Page:Hamlet (1917) Yale.djvu/71

Prince of Denmark, II. ii

With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword

Now falls on Priam.

Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you gods,

In general synod, take away her power;

Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,

And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven,

As low as to the fiends!"

Pol. This is too long.

Ham. It shall to the barber's, with your

beard. Prithee, say on: he's for a jig or a

tale of bawdry, or he sleeps. Say on; come to

Hecuba.

First Play. "But who, O! who had seen the mobled queen—"

Ham. 'The mobled queen?'—

Pol. That's good; 'mobled queen' is good.

First Play. "Run barefoot up and down, threat'ning the flames

With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head

Where late the diadem stood; and, for a robe,

About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins,

A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;

Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd,

'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have pronounc'd:

But if the gods themselves did see her then,

When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport

In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs,

 524 synod: assembly

525 fellies: the pieces of wood of which the circumference is made

526 nave: hub

530 jig: lively dance, often accompanied by coarse comic verses or dialogue

531 bawdry: indecency

532 Hecuba; cf. n.

533 mobled: muffled; cf. n.

537 bisson rheum: blinding tears (?)

clout: piece of cloth

539 o'er-teemed: exhausted by excessive child-bearing

542 pronounc'd: proclaimed

