drink, the drink! I am poison'd.

[_The_ QUEEN _is conveyed off the stage by her attendant_
Ladies, _in a dying state_, L.H.U.E.]

_Ham._ O villainy! Ho! let the doors be lock'd:
Treachery! seek it out.

[LAERTES _falls._]

_Laer._ (R.) 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:[77] the foul practice[78]
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.
Here, thou incestuous, murd'rous, damned Dane,
Follow my mother.

[_Stabs the_ KING, _who is borne away by his attendants,
mortally wounded_, R.H.U.E.]

_Laer._ He is justly serv'd;
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee,
Nor thine on me!

[_Dies._]

_Ham._ (C.) Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.
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,[79]
Is strict in his arrest), O, I could tell you,--
But let it be. Horatio,
Report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.

_Hor._ (L.) Never believe it:
I am more an antique Roman than a Dane:
Here's yet some liquor left.

[_Seizing the goblet on table_, L.]

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

[_Dashes the goblet away._]

O good Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me![80]
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.--
O, I die, Horatio;
The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit;[81]
The rest is silence.

[_Dies_, C., OSRIC _on his_ R., _and_ HORATIO _on his_ L.]

_Dead March afar off._

_Curtain slowly descends._

THE END.

Notes

Act V

[Footnote V.1: _Enter two Clowns_,] These characters are not in
the original story, but are introduced by Shakespeare.]

[Footnote V.2: _Make her grave straight:_] _i.e._, straightways,
forthwith.]

[Footnote V.3: _The crowner_] A corruption of coro