Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,

Unpeg the basket on the house's top,

Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,

To try conclusions, in the basket creep,

And break your own neck down.

Queen. Be thou assur'd, if words be made of breath, And breath of life, I have no life to breathe

What thou hast said to me.

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

I had forgot: 'tis so concluded on.

Alack,

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 'tis the sport to have the enginer

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, 'tis 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 Polonius.

ACT IV.

SCENE I. The same.

Enter King, Queen, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN.

King. There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves:

You must translate: 'tis fit we understand them.

Where is your son?

Queen. Bestow this place on us a little while.

[To Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who exeunt.

Ah, my good lord, what have I seen 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 something stir,

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

The unseen good old man.

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 answered?

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!

Re-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 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

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,-(66)
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.

Ham. Safely stowed.

Enter HAMLET.

Ros. Guil. [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 '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 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.

ear.

Ros. I understand you not, my lord.

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

go

Ros. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and 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.

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 '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 reliev'd,

Or not at all.

Enter ROSENCRANTZ.

How now! what hath befall'n?

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

We cannot get from him.

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 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 ye come.

[To some Attendants. [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, and every thing is bent

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.

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 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught
(As my great power thereof may give thee sense,