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15

Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess.
King. Our son shall win.

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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 :

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

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. [Aside.
Ham. I dare not drink yet, madam; by-and-by.
Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face.
Laer. My lord, I'll hit him now.

King. I do not think 't.

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King. Part them, they are incens'd.

But since he's better'd, we have therefore odds. 40 Ham. Nay, come again.

Laer. This is too heavy, let me see another.
Ham. This likes me well: these foils have all a

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Osr. Look to the queen there, ho!

[The Queen falls.

Hor. They bleed on both sides:- -How is it, my lord?

OST. How is 't, Laertes?

[Osrick

Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own springe,
am justly kill'd with mine own treachery.
Ham. How does the queen?

dear Hamlet!

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

If Hamlet give the first, or second hit,
Or quit in answer of the third exchange,
Let all the battlements their ord'nance fire;
The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath;
And in the cup an union shall he throw,
Richer than that which four successive kings
In Denmark's crown have worn: Give me the
And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,
The trumpet to the cannoneer without,
The cannons to the heavens, the heavens to earth,
Now the King drinks to Hamlet.-Come, begin;
And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.
Ham. Come on, sir.

King. She swoons to see them bleed.

50

Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink,—O my

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[The Queen dies!
Ham. Ovillainy! Ho! let the door be lock'd:
Treachery! seek it out.
[slain;

Laer. It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art
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,

2 An union is the finest sort of pearl, and has its place in alt 3 Under pretence of throwing a pearl into the cup, the king may be sup posed to drop some poisonous drug into the wine. Hamlet seems to suspect this, when he afterward: discovers the effects of the poison, and tauntingly asks him,-Is the union here? A wanton was a man feeble and effeminate.

Unbated

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[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.

Laer. He is justly serv'd;

[King dies.

It is a poison temper'd by himself.—
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee;
Nor thine on me!

[Dies.

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 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 it;

I am more an antique Roman than a Dane,
Here's yet some liquor left.

Ham. As thou 'rt a man,

Give me the cup; let go; by heaven, I'll have it.
O God!-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.

Enter Fortinbras, the English Embassadors, and others.

For. Where is this sight?

Hor. What is it, you would see?

5 If aught of woe, or wonder, cease your search.
Fort. This quarry cries on havock !-O proud
death!

What feast is toward in thine infernal cell,
That thou so many princes, at a shot,
10 So bloodily hast struck?

Emb. 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,
15 That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead:
Where should we have our thanks?

Hor. Not from his 3 mouth,
Had it the ability of life to thank you;

He never gave commandment for their death.
20 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,
25 How these things came about: So shall you hear
Of cruel, bloody, and unnatural acts;

Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters;
Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc'd cause;
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook

30 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;
35 I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,
Which now to claim, my vantage doth invite me.
Hor. Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on

[March afar off, and shout within. 40 What warlike noise is this?

Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come
from Poland,

To the embassadors of England gives
This warlike volley.

Ham. O, I die, Horatio;

The potent poison quite o'er-grows 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 or less,
Which have solicited,- -The rest is silence.

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more:

But let this same be presently perform'd,
Even while men's minds are wild; lest more
mischance

On plots, and errors, happen.

Fort. Let four captains

45 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 soldiers' music, and the rites of war,
Speak loudly for him.-

50 Take up the bodies:- -Such a sight as this

1551

Becomes the field, but here shews much amiss.
Go, bid the soldiers shoot.

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

1 i. e. incidents.-The word is now disused. the king's.

3 X

2 Solicited, for brought on the event.

3i. e.

OTHELLO.

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Officers, Gentlemen, Messengers, Musicians, Sailors, and Attendants.

SCENE, for the first Act, in Venice; during the rest of the Play, in Cyprus.

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That thou, lago,-who hast had my purse,

Evades them, with a bombast circumstance,
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;

And, in conclusion,

Non-suits my mediators; for, certes 2, says he,

5 I have already chosen my officer.
And what was he?

Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife';

As if the strings were thine, should'st know of 10 That never set a squadron in the field,

this.

Iago. But you'll not hear me :

If ever I did dream of such a matter, abhor me.
Rod. Thou told'st me, thou didst hold him in
thy hate.
[of the city, 15
Iago. Despise me if I do not. Three great ones
In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Oft capp'd to him; and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,

Nor the division of a battle knows

More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric",
Wherein the toged consuls' can propose

As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practice,
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election:
And I,-of whom his eyes had seen the proof,
At Rhodes, at Cyprus; and on other grounds
Christian and heathen,must be be-lee'd and calm'd
By debtor and creditor, this counter-caster';
120 He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,

2

3 On

The story is taken from Cynthio's Novels. i. e. certainly, in truth. Obsolete. these lines Dr. Johnson observes, "This is one of the passages which must for the present be resigned to corruption and obscurity. I have nothing that I can, with any approach to confidence, propose." Mr. Tyrwhitt ingeniously proposes to read, "damn'd in a fair life;" and is of opinion, that "Shakspeare alludes to the judgement denounced in the Gospel against those of whom all men speak well.” He adds, that "the character of Cassio is certainly such, as would be very likely to draw upon him all the peril of this denunciation, literally understood. Well-bred, easy, sociable, good-natured; with abilities enough to make him agreeable and useful, but not sufficient to excite the envy of his equals, or to alarm the jealousy of his superiors. It may be observed too, that Shakspeare has thought it proper to make lago, in several other passages, bear his testimony to the amiable qualities of his rival." Theoric, for theory. Consuls, for counsellors. It was anciently the practice to reckon up suns with counters.

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[Is spy'd in populous cities.

Rod. What ho! Brabantio! signior Brabantis,

ho! [thieves! Jago. Awake! what, ho! Brabantio! thieves! Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags! Thieves! thieves!

Brabantio, above, at a window.

Bra. What is the reason of this terrible sumWhat is the matter there? [mons?

Rod. Signior, is all your family within?

Iago. Are your doors lock'd?"

Bra. Why? wherefore ask you this?

Iago. Sir, you are robb'd; for shame, put on

your gown;

15 Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul
Even now, very now, an old black ram

Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise;
Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you:
20 Arise, I say.

Whip me such honest knaves: Others there are,
Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves;
And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,
Do well thrive by them, and, when they have 25
lin'd their coats,

[soul;

Do themselves homage; these fellows have some
And such a one I do profess myself.
For, sir,

It is as sure as you are Roderigo,

Bra. What, have you lost your wits?
Rod. Most reverend signior, do
voice?

Bra. Not I; What are you?
Rod. My name is-Roderigo.
Bra. The worse welcome:

you

know my

I have charg'd thee, not to haunt about my doors:
In honest plainness thou hast heard me say,
My daughter is not for thee: and now, in madness,
30 Being full of supper, and distempering draughts,
Upon malicious bravery, dost thou come
To start my quiet.

Rod. Sir, sir, sir,

Bra. But thou must needs be sure,

35 My spirit, and my place, have in them power To make this bitter to thee.

Were I the Moor, I would not be lago:
In following him, I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end:
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.
Rod. What a full fortune does the thick-lips 40
If he can carry 't thus!
[owe,

Iago. Call up her father,

Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight,
Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen,
And, though he in a fertile climate dwell,
Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy,
Yet throw such changes of vexation on 't,
As it may lose some colour.

Rod. Patience, good sir.

[Venice;

Bra. What tell'st thou me of robbing this is My house is not a grange'.

Rod. Most grave. Brabantio,

In simple and pure soul I come to you.

Jago. Sir, you are one of those, that will not serve God, if the devil bid you. Because we come to do you service, you think we are ruffians. 45You'll have your daughter cover'd with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews' neigh to you: you'll have coursers for cousins, and gennets for germans.

Rod. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud. Jago. Do; with light timorous accent, and dire 50 yell,

As when, by night and negligence, the fire

Bra. What profane 10 wretch art thou?

Iago. I am one, sir, that comes to tell you, your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two " backs.

compare person to person, use this exclamation. The meaning is, Do I stund within any such 4 Knave is here

Full fortune may mean a complete piece ''That is,

It has been observed, that the Scots, when they 2 i. e. by recommendation from powerful friends. terms of propinquity or relation to the Moor, as that it is my duty to love him? used for servant, but with a mixture of sly contempt. of good fortune. To owe is in ancient language, to own, to possess. • i. e. broken. "You are in a populous city, not in a lone house, where a robbery might easily be committed." Grange is strictly and properly the farm of a monastery, where the religious reposited their corn. But in Lincolnshire, and in other northern counties, they call every lone house, or farm which stands solitary, a grunge. Nephew, in this instance, has the power of the Latin word nepos, and signifies a grandson, or any lineal descendant, however remote. A jennet is a Spanish horse. 10 That is, what wretch of gross and licentious language? "This is an ancient proverbial expression in the French language, whence Shakspeare probably borrowed it.

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