Ham. Judgment.

Ofr. A hit, a very palpable hit.

Laer. Well

again

King. Stay, give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine, Here's to thy health. Give him the cup.

[Trumpet found, Shot goes off.

Ham. I'll play this bout firft, fet it by a while.

Come

another hit what fay you?

Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confefs.

King. Our fon fhall win.

Queen. He's fat, and fcant of breath,

[They play.

Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows,
The Queen caroufes to thy fortune, Hamlet.
Ham. Good madam

King, Gertrude, do not drink.

Queen. I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me.
King. It is the poifon'd cup, it is too late. [afide.
Ham. I dare not drink yet, madam, by and by.
Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face."
Laer. I'll hit him now.

King. I do not think't.

Laer. And yet it is almost against my conscience.

[afide Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes, you but dally, I pray you pafs with your beft violence, I am afraid you make a wanton of me.

Laer. Say you fo? come on."

Ofr. Nothing neither way...

Laer. Have at you now.

[Play.

[Laertes wounds Hamlet, then in fcuffling they change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Laertes.

King. Part them, they are incens'd.

Ham. Nay, come again

Ofr. Look to the Queen there, ho!

Hor. They bleed on both fides. How is't, my lord?.
Ofr. How is't, 'Laertes?

Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own fprindge,

Ofrick,

I'm justly kill'd with mine own treachery.
Ham. How does the Queen?

King. She fwoons to fee them bleed.
Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink
Oh my dear Hamlet, the drink, the drink,
I am poifon'd

[Queen dies. Ham. Oh villany! hoe! let the door be lock'd: Treachery feek it out

Laer. It is here. Hamlet, thou art flain, No medicine in the world can do thee good. In thee there is not half an hour of life' The treacherous inftrument is in thy hand, † Unbated and envenom'd: the foul practice Hath turn'd it felf on me. Lo, here I lye, Never to rife again; thy mother's poifon'd; I can no more the King, the King's to blame. Ham. The point envenom'd too?

Then venom to thy work.

AW. Treafon, treason.

[Stabs the King.

King. O yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt.

Ham. Here thou incestuous, murd'rous, damned Dane,

Drink off this potion: is d the onyx here?

Follow my mother.

Laer. He is justly serv'd.

It is a poifon temper'd by himfelf.

[King dies.

Exchange forgivenefs with me, noble Hamlet;
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee,
Nor thine on me!

[Dies. Ham. Heav'n make thee free of it, I follow thee.

I'm dead, Horatio; wretched Queen, adieu!
You that look pale, and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,
Had I but time, (as this fell ferjeant death
Is ftrict in his arreft) oh I could tell you
But let it be
Horatio, I am dead,
Thou liv't, report me and my caufe aright

To

It feems by this that unbated and envenomed are

two different things, therefore

be the right reading, p. 299.

embaited appears not to d the union.

To the unfatisfied,

Hor. Never believe it.

I'm more an antique Roman than a Dane ;
Here's yet fome liquor left..

Ham. As th' art a man,

Give me the cup; let go, by heav'n I'll have't.
Oh good Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things ftanding thus unknown, fhall live behind me?
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,

Absent thee from felicity a while,

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,

To tell my tale.

[March afar off, and fhout within.

What warlike noife is this?

SCENE VI.

Enter Ofrick..

Ofr. Young Fortinbras, with conqueft come from
Poland,

To the ambaffadors of England gives
This warlike volley.

Ham.. O. I die, Horatio:

The potent poifon quite o'er-grows my fpirit,
I cannot live to hear the news from England.
But I do prophefie th' election lights

On Fortinbras, he has my dying voice,

So tell him, with th' occurrents more or lefs,
Which have folicited. -

The reft is filence, [Dies Hor. Now cracks a noble heart; good-night, fweet.

prince;

And flights of angels fing thee to thy reft!

Why do's the drum come hither?

Enter Fortinbras and English Ambaffador, with drum, colours, and attendants.

Fort. Where is this fight?

Hor. What is it you would fee?

If ought of woe or wonder, cease your fearch.

014

Fort.

Fort. This quarry cries on havock. Oh proud death! What feaft is tow'rd in thine eternal cell, That thou fo many princes at a fhot

So bloodily haft ftruck?

Amb. The fight is dismal,

And our affairs from England come too late :
The ears are fenfelefs that should give us hearing;
To tell him his command'ment is fulfill'd,
That Rofincroffe and Guildenstern are dead:
Where fhould we have our thanks?

Hor. Not from his mouth,

Had it th' ability of life to thank you :
He never gave command'ment for their death.
But finçe fo full upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack wars, and you from England,
Are here arriv'd; give order that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view,
And let me fpeak to th' yet unknowing world,
How these things came about. So fhall you hear
Of cruel, bloody, and unnatural acts,

Of accidental judgments, cafual flaughters,
Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc'd cause,
And in this upfhot, purposes miftook,

Fall'n on th' inventors heads. All this can I
Truly deliver.

Fort. Let us hafte to hear it,

And call the Noblefs to the audience.

For me, with forrow, 1 embrace my fortune,
I have fome rights of memory in this kingdom,
Which now to claim, my vantage doth invite me.
Hor. Of that I fhall have alfo caufe to fpeak,
And from his mouth whofe voice will draw no more:
But let this fame be prefently perform'd,

Even while men's minds are wild, left more mischance
On plots and errors happen.

Fort. Let four captains

Bear Hamlet like a foldier f to the ftage;

In another edition infernal.

For

nobleft.

s off the stage,

For he was likely, had he been put on,

To have prov'd moft royally. And for his paffage,
The foldiers musick, and the rites of war
Speak loudly for him-

Take up the body: fuch a fight as this

Becomes the field, but here fhews much amifs.
Go, bid the foldiers fhoot.

[Exeunt marching: after which, a peal of ordnance
are shot off.

0$