Page:Hamlet (1917) Yale.djvu/113

Prince of Denmark, IV. i

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. Ho! 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.

Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends;

And let them know both what we mean to do,

And what's untimely done: [so, haply, slander,

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.

 22 divulging: becoming known

26 mineral: mine

36 fair: courteously

40 so, haply, slander; cf. n.

41 diameter: extent from side to side

42 level: straight

blank: white spot in the centre of a target

44 woundless: invulnerable 