King.

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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

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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,

he weeps

Shows itself pure;
King. O Gertrude, come away!

for what is done.

The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch,

But we will ship him hence: and this vile deed 30

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. . . . .

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.

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[Exeunt.

Scene II.

Another room in the castle.

Ham. Safely stowed.

Ros.

Enter Hamlet.

Rui} [Within] Hamlet! Lord Hamlet!

Guil.

Ham. 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

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 counten-

ance, 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 all after.

[Exeunt.

Scene III.

Another room in the castle.

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 judgement, 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,

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.

ΙΟ

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

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