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.

and all after."

Hide fox,

[Exeunt.

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 lov'd of the distracted multitude,

Who like not in their judgment, 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 reliev'd,

Enter ROSENCRANTZ.

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

King.

Ros. Without, my lord; pleasure.

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But where is he?

Hide fox, &c.] There is a play among children called,

Hide fox, and all after.

King. Bring him before us.

Ros. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.

Enter HAMLet and GuilDÉNSTÉRN.

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 politick 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 progress1 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.
Ham. He will stay till you

[To some Attendants.

come.

Exeunt Attendants. King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,

go a progress-] Alluding to the royal journeys of state, always styled progresses; a familiar idea to those who, like our author, lived during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I.

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,2

The associates tend, and every thing is bent
For England.

Ham.

King.

Ham.

For England?

Ay, Hamlet.

Good.

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

Delay it not, I'll have him hence to-night:
Away; for every thing is seal'd 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 may'st not coldly set3
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,

my

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

2

the wind at help,] i. e. at hand, ready.

3

thou may'st not coldly set] i. e. set at nought,

4 Howe'er my haps,] i. e. whatever befall me.

SCENE IV.

A Plain in Denmark.

Enter FORTINBRAS, and Forces, marching." For. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king; Tell him, that, by his licence, Fortinbras Craves the conveyance of a promis'd march Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous. If that his majesty would aught with us, We shall express our duty in his eye,3 And let him know so.

Cap.
For. Go softly on.

Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, &c.

Ham.

I will do't, my lord.

[Exeunt FORTINBRAS and Forces.

Good sir, whose powers are these?

How purpos'd, sir,

Who

Cap. They are of Norway, sir.

Ham.

I pray you?

Cap.

Ham.

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

5

in his eye,] i. e. in his presence. The phrase appears to have been formularly.

A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.

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

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.

Ros.

[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,'
Looking before, and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason

To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruples

Of thinking too precisely on the 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 say, This thing's to do;

Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means,
To do't. Examples, gross as earth, exhort me:
Witness, this army of such mass, and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince;

Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd,

6

chief good, and market of his time, &c.] If his highest good, and that for which he sells his time, be to sleep and feed. large discourse,]. Such latitude of comprehension, such power of reviewing the past, and anticipating the future.

7

some craven scruple-] Some cowardly scruple..