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 How I am punished with a sore distraction. That might your nature, honour, and exception," And, when he's not himself, does wrong Laertes, Sir, in this audience, Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil Free me so far in your most generous thoughts, I am satisfied in nature, LAER. To keep my name ungor'd:+ But till that time, Нам. 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 igno So 4tos. & 1603. mother. 1623, 32. + So 4tos. ungorged. 1623, 32. b a voice and precedent of peace] i. e. a sentence pronounced, and adjudged case in favor of. Your skill shall, like a star i̇'the darkest night, LAER. You mock me, sir. HAM. No, by this hand. KING. Give them the foils, young Osric. Cousin Hamlet, 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'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 wine upon that table: If Hamlet give the first or second hit, a like a star i'the darkest night, stick fiery off] i. e. be made by the strongest relief to stand brightly prominent. "Stands off as gross as black from white." H. V. II. 2. K. Hen. This seems to have been a favourite phraseology with our Author: "Stick i'the wars like a great sea-mark." Coriol. V. 3. C. and we have the identical phraseology in Ant. & Cl. I. 4. Lep. 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 as it seems, 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. d Stoups of wine] See V. 1. 1 Clown. Or quit in answer of the third exchange, The trumpet to the cannoneer without, The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth, And you, the judges, bear a wary eye. HAM. Come on, sir. onixe. 4tos. 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's a napkin, rub thy brows: The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.(60) HAM. Good madam, KING. Here, Hamlet take my. 4tos. Gertrude, do not drink. QUEEN. I will, my lord; I pray you, pardon me. ▪ quit in answer] Make the wager quit, or so far drawn. "to quit their grief "Tell thou the lamentable fall of me. R. II. V. 1. 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. LAER. My lord, I'll hit him now. KING. I do not think it. [Aside. LAER. And yet it is almost against 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.(61) LAER. Say you so? come on. OSR. Nothing neither way. [They play. * my.1632. LAER. Have at you now. [LAERTES wounds HAMLET; then, in scuffling, they change Rapiers, and HAMLET wounds LAERTES. 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 ? KING. She sounds to see them bleed. a With respect to the probability of this part of the plot, Steevens has justly observed; that he does not easily conceive that rapiers can be changed in a scuffle without knowing it at the time. b as a woodcock to mine springe] i. e. 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. QUEEN. No, no, the drink, the drink,-O my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink; I am poison'd! [Dies. HAM. O villainy! How! let the door be lock'd: Hoe. Treachery! seek it out. [LAERTES falls. LAER. It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain ; No medicine in the world can do thee good, 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. 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. 4tos. +bour's life. 4tos. I the onixe. [King dies, tos. Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet: [Dies. HAM. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee. unbated] See IV. 7. King. b the foul practice] See " pass of practice," IV. 7. King. Is thy union here? follow my mother] A play here may be intended upon the word " Union;" if so, it is a bitter sarcasm. "Take this as thy lot or portion! the richly prepared cup! D ye find here an union? Go with, follow the queen!" d temper'd] i. c. prepared, having the ingredients mixed. |