Ham. In happy time.

Lord. The queen desires you to use some gentle entertainment to Laertes, before you fall to play. Ham. She well instructs me. [Exit Lord. 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 wouldst 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 gain-giving, 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. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all: Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows, what is't to leave betimes? Let be.

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

[The KING puts the Hand of LAERTES into that of HAMLET.

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

But pardon it, as you are a gentleman.
This presences knows, and you must needs have
heard,

How I am punish'd with a sore distraction.
What I have done,

That might your nature, honor, and exception,
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was't Hamlet wronged Laertes? Never Hamlet;
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away,
And, when he's not himself, does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.
Who does it, then? His madness: If't be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
Sir, in this audience,

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: but in my terms of honor

I stand aloof; and will no reconcilement,
Till by some elder masters of known honor,

I have a voice and precedent of peace,

To keep my name ungor'd:9 But till that time,
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; come on.

Come, one for me.

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

rance

Your skill shall, like a star i' the darkest night,
Stick fiery off indeed.
Laer.

You mock me, sir.

Ham. No, by this hand. King. Give them the foils, young Osric.-Cousin Hamlet, You know the wager? Hant 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? [They prepare to play.

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 an union shall he throw,

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 it

Laer. 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 wanton3 of me.
Laer. Say you so? come on.
Osr. Nothing neither way.

Laer. Have at you now.

[They play.

[Dies.

The drink, the drink;-I am poison'd!
Ham. O villany!-Ho! 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'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 fie,
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.
[Stabs the KING.

Osr.& Lords. Treason! treason!
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.

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.

Never believe it;

Hor.
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.

[March ofar 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.

Ham.

O, I die, Horatio;

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 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!
Why does the drum come hither? [March within.
Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors,
and others.

Fort. Where is this sight?
Hor.

What is it you would see? If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search. Fort. This quarry9 cries on havoc!-O proud death!

A sergeant is a sheriff's officer.

■ Incited.

Occurrences.

Heap of dead game.

A word of censure when more game was destroyed

than was reasonable.

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?
Not from his mouth,

Hor.
Had it the ability of life to thank you;
He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jump2 upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack3 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 come about: So shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts;

Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters;
Of deaths put on by cunning, and forced 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 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 mis-
chance,

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 rites of war,
Speak loudly for him.-

Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. Take up the bodies:-Such a sight as this Go, bid the soldiers shoot. [A Dead March. [Exeunt, bearing off the dead Bodies; after which, a Peal of Ordnance is shot off. Polish.

So exactly at the time.

SCENE I-Venice. A Street.

Enter RODERIGO and IAGO.

lago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city,

In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Oft capp'd' to him;-and, by the faith of man,

know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance,2
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion, nonsuits

My mediators; for certes,3 says he,
I have already chose my officer.

And what was he?

Forsooth, a great arithmetician,

One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,

A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife;
That never set a squadron in the field,
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 debitor and creditor, this counter-caster;4
He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,
And I, (God bless the mark!) his Moorship's an-

We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For naught but provender; and, when he's old,
cashier'd;

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 lined
their coats,

Do themselves homage: these fellows have some soul;

And such a one do I profess myself.
For, sir,

It is as sure as you are Roderigo,

Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:

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 owc,6
If he can carry't thus!
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 color.

Rod. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud.
Iago. Do; with like timorous accent, and dire yell,
As when, by night and negligence, the fire
Is spied in populous cities.

Rod. What ho! Brabantio! signior Brabantio, ho! Iago. Awake! what ho! Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves!

Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags! Thieves! thieves!

BRABANTIO, above, at a Window.

What is the matter there?

Bra. What is the reason of this terrible summons?

Rod. Signior, all your family within?
Iago. Are your doors lock'd?

Bra.

Why? wherefore ask you this? Iago. Zounds, sir, you are robb'd; for shame, put

Own, possess.

But thou must needs be sure, My spirit, and my place, have in them power To make this bitter to thee.

Patience, good sir.

Rod.
Bra. What tell'st thou me of robbing? this is
Venice!

My house is not a grange.
Rod.
Most grave Brabantio,
In simple and pure soul I come to you.
Iago. Zounds, 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:
You'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary
horse; you'll have your nephews neigh to you;
you'll have coursers for cousins, and gennets for
germans.

Bra. What profane 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.

You are a senator.

Bra. Thou art a villain.
Iago.
Bra. This thou shalt answer: I know thee, Ro-
derigo.

Rod. Sir, I will answer any thing. But I beseech you,

If't be your pleasure, and most wise consent,
(As partly, I find, it is,) that your fair daughter,
At this odd-even and dull watch o' the night,
Transported-with no worse nor better guard,
But with a knave of common hire, a gondolier-
To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor,-
If this be known to you, and your allowance,1
We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs;
But, if you know not this, my manners tell me,
We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe,
That, from the sense of all civility,

I thus would play and trifle with your reverence:
Your daughter,--if you have not given her leave,—
I say again, hath made a gross revolt;
Tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes,
In an extravagant2 and wheeling stranger,
Of here and everywhere: Straight satisfy

self:

If she be in her chamber, or your house,
Let loose on me the justice of the state
For thus deluding you.
Bra.

Enter below, BRABANTIO, and Servants with
Torches.

Bra. It is too true an evil: gone she is;
And what's to come of my despised time,3
Is naught but bitterness. Now, Roderigo,
With the Moor, say'st thou ?-Who would be a
Where didst thou see her?-0, unhappy girl!-
father?-

me

How didst thou know 'twas she?-O, thou deceiv'st Past thought!-What said she to you?-Get more tapers:

Raise all my kindred.—Are they married, think you? Rod. Truly, I think, they are.

Bra. O heaven!-how got she out?-0 reason of the blood!

Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters' minds
By what you see them act.-Are there not charms,
By which the property of youth and maidhood
May be abus'd? Have you not read, Roderigo,
Of some such thing?

Rod.

Yes, sir; I have indeed. Bra. Call up my brother.-O, that you had had her!

Some one way, some another.-Do you know where we may apprehend her and the Moor?

Rod. I think, I can discover him: if you please To get good guard, and go along with me. I may command at most;-Get weapons, ho! Bra. Pray you, lead on. At every house I'll call; On, good Roderigo:-I'll deserve your pains. And raise some special officers of night.

SCENE II.-Another Street.

[Exeunt.

Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Attendants. Iago. Though in the trade of war I have slain

men,

Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience,
Sometimes, to do me service: Nine or ten times
To do no contriv'd murder; I lack iniquity
I had thought to have yerk'd him here under the
ribs.

Oth. 'Tis better as it is.
Iago.

Nay, but he prated, And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms Against your honor,

That with the little godliness I have,

I did full hard forbear him. But, I pray, sir,
Are you fast married? for, be sure of this,-
That the magnifico is much belov'd;
And hath, in his effect, a voice potential
As double as the duke's; he will divorce you;
Or put upon you what restraint and grievance
The law (with all his might, to enforce it on)
Will give him cable.

Oth.

Let him do his spite:

Strike on the tinder, ho!
Give me a taper;-call up all my people:-
This accident is not unlike my dream;
Belief of it oppresses me already :-
Light, I say! light!
[Exit from above.
Iago.
Farewell; for I must leave you:
It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my place,
To be produced (as, if I stay, I shall)

Against the Moor: For, I do know, the state,-
However this may gall him with some check,—
Cannot with safety cast him; for he's embark'd
With such loud reason to the Cyprus' wars,
(Which even now stand in act,) that, for their

souls,

For the sea's worth. But, look! what lights come yonder?

Enter CASSIO, at a distance, and certain Officers with Torches.

Iago. These are the raised father, and his friends: You were best go in.

Oth.
Not I: I must be found;
My parts, my title, and my perfect soul,
Shall manifest me rightly. Is it they?
Iago. By Janus, I think no.

Oth. The servants of the duke, and my lieutenant. The goodness of the night upon you, friends! What is the news?

Cas. The duke does greet you, general; And he requires your haste-post-haste appearance, Even on the instant.

Oth.
What is the matter, think you?
Cus. Something from Cyprus, as I may divine;
It is a business of some heat: the galleys

Old age. Brabantio. Magnifico is his title as senator.
Seat or throne.

• Demerits has the same meaning in Shakspeare as merits.

Good signior, you shall more command with years, Than with your weapons.

Bra. O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my daughter?

Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her:
For I'll refer me to all things of sense,
If she in chains of magic were not bound,
Whether a maid-so tender, fair, and happy;
So opposite to marriage, that she shunn'd'
The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,
Would ever have, to incur a general mock,
Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom
Of such a thing as thou: to fear, not to delight.
Judge me the world, if 'tis not gross in sense,
That thou hast practis'd on her with foul charms:
Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs, or minerals
That waken motion--I'll have it disputed on;
'Tis probable, and palpable to thinking.
I therefore apprehend and do attach thee,
For an abuser of the world, a practiser
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant:-
Lay hold upon him; if he do resist,
Subdue him at his peril.

Oth.

Hold your hands,

Both you of my inclining, and the rest:
Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it
Without a prompter.-Where will you that I go
To answer this your charge?

Bra.

To prison: till fit time Of law, and course of direct session, Call thee to answer.

Oth.

What if I do obey?

How may the duke be therewith satisfied;
Whose messengers are here about my side,
Upon some present business of the state,
To bring me to him?
off .
'Tis true, most worthy signior,
The duke's in council; and your noble self,
I am sure, is sent for.
Bra.
How! the duke in council
In this time of the night!-Bring him away;
Mine's not an idle cause: the duke himself,
Or any of my brothers of the state,
Cannot but feel this wrong, as 'twere their own:
For if such actions may have passage free,
Bond-slaves, and pagans, shall our statesmen be.
[Exeunt.

SCENE III-A Council Chamber. The DUKE and Senators, sitting at a Table; Officers attending. Duke. There is no compositions in these news, That gives them credit. 1 Sen. Indeed, they are disproportion'd; My letters say, a hundred and seven galleys. ⚫ Consistency.

A rich vessel.

Duke. And mine, a hundred and forty. 2 Sen. And mine, two hundred: But though they jump not on a just account, (As in these cases, where the ain9 reports, "Tis oft with difference,) yet do they all confirm A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus.

Duke. Nay, it is possible enough to judgment;
I do not so secure ine in the error,
But the main article I do approve
In fearful sense.

Sailor. [Within.] What ho! what ho! what ho!
Enter an Officer, with a Sailor.
Off. A messenger from the galleys.
Duke.
Now? the business?
Sailor. The Turkish preparation makes for

Rhodes:

So was I bid report here to the state, By signior Angelo.

Duke. How say you by this change? 1 Sen.

This cannot be,

By no assay of reason; 'tis a pageant,
To keep us in false gaze: When we consider
The importancy of Cyprus to the Turk;
And let ourselves again but understand,
That, as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes,
So may he with more facile question' bear it,
For that it stands not in such warlike brace,2
But altogether lacks the abilities

That Rhodes is dress'd in:-if we make thought of this,

We must not think, the Turk is so unskilful,
To leave that latest which concerns him first;
Neglecting an attempt of ease and gain,

To wake and wage3 a danger profitless.
Duke. Nay, in all confidence, he's not for Rhodes.
Off. Here is more news.