But I will delve one yard below their mines,

And blow them at the moon.

Oh, 'tis most sweet,

When in one line two crafts directly meet.
This man shall set me packing.

Mother, good night. - Indeed, this counselor
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.

[Exeunt severally; HAMLET dragging in POLONIUS

210

ACT IV

SCENE I

A Room in the Castle

Enter KING, QUEEN, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDEN

STERN

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.

[Exeunt Ros. and GUIL.

Ah, my good lord, what have I seen to-night?

King. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
Queen. Mad as the sea and wind, when both
contend

Which is the mightier: in his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
10 Whips out his rapier, cries A rat, a rat!
And in this brainish apprehension kills
The unseen good old man.

King.

O heavy deed!

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

His liberty is full of threats to all;

To you yourself, to us, to every one.

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

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,

Shows itself pure; he weeps for what is done.
King. O Gertrude, come away y!

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!

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. I pray you, haste in this.

[Exeunt Ros. and GUIL. Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends; And let them know, both what we mean to do, 40 And what's untimely done; so, haply, slander — Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,

As level as the cannon to his blank,

Transports his poison'd shot,

may miss our name,

[Exeunt

And hit the woundless air. Oh, come away!
My soul is full of discord and dismay.

SCENE II

Another Room in the Castle

Enter HAMLET

Ham. Safely stowed.

Ros., Guil. [Within] Hamlet! lord Hamlet!

Ham. But soft, 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?

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?

10

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 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 20 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 30 all after.

[Exeunt