Osr. I commend my duty to your lordship.

[Exit OSRICK.

Hor. You will lose this wager, my lord.

Ham. I do not think so; since he went into France, I have been in continual practice; I shall win at the odds. But thou would'st not think how ill all's here about my heart: but it is no matter.

Hor. Nay, good my lord

Ham. It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gaingiving, as would, perhaps, trouble a woman.

Hor. If your mind dislike any thing, obey it: I will forestall their repair hither, and say, you are not fit.

Ham. Not a whit, we defy augury; there is a special Providence in the fall of a sparrow.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

The Court of Denmark.

Flourish of Trumpets and Drums.

KING and QUEEN, seated,-LAERTES, OSRICK, MARCELLUS, BERNARDO, FRANCISCO, GENTLEMEN, and LADIES, discovered.

Enter HAMLET and HoRatio.

King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.

Ham. Give me your pardon, sir: I have done you

wrong:

But, pardon it, as you are a gentleman.

Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil,

Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot my arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my brother.

Laer. I am satisfied in nature,

Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most

To my revenge:

I do receive your offer'd love like love,

And will not wrong it.

Ham. I embrace it freely;

And will this brother's wager frankly play.—
Give us the foils.

Laer. Come, one for me.

Ham. I'll be your foil, Laertes; in mine igno

rance

Your skill shall, like a star i̇'the darkest night,

Stick fiery off indeed.

Laer. You mock me, sir.

Ham. No, by this hand.

King. Give them the foils, young Osrick.[OSRICK gives the Foils to HAMLET and LAERTES.

Cousin Hamlet,

You know the wager?

Ham. Very well, my

lord:

Your grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker side.
King. I do not fear it; I have seen you both :-
But since he's better'd; we have therefore odds.
Laer. This is too heavy, let me see another.

Ham. This likes me well :-These foils have all a length?

Osr. Ay, my good lord.

King. Set me the stoups of wine upon that table:

If Hamlet give 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 a union shall he throw,
Richer than that which four successive kings
In Denmark's crown have worn:

cups;

And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,
The trumpet to the cannoneer without,

Give me the

The cannons to the Heavens, the Heavens to earth, Now the King drinks to Hamlet.

[He drinks. [Drums and Trumpets sound,-Cannons shot off within.

Come begin;

And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.

Ham. Come on, sir.

Laer. Come, my lord. They play.

Ham. One.

Laer. No.

Ham. Judgment.

Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit.

[Drums and Trumpets,-Cannon.

Laer. Well, again,

King. Stay; give me the drink :—Hamlet, this pearl is thine;- [Puts Poison into the Cup. [He pretends to drink. [Gives the Cup to FRANCISCO.

Here's to thy health.

Give him the cup.

Ham. I'll play this bout first; set it by a while. Come.- [They play.] Another hit: What say you? Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess.

King. Our son shall win.

[Talks to MARcellus.

Queen. The queen carouses to thy fortune, Ham

let.

Ham. Good madam,

[The QUEEN drinks.

[Drums and Trumpets,-Cannon.

King. Gertrude, do not drink.

Queen. I have, my lord, I pray you, pardon me. King. It is the poison'd cup; it is too late. [Aside.

Laer. I'll hit him now:

And yet it is almost against my conscience.

[Aside.

Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes:-You do but

dally;

I pray you, pass with your best violence;

I am afeard, you make a wanton of me.
Laer. Say you so ? come on.

[They play.-LAERTES wounds HAMLET: then,
in scuffling, they change Foils.

King. Part them, they are incens'd.

Ham. Nay, come again.

[HAMLET wounds LAERTES, who falls.

Queen. 0, 0, 0!

Osr. Look to the queen there, ho!

Hor. How is it, my

lord?

Osr. How is't, Laertes ?

[She swoons.

Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own springe, Osrick;

I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery.

Ham. How does the queen?

King. She swoons to see them bleed.

Queen. No, no; the drink, the drink, O, my dear
Hamlet!

The drink, the drink,-I am poison'd.

[She dies.

Ham. O villainy!-Ho! let the door be lock'd : Treachery! seek it out.

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's 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!

I

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

Follow my mother.—

[Stabs the KING, who dies.

Laer. He is justly serv'd.—
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee;
Nor thine on me!-

[He dies.
Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.-
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,—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't;

[Takes the Cup from FRANCISCO.

I am more an antique Roman than a Dane,

Here's yet some liquor left.

Ham. As thou'rt a man,

[Snatches the Cup.

Give me the cup; let go; 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 a while,

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.-O, I die, Horatio!-

The potent poison quite o'ergrows my spirit :

The rest is silence.

Hor. Now cracks a noble heart:

sweet prince;

[He dies.

-Good night,

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

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.

Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;

For he was likely, had he been put on,