They bear the mandate; they must fweep my way,
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work.
For 'tis the fport, to have the engineer

Hoift 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 fweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet !
This man fhall fet me packing.

I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room.
Mother, good night. Indeed, this Counsellor
Is now most still, moft fecret, and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave
Come, Sir, to draw toward an end with you.
Good-night, mother.

[Exit Hamlet, tugging in Polonius.

ACT IV. SCENE I.

A Royal Apartment.

Enter King and Queen, with Rofincrantz, and Guil

denstern.

KING.

HERE's matter in thefe fighs; these profound heaves

THE

You must tranflate; 'tis fit, we understand them.
Where is your fon?

This play is printed in the old editions without any feparation of the Acts. The divifion is modern and arbitrary; and is here not very happy, for the

R 4

paufe is made at a time when there is more continuity of action than in almost any other of the Scenes.

Queen.

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

Ah, my good Lord, what have I feen to-night?
King. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
Queen. Mad as the feas, and wind, when both con-
tend

Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing fomething stir,
He whips his rapier out, and cries, a rat!
And, in this brainifh apprehenfion, kills
The unfeen good old man.

King. O heavy deed!

It had been fo with us had we been there.
His liberty is full of threats to all,

To you yourself, to us, to every one.

Alas! how fhall this bloody deed be answer❜d?
It will be laid to us, whofe providence

3

Should have kept fhort, reftrain'd, and out of haunt,
This mad young man. But fo much was our love,
We would not understand what was moft fit;
But, like the owner of a foul disease,

To keep it from divulging, let it feed

Ev'n 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 fome ore Among a mineral of metals base,

4

Shews itself pure. He weeps for what is done.
King. O Gertrude, come away.

The fun no fooner fhall the mountains touch,
But we will fhip him hence; and this vile deed
We muft, with all our Majefty and Skill,
Both countenance and excufe. Ho! Guildenstern!

3 out of haunt,] I would rather read, out of harm.

4-like one ore] Shakespeare

feems to think ore to be Or, that is, gold. Bafe metals have ore no less than precious.

Enter

Enter Rofincrantz and Guildenstern.

Friends both, go join you with fome further aid;
Hamlet in madnefs hath Polonius flain,

And from his mother's closet hath he drag'd him.
Go feek him out, fpeak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. Pray you, haft in this.

[Exeunt Rof. and Guild.
Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wifest friends,
And let them know both what we mean to do,
And what's untimely done. For, haply, Slander,
Whofe whisper o'er the world's diameter,

As level as the cannon to his blank,
Transports its poifon'd fhot;

5 Whose whisper o'er the
world's diameter,

As level as the cannon to his
blank,
Tranfports its poifon'd fhot,

may miss our name,
And hit the woundless air.

O, come away!] Mr. Pope takes notice, that I replace fome verfs that were imperfect, (and, tho' of a modern date, feem to be genuine;) by inferting two words. But to fee, what an accurate and faithful collator he is; I produced these verses in my SHAKESPEARE reftored, from a quarto edition of Hamlet, printed in 1637, and happened to say, that they had not the authority of any earlier date in print, that I knew of, than that quarto. Upon the ftrength of this Mr. Pope comes and calls the lines modern, tho' they were in the quartos of 1605 and 1611, which I had not then feen, but both of which Mr. Pope pretends to have collated. The

may miss our Name,

verfes carry the very ftamp of Shakespeare upon them. The coin, indeed, has been clipt from our firft receiving it; but it is not fo diminished, but that with a small affiftance we may hope to make it pafs current. I am far from affirming, that, by inferting the words, For, haply, Siander, I have given the poet's very words; but the fupplement is fuch as the fentiment naturally seems to demand. The poet has the fame thought, concerning the diffufive pow'rs of flander, in another of his plays.

No, 'tis flander ; Whofe edge is harper that the fword, whofe tongue Out-venoms all the worms of Nile, whofe breath Rides on the potting winds, and doth bely

All corners of the world.

Cymbeline. THEOBALD.

And

And hit the woundless air.-O, come away;
My foul is full of discord and dismay.

SCENE II.

Enter Hamlet.

Ham. Safely ftowed.

Gentlemen within. Hamlet! Lord Hamlet! Ham. What noife? who calls on Hamlet? Oh, here they come.

Enter Rofincrantz, 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 chapel.

Ham. Do not believe it.
Rof. Believe what?

Ham: That I can keep your counsel, and not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a fpunge, what replication fhould be made by the fon of a King?

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

Ham. Ay, Sir, that fokes up the King's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But fuch officers do the King beft fervice in the end; he keeps them, like an apple, in the corner of his jaw; firft mouth'd, to be la fwallow'd. When he needs what you have

glean'd, it is but fqueezing you, and, fpunge, you hall 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 thingGuil. A thing, my Lord?

Ham. Of nothing. Bring me to him.

and all after.

Hide fox,

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Enter King.

King. I've fent to feek him, and to find the body.
How dang'rous is it, that this man goes loose!
Yet muft not we put the ftrong law on him;
He's lov'd of the distracted 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 smooth and even,
This fudden fending him away must seem
Deliberate pause. Difeafes, defp'rate grown,
By defperate appliance are reliev'd,

Or not at all.

7 The body is with the King.] This anfwer I do not comprehend. Perhaps it should be, The body is not with the King, for the King is not with the body.

8 Of nothing.] Should it not be read, Or nothing? When the courtiers remark, that Hamlet

has contemptuously called the King a thing, Hamlet defends himself by obferving, that the King must be a thing, or nothing.

9 Hide fox,] There is a play among children called Hide fox, and all after. HANMER. Enter