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assigns, as girdle, hangers, and so. Three of the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy, very responsive to the hilts, most delicate carriages, and of very liberal conceit.

Ham. What call you the carriages?

Hor. I knew, you must be edified by the margin, ere you had done'.

Osr. The carriages, sir, are the hangers.

Ham. The phrase would be more german to the matter, if we could carry a cannon by our sides: I would, it might be hangers till then. But, on six Barbary horses against six French swords, their assigns, and three liberal-conceited carriages; that's the French bet against the Danish. Why is this imponed, as you call its?

Osr. The king, sir, hath laid, sir, that in a dozen passes between yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits: he hath laid, on twelve for nine; and that would come to immediate trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe the answer.

Ham. How, if I answer, no?

Osr. I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in trial.

Ham. Sir, I will walk here in the hall: if it please his majesty, it is the breathing time of day with me, let the foils be brought, the gentleman willing, and the king hold his purpose, I will win for him, if I can; if not, I will gain nothing but my shame, and the odd hits. Osr. Shall I deliver you so"?

Ham. To this effect, sir; after what flourish your nature will.

Osr. I commend my duty to your lordship.

[Exit.

―ere you had done.] Horatio (whose interruption is not in the folio) refers to the explanatory comment upon the body of a work, sometimes inserted in the margin of the page.

8 Why is this IMPONED, as you call it ?] The quartos omit "imponed," and other trifling variations hardly require notice: thus the folio has " French but" for "French bet."

• Shall I deliver you so ?] The folio has, "Shall I re-deliver you e'en so?"

Ham. Yours, yours. He does well to commend it himself; there are no tongues else for's turn 1o.

Hor. This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.

Ham. He did comply with his dug before he sucked it'. Thus has he (and many more of the same breed', that, I know, the drossy age dotes on) only got the tune of the time, and outward habit of encounter, a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions3; and do but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out.

Enter a Lord1.

Lord. My lord, his majesty commended him to you by young Osrick, who brings back to him, that you attend him in the hall: he sends to know, if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that you will take longer time.

Ham. I am constant to my purposes; they follow the king's pleasure: if his fitness speaks, mine is ready; now, or whensoever, provided I be so able as now.

Lord. The king, and queen, and all are coming down.

Ham. In happy time.

Lord. The queen desires you to use some gentle entertainment to Laertes, before you fall to play.

10 - no tongues else for's TURN.] The folio repeats tongue instead of "turn,” as it stands in the quartos.

He did COMPLY with his dug, before he sucked it.] Horatio, by the simile of the lapwing, calls Osrick a forward fellow, and Hamlet follows it up by saying that he was so forward and conceited, that he complimented with his dug before he sucked it. Many authorities might be produced to show that to "comply" was to compliment.

2 and MANY more of the same BREED,] The folio reads, "and mine more of the same beary:" bery might be right, but mine must be wrong.

3 - the most FOND and WINNOWED opinions ;] The quarto, 1604, has "the most prophane and trennowed opinions," and trennowed was altered in later quartos to trennowned, which affords no better sense. Our reading is that of the folio. The quarto has some other minor corruptions.

Enter a Lord.] From the entrance of this lord, to his exit, the text is only to be found in the quartos. It is to be traced in the quarto, 1603.

Ham. She well instructs me.

Hor. You will lose this wager, my lord.

[Exit Lord.

Ham. I do not think so: since he went into France, I have been in continual practice; I shall win at the odds. Thou would'st 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 gaingiving, 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".

Enter King, Queen, LAERTES, Lords, OSRICK, and
Attendants with Foils, &c.

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've done you

wrong;

But pardon't, as you are a gentleman.

This presence knows,

And you must needs have heard, how I am punish'd
With sore distraction.

What I have done,

5 You will lose this wager,] The words "this wager" are from the folio. 6 - such a kind of gain-giving,] i. e. mis-giving, against-giving. The quartos have gam-giving and game-giving, but none of them have “gain-giving" of the folio. In the next line, for "obey it," the folio has merely "obey." No old copy is at all well printed in this scene.

7 Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows, what is't to leave betimes? Let be.] We have preferred here the reading of the quarto, 1604, which Warburton adopted: the folio has, "Since no man has aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes ?" omitting "Let be."

That might your nature, honour, and exception,
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was't Hamlet wrong'd 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 audiences,

Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil

Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot mine 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 honour,
I stand aloof, and will no reconcilement,
Till by some elder masters, of known honour,
I have a voice and precedent of peace,

To keep my name ungor'd. 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'.

Laer.

Come; one for me.

Ham. I'll be your foil, Laertes: in mine ignorance Your skill shall, like a star i̇'the darkest night,

Stick fiery off indeed.

Laer.

You mock me, sir.

Ham. No, by this hand.

8 Sir, in this audience,] This hemistich is not in any of the quartos.

9 And hurt my brother.] The folio misprints " brother" mother. In the next speech of Laertes it reads ungorg'd for “ungor'd.” Modern editors pass over these variations as if the defects did not exist in the folio. Such errors, however, detect themselves.

1 Give us the foils; come on.] The quartos have not

come on."

King. Give them the foils, young Osrick.-Cousin

Hamlet,

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;
But since he is 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
[They prepare to play.

length?

Osr. Ay, my good lord.

King. Set me the stoops 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 throw2,
Richer than that which four successive kings
In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups;
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.

[blocks in formation]

King. Stay; give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is

Well:-again.

thine;

2 And in the cup an UNION shall he throw ;] So the folio, rightly, an union being the most valuable kind of pearl. The quarto, 1604, has unice, the undated quarto Onix, and so it continued to be printed in the quarto, 1637.

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