Ophelia. I've got your present here; I'll now return it, Of worsted garters from the Easter fair. You know you gave them, and with words bewitching, Last week when I was frying in the kitchen. I've left them ever since upon the shelf, In hopes you'd come and put them on yourself; Hamlet. I never gave you any. SONG. HAMLET. (Tune- - Mr. Mug.' Let me tell you, Miss Ophelia, your behaviour's very rude, And your whims and freaks and fancies ought in time to be subdu'd; So if my advice will better you, to give it 'tis my duty:Imprimis :-let your honesty discourse not with your beauty. Won't you, won't you, won't you to a nunnery go? I told you once I lov'd you; but 'twas easy to perceive If you marry, (just to comfort you,) this plague take for portion, That calumny will twig you, tho' you act with greatest caution: But get some fool to marry you, if disengag'd your heart is ; I shall not tell the reason-but 'twere better for both parties. Won't you, won't you, &c. I've lately been inform'd that you paint both red and white: Heav'n gave you one face, and to make another is not right. Your pranks have made me mad—Marriage bells no more shall jingle The married may remain so, but the rest shall all keep single. Won't you, won't you, &c. Ophelia. O, what a pity such a charming lad [Exit Hamlet. Should, at his time of life, go roaring mad! RECITATIVE (accompanied,) and DUETT (d). HAMLET and OPHELIA. RECITATIVE. Ophelia. Dear Hamlet, pray come back. (Enter Hamlet.) I'm your's for ever. Hamlet. And shall we never part, love? (Together.) Ah! no, never! DUETT. (Tune-" I've kiss'd and I've prattled.") Hamlet. I've made love to fifty young women in Denmark, But if she would promise to love me-why, then mark— Ophelia. I've kiss'd and I've prattled with fifty young fellows, But if he would not be so devilish jealous, Hamlet. Your father, I know, doesn't much like the match; I'm a prince-and he ought to be glad of the catch, Ham. Oph. Ham. Oph. Ophelia. We know very well that advice cheap as dirt is, But in spite of the lessons of brother Laertes, Hamlet and Ophelia. Then here be an end to our squabbles and strife And as no other woman shall e'er be my wife, Young Hamlet's the lad for me. (Tune-" Liberty-Hall.") Tho' a talent for acting must nature impart, Tol de rol, &c. When speaking a speech, it an actor becomes or M without it? Tol de rol, &c. All actors should study what folks call the graces That's the twist of their legs, and the set of their faces: They, like C "2 saw the air, as it were, into slices. Tol de rol, &c. Some will tell you, "be calm;" but, in spite of their cant, And their critical jargon, strut, bellow, and rant: To bamboozle the flats and to keep them from snoring, proves that there's nothing like ranting and roaring. Tol de rol, &c. R But in speeches which, teeming with passion, require You, like him, must be lifeless, insipid, and tame. Tol de rol, &c. Some critics assert (but I stoutly dispute it), That each word stands in need of an action to suit it :Their principle's false;-and, if fairly they'll try it, and twenty besides, will deny it. C. Like M or D. Tol de rol, &c. when playing the clown, Always garnish the author's with wit of your own : And tho' knowing ones hiss; yet the god's approbation, In a horse-laugh, will greet you.-So ends my oration. Tol de rol, &c. [Exit First Actor. |