Pel. Look, whe'r he has not turn'd his colour, and has tears in eyes. Pr'ythee no more.

Ham. 'Tis well. I'll have thee fpeak out the reft" of this foon. Good my lord, will you fee the players well 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 epitaph, than their live.

ill report while you

a

Pol. My lord, I will ufe them according to their defert.

с

d

Ham. God's bodikins, man, much better. Ufe every man after his defert, and who

с

fhall fcape whipping? Ufe

them after your own honour and dignity. The lefs they deferve, the more merit is in your bounty.

*in.

Pol. Come, firs.

Ham. Follow him, friends: we'll

morrow.

Doft thou hear me, old friend,

murther of Gonzago? Play. Ay, my lord.

Take them

f[Exit Polonius.

hear a play to

can you play the

Ꮒ

Ham. We'll hav't to-morrow night. You could for a need, study a speech of fome dozen or fixteen lines, which I would fet down, and infert in 't? Could you not?

Play. Ay, my lord.

Ham. Very well. Follow that lord, and look you mock him not. My good friends, m [to Rof. and Guild.] I'll leave you 'till night. You are welcome to Elfinoar.

Ham. Ay fo, "God b' w' ye. Now I am alone.
Oh, what a rogue and peasant flave am I!
Is it not monftrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of paffion,
Could force his foul fo to his own conceit,
That from her working, all his visage wan'd;
Tears in his eyes, distraction in his afpect,
A broken voice, and his whole function fuiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing?
For Hecuba?

h So the 2d and 3d qu's; 1ft q. hate;

the reft ba't.

i The qu's omit a.

• Third q. am I.

P First and 2d qu's and 1ft f. fixion.

9 The fo's and R. read whole instead

k The qu's and C. read, fome dozen of own. lines or fixteen lines.

1 All but qu's and C. ye.

m This direction first put in by J. n The qu's read God buy to you ; fo's, aft, ad and 3d, God buy’ye,

The qu's read the inftead of bis.

So the qu's, W. J. and C. The fo's and all the reft read warm'd. Third q. fo's and R. in 's.

What's

What's Hecuba to him," or he to her,

That he should weep for her? What would he do
Had he the motive, w and the cue for paffion
That I haye, he would drown the ftage with tears,
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty, and appall the free;
Confound the ignorant, and amaze, indeed,
The very y faculties of z eyes and ears :- Yet I,
[* A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can] fay nothing,-no, not for a king,
Upon whofe property and moft dear life

b

A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain, breaks my pate a-cross,
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?

c

Tweaks me by th' nofe, gives me the lye i' th' throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this?

Hah! 'swounds I fhould take it-for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd, and lack gall

To make oppreffion bitter; or, ere this

e

I fhould have fatted all the region kites

With this flave's offal. Bloody, bawdy villain!

So the qu's. The fo's and all the reft, or be to Hecuba.

w Qu's, and that for paffion, &c. * Firft q. appale ; 2d and 3d, appeale. The fo's, apale.

b Three last fo's, John-a-deames. c First and 2d qu's, by the nose. d So the qu's; 2d and 3d fo's and R. Why fhould I take it? The 1ft and ed fo's and C. Ha? why I should take it.

y So the qu's and C. All the reft, P. alters, it to, Yet I should take it ; but

facuity.

z f.reads, ears and eyes.

a P. and H. omit what is included, between the crotchets. But P. puts it in the margent.

puts the folio-reading in the margent, which the reft (who all follow his alteration) neglect to do.

e Firft q. reads a instead of have. f The fo's read, With this flave's offal, bloody: a bawlj, kc. B ‹ Why,

Why, what an afs am I! this is most brave, That I, the fon of a dear murthered,

h

Prompted to my revenge by heav'n and hell,
Muft, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a curfing like a very drab,

k

1 A stallion; fie upon 't! foh!

About, my brains!-hum-I have heard,
That guilty creatures, " fitting at a play,
Have by the very cunning of the scene

• Been ftruck fo to the foul, that presently
They have proclaim'd their malefactions:

For murther, though it have no tongue, will speak
P With moft miraculous organ. I'll have thefe players
Play fomething like the murther of my father,
Before mine uncle: I'll obferve his looks;

The fo's read, Ob vengeance! Who? what an afs am I? I fure, this is, &c. R. Ob vengeance! Why what an afs am I? I fure, this is, &c. h So the 1ft q. The fo's and R. read the dear murthered. All the reft, a dear father murthered. There feems to be no neceffity of the word father here; or rather, it is a tautology.

i The 3d q. omits A. S. though he has this edition, takes no notice of this omiffion.

k So the qu's and P. The fo's, R. W. J. and C. read fcullion. T. is perfuaded that Shakespeare wrote, cullion; and puts it in the text; H. follows him.

1 So the qu's and C. All the reft read brain. S. gives another reading of one of his editions, viz. braues.

m In all but the qu's and C. bum is omitted.

n P. omits fitting; followed by T. H. and W.

• R. reads, Been firuck unto the foul, &c.

P P.'s quarto reads, With moft miraculous organ. I'll obferve his looks,

Play fomething like the murther of my father,

Before mine uncle. I'll obferve kis looks, &c.

I'll a tent him to the quick, if he do blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be a "devil; and the " devil hath power
T' affume a pleafing fhape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholly,
(As he is very potent with such spirits)
Abuses me to damn me. I'll have grounds
More relative than this: the play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the confcience of the king.

rent.

'[Exit.

The 2d, 3d and 4th fo's, read, all the reft, instead of do read but.

tf.reads This.
u First q. deale.

So the qu's and C. The fo's and

The qu's read a for be.

G 2

ACT