all indeed, is
to be wondered at, I fail to see it. Perhaps the speech is intended to
belong to the simulation. The last sentence of it appears meant to
convey the impression that he suspects nothing--is only bewildered by
the course of things.]
[Footnote 2: his miniature.]
[Footnote 3: --to indicate their approach.]
[Footnote 4: _com'ply_--accent on first syllable--'pass compliments with
you' (260)--_in the garb_, either 'in appearance,' or 'in the fashion of
the hour.']
[Footnote 5: 'the amount of courteous reception I extend'--'my advances
to the players.']
[Footnote 6: reception, welcome.]
[Footnote 7: He seems to desire that they shall no more be on the
footing of fellow-students, and thus to rid himself of the old relation.
Perhaps he hints that they are players too. From any further show of
friendliness he takes refuge in convention--and professed
convention--supplying a reason in order to escape a dangerous
interpretation of his sudden formality--'lest you should suppose me more
cordial to the players than to you.' The speech is full of inwoven
irony, doubtful, and refusing to be ravelled out. With what merely
half-shown, yet scathing satire it should be spoken and accompanied!]
[Footnote 8: A proverb of the time comically corrupted--_handsaw for
hernshaw_--a heron, the quarry of the hawk. He denies his madness as
madmen do--and in terms themselves not unbefitting madness--so making it
seem the more genuine. Yet every now and then, urged by the commotion of
his being, he treads perilously on the border of self-betrayal.]
[Footnote 9: used as a noun.]
[Footnote 10: _Point thus_: 'Mark it.--You say right, sir; &c.' He takes
up a speech that means nothing, and might mean anything, to turn aside
the suspicion their whispering might suggest to Polonius that they had
been talking about him--so better to lay his trap for him.]
[Footnote 11: He mentions the _actor_ to lead Polonius so that his
prophecy of him shall come true.]
[Footnote 12: An interjection of mockery: he had made a fool of him.]
[Footnote 13: Polonius thinks he is refusing to believe him.]
[Page 100]
_Polon_. The best Actors in the world, either for
Tragedie, Comedie, Historic, Pastorall: Pastoricall-
Comicall-Historicall-Pastorall: [1] Tragicall-Historicall:
Tragicall-Comicall--Historicall-Pastorall[1]:
Scene indiuible,[2] or Poem vnlimited.[3] _Seneca_ cannot
[Sidenote: scene indeuidible,[2]]
be too heauy, nor _Plautus_ too light, for the law of
Writ, and the Liberty. These are the onely men.[4]
_Ham_. O _Iephta_ Iudge of Israel, what a Treasure
had'st thou?
_Pol_. What a Treasure had he, my Lord?[5]
_Ham_. Why one faire Daughter, and no more,[6]
The which he loued passing well.[6]
[Sidenote: 86] _Pol_. Still on my Daughter.
_Ham_. Am I not i'th'right old _Iephta_?
_Polon_. If you call me _Iephta_ my Lord, I haue
a daughter that I loue passing well.
_Ham_. Nay that followes not.[7]
_Polon_. What followes then, my Lord?
_Ham_. Why, As by lot, God wot:[6] and then you
know, It came to passe, as most like it was:[6] The
first rowe of the _Pons[8] Chanson_ will shew you more,
[Sidenote: pious chanson]
For looke where my Abridgements[9] come.
[Sidenote: abridgment[9] comes]
_Enter foure or fiue Players._
[Sidenote: _Enter the Players._]
Y'are welcome Masters, welcome all. I am glad [Sidenote: You are]
to see thee well: Welcome good Friends. O my
[Sidenote: oh old friend, why thy face is valanct[10]]
olde Friend? Thy face is valiant[10] since I saw thee
last: Com'st thou to beard me in Denmarke?
What, my yong Lady and Mistris?[11] Byrlady [Sidenote: by lady]
your Ladiship is neerer Heauen then when I saw [Sidenote: nerer to]
you last, by the altitude of a Choppine.[12] Pray
God your voice like a peece of vncurrant Gold be
not crack'd within the ring.[13] Masters, you are all
welcome: wee'l e'ne to't like French Faulconers,[14]
[Sidenote: like friendly Fankner]
flie at any thing we see: wee'l haue a Speech
[Footnote 1: From [1] to [1] is not in the _Quarto_.]
[Footnote 2: Does this phrase mean _all in one scene_?]
[Footnote 3: A poem to be recited only--one not _limited_, or _divided_
into speeches.]
[Footnote 4: _Point thus_: 'too light. For the law of Writ, and the
Liberty, these are the onely men':--_either for written plays_, that is,
_or for those in which the players extemporized their speeches_.
_1st Q_. 'For the law hath writ those are the onely men.']
[Footnote 5: Polonius would lead him on to talk of his daughter.]
[Footnote 6: These are lines of the first stanza of an old ballad still
in existence. Does Hamlet suggest that as Jephthah so Polonius had
sacrificed his daughter? Or is he only desirous of making him talk about
her?]
[Footnote 7: 'That is not as the ballad goes.']
[Footnote 8: That this is a corruption of the _pious_ in the _Quarto_,
is made clearer from the _1st Quarto_: 'the first verse of the godly
Ballet wil tel you all.']
[Footnote 9: _abridgment_--that which _abridges_, or cuts short. His
'Abridgements' were the Players.]
[Footnote 10: _1st Q_. 'Vallanced'--_with a beard_, that is. Both
readings may be correct.]
[Footnote 11: A boy of course: no women had yet appeared on the stage.]
[Footnote 12: A Venetian boot, stilted, sometimes very high.]
[Footnote 13: --because then it would be unfit for a woman-part. A piece
of gold so worn that it had a crack reaching within the inner circle was
no longer current. _1st Q_. 'in the ring:'--was a pun intended?]
[Footnote 14: --like French sportsmen of the present day too.]
[Page 102]
straight. Come giue vs a tast of your quality:
come, a passionate speech.
_1. Play._ What speech, my Lord? [Sidenote: my good Lord?]
_Ham._ I heard thee speak me a speech once, but
it was neuer Acted: or if it was, not aboue once,
for the Play I remember pleas'd not the Million,
'twas _Cauiarie_ to the Generall[1]: but it was (as I
receiu'd it, and others, whose iudgement in such
matters, cried in the top of mine)[2] an excellent
Play; well digested in the Scoenes, set downe with
as much modestie, as cunning.[3] I remember one
said there was no Sallets[4] in the lines, to make the [Sidenote: were]
matter sauoury; nor no matter in the phrase,[5] that
might indite the Author of affectation, but cal'd it
[Sidenote: affection,]
an honest method[A]. One cheefe Speech in it, I
[Sidenote: one speech in't I]
cheefely lou'd, 'twas _Æneas_ Tale to _Dido_, and
[Sidenote: _Aeneas_ talke to]
thereabout of it especially, where he speaks of [Sidenote: when]
_Priams_[6] slaughter. If it liue in your memory,
begin at this Line, let me see, let me see: The
rugged _Pyrrhus_ like th'_Hyrcanian_ Beast.[7] It is
[Sidenote: tis not]
not so: it begins[8] with _Pyrrhus_.[9]
[10] The rugged _Pyrrhus_, he whose Sable Armes[11]
Blacke as his purpose, did the night resemble
When he lay couched in the Ominous[12] Horse,
Hath now this dread and blacke Complexion smear'd
With Heraldry more dismall: Head to foote
Now is he to take Geulles,[13] horridly Trick'd
[Sidenote: is he totall Gules [18]]
With blood of Fathers, Mothers, Daughters, Sonnes,
[14] Bak'd and impasted with the parching streets,
That lend a tyrannous, and damned light [Sidenote: and a damned]
[Footnote A: _Here in the Quarto:_--
as wholesome as sweete, and by very much, more handsome then
fine:]
[Footnote 1: The salted roe of the sturgeon is a delicacy disliked by
most people.]
[Footnote 2: 'were superior to mine.'
The _1st Quarto_ has,
'Cried in the toppe of their iudgements, an excellent play,'--that is,
_pronounced it, to the best of their judgments, an excellent play_.
Note the difference between 'the top of _my_ judgment', and 'the top of
_their_ judgments'. 97.]
[Footnote 3: skill.]
[Footnote 4: coarse jests. 25, 67.]
[Footnote 5: _style_.]
[Footnote 6: _1st Q_. 'Princes slaughter.']
[Footnote 7: _1st Q_. 'th'arganian beast:' 'the Hyrcan tiger,' Macbeth,
iii. 4.]
[Footnote 8: 'it _begins_': emphasis on begins.]
[Footnote 9: A pause; then having recollected, he starts afresh.]
[Footnote 10: These passages are Shakspere's own, not quotations: the
Quartos differ. But when he wrote them he had in his mind a phantom of
Marlowe's _Dido, Queen of Carthage_. I find Steevens has made a similar
conjecture, and quotes from Marlowe two of the passages I had marked as
being like passages here.]
[Footnote 11: The poetry is admirable in its kind--intentionally
_charged_, to raise it to the second stage-level, above the blank verse,
that is, of the drama in which it is set, as that blank verse is raised
above the ordinary level of speech. 143.
The correspondent passage in _1st Q_. runs nearly parallel for a few
lines.]
[Footnote 12:--like _portentous_.]
[Footnote 13: 'all red', _1st Q_. 'totall guise.']
[Footnote 14: Here the _1st Quarto_ has:--
Back't and imparched in calagulate gore,
Rifted in earth and fire, olde grandsire _Pryam_ seekes:
So goe on.]
[Page 104]
To their vilde Murthers, roasted in wrath and fire,
[Sidenote: their Lords murther,]
And thus o're-sized with coagulate gore,
With eyes like Carbuncles, the hellish _Pyrrhus_
Old Grandsire _Priam_ seekes.[1]
[Sidenote: seekes; so proceede you.[2]]
_Pol_. Fore God, my Lord, well spoken, with
good accent, and good discretion.[3]
_1. Player_. Anon he findes him, [Sidenote: _Play_]
Striking too short at Greekes.[4] His anticke Sword,
Rebellious to his Arme, lyes where it falles
Repugnant to command[4]: vnequall match, [Sidenote: matcht,]
_Pyrrhus_ at _Priam_ driues, in Rage strikes wide:
But with the whiffe and winde of his fell Sword,
Th'vnnerued Father fals.[5] Then senselesse Illium,[6]
Seeming to feele his blow, with flaming top
[Sidenote: seele[7] this blowe,]
Stoopes to his Bace, and with a hideous crash
Takes Prisoner _Pyrrhus_ eare. For loe, his Sword
Which was declining on the Milkie head
Of Reuerend _Priam_, seem'd i'th'Ayre to sticke:
So as a painted Tyrant _Pyrrhus_ stood,[8] [Sidenote: stood Like]
And like a Newtrall to his will and matter,[9] did nothing.[10]
[11] But as we often see against some storme,
A silence in the Heauens, the Racke stand still,
The bold windes speechlesse, and the Orbe below
As hush as death: Anon the dreadfull Thunder
[Sidenote: 110] Doth rend the Region.[11] So after _Pyrrhus_ pause,
Arowsed Vengeance sets him new a-worke,
And neuer did the Cyclops hammers fall
On Mars his Armours, forg'd for proofe Eterne,
[Sidenote: _Marses_ Armor]
With lesse remorse then _Pyrrhus_ bleeding sword
Now falles on _Priam_.
[12] Out, out, thou Strumpet-Fortune, all you Gods,
In generall Synod take away her power:
Breake all the Spokes and Fallies from her wheele, [Sidenote: follies]
[Footnote 1: This, though horrid enough, is in degree below the
description in _Dido_.]
[Footnote 2: He is directing the player to take up the speech there
where he leaves it. See last quotation from _1st Q_.]
[Footnote 3: _judgment_.]
[Footnote 4: --with an old man's under-reaching blows--till his arm is
so jarred by a missed blow, that he cannot raise his sword again.]
[Footnote 5:
Whereat he lifted up his bedrid limbs,
And would have grappled with Achilles' son,
* * * * *
Which he, disdaining, whisk'd his sword about,
And with the wound[13] thereof the king fell down.