)

But since he's better'd, we have therefore odds.
Laer. This is too heavy, let me fee another.
Ham. This likes me well; these foils have all a length?
[Prepares to play.

Ofr. Ay, my good lord.

King. Set me the stoops of wine upon that table :
If Hamlet gives the first, or second, Hit,
Or quit in answer of the third exchange,
Let all the battlements their ordnance fire;
The King shall drink to Hamlet's better breath :
And in the cup an Union shall he throw, (74)
Richer than that which four successive Kings
In Denmark's Crown have worn. Give me the cups;
And let the kettle to the trumpets speak,
The trumpets to the canoneer without,NG
The cannons to the heav'ns, the heav'ns to earth :
Now the King drinks to Hamlet. - Come, begin,

And you the Judges bear a wary eye.

Ham. Come on, Sir.

Laer. Come, my lord.
Ham. Onesmohon en liệu bạn 300

Laer. Now 1

(74) And in the Cup an Onyx shall be throw,

Richer than that which four fuccessive Kings

[They play.

In Denmark's Crown have worn.] This is a various Reading in several of the old Copies; but Union seems to me to be the true word, for several reasons. The Onyx is a species of lucid Stone, of which the Antients made both Columns and Pavements for Ornament, and in which they likewise cut Seals, &c. but, if I am not mistaken, neither the Onyx, nor Sardonyx, are Jewels which ever found Place in an Imperial Crown. On the other hand, an Union is the finest fort of Pearl, and has its Place in all Crowns and Coronets. Multum enim interest utrum Unio statuatur in Cæno, an verò fitus & infertus in Corona refplendeat: says Theodoret upon St. Matthew. Besides, let us consider what the King says on Hamlet's giving Laertes the first Hit.

Stay, give me Drink: Hamlet, this Pearl is thine :
Here's to thy Health.

The Terms upon which the King was to throw a Jewel into the Cup, were, if Hamlet gave Laertes the first Hit: which Hamlet does. Therefore, if an Union be a Pearl, and an Onyx a Gemm or Stone, quite differing in its Nature from Pearls; the King saying, that Hamlet has earn'd the Pearl, I think, amounts to a Demonstration that it was an UnionPearl, which he meant to throw into the Cup.

Ham.

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.

[Trumpets føund, Shot goes off.

Ham. I'll play this bout first, set it by a while.

Come another hit what say you?

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

King. Our fon shall win.

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

[They play.

Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows;
The Queen carouses 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 poison'd cup, it is too late.

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.

[afide.

Laer. And yet it is almost against my confcience. [afide. Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes, you but dally

I pray you, pass with your best violence;

I am afraid, you make a Wanton of me.

Laer. Say you so? come on.

Ofr. Nothing neither way.

Laer. Have at you now.

[Play.

[Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling, 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 sprindge, Ofrick;

I'm justly kill'd with mine own treachery.

Ham. How does the Queen?

King. She fwoons to fee them bleed.

Queen. Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink Oh my dear Hamlet, the drink, the drink, I am poifon'd

Ham. Oh villainy! hoe! let the door be Treachery! feek it out

A9 [Queen dies. lock'd:

(75)

Laer. It is here. Hamlet, thou art flain,
No medicine in the world can do thee good. Ja
In thee there is not half an hour of life;
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated and envenom'd: the foul practice
Hath turn'd itself on me. Lo, here I lye,
Never to rise again; thy mother's poison'd;
I can no more

the King, the King's to blame.OTSH

Ham. The point envenom'd too? 25

Then venom to thy work.

All. Treason, treafon.in son ob

by [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 the Union here?

Follow my mother. posted og

(75) The treacherous Inftrument is in thy hand,

[King dies.

Unbated and envenom'd.] The King in the fourth Att, in the

Scene betwixt him and Laertes, says;

So that with ease,

Or with a little pruffling, you may chasedap nay công
A Sword unbated, and in a Pass of Practisec hinta mu
Requite him for your Father..no s

In which Passage the old Folio's read,
A Sword unbaited-

which makes Nonfence of the Place, and destroys the Poet's Meaning. Unbated fignifies, unabated, unblunted, not charg'd with a Button as Foils are. There are many Passages in our Author, where bate and abate fignify to blunt.

But doth rebate and blunt his natural Edge
With Profits of the Mind.

That Honour which shall bate his Scythe's keen Edge.

21 WOD

For from his Metal was his Party steel'd,
Which once in him abated, all the reft

Turn'd on themselves like dull and heavy Lead.

Meaf. for Meaf.

Love's Labour loft.

2 Henry IV.

Laer.

So, likewife, Ben Jonfon in his Sad Shepherd.h
As far as her proud Scorning him could bate,

Or blunt the Edge of any Lover's Temper.root de

Laer. He is justly ferved. Jonadagio wold coll It is a poison temper'd by himself. Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet; di ba Mine and my father's death come not on thee, ob dW Nor thine on me!

Ham. Heav'n make the free of it! I follow the

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 Serjeant death

Is strict in his arrest) oh I could tell you

[Dies:

But let it be Horatio, I am dead 30 sow to diguo 1

Thou liv'st, report me and my cause aright

To the unsatisfied.

Hor. Never believe it.ni

I'm more an antique Roman than a Dane Jed T

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. brA

Oh good Horatio, what a wounded name,

Things standing thus unknown, shall 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.

What warlike noise is this?

[March afar off, and shout within.

Enter Ofrick.

Ofr. Young Fortinbras, with Conquest come from Po

land,

To the Ambaffadors of England gives

This warlike volley.

Ham. O, I die, Horatio :

300

The potent poison quite o'er-grows my spirit;
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 the occurrents more or lefs,

TO

Which have follicited. The rest is filence. [Dies.

ت

NOT

Hor.

A

Hor. Now cracks a noble heart; good night, sweet

Prince;

And flights of angels sing thee to thy Reftolog
Why does the Drum come hither ?

no saidi so

Enter Fortinbras and English Ambassadors, with drum,

ab colours, and attendants.

DOY

Fort. Where is this fight?les as) chanis sud Ib
Hor. What is it you would fee?

A

If ought of woe or wonder, cease your searchi si sei sul
Fort. This quarry cries on havock. Oh proud

death! (76)

What feast is tow'rd in thy infernal cell,
That thou so many Princes at a shot mpions asjarom
So bloodily hast struck? atel nompilemot toy eareH
Amb. The fight is dismal, an opanjaan m
And our affairs from England come too late:sampylo
The ears are senseless, that should give us hearing; do
To tell him, his command'ment is fulfill'dзиви едавал
That Rofincrantz and Guildenstern are dead: Bib noml

Where should 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. (77) W
But fince so full upon this bloody question,

(76) Ob, proud Death!

What Feast is tow'rd in thy eternal Cell,] This Epithet, I think, has no great Propriety here. I have chose the Reading of the old Quarto Editions, infernal. This communicates an Image suitable to the Circumftance of the Havock, which Fortinbras looks on and would represent in a light of Horror. Upon the Sight of so many dead Bodies, he exclaims against Death as an execrable, riotous, Destroyer; and as preparing to make a savage, and bellish Feast.

(77) He never gave Commandment for their Death.] We must either believe, the Poet had forgot himself with Regard to the Circumstance of Rofincrantz and Guildenstern's Death; or we must understand him thus; that he no otherways gave a Command for their Deaths, than in putting a Change upon the Tenour of the King's Commiffion, and warding off the fatal Sentence from his own Head.

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