< Page:Hamlet - The Arden Shakespeare - 1899.djvu
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78
[ACT II.
HAMLET

in form and moving how express[b 1] and admirable! ⁠320
in action how like an angel! in apprehension
how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to
me, what is this quintessence of dust? man
delights not me; no,[a 1] nor woman[a 2] neither, though ⁠325
by your smiling you seem to say so.[b 2]

Ros. My lord, there was no such stuff in my
thoughts.

Ham. Why did you[a 3] laugh then,[a 4] when I said man
delights not me"? ⁠330

Ros. To think, my lord, if you delight not in man,
what lenten[b 3] entertainment the players shall
receive from you; we coted[b 4] them on the
way; and hither are they coming, to offer you
service. ⁠335

Ham. He that plays the king shall be welcome; his
majesty shall have tribute of me;[a 5] the adventurous
knight shall use his foil and target; the
lover shall not sigh gratis; the humorous man[b 5]
shall end his part in peace; the clown[a 6] shall ⁠340

  1. ↑ 325. no] omitted in Q.
  2. ↑ 325. woman] F, women Q.
  3. ↑ 329. you] F, yee Q.
  4. ↑ 329. then] Q, omitted in F.
  5. ↑ 337. of me] F, on me Q.
  6. ↑ 340–342. the clown . . . sere"] omitted in Q.
  1. ↑ 320. express] exact. Clar. Press quote Hebrews i. 3: "express image." Schmidt, "expressive."
  2. ↑ 325, 326.] to follow such a confession with laughter, from any cause, is a measure of the courtiers' intelligent sympathy.
  3. ↑ 332. lenten] meagre, as in Twelfth Night, I. v. 9.
  4. ↑ 333. coted] overtook and passed beyond. Goulding's Ovid Met. B. x.: "With that Hippomenes coted her" (Lat. praterit); used specially as a term in coursing, and so explained by Turbervile.
  5. ↑ 339. humorous man] "Not the funny man or jester . . . but the actor who personated the fantastic characters . . . for the most part represented as capricious and quarrelsome" (Staunton). "Such characters as Faulconbridge, Jaques, and Mercutio" (Delius). The characters of the stock company suit the present play
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