Ham. No, by this hand. King. Give them the foils, young Osric. Cousin Hamlet, You know the wager? Ham. Ham. This likes me well. These foils have all a length? [They prepare to play. Osr. Ay, my good lord. King. Set me the stoups 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; Richer than that which four successive kings In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups; The trumpet to the cannoneer without, The cannons to the heavens, the heavens to earth, Ham. Come on, sir. Laer. Ham. One. Laer. No. Ham. Judgment. Laer, Well;-again. Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit. King. Stay, give me drink.-Hamlet, this pearl is thine; Here's to thy health. [Trumpets sound, and cannon shot off within. Give him the cup. Ham. I'll play this bout first; set it by awhile.— Come. Another hit; what say you? Laer. 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: Ham. Good madam! King. Gertrude, do not drink. Queen. I will, my lord; I pray you, pardon me. Ham. I dare not drink yet, madam; by and by. King. I do not think't. Laer. [aside.] And yet 'tis almost 'gainst my conscience. Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes: you 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. [LAER. wounds HAM.; then, in scuffling, they change rapiers, and HAM. wounds LAER. King. Osr. Part them; they are incens'd. 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? [Dies. King. She swoons to see them bleed. Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink,-Omy dear Hamlet,The drink, the drink!-I am poison'd. Ham. O villany!-Ho! let the door be lock'd: Treachery! seek it out. [LAERTES falls. Laer. It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain; 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, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion.-Is thy union here? Follow my mother. 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, [KING dies. [Dies. Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thce.- Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright 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't.— Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me! Absent thee from felicity awhile, 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: 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 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 FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and others. Fort. Where is this sight? Hor. What is it you would see If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search. Fort. This quarry cries on havoc.-O proud death, 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? Not from his mouth, Hor. He never gave commandment for their death. Fort. Let us haste to hear it, For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune: And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more: Even while men's minds are wild: lest more mischance Fort. Let four captains Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage; For he was likely, had he been put on, To have prov'd most royally: and, for his passage, 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. |