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nventorially, would dizzy the arithmetic of memory; and yet but raw neither, in respect of his quick sail. But, in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of great article ; and his infusion of such dearth and rareness, as, to make true diction of him, his semblable is his mirror; and, who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more.*

Osr. Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him.

Ham. The concernancy, Sir? why do we wrap the gentleman in our more rawer breath? Osr. Sir?

Hor. Is't not possible to understand in another tongue? You will do't, Sir, really.

Ham. What imports the nominationt of this gentleman?

Osr. Of Laertes?

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Ham. I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with him in excellence; but, to know a man well, were to know himself.

Osr. I mean, Sir, for his weapon; but in the imputation laid on him by them, in his meeds

he's unfellowed.

Ham. What's his weapon?
Qsr. Rapier and dagger.

Ham. That's two of his weapons: but, well. Osr. The king, Sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary horses: against the which he has impawned, as I take it, six French rapiers and poniards, with their 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 margent,** ere you had done.

Osr. The carriages, Sir, are the hangers. Ham. The phrase would be more germantt 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 impawned, as you call it?

Osr. The king, Sir, hath laid, that in a dozen passes between yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits; he hath laid, on twelve for nine; and it 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.

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Lord. My lord, his majesty commended him to you by young Osric, 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.

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 forestal** 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, OSRIC, and Attendunts, 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 have But pardon it, as you are a gentleman. done you wrong; This

presencett knows, and you must needs have heard,

How I am punish'd with a sore distraction.

A bird which runs about immediately as it is hatched. + Compliment. + Worthless. Frothy. For fond read fanned. ** Prevent.

1 Misgiving. it The king and queen's presence.

What I have done,
[tion, Come.-Another hit; What say you?
That might your nature, honour, and excep-
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never, Ham-

let:

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 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 ig

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If Hamlet gives 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,
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, [earth,
The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to
Now the king drinks to Hamlet.-Come, begin;—
And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.
Ham. Come on, Sir.

Laer. Come, my lord.

Ham. One.

Luer, No.

Ham. Judgement.

Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit. Luer. Well,-again.

[They play.

Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess.
King. Our son shall win.

Queen. He's fat, and scant o'breath.— Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows:

The queen carousest 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 andǝy.
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 con-
science.
[Aside. -
Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes: You d
but dally;

I pray you, pass with your best violence;
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 scuf
fling, they change Rapiers, and HAM-
LET wounds LAERTES.

King. Part them, they are incens'd.
Ham. Nay, come again. [The QUEEN falls.
Osr. 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 my 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!

The drink, the drink: I am poison'd! [Dies.
Ham. O villany!-Ho! let the door be
lock'd:
Treachery! seek it out. [LAERTES falls.
Luer. 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 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.
[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,

[They play. Drink off this potion:-Is the union here? Follow my mother.

King. Stay, give me drink; Hamlet, 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 awhile.

Unwounded. + Large jugs. A precious pearl.

[KING dies.

Laer. 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.

[Dis.

Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.

* Handkerchief. + Drinks good luck to you. Boy The foil without a button, and poisoned point. Mixed

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.

Hor. Never believe it;

I am more an antique Roman than a Dane,
Here's yet some liquor left.

Hum. As thou'rt a man,

[it.Give me the cup; let go; by heaven I'll have 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 awhile, [pain, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in 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;
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.

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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 : 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?

Hor. Not from his mouth,*

Had it the ability of life to thank you;
He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jumpt upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack 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
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts; [hear
Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters;
Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc'd 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

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sage,

The soldier's music, and the rites of war,
Speak loudly for him.--

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

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ACT I.

SCENE I-Venice.-A Street.

Enter RODERIGO and IAGO.

Rod. Tush, never tell me, I take it much unkindly,

That thou, Iago,-who hast had my purse, As if the strings were thine,-shouldst know of this.

Iago. 'Sblood, but you will not hear me :If ever I did dream of such a matter, Abhor me.

Rod. Thou told'st me, thy hate.

thou didst hold him in

Iago. 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,
I 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,t
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion, nonsuits
My mediators; for, certes, 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,

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Wherein the toged consuls can propose As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practice, [election: Is all his soldiership. But he, Sir, had the 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;† He, in good time, must his lieutenant be, And I,(God bless the mark!) his Moorship's

ancient.

Rod. By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman.

lago. But there's no remedy; 'tis the curse

of service;

Preferment goes by letter, and affection,
Stood heir to the first. Now, Sir, be judge
Not by the old gradation, where each second
Whether I in any just term am affin'd‡
yourself,
To love the Moor.

Rod. I would not follow him then.
Iago. O, Sir, content you;

I follow him to serve my turn upon him:
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 nought but provender; and, when he's
Whip me such honest knaves: Others there
old, cashier'd;
[are,
Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves;

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And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,

Do well thrive by them, and, when they have lin'd 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
If he can carry't thus!

Iago. Call up her father,

[owe,t

Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight, Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kins

men,

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 colour.

Rod. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud.

lago. 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! [bags! Look to your house, your daughter, and your Thieves! thieves!

BRABANTIO, above, at a Window.

Bra. What is the reason of this terrible sum[mons?

What is the matter there?

Rod. Signior, is all your family within?
lugo. Are your doors lock'd?
Bra. Why? wherefore ask you this?
Iago. 'Zounds, Sir, you are robb'd; for
shame, put on your gown; [soul;
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your
Even now, very now, an old black ram
Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise;
Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you:
Arise, I say.

Bra. What, have you lost your wits?
Rod. Most reverend signior, do you know
my voice?

Bra. Not I; What are you?
Rod. My name is-Roderigo.
Bra. The worse welcome:

[doors: I have charg'd thee, not to haunt about my In honest plainness thou hast heard me say, My daughter is not for thee; and now, in mad

ness,

Being full of supper, and distempering draughts,

Upon malicious bravery, dost thou come
To start my quiet.

Rod. Sir, Sir, Sir, Sir,

Bra. But thou must needs be sure,

My spirit, and my place, have in them power To make this bitter to thee.

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Rod. Patience, good Sir.

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?

Iugo. I am one, Sir, that comes to tell you, your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.

Bra. Thou art a villain.

lago. You are a senator.

Bra. This thou shalt answer: I know thee,
Roderigo.

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 daugh

ter,

At this odd-event and dull watch o'the night,
Transported-with no worse nor better guard,
But with a knave of common hire, a gondo-
lier,-

To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor,-
If this be known to you, and your allowance,]]
We then have done you bold and saucy
wrongs;

{me,

But, if you know not this, my manners tell
We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe,
{ence:
That, from the sense of all civility,
I thus would play and trifle with your rever-
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 extravagant¶ and wheeling stranger,
Of here and every where: Straight satisfy
yourself:

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

Bra. 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. lago. Farewell; for I must leave you: It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my place To be produc'd (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,

Another of his fathom they have not,
To lead their business; in which regard,
Though I do hate him as I do hell pains,
Yet, for necessity of present life,

I must show out a flag and sign of love, Which is indeed but sign. That you shal surely find him,

Lead to the Sagittary the rais'd search; And there will I be with him. So, farewell. [Exil.

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