Enter Rofeneraus and Guildenstern.
Friends both, go join you with fome further aid:
Hamlet in madness hath Polonins flain,

And from his Mother's Closet hath he dragg'd him.
Go feek him out, fpeak fair, and bring the Body

Into the Chappel. I pray you hafte in this. [Ex.Rof.and Guild,
Gome, Gertrude, we'll call up our wifeft Friends,
To let them know both what we mean to do,

And what's untimely done. Oh come away,
My Soul is full of discord and dismay.

Ham. Safely ftowed.

Enter Hamlet.

Gentlemen within. Hamlet! Lord Hamlet!
Ham. What noife? who calls on Hamlet?

Oh here they come.

Enter Rofeneraus and Guildenstern.

[Exeunt.

Rof. What have you done, my Lord, with the dead Body? Ham. Compounded it with duft, whereto 'tis kin. Rof. Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence, And bear it to the Chappel.

Ham. Do not believe it.

Rof. Believe what?

Ham. That I can keep your Counfel, and not mine own. Befides, to be demanded of a Spunge, what replication fhould be made by the Son of a King.

Rof. Take you me for a Spunge, my Lord?

Ham. Ay, Sir, that fokes up the King's Countenance, his Rewards, his Authorities; but fuch Officers do the King beft service in the end; he keeps them like an Ape in the corner of his Jaw, firft mouth'd to be laft fwallowed, when he needs what you have glean'd, it is but fqueezing you, and Spunge you shall 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.

[Exeunt.

Enter

Enter King.

King. I have fent to feek him, and to find the Body;
How dangerous 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 fmooth, and even,
This fudden fending him away, muft feem
Deliberate pawfe: Difeafes defperate grown,
By defperate Appliance are relieved,

Or not at all.

Enter Rofeneraus.

How now? what hath befal'n?

Rof. Where the dead Body is beftow'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 Guildenftern.

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 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 Service, two Dishes, but to one Table, that's the end.

King. What doft thou mean by this?

Ham. Nothing but to fhew you how a King may go a Progrefs through the gut 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 this Month, you shall Nofe him as you go up the Stairs into the Lobbey.

King. Go feek him there.

Ham. He will stay 'till ye come.

Kin

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

For that which thou haft done, muft 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 at 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.

King: Thy loving Father, Hamlet.

Ham. My Mother: Father and Mother is Man and 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 it not, I'll have him hence to Night.

Away, for every thing is feal'd and done

That elfe leans on th' Affair; pray you make hafte.
And England, if my Love thou hold'st at ought,
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'ft not coldly fet
Our Sovereign Process, which imports at full,
By Letters conjuring to that effect,
The prefent Death of Hamlet. Do it England,
For like the He&tick in my Blood he rages,
And thou muft cure me; 'till I know 'tis done,
How-e'er my Haps, my Joys were ne'er begun.

SCENE II. A Camp.

Enter Fortinbras with an Army.

For. Go, Captain, from me to the Danish King, Tell him that by his License, Fortinbras

Claims the Conveyance of a promis'd March

[Exit.

Over his Kingdom. You know the Rendevouz;
If that his Majefty would ought with us,
We shall express our Duty in his Eye,

And let him know fo.

Capt. I will do't, my Lord.

For. Go foftly on.

[Exit Fortinbras.

Enter Hamlet, Rofeneraus, &c.

Ham. Good Sir, whofe Powers are these?
Capt. They are of Norway, Sir.
Ham. How propos'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. Truly to fpeak, 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 Duckets, 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 Pollock never will defend it.
Capt. Nay, 'tis already garrifon'd.

Ham. Two thoufand Souls, and twenty thousand Duckets

Will not debate the Queftion 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. Wil'c pleafe you go, my Lord?

Ham. I'll be with you straight, go a little before. [Exe. Manet Hamlet.

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 reason
To Ruft in us unus'd; now whether it be
Beftial Oblivion, or fome craven Scruple

Of

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 caufe, and will, and ftrength, 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 Spirit with divine Ambition puft
Makes Mouths at the invifible Event,
Expofing what is mortal and unfure
To all that Fortune, Death, and Danger dare,
Even for an Egg-fhell. Rightly to be great
Is not to ftir without great Argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a Straw,

When Honour's at the Stake. How ftand I then,
That have a Father kill'd, a Mother ftain'd,
Excitements of my Reafon and my Blood,
And let all fleep, while to my Shame I fee
The eminent 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 Caufe,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the flain? O from this time forth,
My Thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.

SCENE III. A Palace.

Enter Queen, Horatio, and Attendants.

Queen. I will not speak with her.
Hor. She is importunate,

Indeed diftract; her mood will needs be pitied.

Queen. What would fhe have?

Hor. She fpeaks much of her Father; fays he hears
There's tricks i'th' World, and hems, and beats her Heart,
Spurns enviously at Straws, fpeaks things in doubt,
That carry but half Senfe: Her Speech is nothing,
Yet the unfhaped use of it doth move

The Hearers to Collection; they aim at it,
And both the words up fit to their own Thoughts,
Which as her winks, and nods, and geftures yield them,