see. him the continent of what part a gentleman would Ham. Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you;-trough, I know, to divide him inventorially, would dizzy the arithmetic of memory; and yet but raw neither, in respect of his quick sail. But, in the verity of extolment. I take him to be a soul of great article; and his infusion of such dearth and rareness, as, to make true diction of him, his semblable is his mirror; and, who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more. Osr. Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him. Ham. The concernancy, sir? why do we wrap the gentleman in our more rawer breath? Osr. Sir? Hor. Is 't not possible to understand in another tongue! You will do 't, sir, really, Ham. What imports the nomination of this gentleOsr. Of Laertes? [man? Hor. His purse is empty already; all his golden words are spent. Ham. Of him, sir. Osr. I know, you are ignorant Ham. I would, you did, sir; yet, in faith, if you did, it would not much approve me.-Well, sir. pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that you will Osr. You are not ignorant of what excellence La-be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the ertes is at his weapon. Ham. I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with him in excellence; but, to know a man well, were to know himself. Osr. I mean, sir, for his weapon; but in the impu tation laid on him by them, in his meed he's unfellowed. Ham. What 's his weapon? Osr. Rapier and dagger. Ham. That 's two of his weapons: but, well. liberal conceit. Ham. What call you the carriages? Hor. I knew you must be edified by the margent, ere you had done. readiness is all: Since no man has aught of what he Enter King, Queen, Laertes, Lords, Osric, and King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand [The King puts the hand of Laertes into That might your nature, honour, and exception, Osr. The carriages, sir, are the hangers. Osr. The king, sir, hath laid, that in a dozen passes between you and him, he shall not exceed you three hits; he hath laid on twelve for nine; and that would come to immediate trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe the answer. Ham. How, if I answer no? [son in trial. Osr. I mean, my lord, the opposition of your perHam. Sir, I will walk here in the hall. If it please his majesty, it is the breathing time of day with me: let the foils be brought, the gentleman willing, and the king hold his purpose, I will win for him if I can; if not, I will gain nothing but my shame, and the odd Osr. Shall I re-deliver you e'en so? [hits. Ham. To this effect, sir; after what flourish your nature will. Osr. I commend my duty to your lordship. [Exit. Ham. Yours, yours. He does well to commend it himself; there are no tongues else for 's turn. Hor. This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head. Ham. He did comply with his dug, before he sucked it. Thus has he (and many more of the same bevy, that, I know, the drossy age dotes on,) only got the tune of the time, and outward habit of encounter; a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to their trials, the bubbles are out. Enter a Lord. Lord. My lord, his majesty commended him to you! young Osric, who brings back to him, that you athim in the hall: He sends to know, if your Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil Ham. Osr. Ay, my good lord. Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit. Laer. [They play. Laer. No. Judgment. Well,-again. King. That are but mutes or audience to this act, I am more an antique Roman than a Dane, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Ham. O, I die, Horatio; The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit; So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less, What is it ye would see? [Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling, they Hamlet! The drink, the drink;-I am poison'd! [Dies. Envenom'd too!-Then, venom, to thy work. He is justly served; Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee. I am dead, Horatio:-Wretched queen, adieu! You that look pale and tremble at this chance, The sight is dismal; And our affairs from England come too late: The ears are senseless that should give us hearing, To tell him, his commandment is fulfill'd, That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead: Where should we have our thanks! Hor. Not from his mouth, Had it the ability of life to thank you; He never gave commandment for their death. But since, so jump upon this bloody question, You from the Polack wars, and you from England Are here arriv'd, give order, that these bodies High on a stage be placed to the view; And let me speak, to the yet unknowing world, How these things came about: So shall you hear Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts; Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters; Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc'd cause; And, in this upshot, purposes mistook Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I Truly deliver. Fort. Let us haste to hear it, And call the noblest to the audience. For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune; I have some rights of memory in this kingdom, Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me. Hor. Of that I shall have always cause to speak, And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more: But let this same be presently perform'd, E'en while men's minds are wild; lest more misOn plots, and errors, happen. [chance, Fort. Let four captains Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage: For he was likely, had he been put on, To have prov'd most royally: and, for his passage, The soldier's music, and the rights of war, Speak loudly for him. Take up the body:-Such a sight as this Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. Go, bid the soldiers shoot. [A dead March. [Exeunt, marching; after which a peal of ordnance is shot off. MARGARELON, a bastard son of ALEXANDER, servant to Cres- SCENE. Priam. PROLOGUE. In Troy there lies the scene. From isles of Greece With wanton Paris sleeps,-and that 's the quarrel. And the deep-drawing barks do there disgorge Now expectation, tickling skittish spirits, ACT I. SCENE I.-Troy. Before Priam's Palace. Enter Troilus armed, and Pandarus. Tro. Call here my varlet, I'll unarm again: Why should I war without the walls of Troy, That find such cruel battle here within? Each Trojan that is master of his heart, Let him to field; Troilus, alas! hath none. Pan. Will this gear ne'er be mended? [strength, Tro. The Greeks are strong, and skilful to their Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant; But I am weaker than a woman's tear, Tamer than sleep, fonder than ignorance, Less valiant than the virgin in the night, And skill-less as unpractis'd infancy. Pan. Well, I have told you enough of this: for my part I'll not meddle nor make no farther. He that will have a cake out of the wheat must needs tarry the grinding. Tro. Have I not tarried? Pan. Ay, the grinding: but you must tarry the Tro. Have I not tarried? (bolting. Pan. Ay, the bolting; but you must tarry the Tro. Still have I tarried. [leavening. Pan. Ay, to the leavening: but here 's yet in the word hereafter, the kneading, the making of the [sida. TROY, and the Grecian Camp before it. cake, the heating of the oven, and the baking: nay, you must stay the cooling too, or you may chance to burn your lips. Tro. Patience herself, what goddess e'er she be, Doth lesser blench at sufferance than I do. At Priam's royal table do I sit; And when fair Cressid comes into my thoughts,So, traitor! when she comes !-When is she thence? Pan. Well, she looked yesternight fairer than ever I saw her look, or any woman else. Tro. I was about to tell thee,-When my heart, As wedged with a sigh, would rive in twain; Lest Hector or my father should perceive me, I have (as when the sun doth light a storin) Buried this sigh in wrinkle of a smile: But sorrow that is couch'd in seeming gladness Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness. Pan. An her hair were not somewhat darker than Helen's, (well, go to,) there were no more comparison between the women.-But, for my part, she is my kinswoman; I would not, as they terin it, praise her,-But I would somebody had heard her talk yesterday, as I did. I will not dispraise your sister Cassandra's wit; but Tro. O, Pandarus! I tell thee, Pandarus,- In Cressid's love: Thou answer'st, she is fair; Her eyes, her hair, her cheek, her gait, her voice; Thou lay'st in every gash that love hath given me Let her be as Pan. I speak no more than truth. Tro. Thou dost not speak so much. Pan. 'Faith, I'll not ineddle in 't. she is: if she be fair 't is the better for her; an she be not she has the mends in her own hands. Tro. Good Pandarus! How now, Pandarus? Pan. I have had my labour for my travail; illthought on of her, and ill-thought on of you: gone between and between, but small thanks for my labour. [me? Tro. What, art thou angry, Pandarus? what, with Pan. Because she is kin to me, therefore she 's not so fair as Helen: an she were not kin to me, she would be as fair on Friday as Helen is on Sunday. But what care I? I care not an she were a black-a moor; 't is all one to me. Tro. Say I she is not fair? Pan. I do not care whether you do or no. She's a fool to stay behind her father; let her to the Greeks; and so I'll tell her the next time I see her: for my part, I'll meddle nor make no more in the whereof hath ever since kept Hector fasting and matter. Tro. Sweet Pandarus,Pan. Pray you, speak no more to me; I will leave all as I found it, and there an end. [Exit Pandarus. An alarum. Tro. Peace, you ungracious clamours! peace, rude sounds Fools on both sides! Helen must needs be fair, But Pandarus-O gods, how do you plague me! Alarum. Enter Æneas. Ene. How now, prince Troilus? wherefore not afield? [sorts, Tro. Because not there: This woman's answer For womanish it is to be from thence. What news, Æneas, from the field to-day? Ene. That Paris is returned home, and hurt. Tro. By whom, Æneas? Æne. [Alarum. Troilus, by Menelaus. But to the sport abroad;-Are you bound thither? Come, go we then together. SCENE II.-The same. A Street. Queen Hecuba, and Helen. Cres. And whither go they? Alex. Up to the eastern tower, Whose height commands as subject all the vale, To see the battle. Hector, whose patience Is, as a virtue, fix'd, to-day was mov'd: He chid Andromache, and struck his armourer; And, like as there were husbandry in war, Before the sun rose he was harness'd light, And to the field goes he; where every flower Did, as a prophet, weep what it foresaw In Hector's wrath. Cres. What was his cause of anger? Alex. The noise goes, this: There is among the A lord of Trojan blood, nephew to Hector; [Greeks They call him Ajax. Cres. Good; and what of him? Alex. They say he is a very man per se, And stands alone. Cres. So do all men; unless they are drunk, sick, or have no legs. Alex. This man, lady, hath robbed many beasts of their particular additions; he is as valiant as the lion, churlish as the bear, slow as the elephant: a man into whom nature hath so crowded humours, that his valour is crushed into folly, his folly sauced with discretion: there is no man hath a virtue that he hath not a glimpse of; nor any man an attaint but he carries some stain of it: he is melancholy without cause, and merry against the hair: He nath the joints of everything; but everything so out of joint, that he is a gouty Briareus, many hands and no use; or purblinded Argus, all eyes and no sight. Cres. But how should this man, that makes me smile, make Hector angry? Alex. They say he yesterday coped Hector in the battle, and struck him down; the disdain and shame waking, Enter Pandarus. Cres. Who comes here? Alex. Madam, your uncle Pandarus. Pan. Good morrow, cousin Cressid: What do you talk of Good morrow, Alexander.-How do you, cousin? When were you at Iliuin? Cres. This morning, uncle. Pan. What were you talking of when I came? Was Hector armed, and gone, ere ye came to Ilium? Helen was not up, was she? Cres. Hector was gone; but Helen was not up. Pan. E'en so; Hector was stirring early. Cres. That were we talking of, and of his anger. Pan. Was he angry? Cres. So he says here. Pan. True, he was so; I know the cause too; he 'll lay about him to-day, I can tell them that: and there 's Troilus will not come far behind him; let them take heed of Troilus; I can tell them that too. Cres. What, is he angry too? [the two. Pan. Who, Troilus? Troilus is the better man of Cres. O, Jupiter! there's no comparison. Pan. What, not between Troilus and Hector? Do you know a man if you see him? Cres. Ay; if I ever saw him before, and knew him. Pan. Well, I say Troilus is Troilus. Cres. Then you say as I say; for I am sure he is not Hector. [grees. Pan. No, nor Hector is not Troilus, in some deCres. 'T is just to each of them; he is himself. Pan. Himself? Alas, poor Troilus! I would he Cres. So he is. were. Pan. 'Condition, I had gone barefoot to India. Pan. Himself? no, he 's not himself.-'Would 'a were himself! Well, the gods are above. Time must friend, or end: Well, Troilus, well,-I would my heart were in her body!-No, Hector is not a better man than Troilus. Cres. Excuse me. Pan. He is elder. Cres. Pardon me, pardon me. Pan. The other 's not come to 't; you shall tell me another tale when the other 's come to 't. Hector shall not have his wit this year. Cres. He shall not need it, if he have his own. Cres. No matter. Pan. Nor his beauty. Cres. 'T would not become him, his own 's better. Pan. You have no judgment, niece: Helen herself swore the other day, that Troilus, for a brown favour, (for so 't is, I must confess,)-Not brown neither. Cres. No, but brown. Pan. Faith, to say truth, brown and not brown. Cres. Then Troilus should have too much: if she praised him above, his complexion is higher than his; he having colour enough, and the other higher, is too flaming a praise for a good complexion. I had as lief Helen's golden tongue had commended Troilus for a copper nose. Pan. I swear to you, I think Helen loves him better than Paris. Cres. Then she 's a merry Greek, indeed. Pan. Nay, I am sure she does. She came to him the other day into the compassed window,-and, you know, he has not past three or four hairs on his chin. Cres. Indeed, a tapster's arithmetic may soon bring his particulars therein to a total. Pan. Why, he is very young: and yet will he, within three pound, lift as much as his brother Hector. Cres. Is he so young a man, and so old a lifter? Pan. But, to prove to you that Helen loves him; she came, and puts me her white hand to his cloven chin,→ Cres. Juno have mercy!-How came it cloven! Pan. Why, you know, 't is dimpled: I think his smiling becomes him better than any man in all jesting: there 's laying on; tak 't off who will, as Phrygia. Cres. O, he smiles valiantly. they say: there be hacks! Cres. Be those with swords? Pan. Does he not? Helen loves Troilus, Cres. O yes, an 't were a cloud in autumn, Cres. If you love an addle egg as well as you love an idle head, you would eat chickens i' the shell. Pan. I cannot choose but laugh, to think how she tickled his chin!-Indeed, she has a marvellous white hand, I must needs confess. Cres. Without the rack. Paris passes over. Pan. Swords? anything, he cares not: an the devil heart good:-Yonder comes Paris, yonder comes come to him, it 's all one: By god's lid, it does one's Paris: look ye yonder, niece. Is 't not a gallant said he came hurt home to-day? he's not hurt: why, man too, is 't not?-Why, this is brave now.-Who could see Troilus now!-you shall see Troilus anon. this will do Helen's heart good now. Ha! 'would I Cres. Who's that? Helenus passes over. Pan. That 's Helenus,-I marvel where Troilus is: -That 's Helenus;-I think he went not forth to [on his chin. Pan. And she takes upon her to spy a white hair Cres. Alas, poor chin! many a wart is richer. Pan. But there was such laughing;-Queen He-day-That's Helenus. cuba laughed, that her eyes ran o'er. Cres. With mill-stones. Pan. And Cassandra laughed. Cres. Can Helenus fight, uncle? Pan. Helenus? no;-yes, he 'll fight indifferent well:--I marvel where Troilus is!-Hark; do you not Cres. But there was more temperate fire under the hear the people cry, Troilus?-Helenus is a priest. pot of her eyes:-Did her eyes run o'er too? Pan. And Hector laughed. Cres. At what was all this laughing? Pan. Marry, at the white hair that Helen spied on Troilus' chin. Cres. An 't had been a green hair, I should have laughed too. Pan. They laughed not so much at the hair, as at his pretty answer. Cres. What was his answer? Pan. Quoth she, 'Here 's but two and fifty hairs on your chin, and one of them is white.' Cres. This is her question. Pan. That's true; make no question of that. Two and fifty hairs,' quoth he, and one white: That white hair is my father, and all the rest are his sons." 'Jupiter' quoth she, which of these hairs is Paris my husband?' The forked one,' quoth he, 'pluck it out, and give it him.' But, there was such laughing! and Helen so blushed, and Paris so chafed, and all the rest so laughed, that it passed. Cres. So let it now; for it has been a great while going by. Cres. So I do. Pan. Well, cousin, I told you a thing yesterday; [think on 't. Pan. I'll be sworn 't is true; he will weep you, an 't were a man born in April. Cres. And I'll spring up in his tears, an 't were a nettle against May. [4 retreat sounded. Pan. Hark, they are coming from the field: Shall we stand up here, and see them, as they pass to ward Ilium? good niece, do; sweet niece Cressida. Cres. At your pleasure. Pan. Here, here, here's an excellent place; here we may see most bravely: I'll tell you them all by their names, as they pass by; but mark Troilus above the rest. Eneas passes over the Stage. Cres. Speak not so loud. But Pan. That's Eneas: Is not that a brave man? he's one of the flowers of Troy, I can tell you. mark Troilus; you shall see anon. Cres. Who's that. Antenor passes over. Cres. What sneaking fellow comes yonder? Troilus! there's a man, niece!-Hem!-Brave Pan. Mark him; note him;-O brave Troilus!look well upon him, niece; look you, how his sword is bloodied, and his helm more hacked than Hector's: And how he looks, and how he goes!-O admirable youth! he ne'er saw three-and-twenty. Go a grace, or a daughter a goddess, he should take his thy way, Troilus, go thy way; had I a sister were choice. O admirable man! Paris?-Paris is dirt to him; and, I warrant, Helen, to change, would give money to boot. Forces pass over the stage. Pan. Asses, fools, dolts! chaff and bran, chaff and bran! porridge after meat! I could live and die i' the eyes of Troilus. Ne'er look, ne'er look; the eagles are gone; crows and daws, crows and daws! I had rather be such a man as Troilus, than Agamemnon and all Greece. Cres. There is among the Greeks, Achilles; a bet. ter man than Troilus. Pan. Achilles? a drayman, a porter, a very camel. have you any eyes? Do you know what a man is! out. Pan. You are such another woman! one knows not at what ward you lie. Cres. Upon my back, to defend my belly; upon my wit, to defend my wiles; upon my secrecy, to defend mine honesty; my mask, to defend my beauty; and you, to defend all these: and at all these wards I lie, at a thousand watches. Pan. Say one of your watches. Pan. That's Antenor; he has a shrewd wit, I can tell you; and he's a man good enough: he's one of the chiefest of them too; if I cannot ward what Cres. Nay, I'll watch you for that; and that 'sone o' the soundest judgment in Troy, whosoever, and I would not have hit, I can watch you for telling a proper man of person:-When comes Troilus?how I took the blow; unless it swell past hiding, I'll show you Troilus anon; if he see me, you shall and then it 's past watching. see him nod at me. Cres. Will he give you the nod? Pan. You shall see. Cres. If he do, the rich shall have more. Pan. You are such another! Enter Troilus' Boy. Boy. Sir, my lord would instantly speak with you. Boy. At your own house; there he unarms him. Pan. I'll be with you, niece, by and by. |