Ham. Why, 'One faire daughter, and no more, the which he loved passing well.'
Polon. Still on my daughter.
Ham. Am not I i' th' right, old Jeptha?
Polon. If you call me Jeptha, my Lord, I have a daughter, that I love passing well.
Ham. Nay, that follows not.
Polon. What follows then, my Lord?
Ham. Why, 'As by lot, God wot:' and then you know, 'It came to passe, As most like it was.' The first row of the pious chanson will shew you more."—Act ii. sc. 2.
[A more perfect copy of this ballad was reprinted by Evans in his Collection of Old Ballads from a black-letter broadside, and is included by Child in his Collection of English and Scottish Ballads (vol. viii. p. 198).
The wording is rather different in the two versions, and Evans's has two additional stanzas. It does not appear that anything is left out at line 18 of Percy's version, but in place of the stars at line 41 Evans's copy reads—