Ham. One. Laer. No. Ham. Judgment. Osr. 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 sound. Shot goes off. Ham. I'll play this bout first, set it by a while. [They play. Come-another hit what say you? Queen. He's fat and scant of breath. King. Gertrude, do not drink. Queen. I will, my Lord; I pray you, pardon me. King. It is the poisoned cup, it is too late. [Aside. 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 con science. [Aside. Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes, you but dally; I pray you, pass with your best violence; Laer. Say you so? come on. Laer. Have at you now. [Play [Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuf fling, they change Rapiers, and Hamlet King. Part them, they are incensed. Osr. Look to the Queen there, ho! [Lord? Hor. They bleed on both sides. How is't, my Osr. How is't Laertes? Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own springe, (87) I'm justly killed with mine own treachery. King. She swoons to see them bleed. Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink- Oh my dear Hamlet, the drink, the drink,- I am poisoned [Queen dies. *Ham. Oh villany! ho! let the door be locked Treachery! seek it out Laer. It is here, Hamlet, thou art slain; (87) Vide figure 62, ante. Unbated and unvenomed: the foul practice Then venom to thy work, All. Treason, treason. [Stabs the King. King. O yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt. Ham. Here, thou incestuous, murd'rous, dam ned Dane, Drink of this potion: is the union here? Follow my mother. Laer. He is justly served. It is a poison tempered by himself. [King dies. Exchange forgiveness with me noble Hamlet; Mine and my father's death come not on thee, [Dies. Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee. I'm dead, Horatio; wretched Queen adieu ! Thou livest, report me and my cause aright Hor. Never, believe it, N2 I'm more an antique Roman than a Dane; Here's yet some liquor left. Ham. As th' art a man, Give me the cup; let go; by Heav'n I'll have't. Things standing thus unknown shall live be hind me? If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, Absent thee from felicity a while, And in the harsh world draw thy breath in pain, To tell my tale. What warlike noise is this? [March afar off, and shot within. Enter OSRIC. Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from To the embassadors of England gives This warlike volley. Ham. O, I die, Horatio: [Poland, The potent poison quite o'ergrows my spirit: On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice; So tell him, with th' occurrents more or less, Which have solicited. The rest is silence. [Dies. Hor. Now cracks a noble heart; good night, sweet Prince; And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest! Enter FORTINBRAS, and English Embassadors, with Drum, (88) Colours, and Attendants. Fort. Where is this sight? Hor. What is it you would see? If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search. Fort. This quarry cries on havoc. O proud Death! (89) What feast is toward in thy infernal cell, So bloodily hast struck? Emb. The sight is dismal, And our affairs from England come too late : Hor. Not from his mouth, (88) Fortinbras comes with a drum, because his head, viewed with the north side of the moon downwards, resembles a drum; vide his prototype and figure given ante, No. 52. (89) Proud Death. The many deaths that take place at the close of the play, intimate that all the rest of the moon goes out of view, or becomes obscured, (as implied by the expression, the sight is dismal,) except that part in which lie Horatio and Fortinbras. These two characters have both, in fact, the same prototype for their heads, and may both be seen, in her expiring crescent, |