Page:Hamlet - The Arden Shakespeare - 1899.djvu/117

heavy, nor Plautus too light. For the law of
writ and the liberty,^{[b 1]} these^{[a 1]} are the only men.

Ham. O Jephthah,^{[b 2]} judge of Israel, what a treasure
hadst thou!

Pol. What a treasure^{[a 2]} had he, my lord? 430

Ham. Why,
One fair daughter, and no more,
The which he loved passing well.

Pol. [Aside.]^{[a 3]} Still on my daughter.

Ham. Am I not i' the right, old Jephthah? 435

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

Ham. Nay, that follows not.^{[a 4]}

Pol. What follows then, my lord?

Ham. Why, 440
As by lot, God wot,
and then, you know,
It came to pass, as most like it was,—

1. 426, 427. light. For . . . liberty, these] Theobald, light for . . . liberty: these Q, light, for . . . Liberty. These F.
2. 430. What a treasure] What treasure S. Walker, conject. Dyce (ed. 2).
3. 434. Aside] Capell.
4. 436–438. If . . . not] omitted in Qq 4–6.

1. 426, 427. law of writ and the liberty] Capell: "This means pieces written in rule and pieces out of rule." Corson suggests that Seneca exemplified the law and Plautus the liberty of writing. Probably, however, the reference is to written plays and extemporised parts. In Middleton's The Spanish Gipsy, the gipsy-actors can perform in "a way which the Italians and the Frenchmen use":
   "That is, on a word given, or some slight plot,
   The actors will extempore fashion out
   Scenes neat and witty."
   Rowe and other editors read "law of wit."
2. 428. Jephthah] Steevens communicated the "pious chanson" to Percy; a reprint from a blackletter copy will be found in Child's English and Scottish Ballads, Hamlet quotes from the first stanza. Jephthah sacrificed his daughter; before her death she went into the wilderness to bewail her virginity. So with Ophelia. In lines 444, 445 Hamlet says "the first row of the pious chanson will show you more,—perhaps he refers to the line "Great wars there should be."