Ros. Happily[b 1] he's[a 1] the second time come to them;
for, they say, an old man is twice a
child. 410
Ham. I will prophesy he[a 2] comes to tell me of the
players; mark it.—You say[b 2] right, sir; o'[a 3]
Monday morning;[a 4] 'twas so,[a 5] indeed.
Pol. My lord, I have news to tell you.
Ham. My lord, I have news to tell you. When 415
Roscius was[a 6] an actor in Rome,—
Pol. The actors are come hither, my lord.
Ham. Buz, buz![b 3]
Pol. Upon my[a 7] honour[a 8]—
Ham. Then came[a 9] each actor on his ass,[b 4]— 420
Pol. The best actors in the world, either for tragedy,
comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical,
historical-pastoral,[a 10] tragical-historical, tragical-
comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable,[b 5]
or poem unlimited; Seneca[b 6] cannot be too 425
- ↑ 408. he's] F, he is Q.
- ↑ 411. prophesy he] prophecy, he Qq 2, 3, prophecy that he Qq 4–6, Prophesie, Hee F, Prophesie, He Ff 2–4.
- ↑ 412. o' ] Capell, a Q, for a F.
- ↑ 413. morning;] morning, Qq 2, 3, morning Qq 4–6 F.
- ↑ 413. so] Q 1, F; then Q.
- ↑ 416. was] omitted in F.
- ↑ 419. my] Q, mine F.
- ↑ 419. honour—] Rowe; honour. Q, F.
- ↑ 420. came] Q, can F.
- ↑ 422, 423. pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral,] Pastoricall-Comicall-Historicall-Pastorall F, Q omits the classes of drama which follow historical-pastoral.
- ↑ 408. Happily] Haply, as in i. i. 134.
- ↑ 412. You say] Hamlet would mislead Polonius as to the subject of their conversation.
- ↑ 418. Buz] Blackstone says, "It was an interjection used at Oxford when anyone began a story that was generally known before." Schmidt: "An interjection to command silence."
- ↑ 420. Then . . . ass] Johnson: "This seems to be the line of a ballad." Elze supposes that Hamlet makes "on his ass " equivalent to Polonius's "upon my honour."
- ↑ 424. scene individable] a play which observes unity of place; "poem unlimited," a play which disregards the unities.
- ↑ 425, 426. Seneca . . . Plautus] Seneca's tragedies had been translated by Newton and others, and influenced the English drama. See Cunliffe, The Influence of Seneca on Elizabethan Tragedy (1893). Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors is founded on Warner's translation of the Menæchmi of Plautus.
