1

But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know:
For who, that's but a queen, fair, fober, wife,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? Who would do fo?
No, in despite of sense, and fecrefy,

Unpeg the basket on the house's top,

Let the birds fly; and, like the famous ape,
To try conclufions, in the basket creep,

And break your own neck down.

Queen. Be thou affur'd, if words be made of breath,

And breath of life, I have no life to breathe

What thou haft faid to me.

Ham. I must to England; you know that?
Queen. Alack,

I had forgot: 'tis fo concluded on.

Ham. There's letters feal'd: and my two schoolfellowsWhom I will truft, as I will adders fang'd

They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way,
And marshal me to knavery: Let it work;

For 'tis the fport, to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petar: and it shall go hard,

But I will delve one yard below their mines,

And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis moft fweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.-
This man fhall fet me packing.

I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room:
Mother, good night.-Indeed, this counsellor
Is now most ftill, moft fecret, and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.
Come, fir, to draw toward an end with you:
Good night, mother.

[Exeunt feverally, HAMLET dragging in POLONIUS.

ACT

ACT IV. SCENE I.

The fame.

Enter KING, QUEEN, ROSENCRANTZ, and

GUILDENSTERN.

King. There's matter in these fighs; thefe profound heaves;

You must tranflate: 'tis fit we understand them:

Where is your fon?

Queen. Bestow this place on us a little while.

[To ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN, who go out.
Ah, my good lord, what have I feen to-night?
King. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
Queen. Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend
Which is the mightier: In his lawless fit,

Behind the arras hearing fomething stir,
Whips out his rapier, cries, A rat! a rat!
And, in this brainish apprehenfion, kills
The unfeen good old man.

King. O heavy deed!

It had been fo with us had we been there :

His liberty is full of threats to all;

To you yourself, to us, to every one.

Alas! how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?
It will be laid to us, whofe providence

Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt,
This mad young man: but, fo much was our love,
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,

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

The fun no fooner fhall the mountains touch,
But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed
We muft, with all our majefty and skill,
Both countenance and excufe.-Ho! Guildenstern!

Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.

Friends both, go join you with some further aid;
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius flain,

And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him:
Go, feek 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 wifeft friends;
And let them know, both what we mean to do,
And what's untimely done: fo, haply, flander-
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,
As level as the cannon to his blank,

Transports his poifon'd fhot-may mifs our name,
And hit the woundless air.-O, come away!
My foul is full of discord, and dismay.

SCENE II.

Another Room in the fame.

Enter HAMLET.

[Exeunt.

Ham.Safely ftow'd-[Ros. &c. within. Hamlet!

lord Hamlet!] But foft!-what noife? Who calls on Hamlet? O, here they come.

Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.

Rof. What have you done, my lord, with the dead body? Ham.. Compounded it to dust, whereto 'tis kin.

Rof. Tell us where 'tis; that we may take it thence, And bear it to the chapel.

Ham. Do not believe it.

Rof. Believe what?

Ham. That I can keep your counsel, and not mine own. Befides, to be demanded of a spunge!-what replication fhould be made by the fon of a king?

Rof. Take you me for a spunge, my lord?

Ham. Ay, fir; that foaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But fuch officers 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 laft fwallow'd: When he needs what you have glean'd, it is but squeezing you; and, fpunge, you shall be dry again..

Rof. I understand you not, my lord.

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

Rof. 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 thing—

Guil. A thing, my lord?

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

all after..

SCENE III.

[Exeunt;

Another Room in the fame.

Enter KING, attended.

King. I have fent to seek him, and to find the body. How dangerous is it, that this man goes loofe?

Yet must not we put the ftrong law on him:
He's lov'd of the distracted multitude,

Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
And, where 'tis fo, the offender's fcourge is weigh'd,
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
This fudden fending him away must seem
Deliberate paufe: difeafes defperate grown,
By defperate appliance are reliev'd,

Or not at all.

Enter ROSENCRANTZ.

How now? what hath befallen?

Rof. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,

We cannot get from him.

King. But where is he?

Rof. Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure. King. Bring him before us.

Rof. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.

Enter HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN. King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius? Ham. At fupper.

King. At fupper! Where?

Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain convocation of politick worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures elfe, to fat us; and we fat ourselves for maggots: Your fat king, and your lean beggar, is but variable fervice; 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 fhow you how a king may go a progrefs through the guts of a beggar.