Here's to thy health. Give him the cup.

[Trumpets sound; and Cannon shot off within. Ham. I'll play this bout first; set it by awhile3. Come. Another hit; what say you?

[They play.

He's fat, and scant of breath'.

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

Queen.

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.
Laer. And yet it is almost against my conscience.

I do not think it.

[Aside. Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes. You but dally:

I pray you, pass with your best violence.

I am afeard, you make a wanton of me.

3

Laer. Say you so? come on.

Osr. Nothing, neither way.

[They play.

set it by awhile.] The folio omits "it," and the quartos afterwards, "A touch, a touch."

He's fat, and scant of breath.] On the authority of "Wright's Historia Histrionica," 1699, it has been supposed that Taylor was the original Hamlet. This is a mistake: Wright says that "Taylor acted Hamlet incomparably well;" but he had the advantage of seeing Burbage in the part until 1619. We know, on the authority of the MS. epitaph upon Burbage, that he was celebrated for his Hamlet, and Shakespeare's words are employed, with reference to the obesity of the actor :—

"No more young Hamlet, though but scant of breath,

Shall cry revenge for his dear father's death."

These lines must have been written very soon after the decease of the subject of them, and they are decisive upon the point that Burbage was the performer who first acted the part of Hamlet. See the Introduction.

Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows :] So the quartos: the folio, defectively, "Here's a napkin rub thy brows."

6 I am AFEARD, you make a WANTON of me.] The quartos, “I am sure," &c. "Wanton" here means a feeble effeminate person.

Laer. Have at you now.

[LAERTES wounds HAMLET; then, in scuffling they change Rapiers, and HAMLET wounds LAERTES. Part them! they are incens'd.

King.

Ham. Nay, come again.

Osr.

[The Queen falls.

Look to the queen there, ho!

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

lord?

Osr. How is't, Laertes?

Laer. Why, as a woodcock to mine 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.

[Dies.

Ham. O villainy!-How? let the door be lock'd:

Treachery! seek it out.

[LAERTES falls.

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.

All. Treason! treason!

[Stabs the King.

King. O! yet defend me, friends; I am but hurt. Ham. Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned

Dane,

Drink off this potion:-is thy union here?

7 Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osrick ;] The folio omits "own." half an hour of life ;] So the folio: the quartos, "half an hour's life."

8

Follow my mother.
Laer.

[King dies.

He is justly serv'd;

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 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.

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 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
Poland,

To the ambassadors of England gives

This warlike volley.

9

and my cause aright] The folio, "and my causes right."

1 O GOD!-Horatio,] The folio, "O good Horatio!" In the next line, for "shall live behind me" of the folio, the quartos have "shall I leave behind me."

2 and SHOT within.] The folio, which only has this part of the stagedirection, reads, " and shout within ;" but the "warlike volley" afterwards mentioned would show that shout was a misprint for "shot."

Ham.

O! I die, Horatio;

The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit3:
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,
Which have solicited-The rest is silence1.

[Dies.

Hor. Now cracks a noble heart.-Good night, sweet

prince;

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

Why does the drum come hither?

[March within.

Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and Others.

Fort. Where is this sight?

Hor.

What is it ye would see?

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

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

What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,

That thou so many princes at a shot

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 th' ability of life to thank you:

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

3- quite o'ER-CROWS my spirit :] Malone states that only the quarto, 1637, reads o'er-grows for "o'er-crows ;" but the fact is, that that reading (whether it be or be not an improvement upon the word in the quarto, 1604, and in the folio, 1623) is found in the undated quarto, and in that of 1611.

4

The rest is silence.] The folio has "O! O! O! O!" after" silence."

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 cause3,
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 also cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on 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

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.—

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.

5 and FORC'D cause,] So the folio: the quartos, "and for no cause." 6 And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more:] i. e. will draw on more voices; referring to the declaration of Hamlet, "he has my dying voice."