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 has aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes? [Let be.(57)] Enter King, Queen, LAERTES, Lords, OSRIC, and Attendants 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 done you wrong; But pardon it, as you are a gentleman. • I shall win at the odds] At the vantage stated. gain-giving] Misgiving: internal sense of revolt; a giving against, says Dr. Johnson in his dictionary: and adds, that the word is formed upon the same principle as "gainsay;" which is to say against. •If your mind, &c.] If you have any presentiment of evil, yield to its suggestion. This presence knows, and you must needs have heard, How I am punished with a sore distraction. That might your nature, honour, and exception,* And, when he's not himself, does wrong Laertes, poor Sir, in this audience, Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil I am satisfied in nature, LAER. Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most To my revenge: but in my terms of honour,(58) I stand aloof; and will no reconcilement, Till by some elder masters, of known honour, I have a voice and precedent of peace,b *angorged, To keep my name ungor'd :* 1623, 32. time, But till that I do receive your offer'd love like love, HAM. it. I embrace it freely: And will this brother's wager frankly play. LAER. Come, one for me. HAM. I'll be your foil, Laertes; in mine igno rance • exception] Resentment. a voice and precedent of peace] A sentence pronounced, and adjudged case in favor of. Your skill shall, like a star i'the darkest night, LAER. You mock me, sir. HAM. No, by this hand. KING. Give them the foils, young Osric. You know the wager? HAM. Very well, my lord; You grace hath laid the odds o'the weaker side.b.. 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. KING. Set me the stoups of wined upon that table: If Hamlet give the first or second hit, Or quit in answer of the third exchange, Let all the battlements their ordinance fire; like a star i'the darkest night, stick fiery off] Be made by the strongest relief to stand brightly prominent. For darkest the fo. of 1632 strangely reads brightest. b Your grace hath laid the odds o'the weaker side. King. But since, &c.] The wager having been twelve hits of Laertes's to nine of Hamlet's, we are here prepared rather to read "taken, than laid, the odds;" and at first to suppose with Johnson, as it struck Hanmer, who omits "the odds," that it was a slip of our author's. But, as the king replies, " since he's better'd, we have therefore odds," we may well conceive the phrase to be used by the different speakers with a different aim: and that Hamlet refers to the higher value of the articles pledged, and the king to the advantage had in the other terms of the wager; those that respected the issue of this trial of skill, viz. the number of hits on each side. Bettered is stands higher in estimation. The quartos read better. © This likes me well] See II. 2. King. Stoups of wine] See V. I. 1 Clown. quit in answer] Make the wager quit, or so far drawn. M onize, 4tos. The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath; And let the kettle to the trumpet speak, The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth, 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 a while. 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.(60) 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. I QUEEN. Come, let me wipe thy face. KING. I do not think it. LAER. And yet it is almost against my con science. [Aside. HAM. Come, for the third, Laertes; You do but dally; pray you, pass with your best violence; I am afeard, you make a wanton of me.(61) LAER. Say you so? come on. LAER. Have at you now. [They play. [LAERTES wounds HAMLET; then, in scuf- KING. Part them, they are incensed. 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 mine springe, mine own, Osric; I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery. HAM. How does the queen? KING. She swoons to see them bleed. • With respect to the probability of this part of the plot, Mr. Steevens has justly observed, that he does not easily conceive that rapiers can be changed in a scuffle without knowing it at the time. as a woodcock to mine springe] I have run into a springe like a woodcock, and into such a noose or trap as a fool only would have fallen into; one of my own setting. 4tos, my, 1632. |