What I have done,

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 his audience 41,

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,

my brother.

And hurt
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'd42: 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.

41 This line is not in the quarto.

42 i. e. unwounded. This is a piece of satire on fantastical honour. Though nature is satisfied, yet he will ask advice of older men of the sword, whether artificial honour ought to be contented with Hamlet's apology.

VOL. X.

H H

Laer.

You mock me, sir.

Ham. No, by this hand.

King. Give them the foils, young Osric.-Cousin Hamlet,

You know the wager?

Ham.
Very well, my lord;
Your grace
hath laid the odds 43 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?

Osr. Ay, my good lord.
King. Set me the stoups

table:

[They prepare to play.

44

of wine upon that

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 45 shall he throw,

43 The king had wagered six Barbary horses to a few rapiers, poniards, &c.; that is, about twenty to one. These are the odds here meant. The odds the King means in the next speech were twelve to nine in favour of Hamlet, by Laertes giving him three.

44 Stoup is a common word in Scotland at this day, and denotes a pewter vessel resembling our wine measures; but of no determinate quantity; for there are gallon-stoups, pint-stoups, mutchkin-stoups, &c. The vessel in which water is fetched or kept is also called a water-stoup. A stoup of wine is therefore equivalent to a pitcher of wine.

45 An union is a precious pearl, remarkable for its size. And hereupon it is that our dainties and delicates here at Rome, &c. call them unions, as a man would say singular, and by themselves alone.' To swallow a pearl in a draught seems to have been common to royal and mercantile prodigality. Thus in the second part of 'If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody :

'Here sixteen thousand pound at one clap goes

Instead of sugar. Gresham drinks this pearl
Unto the queen his mistress.'

According to Rondeletus pearls were supposed to have an exhilarating quality. 'Uniones quæ a conchis, &c. valde cordiale

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 heaven to earth, Now the king drinks to Hamlet.-Come, begin;And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.

Ham. Come on, sir.

King. Stay, give me drink: Hamlet, this pearl

is thine;

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

[Trumpets sound; and Cannons shot off within. Ham. I'll play this bout first, set it by awhile. Come.-Another hit; What say you? [They play. Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess.

King. Our son shall win.

Queen.

He's fat, and scant of breath.

Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows:
The queen carouses 46 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.

sunt.' Under pretence of throwing a pearl into the cup, the King may be supposed to drop some poisonous drug into the wine. Hamlet subsequently asks him tauntingly, 'Is the union here?'

46 i. e. the queen drinks to thy good success.

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 wanton

Laer. Say you so? come on.

Osr. Nothing neither way.

Laer. Have at you now.

47. of me.

[They play.

[LAERTES wounds HAMLET; then, in scuffling, they change Rapiers, and HAMLET wounds LAERTES.

King.

Part them, they are incens❜d.

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,

Osric;

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!

[Dies.

The drink, the drink;-I am poison'd!

Ham. O villany!-Ho! let the door be lock❜d: [LAERTES falls. Laer. It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain;

Treachery! seek it out.

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,

47 i. e. you trifle or play with me as if I were a child.

Unbated 48, 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 49.
[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 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: 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 50, death, Is strict in his arrest), O, I could tell you,But let it be:-Horatio, I am dead;

48 See note on Act iv. Sc. 7.

49 In the quarto of 1603 :-

'The poison'd instrument within my hand? Then venom to thy venom; die, damn'd villain: Come drink, here lies thy union here.'

50 A sergeant was a bailiff or sheriff's officer. his 74th Sonnet, has likened death to an arrest:

when that fell arrest,

Without all bail shall carry me away.'

And Joshua Silvester, in his Dubartas:

[King dies. Shakspeare, in

And death, sergeant of the eternal Judge,
Comes very late,' &c.