h Oh old friend,

thee well. Welcome, good friends. i why, thy face is valanc'd fince I faw thee laft: Com'ft thou to beard me in Denmark? What! my young lady and miftrefs? By 'r lady, your ladyfhip is nearer to heaven than when I faw you lat by the altitude of a chapin. Pray God, your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not crack'd within the ring. ---Mafters, you are all welcome; we'll e'en to 't like friendly falconers, fly at any thing we fee; we'll have a speech ftraight. Come, give us a taste of your quality; come, a paffionate fpeech.

1 Play. What fpeech, my P good lord?

Ham. I heard thee fpeak me a speech once, but it was never acted; or if it was, not above once; for the play, I

g H. reads you.

term used to this day in the northern

h The fo's and R. read, Ob! my old parts of our island, for half their pint, friend, &c.

All but the qu's and C. omit why. k The fo's and R. read valiant; ift q. valandt,

The 1st and 2d qu's read by lady; the 3d q. my lady; the 1ft f, byrlady ; all the other editions berlady, which laft is a falfe contraction of by our lady.

m All but qu's and C. omit to. Chapin; Span. a thick piece of cork bound about with tin, thin iron or filver, worn by the women in Spain at the bottom of their fhoes to make them appear taller. The qu's and C. read chopine; the fo's and R. choppine; P. and the reft chioppine. Dr. Tathwel, in Grey's notes on Shakespeare, would have choppine to be the true reading, which, he fays, is a

which contains two Englifo quarts; and thefe are (like many other Scots words) nothing more than the two Freneb words. (chopine and piente) adopted. The fenfe of this paflage teems more heightened by Hamlet's telling the player, the is near heaven by the altitude of a quart measure, than by that of a clog. Dr. T. Grey's notes, vol. ii. p. 291.

The fo's, R. and H. French faulconers; but J. (who seems not to have met with this reading any where but in* H. although he tells us he has the third f.) wonders that H. fhould give no reafon for this correction, as he calls it, Qu's, faukners.

P The fo's and R. omit good.

remember,

t

remember, pleafed not the million; 'twas 9 caviary to the general; but it was (as I received it, and others whofe 'judgments in fuch matters cried in the top of mine) an excellent play, well digefted in the fcenes, fet down with as much modefty as cunning. I remember, one faid, there was no falt in the lines, to make the matter favoury; nor no matter in the phrase that might indite the author of affection; " but call'd it, an honeft method, as wholesome as Sweet, and by very much more handsome than fine. x One. fpeech in it I chiefly lov'd; 'twas Eneas' tale to Dido; and thereabout of it efpecially, a where he speaks of Priam's flaughter. If it live in your memory, begin at this line, let me fee, let me fee --- The rugged Pyrrhus, like th' Hyrcanian beast,--- It is not fo;--- It begins with Pyrrhus.

C

а

W

The rugged Pyrrhus, he, whofe fable arms, Black as his purpose, did the night resemble, When he lay couched in f the ominous horse

9 Caviary or Caveer, a fort of eatable made of the rees of several sorts of fish pickled; but especially of the spawn of fturgeons taken in the river Volga in Mufery, which in colour and substance looks much like green foap. Bayley's Dict. The fo's, 2d, 3d and 4th, read, Cautary; R. P. T. H. and W, Caviar; J. and C, Caviare.

So the qu's and C. the reft, judgment. s The qu's read were no fallets; the fo's and R. was no fallets. P. corrects it, was no falt; followed by the reft.

a Qu's, when.

b The qu's read th' Ircanian.
c Qu's, 'tis.

The 2d and 3d qu's omit fo.

e The 2d and 3d fo's read be for bis. f Firft q. th' omyneus; 2d and 3d qu's, tb' ominous,

Hath

Hath now his dread and black complexion fmear'd

h

With heraldry more difmal; head to foot

Now is he total gules, horridly trick'd

With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, fons,

k

Bak'd and empafted with the parching' ftreets,

That lend a tyrannous and a damned light

n To their lord's murther: roafted in wrath and fire, And thus o'er-fized with coagulate gore,

With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus

Old grandfire Priam feeks.--- So proceed you.

Pol. 'Fore God, my lord, well-spoken, with good accent and good difcretion.

1 Play. Anon he finds him,'

Striking too fhort at Greeks. his antique fword,

S

Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,

Repugnant to command; unequal * ínatch'd,
Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide;
But with the whiff and wind of his fell fword,

8 The two first qu's and all the fo's, inftead of bis read this; fo does S. without giving the different reading bis, which

is in the 3d quarto, or that of 1637. C. reads this.

h First and 2d qu's, heraldy.

i The fo's read to take geules.

The 2d and 3d qu's read embasted. All editions before P. read ftreets; he alters it to fires, and is followed by all the reft, except C.

m All but qu's and C. omit a.

So the qu's. The fo's, 1ft, 2d and 3d, To their wilde (vile, the 4th) murthers. R, To the vile murthers, P. al

ters this, To murthers vile; followed by all the reft, except C, who reads with the qu's.

• Qu's, ore-cifed.

P Third q. Carbuncle.

The words, So proceed you, are omitted in the fo's and all editions after, except C. but they feem neceffary; for it would appear rude in the player, to take the fpeech out of Hamlet's mouth, without being bid by him to proceed in it.

Qu's, fo's and R. anticke or axtick. s R. in for to.

The fo's and R. read match.

Th

Th' unnerved father falls. " Then fenfelefs Ilium,
Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top
Stoops to his bafe; and with a hideous crash
Takes prifoner Pyrrhus' ear: for lo! his fword,
Which was declining on the milky head

X

Of reverend Priam, feem'd i' th' air to ftick:
So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood;

And, like a neutral to his will and matter, Did nothing.

But as we often fee, against fome ftorm,

A filence in the heav'ns, the rack stand still,
The bold winds fpeechlefs, and the orb below
As hufh as death, anon the dreadful thunder
Doth rend the region: fo after Pyrrhus' pause,
A roused vengeance fets him new a-work,

And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall

d

с

On Mars his armour, forg'd for proof eterne,
With less remorfe than Pyrrhus' bleeding fword
Now falls on Priam.

Out, out, thou ftrumpet Fortune! all you gods,
In general fynod take away her power:

Break all the spokes and f fellies from her wheel,
And bowl the round nave down the hill of heav'n,
As low as to the fiends.

t The words, Then fenfeless Ilium, are

●mitted in the qu's.

w Fo's and R. read his.

I Qu's, reverent.

y The 3d and 4th fo's and R.'s oc

tavo, omit painted,

z The qu's omit And.

b S. chooses to fpell this word wrong, viz, bould; though his edition of 1637. fpells it bold.

c Second q. wind.

d Qu's, Marfes for Mars bis.

e The fo's and R. read armours.

f The 1ft q. follies; ad q. folies; 3a

a The 3d q. reads racket. S. does q. felloes; ift, 2d and 3d fo's, and R.'s

not give us this reading.

duodecimo, failies.

Pol

Pol. This is too long.

Ham. It fhall to the barber's with your beard. Pr'ythee fay on; he's for a jigg, or a tale of bawdry, or he fleeps. Say on, come to Hecuba..

1 Play. But who, ah woe! had seen the 1 mobled queen,--Ham. The mobled queen?

i

i

Pol. That's good; mohled queen, is good.

k

1 Play. Run bare-foot up and down, threatning the flames
With biffon' rheum; a clout upon that head
Where late the diadem ftood; and for a robe
About her lank and all-o'er-teemed loins,
A blanket in th' m alarm of fear caught up;
Who this had feen, with tongue in venom fteep'd,
'Gainft fortune's ftate would treafon have pronounc'd;
But if the Gods themfelves did fee her then,

When fhe faw Pyrrhus make malicious fport
In mincing with his fword her husband's " limbs;
The inftant burft of clamour that fhe made,

Unless things mortal move them not at all,

Would have made 9 milch the burning eyes of heav'n,
And paffion in the gods.