We would not understand what was most fit;
But, like the owner of a foul disease,
To keep it from divulging, let it feed

Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?
Queen. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd:
O'er whom his very madness, like some ore,
Among a mineral of metals base,

Shews itself pure; he weeps for what is done.
King. O, Gertrude, come away!

The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch,
But we will ship him hence: and this vile deed
We must, with all our majesty and skill,
Both countenance and excuse.-Ho! Guildenstern!

stern!

Enter ROSENCRANTZ und GUILDENSTERN.

Friends both, go join you with some further aid: Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,

And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him: Go, seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this.

[Exeunt Ros. and Guil.
Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends;
Aud let them know, both what we mean to do,
And what's untimely done: so, haply, slander,-
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,
As level as the cannon to his blank +,

Transports his poison'd shot,- may miss our name,
And hit the woundless air.-O come away;)
My soul is full of discord, and dismay.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Another Room in the same.

Enter HAMLET.

Ham.--Safely stow'd,--[Rosen. &c. within. Hamlet lord Hamlet!] But soft, what noise? who calls on Hamlet? O, here they come.

Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.

Ros. What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?

Ham. Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin. Ros. Tell us where 'tis; that we may take it thence,

And bear it to the chapel.

Ham. Do not believe it.

Ros. Believe what?

Ham. That I can keep your counsel, and not

• Mine.

+ Mark.

mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge! -What replication should be made by the son of a king?

Ros. Take you me for a sponge, my lord?

Ham. Ay, Sir; that soaks up the king's counte nance, his rewards, his authorities. But such offi ders do the king best service in the end: he keeps them like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouth'd, to be last swallow'd: when he needs what you have glean'd, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again."

Ros. I understand you not, my lord.

Ham. I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.

Ros. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the king.

Ham. The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thingGuil. A thing, my lord?

Ham. Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III-Another Room in the same.

Enter KING, attended.

King. I have sent to seek him, and to find the
body.

How dangerous is it, that this man goes loose?
Yet must not we put the strong law on him:
He's loved of the distracted multitude,

Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
And, where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd,
But never the offence, To bear all smooth and even,
This sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate pause: diseases, desperate grown,
By desperate appliance are relieved,

Enter ROSENCRANTZ.

Or not at all.-How now? What hath befallen? Ros. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord, We cannot get from him.

King. But where is he?

Ros. Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.

King. Bring him before us.

Ros. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.

A sport among children.

Enter HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN.

King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
Ham. At supper.

King. At supper? Where?

Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten : a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else, to fat us; and we fat ourselves for maggots: your fat king, and your lean. beggar, is but variable service; two dishes, but to one table; that's the end.

King. Alas, alas!

Ham. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king; and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.

King. What dost thou mean by this?

Ham. Nothing, but to shew you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar. King. Where is Polonius?

Ham. In heaven; send thither to see if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself. But, indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.

King. Go seek him there.
Ham. He will stay till you
Нат.

[To some Attendants. come.

[Exeunt Attendants.

King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety, Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve

For that which thou hast done,-must send thee hence

With fiery quickness: therefore, prepare thyself;
The bark is ready, and the wind at help,

The associates tend t, and every thing is bent
For England.

Ham. For England?

King. Ay, Hamlet.

Ham. Good.

King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. Ham. I see a cherub, that sees them.-But, come;

for England!-Farewell, dear mother.

King. Thy loving father, Hamlet.

Ham. My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England.

[Exit.

Attend,

King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed

aboard;

Delay it not, I'll have him hence to-night: }
Away; for every thing is seal'd and done
That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste.
[Exeunt Ros. and Guil.
And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught,
(As my great power thereof may give thee sense;
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
Pays homage to us), thou may'st not coldly set *
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,

The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
For like the heretic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps †, my joys will ne'er begin.

SCENE IV.-A Plain in Denmark.

[Exit.

Enter FORTIN BRAS, and Forces, marching. For. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king; Tell him, that, by his licence, Fortinbras Craves the conveyance of a promised march Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous. If that his majesty would aught with us, We shall express our duty in his eyet.

And let him know so.

Cap. I will do't, my lord.

For. Go softly on.

[Exeunt Fortinbras and Forces.

Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, &C. Ham. Good Sir, whose powers are these?

Cap. They are of Norway, Sir.

Ham. How purposed, Sir,

I pray you?

Cap. Against some part of Poland.
Ham. Who

Commands them, Sir?

Cap. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. Ham. Goes it against the main of Poland, Sir, Or for some frontier?

Cap. Truly to speak, Sir, and with no addition,

* Value, estimate.

+ Presence.

+ Successes. g Forces.

We go to gain a little patch of ground,
That hath in it no profit but the name.
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;
Nor will it yield to Norway, or the Pole,

A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.

Ham. Why, then the Polack never will defend it.

Cap. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd.

Ham. Two thousand souls, and twenty thousand ducats,

Will not debate the question of this straw:

This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace; That inward breaks, and shews no cause without Why the man dies.-I humbly thank you, Sir. Cap. God be wi' you, Sir.

fore.

[Exit Captain:
Ros. Will't please you go, my lord?
Ham. I will be with you straight. Go a little be-
[Exeunt Ros. and Guil.
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good, and market + of his time,
Be but to sleep, and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he, that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before, and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason,

To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven || scruple

Of thinking too precisely on the event,

A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom,

And, ever, three parts coward,-I do not know
Why yet I live to say, This thing's to do;

Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and

means,

To do't. Exainples, gross as earth, exhort me:
Witness, this army of such mass, and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince;
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd,
Makes mouths at the invisible event;
Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,
To all that fortune, death, and danger, dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great,
Is, not to stir without great argument;
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw,

When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,

• Polander.

+ Profit.

Grow mouldy.

Power of comprehension.
Cowardly.

Since.