2

Hamlet

but called it an honest method. One speech in it I
chiefly loved: 'twas Aeneas' 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 th' Hyrcanian beast — 
‘It 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,
Has now this dread and black complexion smeared
With heraldry more dismal. Head to foot,
Now is he total gules, horridly tricked
With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,
Baked and empasted with the parching streets
That lend a tyrannous and damnèd light
To their vile murders. Roasted in wrath and fire,
And thus o'ersizèd with coagulate gore,
With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Phyrrhus
Old grandsire Priam seeks.’
So, proceed you.

Hamlet

but called it an honest method. One speech in it I
chiefly loved: 'twas Aeneas' 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 th' Hyrcanian beast — 
‘It 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,
Has now this dread and black complexion smeared
With heraldry more dismal. Head to foot,
Now is he total gules, horridly tricked
With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,
Baked and empasted with the parching streets
That lend a tyrannous and damnèd light
To their vile murders. Roasted in wrath and fire,
And thus o'ersizèd with coagulate gore,
With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Phyrrhus
Old grandsire Priam seeks.’
So, proceed you.

Hamlet

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
caviar to the general. But it 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 was no sallets
in the lines to make the matter savory, nor no matter
in the phrase that might indict the author of affectation,
[Enter four or five Players.]

Hamlet

You are welcome, masters, welcome all. I am glad to see thee well.
Welcome, good friends. [To a young actor] Oh, my old friend!
Thy face is valanced since I saw thee last. Com'st
thou to beard me in Denmark? [To a young boy actor] What,
my young lady and mistress! By'r lady, your ladyship is nearer
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.  [To all]  Masters, you are all 
welcome. We'll e'en to't like French falconers — fly at
anything we see. We'll have a speech straight. Come, give
us a taste of your quality. Come, a passionate speech.
[Enter four or five Players.]

Hamlet

You are welcome, masters, welcome all. I am glad to see thee well.
Welcome, good friends. [To a young actor] Oh, my old friend!
Thy face is valanced since I saw thee last. Com'st
thou to beard me in Denmark? [To a young boy actor] What,
my young lady and mistress! By'r lady, your ladyship is nearer
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.  [To all]  Masters, you are all 
welcome. We'll e'en to't like French falconers — fly at
anything we see. We'll have a speech straight. Come, give
us a taste of your quality. Come, a passionate speech.

Polonius   

If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a 
daughter that I love passing well.

Hamlet

Nay, that follows not.    

Polonius 

What follows then, my lord? 

Hamlet   

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;
[Several actors approach]
 for look where my abridgments come.

Hamlet   

Oh Jephthah, Judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst thou? 

Polonius

What a treasure had he, my lord?

Hamlet   

Why, 
[Singing]
              "One fair daughter and no more,
                The which he loved passing well."

Polonius

[Aside] Still on my daughter.

Hamlet

Am I not i'th' right, old Jephthah?

Polonius   

If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a 
daughter that I love passing well.

Hamlet

Nay, that follows not.    

Polonius 

What follows then, my lord? 

Hamlet   

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;
[Several actors approach]
 for look where my abridgments come.

Hamlet

Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your hands,
come. Th' appurtenance of welcome is fashion and
ceremony. Let me comply with you in the 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 uncle-father and
aunt-mother are deceived.

Guildenstern

In what, my dear lord?

Hamlet   

I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is 
southerly, I know a hawk from a hand saw.

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