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Ham. Ilov'd Ophelia; forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,
Make up my sum.-What wilt thou do for her?
King. O, he is mad, Laertes.

Queen. For love of God, forbear him.
Ham. Zounds, show me what thou'lt do:
Woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't
tear thyself?

Woo't drink up Esile, eat a crocodile ?
I'll do't.-Dost thou come here to whine?
To outface me with leaping in her grave?
Be buried quick with her, and so will I:
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us; till our ground,
Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.

Queen.
This is mere madness:
And thus a while the fit will work on him;
Anon, as patient as the female dove,
When that her golden couplets are disclosed,
His silence will sit drooping.

Ham.
Hear
What is the reason that you use me thus?
you, sir;
I lov'd you ever: But it is no matter;
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew, the dog will have his day.

King. I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon
[Exit.
him.-
[To HORATIO.
Strengthen your patience in our last night's
speech;
We'll put the matter to the present push.-
[Exit LAERTES.
Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.
This grave shall have a living monument:
An hour of quiet shortly shall we see:
Till then, in patience our proceeding be.

SCENE II. A Hall in the Castle.

Enter HAMLET and HORATIO.

see the other;

[Exeunt.

837

Or I could make a prologue to my brains,
Devis'd a new commission; wrote it fair :
They had begun the play :-I sat me down;
I once did hold it, as our statists do,
A baseness to write fair, and labour'd much
It did me yeoman's service: Wilt thou know
How to forget that learning; but, sir, now
The effect of what I wrote ?

Hor.
Ham. Anearnest conjuration from the king,--
Ay, good my lord.
As England was his faithful tributary;
As love between them like the palm might
flourish;

As peace should still her wheaten garland wear,
And many such like ases of great charge,-
And stand a comma 'tween their amities;
That, on the view and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further, more, or less,
He should the bearers put to sudden death,
Not shriving-time allow'd.

Hor.
How was this seal'd?
Ham. Why, even in that was heaven ordinant;
I had my father's signet in my purse,
Which was the model of that Danish seal:
Folded the writ up in form of the other;
Subscrib'd it; gave't the impression; plac'd it
safely,

Was our sea-fight, and what to this was sequent
The changeling never known: Now, the next day
Thou know'st already.

Hor. So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to't.
Ham. Why, man, they did make love to this
employment;

They are not near my conscience; their defeat
Does by their own insinuation grow:

'Tis dangerous, when the baser nature comes
Between the pass and fell incensed points
Of mighty opposites.

Hor.

Why, what a king is this! Ham. Does it not, think thee, stand me now Ham. So much for this, sir; now shall you He that hath kill'd my king, and whor'd my upon? [mother; Popp'd in between the election and my hopes; Thrown out his angle for my proper life, And with such cozenage; is't not perfect conTo quit him with this arm; and is't not to be science, [damn'd, To let this canker of our nature come In further evil?

You do remember all the circumstance?
Hor. Remember it, my lord!
Ham. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of
[fighting,
That would not let me sleep: methought, I lay
Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly,
And prais'd be rashness for't,-Let us know,
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well,
When our deep plots do pall: and that should
teach us

There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.
Hor.
That is most certain.

Ham. Up from my cabin,
My sea-gown scarf'd about me, in the dark
Grop'd I to find out them: had my desire;
Finger'd their packet: and, in fine, withdrew
To mine own room again: making so bold,
My fears forgetting manners, to unseal [ratio,
Their grand commission; where I found, Ho-
A royal knavery; an exact command,-
Larded with many several sorts of reasons,-
Importing Denmark's health, and England's too,
With, ho! such bugs and goblins in my life,-
That on the supervise, no leisure bated,
No, not to stay the grinding of the axe,
My head should be struck off.

Hor.
Is't possible?
Ilam. Here's the commission; read it at
more leisure.

But wilt thou hear now how I did proceed?
Hor. Ay, 'beseech you.
Ham. Being thus benetted round with vil-
[lanies,

[England,
What is the issue of the business there.
Hor. It must be shortly known to him from

Ham. It will be short: the interim is mine;
And a man's life no more than to say, one.
But I am very sorry, good Horatio,
That to Laertes I forgot myself;
For by the image of my cause, I see
The portraiture of his: I'll count his favours:
But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put me
Into a towering passion.
Hor.

Peace: who comes here?
Enter OSRIC.

Osr. Your lordship is right welcome back to
Denmark.

this water-fly?
Ham. I humbly thank you, sir.-Dost know

Hor. No, my good lord.

Ham. Thy state is the more gracious; for 'tis a vice to know him: He hath much land, and fertile; let a beast be lord of beasts,and his crib but, as I say, spacious in the possession of dirt. shall stand at the king's mess: 'Tis a chough;

Osr. Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should impart a thing to you from his majesty.

Ham. I will receive it, sir, with all diligence

of spirit: Your bonnet to his right use; 'tis for the head.

Osr. I thank your lordship, 'tis very hot. Ham. No, believe me, 'tis very cold: the wind is northerly.

Osr. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed. Ham. But yet, methinks, it is very sultry and hot: or my complexion

Osr. Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sultry, -as 'twere. I cannot tell how-My lord, his majesty bade me siguify to you, that he has laid a great wager on your head: Sir, this is the matter,

Ham. I beseech you, remember

[HAMLET moves him to put on his Hat. Osr. Nay, good my lord; for my ease, in good faith. Sir, here is newly come to court, Laertes: believe me, an absolute gentleman, full of most excellent differences, 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, his definement suffers no perdition in you; though, I know, to divide him inventorially, would dizzy the arithmetick 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 mirronr; and, who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more. [him. Osr. Your lordship speaks most infallibly of Ham. The concernancy, sir? why do we wrap the gentleman in our more rawer breath? Osr. Sir?

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. 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.

[Exit. Ham. Yours, yours.-He does well to com. mend it himself; there are no tongues else for's turn. (on his head.

Hor. This lapwing runs away with the shell Ham. He did comply with his dug, before he sucked it. Thus has he (and many more of the same bevy, that, I know, the drossy age dotes on), only got the tune of the time, and outward habit of encounter: a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fanned and 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, Hor. Is't not possible to understand in ano-that you attend him in the hall: He sends to ther tongue? You will do't, sir, really.

Ham. What imports the nomination of this Osr. Of Laertes? [gentleman? Hor. His purse is empty already; all his golden 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.

Osr. 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.

Osr. I mean, sir, for his weapon; but in the imputation laid on him by them, in his meed he's unfellowed.

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 Barbary horses: against the which he hath 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 know, you must be edified by the margent, ere you had done.

Osr. The carriages, sir, are the hangers. Ham. The phrase would be more german 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

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 would'st 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 forestall 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 Attendants, with Foils, &c. King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.

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[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
heard,

How I am punish'd with a sore distraction.
What I have done,

That might your nature, honour, and exception,
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never, IIamlet:
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: Ift 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-

norance

Your skill shall, like a star i' the darkest night,
Stick fiery off indeed.

Laer.

You mock me, sir.
Ham. No. by this hand.

King. Give them the foils, young Osric.-
You know the wager? [Cousin Hamlet,
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's better'd, 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.
[table!,-
King. Set me the stoups of wine upon that
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;
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,
Now the king drinks to Hamlet.-Come, begin;-
And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.
Ham. Come on, sir.
Luer. Come, my lord.

Ham.

Laer.

Ham.

One.

No.
Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit.
Laer
King. Stay, give me drink;
pearl is thine;

Here's to thy health.-Give him the cup.
[Trumpets sound; and Cannons 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.--
Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows:
The queen carouses 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 and by.
Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face.
Loer. My lord, I'll hit him now.
King.

I do not think it,

Laer. And yet it is almost against my con[Aside.

science.

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King.

She swoons to see them bleed. Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink,-( 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 jalls.

Laer. 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,

Drink off this potion:-Is the union here?
Follow my mother.
[King dies.
Laer.
He is justly serv'd;
It is a poison temper'd by himself.-
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:
[They play. Mine and my father's death come not upon thee;
Nor thine on me!
[Dies.

Judgment.
Well, again.
Hamlet, this

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;
Thon 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.

Ham.
As thou'rt a man,-
Give me the cup; let go; by heaven, I'll have
it.-

O God!-Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall live be-
hind 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 Poland,

To the ambassadors of England gives
This warlike volley,

Ham.

O, I die, Horatio;

The potent poison quite o'ercrows 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 the sight?
Hor.

What is it, you would see?
If aught of woe, or wonder, cease your search.
Fort. This quarry cries on havock!-O proud
death!

What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,
That thou so many princes, at a shot,
So bloodily has 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:
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 Eng-
land,

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;
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
mischance,
On plots and errors, happen:
Fort.

[sage,

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 pas-
The soldier's musick, 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.

Othello, the Moor of Venice.

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RODERIGO, a Venetian Gentleman.

ment of Cyprus.

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MONTANO, Othello's Predecessor in the Govern- Officers, Gentlemen, Messengers, Musicians,

Sailors, Attendants, &c.

SCENE-for the first Act, in Venice; during the rest of the Play, at a Seaport in Cyprus.

Art First.

SCENE I. Venice. A Street.

Enter RODERIGO and IAGO.

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

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

Rod. Tusn, never tell me, I take it much Abhor me. unkindly,

[in thy hate. Rod. Thou told'st me, thou did'st hold him

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,
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 [rick,
More than a spinster; unless the bookish theo-
Wherein the toged counsels can propose [tice,
As masterly as he mere prattle, without prac-
In all his soldiership. But, he, sir, had the
election:

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-castor;
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.

Iago. But there's no remedy, 'tis the curse of service;

Preferment goes by letter, and affection,
Not by the old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to the first. Now, sir, be judge
yourself,

Whether I in any just term am affin'd
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 old,
cashier'd;

Whipme such honest knaves: Others there are,
Who, trimm'd in formas and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves;
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
some soul;

And such a one do I profess myself.
For, sir,

have

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, and 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!
[owe,
Iago.
Call up her father,
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. Iago. Do; with like timorous accent, and dire yell,

As when, by night and negligence, the fire
Is spied in populous cities.

[ho! Rod. What ho! Brabantio! signior Brabantio! 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-
What is the matter there?
[mons?

Rod. Signior, is all your family within?
Iago. Are your doors lock'd?
Bra.

Why? wherefore ask you this? Iago. 'Zounds, sir, you are robb'd; for shame,

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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.

Rod. Patience, good sir. Bra. What tell'st thou me of robbing? this is My house is not a grange. [Venice: 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? Iago. 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.
Iago.
You are a senator.
Bra. This thou shalt answer: I know thee,
Roderigo.
[beseech you,
But I

Rod. Sir, I will answer any thing.
If't be your pleasure, and most wise consent,
(As partly I find, it is), that your fair daughter,
At this odd-even and dull watch o'the night,
Transported-with no worse nor better guard,
But with a knave of common hire, a gondolier,-
To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor,-
If this be known to you, and your allowance,

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