And where 'tis so, th' offender's scourge is weigh'd, Deliberate pause: diseases, desperate grown, Enter ROSENCRANTZ. Or not at all.-How now! what hath befallen? 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? King. At supper! Where? Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten a certain convocation of politic 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. 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. 1 and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.] This speech and the preceding interjections, obviously necessary to the sense, are not contained in the folio. In Hamlet's previous speech it omits "politic." King. Where is 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 deed2, 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, Th' associates tend, and every thing is bent King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. Ham. I see a cherub that sees them.-But, come; for England!-Farewell, dear mother. 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 th' affair: pray you, make haste. [Exeunt Ros. and GUIL. 2 Hamlet, this deed,] The folio inserts of thine after "deed," unnecessarily to the sense, and injuriously to the metre. Lower down, "With fiery quickness" is only in the folio. It also reads, "at bent" for "is bent" of the quartos, at the conclusion of the speech. 3 — that sees THEM.] The folio has him for "them" of the quartos: him seems to have no reference, unless Hamlet be mentally adverting to his father. And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught, The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England; [Exit. SCENE IV. A Plain in Denmark. Enter FORTINBRAS, and Forces, marching. For. Go, captain; from me greet the Danish king: Tell him, that by his licence Fortinbras Claims the conveyance of a promis'd march We shall express our duty in his eye; Cap. For. Go softly on'. I will do't, my lord. [Exeunt FORTINBRAS and Forces. By letters CONJURING-] All the quartos have congruing. The same word occurs in the quartos of "Henry V." (See Vol. iv. p. 476, note 7) which the folio there alters to congreeing. The text of the folio seems preferable, although the quartos may be right. 5 - were ne'er begun.] So the folio, and so the rhyme requires: the quartos, "will ne'er begin." 6 CLAIMS the conveyance-] "Crates the conveyance" in the quartos. 7 Go softly on.] These words are probably addressed to his troops, and in the quarto, 1603, we have, "Go, march away," instead of them. The folio prints "softly" safely. Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, &c.s Ham. Good sir, whose powers are these? Cap. They are of Norway, sir. Ham. I pray you? Cap. Ham. How purpos'd, sir, Against some part of Poland. Commands them, sir? Cap. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. Cap. Truly to speak, and with no addition, A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee. Who Ham. Why, then the Polack never will defend it. Cap. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd. Ham. Two thousand souls, and twenty thousand ducats, Will not debate the question of this straw: This is th' imposthume of much wealth and peace, Ros. [Exit Captain. Will't please you go, my lord? Ham. I'll be with you straight. Go a little before. [Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN. How all occasions do inform against me, * Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, &c.] The folio omits all the rest of this scene, and there is no trace of it in the quarto, 1603. Looking before and after, gave us not To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be Of thinking too precisely on th' event, A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom, Why yet I live to say, "This thing's to do;" When honour's at the stake. How stand I, then, Go to their graves like beds; fight for a plot [Exit. 9 And ever three parts coward,-] Schlegel, in his work, Ueber dramatische Kunst und Litteratur, iii. p. 149, quotes this passage as a sort of key to Hamlet's character, and the omission of such an important soliloquy, in connexion with what immediately precedes it, would convince us, even if we had no other reason for thinking so, that the abbreviation of this tragedy for the stage, as we find it in the folio, 1623, was the work of the players, and not of the poet. |