Ham. The phrase would be more german1? to the Osr. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed. Ham. But yet, methinks it is very sultry and matter, if we could carry a cannon by our sides; I would it might be hangers till then. But on: Six hot; or my complexion-Osr. Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sultry,-Barbary horses against six French swords, their asas 'twere,-I cannot tell how-My lord, his majesty signs, and three liberal-conceited carriages; that's bade me signify to you, that he has laid a great wa- the French bet against the Danish: Why is this impawned, as you call it? ger on your head: Sir, this is the matter,Ham. I beseech you, remember▬▬

Osr. The king, sir, hath laid, that in a dozen [Hamlet moves him to put on his hat. passes between yourself and him, he shall not exOsr. Nay, good my lord; for my ease, in good ceed you three hits; he hath laid, on twelve for faith. Sir, here is newly come to court, Laertes: nine; and it would come to immediate trial, if your believe me, an absolute gentleman, full of most ex-lordship would vouchsafe the answer. cellent differences,2 of very soft society, and great showing: Indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card' or calendar of gentry, for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would see.

Ham. Sir, this definement suffers no perdition in you;-though, I know, to divide him inventorially, 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 nomination of this gentleman?

Osr. Of Laertes?

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.

Osr. Shall I deliver you so?

Ham. To this effect, sir; after what flourish your nature will.

Osr. I commend my duty to your lordship.

[Exil. Ham. Yours, yours.-He does well to commend it himself; there are no tongues else for's turn. Hor. This lapwing13 runs away with the shell on his head.

Ham. He did comply14 with his dug before he sucked it. Thus has he (and many more of the same breed, that, I know, the drossy 15 age dotes on,) only got the tune of the time, and outward habit of encounter; a kind of yesty collection, which car

Hor. His purse is empty already; all his golden ries them through and through the most fond and words are spent.

Ham. Of him, sir.

Osr. I know, you are not ignorant

Ham. I would you did, sir; yet, in faith, if you did, it would not much approve me;-Well, sir. Ósr. You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is

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

winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out.

Enter a Lord.

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 Osr. I mean, sir, for his weapon; but in the im- the king's pleasure: if his fitness speaks, mine is putation laid on him by them, in his meed he's un-ready; now, or whensoever, provided I be so able fellowed.

Ham. What's his weapon?

Osr. Rapier and dagger.

Ham. That's two of his weapons: but, well.
Osr. The king, sir, hath wagered with him six

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 Barbary horses: against the which he has impawn-entertainment to Laertes, before you fall to play.

ed, as I take it, six French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hangers, 10 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?

[Exit Lord. Ham. She well instructs me. 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 would'st not think, how ill all's here about my heart: but it is no

Hor. I knew, you must be edified by the mar-matter. gent," cre you had done.

Osr. The carriages, sir, are the hangers.

(1) The affected phrase of the time.

(2) Distinguishing excellencies.

(3) Compass or chart.

(4) The country and pattern for imitation.

(5) This speech is a ridicule of the court jargon

of that time.

(6) Mentioning. (7) Recommend..
(9) Imponed, put down, staked.

(8) Praise

(10) That part of the belt by which the sword was suspended.

Hor. Nay, good my lord,.

18

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:

(11) Margin of a book which contains explanatory notes.

(12) Akin.

(13) A bird which runs about immediately as it is hatched.

(14) Compliment. (15) Worthless.
(17) For fond read fann'd.

(16) Frothy.
(18) Misgiving.

will forestal' their repair hither, and say, you are

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, if aught he leaves, knows, what is't to leave betimes? Let be. Enter King, Queen, Laertes, Lords, Osric, and tendants, with foils, &c.

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,
The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth,

At-Now the king drinks to Hamlet.-Come, begin ;—
And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.
Ham. Come on, sir.

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 done you
wrong;

But pardon it, as you are a gentleman.
This presence knows, and you must needs have

Scene II.

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,

Drink off this potion:-is the union here?
Follow my mother.
Laer.

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 jump 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 hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts;

[King dies. 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.

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;

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

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 me.

Hor. Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more:
But let this same 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,
it.-To have prov'd most royally: and, for his passage,
The soldier's music, and the rites of war,
Speak loudly for him.-

As thou'rt a man,-
Ham.
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 a while,

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 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.

Fort. Where is this sight?
What is it, you would see?
Hor.
If aught of wo, 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?

The sight is dismal;
1 Amb.
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:

(1) Mixed. (2) A sergeant is a sheriff's officer.
(5) Incited.
(3) O'ercomes. (4) Incidents.
(6) Heap of dead game.

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

If the dramas of Shakspeare were to be characterised, each by the particular excellence which distinguishes it from the rest, we must allow to the tragedy of Hamlet the praise of variety. The incidents are so numerous, that the argument of the play would make a long tale. The scenes are interchangeably diversified with merriment and solemnity: with merriment that includes judicious and instructive observations; and solemnity not strained by poetical violence above the natural sentiments of man. New characters appear from time to time in continual succession, exhibiting various forms of life, and peculiar modes of conversation. The pretended madness of Hamlet causes much mirth, the mournful distraction of Ophelia fills the heart with tenderness, and every personage produces the effect intended, from the apparition that, in the first act, chills the blood with horror, to the fop in the last, that exposes affectation to just contempt.

The conduct is, perhaps, not wholly secure against objections. The action is, indeed, for the most part, in continual progression; but there are some scenes which neither forward nor retard it. Of the feigned madness of Hamlet there appears no adequate cause, for he does nothing which he might not have done with the reputation of sanity. He plays the

(7) A word of censure when more game was destroyed than was reasonable.

(8) i. e. The king's. (9) By chance.
(10) Polish.

madman most, when he treats Ophelia with so much easily be formed, to kill Hamlet with the dagger rudeness, which seems to be useless and wanton and Laertes with the bowl. cruelty.

Hamlet is, through the whole piece, rather an instrument than an agent. After he has, by the stratagem of the play, convicted the king, he makes no attempt to punish him; and his death is at last effected by an incident which Hamlet had no part in producing.

The poet is accused of having shown little regard to poetical justice, and may be charged with equal neglect of poetical probability. The apparition left the regions of the dead to little purpose: the revenge which he demands is not obtained, but by the death of him that was required to take it; and the gratification, which would arise from the The catastrophe is not very happily produced; destruction of a usurper and a murderer, is abated the exchange of weapons is rather an expedient of by the untimely death of Ophelia, the young, the necessity, than a stroke of art. A scheme might beautiful, the harmless, and the pious.

JOHNSON.