Ham. O villainy !-How? Let the door be lock'd : Treachery! seek it out. [LAERTES fails Laer. It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain : No medicine in the world can do thee good, 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 lie, Never to rise again: Thy mother 's poison'd; I can no more; the king, the king 's to blame. Ham. The point

Envenom'd too!-Then, venom, to thy work.

Osr.& Lords. Treason! 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 thy union here?

Follow my mother.

Laer.

He is justly served;

It is a poison temper'd by himself.

[KING dies.

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

[Dics.

Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee. I am 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 sergeant, death, Is strict in his arrest,) O, I could tell you,But let it be :-Horatio, I am dead; Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright To the unsatisfied.

Hor.

Never believe it.
I am more an antique Roman than a Dane,
Here's yet some liquor left.

Ham.

Give me the cup; let go;

As thou 'rt a man,
by heaven I'll have it.

O, 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 awhile,

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story. [March afar off, and shot within.
What warlike noise is this?

Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from To the ambassadors of England gives

This warlike volley.

The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit;
I cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophesy the election lights

On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice;

So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,

[Poland,

Which have solicited.-The rest is silence. [Dies.
Hor. Now cracks a noble heart.
And flights of angels sing thee to thy
Why does the drum come hither?

Good night, sweet rest! [prince; [March within.

Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and

others.

What is it ye would see?

Fort, Where is this sight?

Hor.

If aught of woe, or wonder, cease your search.

Fort. This quarry cries on havoc.-O proud death!

What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,

That thou so many princes at a shoot,

So bloodily hast struck?

1 Amb.

The sight is dismal;

And our affairs from England come too late:
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing,
To tell him, his commandment is fulfill'd,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead:
Where should we have our thanks?

Hor.

Not from his mouth,

Had it the ability of life to thank you;

VOL. VII.

W

He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jump 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 speak, to the yet unknowing world,
How these things came about: so shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts;
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters;
Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc'd cause:
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook

Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I
Truly deliver.

Fort. Let us haste to hear it,

And call the noblest to the audience.

For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune;
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,
Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.
Hor. Of that I shall have always cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more:
But let this same be presently perform'd,

E'en while men's minds are wild; lest more mischance,
On plots, and errors, happen.

Fort.

Let four captains Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;

For he was likely, had he been put on,

To have prov'd most royally: and, for his passage,
The soldier's music, and the rights of war,

Speak loudly for him.

Take up the body :-Such a sight as this

Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.

Go, bid the soldiers shoot.

[A dead March

[Exeunt, marching; after which a peal of

ordnance is shot off.

End of

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

AND SUGGESTED EMENDATIONS.

VOLUME VII.

KING HENRY VIII.

Page 14 (Act I. Scene i.)

Buck. "All was royal;

To the disposing of it nought rebelled,
Order gave each thing view; the office did

Distinctly his full function. Who did guide?"

Although Mr Knight has followed the text of the folio, it may be well to mention, that in most editions the first sentence of Buckingham's speech is given to Norfolk, and with some probability. Buckingham's speech is thus made to begin with:

"Who did guide?"

Page 21 (Act I. Scene i.)

"Michael Hopkins."-So the folio. His true name was Nicholas Hopkins; and in the following scene (page 26) the editors for the most part have agreed, as here also, to give his name thus, although in the folio we find another variation -Nicholas Henton-Henton being the name of the convent to which he belonged. Mr Knight thinks that in the present

passage the author intended that Buckingham should in his precipitation blunder the man's christian name, and say: "O, Michael Hopkins?" and that in the following scene the surveyor should in his formal manner give the formal title -Nicholas Henton-or, of Henton. Without disputing the point, the defence, like some other defences which Mr Knight has advanced in favour of very dubious readings, reminds one a little of the systematic manner in which Tieck upholds all sorts of obscurities, on the plea, that in such and such passages the obscurity is intended as characteristic of the speaker. Michael looks very like a mere misprint for Nicholas.

Page 24 (Act I. Scene ii.)

"Sixth part of each?

A trembling contribution!"

"A trebling contribution," Perkins folio. Doubtful.

Page 33 (Act I. Scene iv.)

"Chambers discharged."-For the account of the burning of the Globe Theatre, the result of this discharge of guns, see the Introductory Remarks, pages 3, 4.

Page 56 (Act II. Scene iv.)

Grif. "Madam, you are called back."-In the folio, this speech is given to a "Gentleman Usher," and Griffith is not mentioned in the scene. No doubt, Griffith was gentleman usher to the queen. But if the present speech is given to him, why not also those in the commencement of the following act, when a gentleman ushers in the two cardinals?

"Culpable of our flesh."-Monck Mason and Perkins folio.

Page 107 (Act V. Scene ii.)

"In my presence,

They are too thin and

base baref

to hide offences."

Bare is the reading of Mr Dyce.