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 fhort, reftrain'd, and out of haunt,
This mad young man. But fo much was our love,
We would not understand what was moft fit;

But, like the owner of a foul difeafe,

Ev'n 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,

i

Shews itfclf pure. He weeps for what is done.
King. Gertrude, come away.

The fun no fconer fhall the mountains touch,
But we will fhip him hence; and this ' vile deed
We muft, with all our majefty and skill,

Both countenance and excufe. Ho! Guildenfiern!
Enter Kofencraus and Guildenstern.

m

Friends both, go join you with fome further aid:
Hamiet in madness hath Polonius flain,

And from his mother's "clofet hath he dragg'd him.

h The fo's, R. and P.'s quarto, read,

Lets.

i Qu's, a fr be.

The 2d and 3d qu's omits Q.
Three Ift fu's, wilde.

m Instead of you with, the 3d q. reads with you.

n The 1ft f. reads cloffets.

o First q. dreg'd.

Go

Go feek him out, fpeak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. PI pray you, haste in this.

9 [Exeunt Rofencraus and Guildenstern. Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wifeft friends, And let them know both what we mean to do, And what's untimely done. [For, haply, flander] Whofe whifper d'er the world's diameter,

As level as the cannon to his blank,

Transports its poifon'd fhot; may miss our name,
And hit the woundless air.—O come away;
My foul is full of difcord and difmay.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Enter Hamlet.

Ham. Safely ftow'd-But " foft, what noife? Who calls on Hamlet? -O here they come.

Enter Rofencraus and Guildenstern.

Ros. What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?

P P. omits I, followed by the editors reft read (bating that C. adds, with qu's, after, except C.

q This direction not in qu's.

r These between the hooks are conjectural words, added by T. which, with the rest in italic, are not in fo's, R. P. and H. C. reads So for For.

Qu's and C. bis.

So the qu's; the fo's and all the

but foft)

Ham. Safely ftowed.

Gentleman within. Hamlet! Lord Ham

let!

Ham, What noife? who calls on Ham

let?

Oh here they come.

u The 2d and 3d qu's read softly.

Ham.

I 4

Ham. Compound it with duft, 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 fpunge, what replication should be made by the fon of a king?

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

Ham. Ay, fir, that fokes up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But fuch officers do the king beft fervice in the end; he keeps them, like an x

ape, in the corner of his jaw; firft mouth'd, to be laft fwallow'd. When he needs what you have glean'd, it is but squeezing you, and, fpunge, you fhall be dry again.

Rof. I understand you not, my lord.

Ham. I am glad of it; a knavish speech fleeps in a foolish

car.

Ref. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the king.

So the ft q. According to this edition, Hamlet, inftead of anfwering the question of Refencrous about the dead bo dy, bids them compound it with duft, &c. So alfo he gives no direct answer to Rfencraus when he repeats the enquiry. If Shakespeare did not defign Hamlet to speak an untruth here, this must be the right reading; for he had not compounded it with daft, i. e. Luried it, but laid it upon the ftairs to the lobby, as we read

afterwards. All other editions read Compounded.

* The qu's read apple, followed by P; T. W. J. and H. reads ape, and gives the following note,

It is the way of monkeys in eating to throw that part of their food which they take up firft into a pouch they are provided with on the fide of their jaw, and there they keep it till they have done with the reft.

Ham.

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?

a

b

Ham. Of nothing. Bring me to him. Hide fox, and

all after.

SCENE III.

[Exeunt,

Enter King.

King. I have fent to feek him, and to find the body,
How dang'rous is it, that this man goes loose!
Yet must not we put the ftrong law on him;
He's loy'd of the diftracted multitude,

Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes:

C

с

And where 'tis fo, th' offender's fcourge is weigh'd,
But never the offence, To bear all fmooth even,
This fudden fending him away must seem
Deliberate paufe. Difeafes, defp'rate grown,

y The body is with the king, &c.] This answer I do not comprehend. Perhaps it fhould be. The body is not with the king, for the king is noi with he body. J. Answer. The body, being in the palace, migh. oe faid to be

if by obferving, that the king must be a thing, or nothing. J. H. reads, A thing or nothing bring me to bim, &c.

b These words in italic are not in the qu's.

There is a play among children call

with the king; though the king, noted, H de fox, and all after. H.
being in the fame room with the body,
was not with the body.

z H. reads nothing.

Of nothing.] Should it not be read Or nothing? When the courtiers remark, that Hamlet has contemptuously called

the king a thing, Hamlet defends him

c First and ad qu's, wayed; 3d q. waigb'd.

d The 1 and 2d fo's read nearor; the 3d and 4th, nearer.

e P. drops thefe words, and even ; followed by T. H. and W.

By

By desperate appliance are reliev'd,

Or not at all.

Enter Rofencraus.

How now? what hath befallen?

Rof. Where the dead body is beftow'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. f Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.

Enter Hamlet and Guildenftern,

King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?

Ham. At fupper.

King. At fupper? where?

i

Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain convocation of politique 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 ourfelves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable fervice, "two difhes but to one table. That's the end.

P King. Alas, alas!

m

Ham. A man may eat fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. ́ King. What doft thou mean by this?