I had forgot; 't is so concluded on.

HAM. There's letters seal'd: and my two schoolfellows,-Whom I will trust, as I will adders fang'd,—

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

For 't is the sport, to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petar: and 't shall go hard,
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon: O, 't is most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
This man shall set me packing.

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

[Exeunt severally; HAMLET dragging in the body of
POLONIUS.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.-The same

Enter KING and QUEEN.

KING. There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves; You must translate: 't is fit we understand them:

Where is your son?

QUEEN. Ah, my good lord, what have I seen to-night!

KING. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?

QUEEN. Mad as the seas, and wind, when both contend

Which is the mightier: In his lawless fit,

Behind the arras hearing something stir,

He whips his rapier out, and cries, "A rat! a rat!"
And, in his brainish apprehension, kills

The unseen good old man.

KING.

O heavy deed!

It had been so 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, whose providence

Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt
This mad young man: but, so 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 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!

Enter ROSENCRANTZ and 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;
And 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.

НАМ.

SCENE II.-Another Room in the same.

Enter HAMLET.

-Safely stowed,

[Ros. &c. within. Hamlet! lord Hamlet!]

HAM. 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 't is kin.

Ros. Tell us where 't is; 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 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 countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end: He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swallowed: When he needs what you have gleaned, 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 thing—

GUIL. A thing, my lord?

HAM. Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and ali 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 lov'd of the distracted multitude,

Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
And, where 't is 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 reliev'd,

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.

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 show 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 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 come.

[To some Attendants.

[Exeunt Attendants.

KING. Hamlet, this deed of thine, 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, and everything is bent

For England.

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.

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

Exit.

KING. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard; Delay it not, I'll have him hence to-night:

Away; for everything is seal'd and done

That else leans on the affair: Pray you, make haste.

[Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.

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 hectic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me: Till I know 't is done,
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.

[Exit.