Page:Hamlet (1917) Yale.djvu/115

Prince of Denmark, IV. iii

Ham. I am glad of it: a knavish speech

sleeps in a foolish ear.

Ros. 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 thing—

Guil. A thing, my lord!

Ham. Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide

fox, and all after.

King. I have sent to seek him, and to find the body.

How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!

Yet must not we put the strong law on him:

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 even,

This sudden sending him away must seem

Deliberate pause: diseases desperate grown

By desperate appliance are reliev'd,

Or not at all.

How now! what hath befall'n?

Ros. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,

We cannot get from him.

 29 The body; cf. n.

32 Hide fox, and all after: signal cry in the game of hide-and-seek  4 distracted: without power of forming logical judgments

6 scourge: punishment

weigh'd: estimated, considered

7 bear: execute

smooth and even: pleasantly and equably

10 appliance: remedy

