ACT IV.

SCENE I.

The same.

Enter KING, QUEEN, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDEN

STERN.

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 Ah, my good lord, what have I seen to-night!

go out.

King. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet? Queen. Mad as the sea and wind, when both con

tend

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.

King.

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?

lt will be laid to us, whose providence

Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of

haunt,1

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!

Enter ROSENCRANTZ 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 dragg'd him.
Go, seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this.

[Exeunt Ro. and Guil. 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,

Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,

As level as the cannon to his blank,1

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.

SCENE II.

Another room in the same.

Enter HAMLET.

-Safely stowed.-[Ro. &c. within, 'Hamlet! lord Hamlet!'] But soft; what noise? who calls on Hamlet? O, here they come.

Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.

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

Ham. Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin. Ro. Tell us where 'tis; that we may take it

thence,

And bear it to the chapel.

Ham. Do not believe it.

Ro. 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?

Ro. Take you me for a sponge, my lord?

1 Mark.

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.

Ro. I understand you not, my lord.

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

Ro. 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 thingGuil. A thing, my lord?

Ham. Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after.1

[Exeunt.

SCENE 111.

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 loved of the distracted multitude,

Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;

1 A childish sport, so called.

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,

Enter ROSENCRANTZ.

Or not at all.-How now? what hath befallen? Ro. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord, We cannot get from him.

King.

But where is he?

Ro. Without, my lord; guarded, to know your

pleasure.

King. Bring him before us.

Ro. 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 ev'n 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