Ham. Do not believe it. Rof. Believe what ? Ham. That I can keep your counfel, and not mine own. Befides, 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, fir; that foaks up the king's counte nance, his rewards, his authorities. But fuch officers do the king beft fervice in the end: He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouth'd, to be laft fwallow'd: When he needs what you have glean'd, it is but fqueezing you, and, fpunge, you fhall be dry again. R. 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 -like an ape,-] The quarto has apple, which is generally followed. The folio has ape, which Hanmer has received, and illuftrated with the following note. "It is the way of monkeys in eating, to throw that part of "their food, which they take up firft, into a pouch they are "provided with on the fide of their jaw, and then they keep it, till they have done with the reft." JOHNSON. Surely this should be "like an ape, an apple." FARMER. 9 The body is with the king,-] This anfwer I do not comprehend. Perhaps it fhould be, The boay is not with the king, for the king is not with the body. JOHNSON. Perhaps it may mean this. The body is in the king's houfe (i. c. the prefent king's) yet the king (i. e. he who should have been king) is not with the body. Intimating that the ufurper is here, he true king in a better place. Or it may mean- the guilt of the murder lies with the king, but the king is not where the "body lies. The affected obfcurity of Hamlet muft excufe fo many attempts to procure fomething like a meaning. SIEEVENS. is not with the body. The king is a thingGuil. A thing, my lord? Ham, 'Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after. 2 [Exeunt. King. I have fent to feek him, and to find the body. How dangerous is it, that this man goes loose ? Yet muft not we put the ftrong law on him: He's lov'd of the diftracted multitude, Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes; I Of nothing.-] Should it not be read, Or nothing? When the courtiers remark, that Hamlet has contemptoufly called the king a thing, Hamlet defends himself by obferving, that the king must be a thing, or nothing. JOHNSON. The text is right. So, in the Spanish tragedy: "In troth, my lord, it is a thing of nothing." And, in one of Harvey's letters," a filly bug-beare, a forry puffe of winde, a thing of nothing." thing of nothing." FARMER. So, in Decker's Match me in London, 1631: "At what doft thou laugh? "At a thing of nothing, at thee.” Again, in Look about you, 1600: "And believe a little thing would please her, "A very little thing, a thing of nothing." STEEVENS. Mr. Steevens has given here many parallelifms: but the origin of all is to be look'd for, I believe in the 144th Pfalm, ver. v. "Man is like a thing of nought." You must have obferved, that the book of Common Prayer, and the tranflation of the Bible into English, furnished our old writers with many forms of expreffion, fome of which are ftill in ufe. WHALLEY. 2 Hide fox,-] There is a play among children called, Hide fox, and all after. HANMER. The fame fport is alluded to in Decker's Satiromastix: “—our unhandfome-faced poet does play at bo-peep with your grace, and cries-All bid, as boys do." This paffage is not in the quarto. STEEVENS. And And, where 'tis fo, the offender's fcourge is weigh'd, But never the offence. To bear all fmooth and even, This fudden fending him away must seem · Deliberate paufe: Difeafes, defperate grown, By defperate appliance are reliev'd, Or not at all.-How now? what hath befallen? Enter Rofencrantz. Rof. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord, We cannot get from him. King. But where is he? Rof. Without, my lord; guarded, to know King. Bring him before us, Rof. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord. - Enter Hamlet, and Guildenstern. King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius ? King. At fupper? Where? your Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is caten; a certain convocation of politick worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures elfe, to fat us; and we fat ourselves for maggots: Your fat king, and your lean beggar, is but variable fervice; two dishes, but to one table; that's the end. King. Alas, alas3 ! Ham. A man may fifh with the worm that hath cat of a king; and cat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. King. What doft thou mean by this? 3 Alas, alas! This fpeech, and the following, are omitted in the folio. STEEVENS. Han. Ham. Nothing, but to fhew you how a king may go a progrefs through the guts of a beggar. King. Where is Polonius? Ham. In heaven; fend thither to fee: if your meffenger find him not there, feek him i' the other place yourself. But, indeed, if you find him not within this month, you fhall nofe him as you go up the ftairs into the lobby. King. Go feek him there. Ham, He will stay 'till you come. [Exeunt Attendants. King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial fafety, Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve For that which thou haft done,-muft fend thee hence The affociates tend, and every thing is bent Ham. For England? Ham. Good. King. So is it, if thou knew'ft our purposes. Ham. I fee a cherub, that fees them. But, come; for England!-Farewel, dear mother. King. Thy loving father, Hamlet. Ham. My mother :-Father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one flefh; and, fo, my mother. Come, for England. [Exit. King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with ipeed aboard; Delay it not, I'll have him hence to-night : 4 With fiery quickness:] Thefe words are not in the quartos. STEEVENS. 5 -the wind at help,] I fuppofe it fhould be read, The bark is ready, and the wind at helm JOHNSON. at belp.] i. c. at hand, ready,-ready to help or aflift you. REMARKS. Away; Away; for every thing is feal'd and done That elfe leans on the affair: Pray you, make haste, [Exeunt Rof. and Guil. And, England! if my love thou hold'ft at aught, (As my great power thereof may give thee fenfe; Since yet the cicatrice looks raw and red After the Danish fword, and thy free awe Pays homage to us) thou may'ft not coldly fet Our fovereign procefs; which imports at full, 7 By letters conjuring to that effect, 6 The present death of Hamlet. Do it England; And thou must cure me: 'Till I know 'tis done, 6 -Set by Our fou'reign process,-] So Hanmer. The others have only fet. JOHNSON. fet Our fovereign process,-] I adhere to the reading of the quarto and folio. To fet, is an expreffion taken from the gamingtable. STEEVENS 7 By letters conjuring-] Thus the folio. The quarto reads, By letters congruing." STEEVENS. The reading of the folio is fupported by the following paffage in The Hyftory of Hamblet, bl. let. “ making the king of England minifter of his maffacring refolution; to whom he propofed to fend him [Hamlet], and by letters defire him to put him to death." So alfo, by a fubfequent line: "Ham. Wilt thou know "The effect of what I wrote ? "Ham. An earnest conjuration from the king, &c." The circumstances mentioned as inducing the king to fend the prince to England, rather than elsewhere, are likewife found in The Hyftory of Hamblet. MALONE. 8 Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin.] This being the termination of a scene, fhould, according to our author's cuffom, be rhymed. Perhaps he wrote, Howe'er my hopes, my joys are not begun. If haps be retained, the meaning will be, 'till I know, 'tis done, I Shall be miferable, whatever befal me. JOHNSON. The |