ul practice
Hath turned itself on me, lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again; thy mother's poisoned;
I can no more; the King, the King is to blame!"_

Then Hamlet, as a lion rushing on his prey, exclaims:

_"The point envenomed too,
Then, venom, to thy work."_
(Stabs the King.)

The King falls and says: "I am but hurt"; while Hamlet grasps the poisoned
cup of wine and dashes it down the throat of the guilty monster,
exclaiming:

_"Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane,
Drink off this potion: is thy union here?--
Follow my mother!"_ (King dies.)

Laertes' last words:

_"The King is justly served;
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet."_

Hamlet replies:

_"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,
Is strict in his arrest--O, I could tell you--
But let it be. Horatio, I am dead!
Thou livest; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.
O, I die, Horatio;
The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit,
I cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,
Which have solicited. The rest is silence!"_ (Dies.)

And then to close the scene of slaughter, the noble and faithful Horatio,
bending over the body of his princely friend, exclaims:

_"Now cracks a noble heart; Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"_

Such tumultuous applause I never heard in a theatre, and shouts for "The
Ghost" and "Hamlet" prevailed until William and Burbage came from behind
the curtain and made a triple bow to the audience as the clock in the tower
of Saint Paul struck the midnight hour.

_The lesson in great Hamlet taught,
Is that a throne is dearly bought
By lawless love and bloody deeds,
Which fester like corrupted weeds,
And smell to heaven with poison breath
Involving all in certain death.
For fraud and murder can't be hid
Since Eve and Cain did what they did
And left us naked through the world,
Like meteors in midnight hurled,
To darkle in this trackless sphere,
Not knowing what we're doing here!_

CHAPTER