Part 7 (1/2)

_Brutus_. _No_, not an oath: If not the face of men, The sufferance of our soul's, the time's abuse, If these be motives weak, break off betimes, And every man hence to his idle bed; _So_ let high-sighted tyranny range on, Till _each man drop by lottery_.

It was while he sat there, that the player who did not _write_ his speeches, said--

_Nor stony tower_, nor walls of beaten bra.s.s, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; If I know this, know _all the world beside_, That part of tyranny that _I_ do bear, _I_ can shake off at pleasure.

And why should Caesar be a tyrant then?

_Poor Man_! I know he would not be a wolf, But that he sees the _Romans_ are but sheep: _He_ were no lion, were not _Romans_ hinds.

But I, perhaps, speak _this_ Before a willing bondman.

_Hamlet_. My lord,--you played once in the university, you say?

_Polonius_. That did I, my lord; and was accounted a good actor.

_Hamlet_. And what did you enact?

_Polonius_. I did enact _Julius Caesar_. I was killed i'the Capitol; Brutus killed me.

_Hamlet_. It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there.--Be the players ready?

Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light. For the law of writ, and the liberty. _These_ are the only _men_.

_Hamlet_. Why do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you would drive me into a toil?

_Guild_. O my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly.

_Hamlet_. I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this pipe?

_Guild_. My lord, I cannot.

_Hamlet_. I pray you.

_Guild_. Believe me, I cannot.

_Hamlet_. I do beseech you.

_Guild_. I know no touch of it, my lord.

_Hamlet_. 'Tis as _easy as lying. Govern_ these ventages with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, _and it will discourse most eloquent music_. Look you, _these are the stops_.

_Guild_. But _these_ cannot _I_ command to any _utterance of harmony: I have not the_ SKILL.

_Hamlet. Why, look you now_, how _unworthy a thing_ you make of ME?

You would _play upon_ ME; _you would seem_ to know _my stops_; you would pluck out the heart of MY MYSTERY; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my key; and there is much _music_, excellent voice in _this little organ, yet_ cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood! do you think I AM EASIER TO BE PLAYED ON THAN A PIPE? Call me what _instrument_ you will, though you can _fret_ me, you cannot PLAY upon me.

_Hamlet_. Why did you laugh when I said, _Man_ delights not me?

_Guild_. To think, my lord, if you delight not in _man_, what lenten entertainment THE PLAYERS shall receive from you. We coted them on the way, and thither are they coming to offer you--SERVICE.