:

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 ear.

Rof. 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

Guild. A thing, my lord?

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

Enter King.

[Exeunt.

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

Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes:
And where 'tis fo, th' offender's fcourge is weigh'd,
But never the offence. To bear all smooth,
This fudden fending him away must seem
Deliberate paufe: diseases, defp'rate grown,
By defperate appliance are relieved,

Or not at all.

Enter Rofincrantz.

How now? what hath befall'n ?

Rof. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord, We cannot get from him.

King. But where is he?

Rof. Without, my lord, guarded to know your pleafure.

King. Bring him before us.

Rof. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.

Enter Hamlet, and Guildenstern.

King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius ?
Ham. At fupper.

King. At fupper? where?

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 our felves for maggots. Your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable fervice, 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, eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. King. What doft thou mean by this?

Ham. Nothing, but to fhew you how a King may go a progrefs through the guts of a beggar. King. Where is Polonius?

Ham. In heav'n, fend thither to fee. If your meffenger find him not there, feek him i'th' other place your felf. But, indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobbey.

King. Go feek him there.

Ham. He will ftay 'till ye come.

King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety, (Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve

For That which thou hast done) must fend thee hence

With fiery quicknefs; therefore prepare thy felf;
The bark is ready, and the wind at help,

Th' affociates tend, and every thing is bent

For England.

Ham. For England?

King. Ay, Hamlet.

Ham. Good.

King. So is it, if thou knew'ft our purposes.
Ham. I fee a Cherub, that fees them; but come, for

England! farewel, dear mother.

Ham. My mother: father and mother is man and

King. Thy loving father, Hamlet.

wife; man and wife is one flesh, and, fo, my mother.

Come, for England.

[Exit.

King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed

aboard;

Delay

Delay it not, I'll have him hence to night.
Away, for every thing is feal'd and done
That else leans on th' affair; pray you, make hafte.
[Exeunt Rof. and Guild.
And, England! if my love thou hold'st at aught,
As my great power thereof may give thee fenfe,
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish fword, and thy free awe
Pays homage to us; thou may'ft not coldly fet
Our fovereign procefs, which imports at full,
By letters congruing to that effect,

Do it, England: blood he rages,

The prefent death of Hamlet.
For like the hectick in

my

And thou must cure me ; 'till I know 'tis done,
How-e'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin,

[Exit.

SCENE, A Camp, on the Frontiers of Denmark.

For G

Enter Fortinbras, with an Army.

O, Captain, from me, greet the Danish King:
Tell him, that, by his licenfe, Fortinbras

Claims the conveyance of a promis'd March
Over his Realm. You know the rendezvous.
If that his Majefty would aught with us,
We fhall exprefs our duty in his eye,

And let him know fo.

Capt. I will do't, my lord.

For. Go foftly on. [Exit Fortinbras, with the Army.

Enter Hamlet, Rofincrantz, Guildenstern, &c.

Ham. Good Sir, whofe Powers are these?

Capt. They are of Norway, Sir.

Ham. How purpos'd, Sir, I pray you?
Capt. Against fome part of Poland.

Ham. Who commands them, Sir?

Capt. The nephew of old Norway, Fortinbras.
Ham. Goes it against the main of Poland, Sir,

Or for fome frontier ?

Capt

Capt. Truly to fpeak it, and with no addition,
We go to gain a little patch of ground,
That hath in it no profit but the name.

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

A ranker rate, fhould it be fold in fee.

Ham. Why, then the Polacke never will defend it.
Capt. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd.

Ham. Two thousand fouls, and twenty thousand du

cats,

Will not debate the question of this straw;

This is th' impofthume of much wealth and peace,
That inward breaks, and fhews no caufe without
Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, Sir.
Capt. God b'w'ye, Sir.

Rof. Will't please you go, my lord?

Ham. I'll be with you ftrait, go a little before.

Manet Hamlet.

[Exeunt.

How all occafions do inform against me,
And fpur my dull revenge? what is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to fleep and feed? a beaft, no more.
Sure, he that made us with fuch large difcourfe,
Looking before and after, gave us not

That capability and god-like reafon

To ruft in us unus'd. Now whether it be
Beftial oblivion, or fome craven fcruple

Of thinking too precifely on th' event,

(A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part

wisdom,

And ever three parts coward :) I do not know

Why yet I live to fay this thing's to do;

Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means

To do't. Examples, grofs as earth, exhort me;
Witness this army of fuch mafs and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender Prince,
Whofe fpirit, with divine ambition puft,
Makes mouths at the invifible event;

Expofing

Expofing what is mortal and unfure

To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
Ev'n for an egg-fhell. 'Tis not to be great,
Never to ftir without great argument;
But greatly to find quarrel in a ftraw,

When Honour's at the ftake, How ftand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother ftain'd,
(Excitements of my reason and my blood)
And let all fleep? while, to my fhame, I fee
The imminent death of twenty thousand men ;
That for a fantafie and trick of fame

Go to their Graves like beds; fight for a Plot,
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the flain? O, then, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.

1

SCENE changes to a Palace.

[Exit.

Enter Queen, Horatio, and a Gentleman:

Queen. Gent. She is importunate,
Will not speak with her.

Indeed, diftract; her mood will needs be pitied.
Queen. What would she have?

Gent. She fpeaks much of her father; fays, fhe hears,
There's tricks i'th' world; and hems, and beats her heart;
Spurns enviously at ftraws; fpeaks things in doubt,
That carry but half fenfe: her fpeech is nothing,
-Yet the unfhaped ufe of it doth move

The hearers to collection; they aim at it,

And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts; Which as her winks, and nods, and geftures yield them, Indeed, would make one think, there might be thought; Tho' nothing fure, yet much unhappily.

Hor. 'Twere good fhe were spoken with, for she may ftrow

Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.

Let her come in.

Queen. To my fick foul, as fin's true nature is,

Each