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He's lov'd of the distracted multitude,

Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
And, where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd,

But never the offence." To bear all smooth and So 4tos.

even,

This sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate pause: Diseases, desperate grown,
By desperate appliance are reliev'd,

Enter ROSENCRANTZ.

Or not at all.-How now? what hath befallen?
Ros. Where the dead body is bestowed, my lord,
We cannot get from him.

KING.

But where is he?

Ros. Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.

KING. Bring him before us.

Ros. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.

Enter HAMLET and GUILDenstern.

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 politick worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else, to fat us; and we fat ourselves for maggots: Your fat king, and your lean beggar, is but variable service; two dishes, but to one table; that's the end.

Where-the offender's scourge is weigh'd,

But never the offence] When an offender is popular, the people never consider what his crime was, but they scrutinize his punishment.

ncerer, 1623, 32.

[KING. Alas, alas!

HAM. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king; and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.]

KING. What dost thou mean by this?

HAM. Nothing, but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar. () KING. Where's Polonius?

HAM. In heaven; send thither to see: if your messenger find him not there, seek him i'the other place yourself. But, indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.

KING. Go seek him there. [To some Attendants.

HAM. He will stay till you come.

[Exeunt Attendants. KING. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial

safety,

Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve"

For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence

With fiery quickness: Therefore, prepare thyself;
The bark is ready, and the wind at help, (12)
The associates tend, and every thing is bent
For England.

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KING. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.

HAM. Isee a cherub, that sees them. But, come; for England!-Farewell, dear mother.

b

dearly grieve] Deeply. See "dearest foe," I. 2. Haml.

fiery quickness] Rapid as the progress of flames.

"fiery expedition," R. III. K. Rich., IV. 3.

See

KING. Thy loving father, Hamlet.

HAM. My mother: Father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one flesh; and so, 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 seal'd and done
That else leans on the affair: Pray you, make haste.
[Exeunt Ros. and GUIL.
And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught,
(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 (1)
Pays homage to us,) thou may'st not coldly set
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,(14)
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
For like the hectick in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me: 'Till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps," my joys were ne'er begun.

(15)

will begin,

[Exit, 4tos.

SCENE IV.

A Plain in Denmark.

Enter FORTINBRAS, and Forces, marching.

FOR. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king;

Follow him at foot] Close at heels.

b thereof may give thee sense] May make thee a very intelligible suggestion to that effect.

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coldly set our sovereign process] With indifference regard, or set by, set at defiance.

• Howe'er my haps] Turns of fortune or chances.

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Tell him, that, by his licence, Fortinbras
Craves the conveyance of a promis'd marcha
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
If that his majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his (16)
And let him know so.

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eye,

I will do't, my lord.

[Exeunt FORTINBRAS, and Forces.

[Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDEN

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CAP. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.
HAM. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,
Or for some frontier?

CAP. Truly to speak, and with no addition,"
We go to gain a little patch of ground,
That hath in it no profit but the name.

Το
pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;
Nor will it yield to Norway, or the Pole,

A ranker rate," should it be sold in fee.

a

conveyance of a promis'd march] The way or means of, leave of passage for.

b

e

safely] With assurance of safe conduct.

the main of Poland] See II. 2. Queen to King.

d addition] Exaggeration.

A ranker rate] More exuberant, larger. See K. John. V.

4. Salisb.

HAM. Why, then the Polack never will defend it.
CAP. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd.

HAM. Two thousand souls, and twenty thou-
sand ducats,

Will not debate" the question of this straw:
This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace;
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without
Why the man dies.-I humbly thank you, sir.

CAP. God be wi** you, sir.

Ros.

[Exit Captain.⚫ buy, O.C.

Will't please you go, my lord?
HAM. I will be with you straight. Go a little
before. [Exeunt Ros. and GUIL.
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good, and market of his time,
Be but to sleep, and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he, that made us with such large dis-
(17)
course,

Looking before, and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason

To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple

Of thinking too precisely on the event,

g

(A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part

wisdom,

And, ever, three parts coward) I do not know

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debate] Suffice to debate.

imposthume] "The cankers of a calm world and a long peace." I H. IV. Falst. IV. 2.

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e

Market is MERCES,

a beast, no more] He is no better than a beast, if this is all. See Hamlet's Solil.

craven scruple] Cowardly; as asking quarter by pronouncing this word of fear and fealty. Tam. of Sh. II. 1. Kath.

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