King. Stay, give me drink: Hamlet, 141 this pearl is thine; 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 a while. Come. Another hit; What say you? Luer. A touch, a touch, I do confess. King. Our son shall win. Queen. [They play. He's fat, and scant of breath. Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows: 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. I do not think it, Laer. My lord, I'll hit him now. [Aside. Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes: You do but dally; I pray you, pass I am afeard, you make a wanton of me. Laer. Say you so? come on. Osr. Nothing neither way. Laer. Have at you now. [They play. [Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling, they change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Laertes. Hor. They bleed on both sides:-How is it, my lord? Osr. How is't, Laertes ? 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! Ham. O villainy !-Ho! let the door be lock'd: Treachery! seek it out. [Dies. [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, Never to rise again: Thy mother's poison'd; Envenom'd too!-Then, venom, to thy work. Osr. and Lords. Treason! treason! [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. [King dies. He is justly serv'd; It is a poison temper'd by himself. Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet: [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, 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 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. Ham. O, I die, Horatio; The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit; On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice; 142 So tell him, with the occurrents more and less, [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 FORTIN BRAS, the English Ambassadors, and Others. Fort. Where is this sight? Hor. What is it, you would see? search. Fort. 143 This quarry cries on havock!-O proud death! 144 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: That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead: Where should we have our thanks? Hor. Not from his mouth, Had it the ability of life to thank you; Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I Fort. Let us haste to hear it, And call the noblest to the audience. For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune; |