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.

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[Exeunt severally; Hamlet dragging in Polonius.

ACT FOURTH.

Scene I.

A room in the castle.

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.

[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Ah, mine own 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,
Whips out his rapier, cries' A rat, a rat!'
And in this brainish apprehension kills

ΙΟ

King.

The unseen good old man.

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!

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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.

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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.

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 countenance,

his rewards, his authorities. But such officers
do the king best service in the end: he keeps

ΙΟ

them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw;
first mouthed, to be last swallowed: when he 20
needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeez-

ing 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?

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[Exeunt.

Ham. Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after.

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?

ΙΟ

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

King.

We cannot get from him.

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 within this month, you shall nose him
as you go up the stairs into the lobby.
King. Go seek him there.

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[To some Attendants. 40