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Ham. I'll be your foil, Laertes; in mine igno- Laer. Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe,

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King. Set me the stoups of wine upon that table:

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.

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The drink, the drink;-I am poison'd!

[Dies.

Ham. O villainy !-How? Let the door be lock'd: Treachery! seek it out. [LAERTES falls.

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 of 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.

Osr.& Lords. Treason! treason!

[Stabs the KING.

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It is a poison temper'd by himself.
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee,,

[They play. Nor thine on me!

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No.

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[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,

King. Stay, give me drink: Hamlet, this pearl is Is strict in his arrest,) O, I could tell you,-

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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.

Ham.
As thou 'rt a man,
Give me the cup; let go; by heaven I 'll have it.
O, good 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 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'er-crows my spirit;
I cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophesy the election lights

[They play. On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,
Which have solicited.-The rest is silence. [Dies.
Hor. Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet
prince;

[LAERTES wounds HAMLET; then, in scuffling, they change rapiers, and HAMLET wounds LAERTES.

Part them, they are incens'd.

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The QUEEN falls. Look to the queen there, ho! Hor. They bleed on both sides:-How is it, my lord?

Osr. How is 't, Laertes?

Union-a very rich pearl.

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest! Why does the drum come hither?

[March within.

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1 Amb.
The sight is dismal;
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.

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 always cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more:
But let this same be presently perform'd,

Not from his mouth, E'en while men's minds are wild; lest more mischance,
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,
To have prov'd most royally: and, for his passage,
The soldier's music, and the rights of war,
Speak loudly for him.

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 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

Take up the body :-Such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.
Go, bid the soldiers shoot.

[A dead March. [Exeunt, marching; after which a peci of ordnance is shot off.

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6

In Cymbeline,' we are thrown back into the halffabulous history of our own country, and see all objects under the dim light of uncertain events and manners. We have civilisation contending with semi-barbarism; the gorgeous worship of the Pagan world subduing to itself the more simple worship of the Druidical times; kings and courtiers surrounded with the splendour of "barbaric pearl and gold ;" and, even in those days of simplicity, a wilder and a simpler life, amidst the fastnesses of mountains, and the solitude of caves-the hunters' life, who "have seen nothing," but who yet, in their natural piety, know "how to adore the heavens." If these attributes of the drama had been less absorbing, we perhaps might have more readily seen the real course of the dramatic action. We venture to express our opinion, that one predominant idea does exist.

The dialogue of the "two Gentlemen" in the opening scene makes us perfectly acquainted with the relations in which Posthumus and Imogen stand to each other, and to those around them. "She's wedded, her husband banish'd." We have next the character of the banished husband, and of the unworthy suitor who is the cause of his banishment; as well as the story of the king's two lost sons. This is essentially the foundation of the past and future of the action. Brief indeed is this scene, but it well prepares us for the parting of Posthumus and Imogen. The course of their affections is turned awry by the wills of others. The angry king at once proclaims himself to us as one not cruel, but weak; he has before been described as "touch'd at very heart." It is only in the intensity of her affection for Posthumus that Imogen opposes her own will to the impatient violence of her father, and the more crafty | decision of her step-mother. But she is surrounded with a third evil,

"A father cruel, and a step-dame false,

A foolish suitor to a wedded lady."

on every side by a determination of purpose, whether in the shape of violence, wickedness, or folly, against which, under ordinary circumstances, innocence may be supposed to be an insufficient shield. But the very help lessness of Imogen is her protection. In the exquisite Second Scene of the Second Act, the perfect purity of Imogen, as interpreted by Shakspere, has converted what would have been a most dangerous situation in the hands of another poet, into one of the most refined delicacy.-The immediate danger is passed; but there is a new danger approaching. The will of her unhappy husband, deceived into madness, is to be added to the evils which she has already received from violence and selfishness. Posthumus, intending to destroy her, writes "Take notice that I am in Cambria, at Milford-Haven; what your own love will out of this advise you, follow.” She does follow her own love;-she has no other guide but the strength of her affections; that strength makes her hardy and fearless of consequences. It is the one duty, as well as the one pleasure, of her existence. How is that affection requited? Pisanio places in her hand, when they have reached the deepest solitude of the mountains, that letter by which he is commanded to take away her life. One passing thought of herself— one faint reproach of her husband,—and she submits to the fate which is prepared for her.—But her truth and innocence have already subdued the will of the sworn servant of her husband. He comforts her, but he neces sarily leaves her in the wilderness. The spells of evil wills are still around her :

"

My noble mistress, Here is a box, I had it from the queen." Perhaps there is nothing in Shakspere more beautifully managed,-more touching in its romance,—more essen tially true to nature,-than the scenes between Imogen and her unknown brothers. The gentleness, the grace, the "grief and patience," of the helpless Fidele, producing at once the deepest reverence and affection in the bold and daring mountaineers, still carry forward the character of Imogen under the same aspects. “The bird is dead;" she was sick, and we almost fear that the words of the dirge are true. But she awakes. and she has still to endure the last and the worst evil—her husband, in her apprehension, lies dead be

Worse, however, even than these, her honour is to be fore her. She has no wrongs to think of—“ O my lord, assailed, her character vilified, by a subtle stranger;| who, perhaps more in sport than in malice, has resolved to win a paltry wager by the sacrifice of her happiness and that of her husband. What has she to oppose to all this complication of violence and cunning? Her perfect purity-her entire simplicity-her freedom from everything that is selfish-the strength only of her affections. The scene between Iachimo and Imogen is a contest of innocence with guile, most profoundly affecting, in spite of the few coarsenesses that were perhaps unavoidable, and which were not considered offensive in Shakspere's day.

This is the First Act; and, if we mistake not the object of Shakspere, these opening scenes exhibit one of the most confiding and gentle of human beings, assailed

my lord," is all, in connexion with Posthumus, that escapes amidst her tears. The beauty and innocence which saved her from Iachimo,-which conquered Pisanio,-which won the wild hunters,—commend her te the Roman general-she is at once protected. But she has holy duties still to perform.-It is the unconquerable affection of Imogen which makes us pity Posthumus, even while we blame him for the rash exercise of his revengeful will. But in his deep repentance we more than pity him. We see only another victim of worldly craft and selfishness. In the prison scene his spirit is again united with hers.-The contest we now feel is over between the selfish and the unselfish, the crafty and the simple, the proud and the meek, the violent and the gentle.

5

CYMBELINE.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

CYMBELINE, King of Britain.
Appears, Act I. sc. 2.
CLOTEN, Son to the
Appears, Act 1. sc. 3.

Act II. sc. 3. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 5.
Act IV. sc. 3. Act V. sc. 5.

sc. 5.

Queen, by a former husband.
Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. se. 1 ;
Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 2.

LEONATUS POSTHUMUS, husband to Imogen. Appears, Act 1. sc. 2; sc. 5. Act II. sc. 4; sc. 5. Act V. sc. 1. sc. 2; sc. 3; sc. 4; sc. 5.

BELARIUS, a banished lord, disguised under the name of Morgan.

Appears, Act III. sc. 3; sc. 6.

Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 4. Act V. sc. 2; sc. 5.

GUIDERIUS, Son to Cymbeline, disguised under the name of Polydore, supposed son to Belarius. Appears, Act III. sc. 3; sc. 6. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 4. Act V. sc. 2; sc. 5.

ARVIRAGUS, son to Cymbeline, disguised under the name of Cadwal, supposed son to Belarius. Appears, Act III. sc. 3; sc. 6. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 4. Act V. sc. 2; sc. 5.

PHILARIO, a Roman, friend to Posthumus.
Appears, Act I. sc. 5. Act II. sc. 4.
IACHIMO, a Roman, friend to Posthumus.
Appears, Act I. sc. 5; sc. 7. Act II. sc. 2 sc. 4. Act V.
sc. 2; sc. 5.

A French Gentleman, friend to Philario.
Appears, Act I. sc. 5.

CAIUS LUCIUS, general of the Roman forces. Appears, Act III. sc. 1; sc. 5. Act IV. sc. 2. Act V. st. 2;

sc. 5.

A Roman Captain.
Appears, Act IV. se. 2.

Two British Captains.

Appear, Act V. sc. 3.

PISANIO, gentleman to Posthumus.

Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 6; sc. 7. Act II. sc. 3. Act IIL sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 5. Act IV. sc. 3. Act V. sc. 5.

CORNELIUS, a physician.

Appears, Act I. sc. 6. Act V. sc. 5.

Two Gentlemen of Cymbeline's Court.
Appear, Act I. sc. 1.

Two Gaolers.
Appear, Act V. sc. 4.

QUEEN, wife to Cymbeline.

Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 6. Act II. sc. 3. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 5.
IMOGEN, daughter to Cymbeline, by a former Queen.
Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 7. Act II. sc. 2; sc. 3.
Act III. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 6. Act IV. sc. 2. Act V. sc. 5.
HELEN, woman to Imogen.
Appears, Act II. sc. 2.

Lords, Ladies, Roman Senators, Tribunes, Appari-
tions, a Soothsayer, Musicians, Officers, Captains,
Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.

SCENE,- -SOMETIMES IN BRITAIN; SOMETIMES IN ROME.

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And therefore banish'd,) is a creature such
As to seek through the regions of the earth
For one his like, there would be something failing
In him that should compare. I do not think
So fair an outward, and such stuff within,
Endows a man but he.

2 Gent.

You speak him far.

him, sir, within himself,

1 Gent. I do extend
Crush him together, rather than unfold

His measure duly.

2 Gent.

What's his name, and birth?

1 Gent. I cannot delve him to the root: His father
Was call'd Sicilius, who did join his honour,
Against the Romans, with Cassibelan;
But had his titles by Tenantius, whom
He serv'd with glory and admir'd success:

So gain'd the sur-addition, Leonatus:

And had, besides this gentleman in question,
Two other sons, who, in the wars o' the time,

Died with their swords in hand; for which, their father
(Then old and fond of issue) took such sorrow
That he quit being; and his gentle lady,
Big of this gentleman, our theme, deceas'd
As he was born. The king, he takes the babe
To his protection; calls him Posthumus Leonatus,
Breeds him, and makes him of his bed-chamber :

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