Lord. My lord, his Majefty commended him to you by young Ofrick, who brings back to him, that you attend him in the Hall; he fends to know if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that you will take longer time?

Ham. I am conftant to my purposes, they follow the King's pleafure; if his fitnefs fpeaks, mine is ready, now, or whenfoever, provided I be fo able as now.

Lord. The King, and Queen, and all are coming down. Ham. In happy time.

Lord. The Queen defires you to ufe fome gentle entertaintment to Laertes, before you fall to play.

Ham. She well inftructs me.

Hor. You will lofe this wager, my lord.

[Exit Lord.

Ham. I do not think fo; fince he went into France, I have been in continual practice; I fhall 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 fuch a kind of gaingiving as would, perhaps, trouble a woman.

Hor. If your mind diflike any thing, obey it. I will foreftal their repair hither, and fay you are not fit.

Ham. Not a whit, we defy augury; there is a fpecial providence in the fall of a fparrow. 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 readinefs is all. Since no man has aught of what he leaves, what ist to leave betimes.

Enter King, Queen, Laertes and lords, Osrick, with other attendants with foils, and gantlets. A table, and flagons of

wine on it.

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

me.

Ham. Give me your pardon, Sir; I've done you wrong;

But

But pardon't, as you are a gentleman.

This prefence knows, and you must needs have heard,
How I am punish'd with a fore distraction.

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 madnefs. If't be fo,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
Let my difclaiming from a purpos'd Evil,
Free me fo far in your moft generous thoughts,
That I have fhot mine arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my brother.

Laer. I am fatisfied in nature,

Whose motive, in this cafe, fhould ftir me most
Το my revenge: but in my terms of honour
I ftand aloof, and will no reconcilement;
'Till by fome elder mafters of known honour
I have a voice, and prefident 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.

Laer. Come, one for me.

Ham. I'll be your foil, Laertes; in mine ignorance Your skill shall like a ftar i'th' darkest night

Stick fiery off, indeed.

Laer. You mock me, Sir.

Ham. No, by this hand.

King. Give them the foils, young Ofrick.

Hamlet, you know the wager."

Ham. Well, my lord;

Your Grace hath laid the odds o'th' weaker fide.

King. I do not fear it, I have feen

you both:

But

But fince he's better'd, we have therefore odds.
Laer. This is too heavy, let me see another..
Ham. This likes me well; thefe foils have all a length?
[Prepares to play.

Ofr. Ay, my good lord.

King. Set me the ftoops of wine upon that table :
If Hamlet gives the first, or fecond, Hit,
Or quit in answer of the third exchange,
Let all the battlements their ordnance fire;
The King fhall drink to Hamlet's better breath :
And in the cup an Union fhall he throw, ́ (74)
Richer than that which four fucceffive Kingst
In Denmark's Crown have worn. Give me the cups;
And let the kettle to the trumpets speak,
The trumpets to the canoneer without,

《

The cannons to the heav'ns, the heav'ns to earth Now the King drinks to Hamlet.Come, begin, the Judges bear a wary eye.

And you

Ham. Come on, Sir."

Laer. Come, my lord.

[They play.

Ham. One

Laer. No

(74) And in the Cup an Onyx fhall he throw,

Richer than that which four fucceffive Kings

In Denmark's Crown have worn.] This is a various Reading in feveral of the old Copies; but Union feems to me to be the true word, for feveral reasons. The Onyx is a fpecies of lucid Stone, of which the Antients made both Columns and Pavements for Ornament, and in which they likewife cut Seals, &c. but, if I am not mistaken, neither the Onyx, nor Sardonyx, are Jewels which ever found Place in an Imperial Crown. On the other hand, an Union is the finest fort of Pearl, and has its Place in all Crowns and Coronets. Multùm enim intereft utrum Unio ftatuatur in Cœno, an verò fitus & infertus in Corona refplendeat: says Theodoret upon St. Matthew. Befides, let us confider what the King fays on Hamlet's giving Laertes the first Hit.

Stay, give me Drink: Hamlet, this Pearl is thine:
Here's to thy Health.

The Terms upon which the King was to throw a Jewel into the Cup, were, if Hamlet gave Laertes the first Hit: which Hamlet does. Therefore, if an Union be a Pearl, and an Onyx a Gemm or Stone, quite differing in its Nature from Pearls,; the King faying, that Hamlet has earn'd the Pearl, I think, amounts to a Demonftration that it was an UnionPearl, which he meant to throw into the Cup.

Ham.

Ham. Judgment.

Ofr. A hit, a very palpable hit.

Laer. Well-again

King. Stay, give me Drink. Hamlet, this Pearl is thine, Here's to thy health. Give him the cup.

[Trumpets found, Shot goes off. Ham. I'll play this bout first, fet it by a while.

Come another hit-what fay you?
Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confefs.
King. Our fon fhall win.

Queen. He's fat, and fcant of breath.

[They play.

Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows;
The Queen caroufes to thy fortune, Hamlet.

I

Ham. Good Madam,

King. Gertrude, do not drink.

Queen, I will, my lord; I pray you, pardon me.
King. It is the poifon'd cup, it is too late.

Ham. I dare not drink yet, Madam, by and by.
Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face.

Laer. I'll hit him now.

King. I do not think't.

Cafide.

Laer. And yet it is almost against my it is almost against my confcience. [afide. Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes, you but dally;

pray you, pafs with your best violence;

I am afraid, you make a Wanton of me.

Laer. Say you fo? come on.

Ofr. Nothing neither way.

Laer. Have at you now.

[Play.

[Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in fcuffling, they change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Laertes.

King. Part them, they are incens'd.

Ham. Nay, come again

Ofr. Look to the Queen there, ho!

Hor. They bleed on both fides.

Ofr. How is't, Laertes?

How is't, my ford?

Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own fprindge, Ofrick

I'm justly kill'd with mine own treachery.

Ham. How does the Queen?

King. She fwoons to fee them bleed.

Queen.

Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink

Oh my dear Hamlet, the drink, the drink,
I am poifon'd

Ham. Oh villainy! hoe! let the door be lock❜d: Treachery feek it out—→→ 2

CP

Laer. It is here. Hamlet, thou art flain,
No medicine in the world can do thee goods
In thee there is not half an hour of life;
The treacherous inftrument is in thy hand, (75)
Unbated and envenom'd: the foul practice
Hath turn'd itself on me. Lo, here I lye,
Never to rife again; thy mother's poison'd ;
I can no morethe King, the King's to blame.
Ham. The point envenom'd too?
Then venom to thy work..

All. Treafon, treason.

[Stabs the King.

King. O yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt.

Ham. Here, thou incestuous, murd'rous, dainned Dane, Drink off this potion is the Union here?

Follow my mother.

(75) The treach'rous Inftrument is in thy band,

[King dies.

Unbated and envenom'd.] The King in the fourth A, in the

Scene betwixt him and Laertes, fays;

So that with eafe,

Or with a little fhuffling, you may chufe

A Sword unbated, and in a Pafs of Practife

Requite him for your Father.

In which Paffage the old Folio's read,

A Sword unbaited

which makes Nonfence of the Place, and deftroys the Poet's Meaning. Unbated fignifies, unabated, unblunted, not charg'd with a Button as Foils are. There are many Paffages in our Author, where bate and abate fignify to blunt.

But doth rebate and blunt bis natural Edge.

With Profits of the Mind.

Meaf. for Meal

That Honour which shall bate his Scythe's keen Edge.S

For from his Metal was his Party feel'd,
Which once in bim abated, all the reft
Turn'd on themselves like dull and heavy Lead.
So, likewife, Ben Jonfon in his Sad Shepherd.
As far as her proud Scorning him could bate,
Or blunt the Edge of any Lover's Temper

Love's Labour loft.

2 Henry IV.

Laer.

1