Among a mineral of metals base,
Shews ittelf

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! Guildersern!

Enter Rofincrantz and Guildenstern,

Friends both, go join you with some farther aid:
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,
And from his mother's closet hath he drag'd him.
Go feck him out, speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. Pray you, haite in this.

[Exe. Ror. and Guil. Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wifest friends, (26)

And

(26) Gertrude, Well call upiour wifest Friends,

And let them know both what we mean to do,
And what's untimely done. For, haply, Slander
(Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,
As level as the cannon to his blank,
Transports its poison'd shot;) may miss our Name,
And hit the woundless air. -O, come away ;
My foul is full of discord and dismay. [Exeunt.

Enter Hamlet.

Ham. Şafely stowed.-
Gentlemen within. Hamlet ! Lord Hamlet !

Ham. What noise? who calls on Hamlet?
Oh, here they come.

Enter Rosincrantz, and Guildenstern.

Rof. What have you done, my Lord, with the dead

body? Ham. Compounded it with duft, 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.
Rof. Believe what?
Ham. That I can keep your counsel, and not mine

Besides, to be demanded of a spunge, what replication should be made by the fon of a King?

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

Ham. Ay, Sir, that fokes 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 apple, in the corner of his jaw; first mouth'd, to be

own.

naturally seems to demand. The Poet has the fame Thought, concerning the diffusive pow'rs of Slander in another of his P4ays.

No, 'tis Slander;
Whofe Edge is sharper than the Sword, whole

last swallow'd: when he needs what

you

have glean'd, it is but squeezing you, and, spunge, you fhall be dry again. Rof. I understand you not, my Lord.

Ham, I am glad of it; a knavith 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.

(Exeunt. Enter King King. I've fent to seek him, and to find the body ; How dang’rous 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 'tis so, thi offender's scourge is weigh’d, But never the offence. To bear all smooth, This sudden fending him away must feem Deliberate pause : diseases, desp'rate grown, By desperate appliance are reliev'd, Or not at all.

Enter Rofincrantz,

How now? what hath befall'n?...

Rof. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my Lord, We cannot get from him.

King. But where is he?
Rol. Without,my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure,
King. Bring him before us..
Rol. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my Lord.

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

King. At supper? where?

Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten ; 2 certain convocation of politique 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 mag, gots. Yoqr fat King and your lean beggar is but vario able service, two dishes but to one table; that's the ende King. Alas, alas!

A Ham. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.

King. What doft thou mean by this?

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

Ham. In heav'n, send thither to fee. If your mer fenger find him not there, feek him i'th other place yourself. But, indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall.nose him as you go up the fairs into the lobby

King. Go feek him there.
Ham. He will stay 'till ye come.

King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,
(Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve
For that which thou haft done) must fend thee hence
With fiery quickness; therefore prepare thyself;
The bark is ready, and the wind at help,
Th' affociates tend, and every thing is bent
For England.

Ham. For England?
King. Ay, Hamlet.
Ham. Good.
King. So is it, if thou knew'tt our purposes.

Ham. I see a Cherub, that fees them; but come, for
England! farewel, 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. King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;

Delay

Delay it not, I'll have him hence to-night.
Away, for every thing is feald and done.
That else leans on th' affair ; pray you, make hafte

[Exeunt Rofi and Guild.
And, England! if my love thou hold'It-at aught,
As my great power thereof may give thee fenfesso
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish (word, and thy free awe
Pays homage to us ; thou may'it not coldly fet
Our sovereign process, which imports at full,
By letters congruing to that effect,
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England:
For like the hectick in my blood he

rages, And thou must cure me; 'till I know 'tis done, How-e'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin. [Exit.

1 SCENE Camp, on the Frontiers of

Denmark.

Enter Fortinbras, ypyith an Army For. O, Captain, from me, greet the Danish King,

Tell him, that, by his licence, Fortinbras
Claims the conveyance of a promiş'd march
Over his realm. You know the rendezvous.
If that his Majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his eye,
And let him knoy fo.

Capt. I will doʻt, my Lord.
For. Go softly on. [Exit Fortinbras, with the Army

Enter Hamlet, Rosincrantz,' Guildenstern, &c.
Ham. Good Sir, whose powers are these ?
Capt. They are of Norway, Sir. 1
Ham. How purpos'd, Sir, I pray you do
Capt. Against some part of Poland.
Ham. Who commands them, Sir ?
Capt.' Thę nephew of old, Norway, Fortinbrás.

Ham. Goes it against the main of Poland, Sir,
Or for some frontier ?

Capt.