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And marshal me to knavery: let it work.
Fortis the sport, to have the engineer
Hoist' with his own petard: 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.

[Erit Hamlet, tugging in Polonius.

ACT IV.

SCENE-a Royal Apartment.

Enter King and Queen; with ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN.

King. There's matter in these sighs; these pro

found heaves

You must translate; 'tis fit we understand them. Where is your son?

Queen. Bestow this place on us a little while. [To Ros. and Guild, who go out.

Ah, my good Lord, what have I seen to-nightई। King. What, Gertrude? how does Hamlet? Queen. Mad as the seas, and wind, when both

contend

Which is the mightier: in his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
He whips his rapier out, and cries, a
And, in this brainish apprehension, kills

The unseen good old man.

King. O heavy deed!

rat!

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It had been so with us, had we been there:

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His liberty is full of threats to all,

To you yourself, to us, to every one.

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Alas! how shall this bloody deed be answered? It will be laid to us, whose providence

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Should have kept short, restrained, 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 killed,
O'er whom his very madness, like some ore
Among a mineral of metals base,
Shews itself pure. He weeps for what is done.
King. O Gertrude, come away:

1

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!

1

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 dragged him. Go seek him out, speak fair, and bring the body Into the chapel. Pray you, haste in this.

T

[Exeunt Ros, 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. For, haply, Slander (Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,

:

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A

As level as the cannon to his blank,

Transports its poisoned shot) may miss our name, And hit the woundless air. O, come away;

My soul is full of discord and dismay. [Exeunt.

Enter HAMLET.

Ham. Safely stowed.

1

Gentlemen within.] Hamlet! Lord Hamlet!/ Ham. What noise? who calls on Hamlet?

Oh, 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?

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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?

Bit

Ros. Take you me for a sponge, my Lord? (59) 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 apple 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.

(59) The figure of Rosencrantz in the moon, with its different tints of shadow, is like a sponge half fuli of water; and the circular or oval line on his cheek there, explains the apple in his jaw, mentioned presently. Vide his figure, No 68, ante.

Ham. The body is with the King, but the King

is not with the body. The King is a thing thing Guil. A thing, my Lord?

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Ham. Of nothing: bring me to him; hide fox, and all after. (60)

Enter King.

[Exeunt.

King. I've 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, th' offender's scourge is weighed,

But never the offence. To bear all smooth,

This sudden sending him away must seem

Deliberate pause: diseases, desp'rate grown,

By desperate appliance are relieved,

Or not at all.

11

Enter ROSENCRANTZ.

How now? what hath befallen?

Ros. Where the dead body is bestowed, my

We cannot get from him.

King. But where is he?

[Lord,

Ros. Without, my Lord, guarded to know your

1 King. Bring him before us.

[pleasure.

Ros. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my Lord!

(60) The position of the fox in the moon is pointed out in a note on his figure, which is numbered 36, ante.

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