15 Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess. 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 : Queen. He's fat, and scant of breath. Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows: King. Gertrude, do not drink. Queen. I will, my lord;-I pray you, pardon me. King. I do not think 't. King. Part them, they are incens'd. But since he's better'd, we have therefore odds. 40 Ham. Nay, come again. Laer. This is too heavy, let me see another. Osr. Look to the queen there, ho! [The Queen falls. Hor. They bleed on both sides:- -How is it, my lord? OST. How is 't, Laertes? [Osrick Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own springe, dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink;-I am poison'd If Hamlet give the first, or second hit, King. She swoons to see them bleed. 50 Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink,—O my [The Queen dies! Laer. It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, 2 An union is the finest sort of pearl, and has its place in alt 3 Under pretence of throwing a pearl into the cup, the king may be sup posed to drop some poisonous drug into the wine. Hamlet seems to suspect this, when he afterward: discovers the effects of the poison, and tauntingly asks him,-Is the union here? A wanton was a man feeble and effeminate. Unbated [Stabs the King. King. O, yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt. Drink off this potion:-Is the union here? Laer. He is justly serv'd; [King dies. It is a poison temper'd by himself.— [Dies. Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow! I am dead, Horatio:-Wretched queen, adieu! Hor. Never believe it; I am more an antique Roman than a Dane, Ham. As thou 'rt a man, Give me the cup; let go; by heaven, I'll have it. If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, Enter Fortinbras, the English Embassadors, and others. For. Where is this sight? Hor. What is it, you would see? 5 If aught of woe, or wonder, cease your search. What feast is toward in thine infernal cell, Emb. The sight is dismal; And our affairs from England come too late: Hor. Not from his 3 mouth, He never gave commandment for their death. Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters; 30 Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I Fort. Let us haste to hear it, with sorrow I embrace my fortune; [March afar off, and shout within. 40 What warlike noise is this? Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come To the embassadors of England gives Ham. O, I die, Horatio; The potent poison quite o'er-grows my spirit; more: But let this same be presently perform'd, On plots, and errors, happen. Fort. Let four captains 45 Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage; To have prov'd most royally: and, for his passage, 50 Take up the bodies:- -Such a sight as this 1551 Becomes the field, but here shews much amiss. [Exeunt: after which, a peal of ordnance is 1 i. e. incidents.-The word is now disused. the king's. 3 X 2 Solicited, for brought on the event. 3i. e. OTHELLO. Officers, Gentlemen, Messengers, Musicians, Sailors, and Attendants. SCENE, for the first Act, in Venice; during the rest of the Play, in Cyprus. That thou, lago,-who hast had my purse, Evades them, with a bombast circumstance, And, in conclusion, Non-suits my mediators; for, certes 2, says he, 5 I have already chosen my officer. Forsooth, a great arithmetician, As if the strings were thine, should'st know of 10 That never set a squadron in the field, this. Iago. But you'll not hear me : If ever I did dream of such a matter, abhor me. Nor the division of a battle knows More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric", As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practice, 2 3 On The story is taken from Cynthio's Novels. i. e. certainly, in truth. Obsolete. these lines Dr. Johnson observes, "This is one of the passages which must for the present be resigned to corruption and obscurity. I have nothing that I can, with any approach to confidence, propose." Mr. Tyrwhitt ingeniously proposes to read, "damn'd in a fair life;" and is of opinion, that "Shakspeare alludes to the judgement denounced in the Gospel against those of whom all men speak well.” He adds, that "the character of Cassio is certainly such, as would be very likely to draw upon him all the peril of this denunciation, literally understood. Well-bred, easy, sociable, good-natured; with abilities enough to make him agreeable and useful, but not sufficient to excite the envy of his equals, or to alarm the jealousy of his superiors. It may be observed too, that Shakspeare has thought it proper to make lago, in several other passages, bear his testimony to the amiable qualities of his rival." Theoric, for theory. Consuls, for counsellors. It was anciently the practice to reckon up suns with counters. [Is spy'd in populous cities. Rod. What ho! Brabantio! signior Brabantis, ho! [thieves! Jago. Awake! what, ho! Brabantio! thieves! Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags! Thieves! thieves! Brabantio, above, at a window. Bra. What is the reason of this terrible sumWhat 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. Sir, you are robb'd; for shame, put on your gown; 15 Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise; Whip me such honest knaves: Others there are, [soul; Do themselves homage; these fellows have some It is as sure as you are Roderigo, Bra. What, have you lost your wits? Bra. Not I; What are you? you know my I have charg'd thee, not to haunt about my doors: Rod. Sir, sir, sir, Bra. But thou must needs be sure, 35 My spirit, and my place, have in them power To make this bitter to thee. Were I the Moor, I would not be lago: Iago. Call up her father, Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight, Rod. Patience, good sir. [Venice; Bra. What tell'st thou me of robbing this is My house is not a grange'. Rod. Most grave. Brabantio, In simple and pure soul I come to you. Jago. 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. 45You'll have your daughter cover'd with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews' neigh to you: you'll have coursers for cousins, and gennets for germans. Rod. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud. Jago. Do; with light timorous accent, and dire 50 yell, As when, by night and negligence, the fire Bra. What profane 10 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. compare person to person, use this exclamation. The meaning is, Do I stund within any such 4 Knave is here Full fortune may mean a complete piece ''That is, It has been observed, that the Scots, when they 2 i. e. by recommendation from powerful friends. terms of propinquity or relation to the Moor, as that it is my duty to love him? used for servant, but with a mixture of sly contempt. of good fortune. To owe is in ancient language, to own, to possess. • i. e. broken. "You are in a populous city, not in a lone house, where a robbery might easily be committed." Grange is strictly and properly the farm of a monastery, where the religious reposited their corn. But in Lincolnshire, and in other northern counties, they call every lone house, or farm which stands solitary, a grunge. Nephew, in this instance, has the power of the Latin word nepos, and signifies a grandson, or any lineal descendant, however remote. A jennet is a Spanish horse. 10 That is, what wretch of gross and licentious language? "This is an ancient proverbial expression in the French language, whence Shakspeare probably borrowed it. 8 9 |