HAM. There's letters seal'd: and my two school

fellows,

Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd,

They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way,
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;
For 't is the sport to have the enginer
Hoist with his own petar: and 't shall

go hard

But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon: O, 't is 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.

[Exeunt severally; Hamlet dragging in Polonius.

202-210 There's letters seal'd

.. directly meet] Thus the Quartos. The

lines are omitted from the Folios.

203 adders fang'd] adders with fangs. 206 enginer] the old form of engineer.

207 Hoist petar] Hoisted with his own petard or mortar; petard was a piece of ordnance used in blowing open gates and doors. 211 This man .. packing] This uncle of mine shall turn me into a plotter. "Packing" is used in a double sense, both of conspiring and of hurrying off.

210

A ROOM IN THE CASTLE

Enter KING, QUEEN, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN

KING

these sighs, these profound heaves:

You must translate: 't is fit we understand them.

Where is your son?

QUEEN. Bestow this place on us a little while.

[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Ah, mine own 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,

ACT IV, SCENE 1] The Quarto of 1676 first made Act IV to begin here, and that arrangement is generally followed. But this scene closely continues the action of the preceding one, and there is some ground for deferring the opening of a new act till Scene iv, infra.

Behind the arras hearing something stir,
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 answer'd?
It will be laid to us, whose providence

Should have kept short, restrain'd 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 kill'd:
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!

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.

11 brainish apprehension] crazy notion.

18 kept short

Ho, Guildenstern!

out of haunt] kept within bounds . . removed from company. For "kept short, restrain'd," cf. I, iii, 125, supra: “And with a larger tether may he walk.”

26 a mineral] a metallic vein in a mine or a lode.

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30

Re-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 dragg'd him:
Go seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this.

[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Come, Gertrude, we 'll call up our wisest friends;
And let them know, both what we mean to do,
And what's untimely done.

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

[Exeunt.

40

Theobald inserted Happily slander after untimely done, which Capell changed to So haply slander, words which are usually adopted to fill the obvious hiatus, and make satisfactory grammar and sense.

41 diameter] probably used for "circumference."

42 blank] bull's-eye; the white mark in the centre of a target.

HAM. But soft, what noise? who calls on Hamlet? O, here they come.

Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN

Ros. What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?

HAM. Compounded it with dust, whereto 't is kin. Ros. Tell us where 't is, 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 Besides, to be demanded of a sponge! what rep

lication should be made by the son of a king? Ros. Take you me for a sponge, my lord?

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, 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.

6 Compounded] Thus the Folios. The Quartos read Compound, in the imperative, which suits the context better. For Hamlet has not buried Polonius' body.

15 countenance] favour.

16 authorities] offices of authority.

17 like an ape] Thus the Folios. The Quartos read like an apple, which

may safely be rejected.

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