Page:Hamlet (1917) Yale.djvu/113
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; 24
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. 28
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! 32
Enter Rosencrants and 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. 37
Exeunt [Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.]
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, 41
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; 44
My soul is full of discord and dismay. Exeunt.
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