Stick fiery off indeed. Laer.

[Hamlet,

You mock me, sir. Ham. No, by this hand. King. Give them the foils, young Osrick.-Cousin 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, we have therefore odds. Laer. This is too heavy; let me see another. Ham. This likes me well. These foils have all a length? [They prepare to play.

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 Humlet'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, 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. Ham. Come on, sir.

Laer.

Ham.

Laer.

Ham.

Laer. Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe,
Osrick;

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!

Laer. It is here, Hamlet.

[Diza

The drink, the drink: I am poison'd.
Ham. O villainy!-How? let the door be lock'd:
Treachery! seek it out.
[LAERTES falls
Hamlet, thou art slain;
No medicine in the world can do thee good:
In thee there is not half an hour of 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.

All. Treason! treason!

King. O yet defend me, friends; I am but hurt. Ham. Here, thou incestuous, murderous, darted Drink off this potion:-is thy union here? [Dane, [King dies

Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit. Laer.

One.

No.

Judgment. Well:-again. 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. 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. 3 Here is a napkin, rub thy brows, my son: The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.

[Aside. Ham. I dare not drink yet, madam; by and by. 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 conscience. [Aside. 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.

[They play.

■“Likes me,” i, e., pleases me. By stoops are here meant pitchers, jugs. An union is a precious pearl: the swallowing of pearls in a draught was an ancient royal and mercantile prodigality-"Carouses to thy fortune," i. e., drinks to thy good success. You make a wanton of me," i. e., you trifle with me as if I were a child.

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!

[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, 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: "[Taking the Cup. I am more an antique Roman than a Dane: Here's yet some liquor left. Ham. As thou'rt a man, Give me the cup: let go; by heaven I'll have it.[Struggling: HAMLET gets the Cup. 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,

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 To the ambassadors of England gives [Poland, This warlike volley.

Ham.
O! I die, Horatio;
I cannot live to hear the news from England;
The potent poison quite 1o'er-crows my spirits:

per'd," i. e., mixed. A sergeant was a bailiff's or sherif's "Unbated," i, e., not blunted; without a button-Tem officer.-"O'ercrows," i. e., overcomes; subdues.

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 came about: so shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,
Of accidental judgments, 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:
Which now to claim my kvantage doth invite me.
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,

Hor. Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more:
But let this scene be presently perform'd,
Even while men's minds are wild, lest more mis-
chance,

On plots and errors, happen.
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,
The soldiers' music, and the rites of war,
Speak loudly for him.-

Take up the body. Such a sight as this Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. Go, bid the soldiers shoot. [A dead March. [Exeunt, marching; after which, a Peal of Ordnance is shot off.

"Put on," i. e., instigated; produced.-"Rights of memory." "i. e., rights which are remembered. Vantage is here used for opportunity, convenience.

Kent. I cannot conceive you.

Glo. Sir, this young fellow's mother could; whereupon she grew round-wombed, and had, indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault?

Kent. I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it being so proper.

Glo. But I have a son, sir, by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account: though this knave came somewhat saucily into the world, before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair, there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged.-Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund?

Edm. No, my lord.

Glo. My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my honorable friend.

Edm. My services to your lordship.

ter.

b

purpose.

Give me the map there.-Know, that we have divided,
In three, our kingdom; and 'tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age,
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburden'd crawl toward death.-Our son of Corn-
And you, our no less loving son of Albany, [wall,
We have this hour a constant will to publish
Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife
May be prevented now. The princes, France and
Burgundy,

Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
And here are to be answer'd.-Tell me, my daughters,
(Since now we will divest us, both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of state)

Which of you, shall we say, doth love us most?
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge.-Goneril,
Our eldest-born, speak first.

[* matter;

Gon. I love you more than words can wield the
Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor:

As much as child e'er lov'd, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.
Cor. What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be
silent.
[Aside.
Lear. Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
With shadowy forests, and with champains & rich'd,
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady to thine and Albany's issue
Be this perpetual.-What says our second daughter,
Our dearest Regan, wife of Cornwall? Speak.

Reg. I am made of that self metal as my sister,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find, she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short, that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,

Which the most precious sphere of sense possesses,
And find, I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love.

Cor.

Then, poor

Cordelia! [Aside.

And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love's
More 3plenteous than my tongue.

Lear. To thee, and thine, hereditary ever,
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferr'd on Goneril.-Now, our joy,
Although our last, not least; to whose young love

a

Deserving," i. e., to be, to make myself deserving. "Our darker purpose," i. e., 'that part of our plan which we have not yet disclosed, or brought to light.'-"Fast intent," i. e., fixed resolution." Constant," i. e., firm, fixed.

"Can wield the matter," i. e., can express.-"Beyond all manner of so much," i, e., beyond all kinds of comparisons, expressed by 'so much as this, that,' &c.-8 Enriched. "Prize me at her worth," i. e., estimate myself at her value.-"Felicitate," i. e., made happy.- Validity is used for value,

Strive to be 'interess'd; what can you say, to draw A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak. Cor. Nothing, my lord.

Lear. Nothing?

Cor. Nothing.

Lear. Nothing will come of nothing: speak again. My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty Cor. Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

According to my bond; nor more, nor less. [little, Lear. How? how, Cordelia? mend your speech a you may mar your fortunes.

Lest

Cor.

Good my lord,
Return those duties back as are right fit,
You have begot me, bred me, lov'd me: I
Obey you, love you, and most honor you.
Why have my sisters husbands, if they say,
They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,
That lord, whose hand must take my plight, shall carry
Half my love with him, half my care, and duty:
Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,
To love my father all.

Lear. But goes this with thy heart?
Cor.

Ay, my good lord.
Lear. So young, and so untender?
Cor. So young, my lord, and true.
Lear. Let it be so: thy, truth, then, be thy dower;
For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries of Hecate, and the night,
By all the operation of the orbs,
From whom we do exist, and cease to be,
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
And as a stranger to my heart and me,
"Propinquity and property of blood,

Hold thee from this for ever. The barbarous Scythian,
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Or he that makes his generation messes
Be as well neighbor'd, pitied, and reliev'd,
As thou, my sometime daughter.
Kent.

Good my liege,—

Lear. Peace, Kent! Come not between the dragon and his wrath. I lov'd her most, and thought to set my rest On her kind nursery.-Hence, and avoid my sight![To CORDELIA.

Her father's heart from her!-Call France.-Who So be my grave my peace, as here I give

stirs?

Call Burgundy.-Cornwall, and Albany,
With my two daughters' dowers digest the third:
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly with my power,
That troop with majesty.-Ourself, by monthly course,
Pre-eminence, and all the large effects
With reservation of an hundred knights,
By you to be sustain'd, shall our abode
Make with you by due turns. Only, we still retain
The name,
and all th' P additions to a king;
The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,
Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm,
This coronet part between you. [Giving the Crown.
Kent.
Royal Lear,

Whom I have ever honor'd as my king,
Lov'd as my father, as my master follow'd,

4 And as my patron thought on in my prayers,Lear. The bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft.

Kent. Let it fall rather, though the fork invade The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly,

Interested." Propinquity," i. e., kindred; relationship.-"From this," i. e., from this time.-"His generation," i. e., his offspring.- "Additions,” i. e., titles.

Lear. Now, by Apollo,-
Kent.

Now, by Apollo, king,
O, vassal! recreant!
[Laying his Hand upon his Sword.
Alb. Corn. Dear sir, forbear.
Kent. Do;

Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.
Lear.

Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow
Upon the foul disease. Revoke thy gift;

Or, whilst I can vent clamor from my throat,
I'll tell thee, thou dost evil.

Lear.

d

Hear me, recreant! On thine allegiance hear me. Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow, (Which we durst never yet) and, with strain'd pride, To come betwixt our sentence and our power, (Which nor our nature nor our place can bear) Our potency made good, take thy reward. Five days we do allot thee for provision To shield thee from diseases of the world, And on the sixth to turn thy hated back Upon our kingdom: if the seventh day following, Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions, The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter, This shall not be revok'd.

Lappear, Kent. Fare thee well, king: since thus thou wilt Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid, [To CORDELIA. That justly think'st, and hast most rightly said!And your large speeches may your deeds approve, [To REGAN and GONERIL. That good effects may spring from words of love.Thus Kent, O princes! bids you all adieu; He'll shape his old course in a country new.

[Exit. Flourish. Re-enter GLOSTER, with FRANCE, BURGUNDY, and Attendants.

Glo. Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.
Lear. My lord of Burgundy,

We first address toward you, who with this king
Hath rivall'd for our daughter: what, in the least,
Will you require in present dower with her,
Or cease your quest of love?
Bur.

Most royal majesty, I crave no more than hath your highness offer'd,

Nor will you tender less.

Lear. Right noble Burgundy, When she was dear to us, we did hold her so;

Take her, or leave her?
Bur.
Pardon me, royal sir;
Election makes not up on such conditions.
Lear. Then leave her, sir; for, by the power that
made me,

I tell you all her wealth.-For you, great king,
[To FRANCE.

I would not from your love make such a stray,
To match you where I hate: therefore, beseech you
T' avert your liking a more worthier way,
Than on a wretch whom nature is asham'd
Almost t' acknowledge hers.
France.
This is most strange,
That she, that even but now was your blest object,
The argument of your praise, balm of your age,
Most best, most dearest, should in this trice of time
Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle

So many folds of favor. Sure, her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree,

That 'monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection
Fall'n into taint: which to believe of her,
Must be a faith that reason, without miracle,
Could never plant in me.

Cor.

I yet beseech your majesty, (If for I want that glib and oily art, To speak and purpose not, since what I well intend, I'll do't before I speak) that you make known It is no vicious blot, nor other foulness, No unchaste action, or dishonor'd stoop, That hath depriv'd me of your grace and favor; But even for want of that for which I am richer, A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue That I am glad I have not, though not to have it, Hath lost me in your liking. Better thou Hadst not been born, than not to have pleas'd me better.

Lear.

France. Is it but this? a tardiness in nature, Which often leaves the history unspoke, That it intends to do?-My lord of Burgundy, What say you to the lady? Love is not love, When it is mingled with Prespects, that stand Aloof from the entire point. Will you have her! She is herself a dowry.

Bur.

Give but that portion which yourself propos'd,
Royal Lear,
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
Duchess of Burgundy.

Lear. Nothing; I have sworn; I am firm.
Bur. I am sorry, then, you have so lost a father,
That you most lose a husband.

Cor. Peace be with Burgundy: Since that respects of fortune are his love, I shall not be his wife.

France. Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor,

"Seeming," i. e., specious-g" Owes i e, owns: possessed of."Stranger'd," i. e., alienated strand "Makes not up," i. e., is not concluded. That is bers for as.-"Monsters it," i. e., makes it monstrous. len into taint," i. e., become the subject of reproach for because." Hath lost me in your liking," . e. ruined me in your good opinion.-p" With respects," with prudential considerations.