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 services in the end. He keeps them, like an ape doth nuts, 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.

1 Here the quarto 1603 inserts "that makes his liberality your storehouse, but," &c.

2 The omission of the words "doth nuts," in the old copies, had obscured this passage. Dr. Farmer proposed to read " like an ape an apple." The words are now supplied from the newly-discovered quarto of 1603. 3 Hamlet affects obscurity. His meaning may be, The king is a body without a kingly soul, a thing-of nothing."

4 "Hide fox, and all after." This was a juvenile sport, most probably what is now called hoop, or hide and seek, in which one child hides bimself, and the rest run all after, seeking him. The words are not in the quarto.

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 loved of the distracted multitude,

Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
And, where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed,
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?
Ros. Where the dead body is bestowed, my lord,
We cannot get from him.

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.

Ham. A man may fish with the worm that hath ate of a king; and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.1]

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.

2

King. Where is Polonius?

If your

Ham. In heaven; send thither to see. 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.

[To some Attendants.

King. Go seek him there.
Ham. He will stay till you come.

[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,3

4

The associates tend, and every thing is bent

For England.

Ham.

King.

Ham.

King. So is it, if thou know'st our purposes.

Good.

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;

1 "Alas, alas!" This speech and the following one of Hamlet, are omitted in the folio.

2 A progress is a journey.

3 i. e. in modern phrase "the wind serves," or is right to aid or help you

on your way.

4 i. e. attend.

Delay it not, I'll have him hence to-night.
Away; for every thing is sealed and done

That else leans on the affair. Pray you, make haste.
[Exeunt Ros. and GUIL.
And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught,
(As my great power thereof may give thee sense;
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
Pays homage to us,) thou mayst not coldly set1
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,

The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me. Till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin.2

SCENE IV. A Plain in Denmark.

Enter FORTINBRAS, and Forces, marching.

[Exit.

For. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king; Tell him, that, by his license, Fortinbras Claims the conveyance of a promised march Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous. If that his majesty would aught with us, We shall express our duty in his eye, And let him know so.

4

I will do't, my lord.

[Exeunt FORTINBRAS and Forces.

To set formerly meant to estimate. "To sette, or tell the pryce; æstimare."

2 The folio reads:

"Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.”

3 The quarto reads craves.

Eye for presence. It was the formulary for the royal presence.

Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, &c.

Good sir, whose powers are these?

[1 Ham.

Cap. They are of Norway, sir.

Ham.

How purposed, sir,

Who

Against some part of Poland.

Commands them, sir?

Cap. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. Ham. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir, Or for some frontier?

Cap. Truly to speak, sir, and with no addition, We go to gain a little patch of ground,

That hath in it no profit but the name.

Το pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;
Nor will it yield to Norway, or the Pole,

A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.

Ham. Why, then the Polack never will defend it. Cap. Yes, 'tis already garrisoned.

Ham. Two thousand souls, and twenty thousand ducats,

Will not debate the question of this straw.

This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace;
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without
Why the man dies.—I humbly thank you, sir.
Cap. God be wi’ you, sir.

Rus.

[Exit Captain. Will't please you go, my lord? Ham. I will be with you straight. Go a little before.

[Exeunt Ros. and GUIL.

How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good, and market of his time,
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,3

1 The remainder of this scene is omitted in the folio. 2 i. e. profit.

3 See note on Act i. Sc. 2. It is evident that discursive powers of mind are meant. Bishop Wilkins makes ratiocination and discourse convertible terms.