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Hor. I warrant you, it will.

Ham. If it affume my noble father's perfon,
I'll speak to it, tho' hell it self should gape
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
If you have hitherto conceal'd this fight,
Let it be treble in your filence ftill :
And whatsoever fhall befall to night,
Give it an understanding, but no tongue;
I will requite your loves: fo, fare ye well.
Upon the platform 'twixt eleven and twelve
I'll vifit you.

All. Our duty to your Honour.

Ham. Your loves, as mine to you: farewel. My father's Spirit in arms! all is not well :

[Exeunt.

I doubt fome foul play: 'would, the night were come! 'Till then fit ftill, my foul: foul deeds will rife (Tho' all the earth o'erwhelm them) to men's eyes.

(Exit.

SCENE changes to an Apartment in Polonius's

Laer.

Houfe.

Enter Laertes and Ophelia.

And, fifter, as the winds give benefit,

Y neceffaries are imbark'd, farewel;

And Convoy is affiftant, do not fleep,

But let me hear from you.

Oph. Do you doubt That?

Laer. For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour, Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood s

A violet in the youth of primy nature,

Forward, not permanent, tho' fweet, not lafting;
The perfume, and fuppliance of a minute;
No more.

Oph. No more but fo?

Laer. Think it no more:

For Nature, crefcent, does not grow alone

In thews and bulk; but, as this Temple waxes,

The inward fervice of the mind and foul

Grows

Grows wide withal. Perhaps, he loves you now;
And now no foil, nor cautel, doth befmerch
The virtue of his will: but you must fear,
His Greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own:
For he himself is fubject to his Birth

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He may not, as unvalued perfons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
"The fanctity and health of the whole State:
And therefore must his choice be circumfcrib'd
Unto the voice and yielding of that body,
Whereof he's head. Then, if he fays, he loves you,
It fits your wisdom fo far to believe it,
As he in his peculiar act and place

May give his Saying deed; which is no further,
Than the main voice of Denmark. goes withal.
Then weigh, what lofs your Honour may sustain,
If with too credent ear you lift his fongs

Or lofe your heart, or your chafte treasure open
To his unmafter'd importunity.

;

Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear fifter
And keep within the rear of your affection,
Out of the fhot and danger of defire.
The charieft maid is prodigal enough,
If the unmask her beauty to the moon:
Virtue it felf 'fcapes not calumnious ftrokes ;
The canker galls the Infants of the Spring,
Too oft before their buttons be difclos'd;
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
Be wary then, beft fafety lies in fear;
Youth to it felf rebels, though none else near.
Oph. I fhall th' effects of this good leffon keep,
As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,
Do not, as fome ungracious paftors do,
Shew me the steep and thorny way to heav'n;
Whilft, like a puft and careless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own reed.

Laer. Oh, fear me not.

Enter

'I stay too long;

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Enter Polonius.

but here my father comes:

A double Bleffing is a double grace;

Occafion fmiles upon a fecond leave.

Pol. Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard for fhame: The wind fits in the shoulder of your fail, (6)

And you are ftaid for.

My Bleffing with you;

There;

[Laying his hand on Laertes's head.

And these few precepts in thy memory

See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act:

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar;
The friends thou haft, and their Adoption try'd,
Grapple them to thy foul with hooks of steel:
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware
Of Entrance to a quarrel; but being in,
Bear't that the oppofed may beware of thee.
Give ev'ry Man thine ear; but few thy voice.
Take each man's cenfure; but reserve thy judgment:

(6) The Wind fits in the Shoulder of your Sail,

And you are ftay'd for there. My Blessing, &c.] Therewhere in the Shoulder of his Sail? For to That muft this local Adverb relate, as 'tis fituated. Befides, it is a dragging idle Expletive, and seems of no Ufe but to support the Meafure of the Verfe. But when we come to point this Paffage right, and to the Poet's Intention in it, we shall find it neither unneceffary, nor improper, in its Place. In the Speech immediately preceding this, Laertes taxes himself for staying too long; but feeing his Father approach, he is willing to stay for a second Blessing, and kneels down to that end: Polonius accordingly lays his hand on his Head, and gives him the second Bleffing. The Manner, in which a Comic Actor behav'd upon this Occafion, was fure to raise a Laugh of Pleasure in the Audience: And the oldeft Quarto's, in the Pointing, are a Confirmation that thus the Poet intended it, and thus the Stage express'd it.

Coftly

Coftly thy habit as thy purfe can buy,
But not expreft in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and generous, chief in That.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;
For Loan oft lofes both it felf and friend:
And Borrowing dulls the edge of Husbandry.
This above all; to thine own felf be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be falfe to any man.
Farewel; my Bleffing feafon this in thee!
Laer. Moft humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
Pol. The time invefts you; go, your fervants tend. (79
Laer. Farewel, Ophelia, and remember well

What I have faid.

Oph. 'Tis in my mem'ry lockt,

And you your

felf fhall keep the key of it.

Laer. Farewel.

[Exit Laer.

Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath faid to you?

Oph. So please you, fomething touching the lord Hamlet.

Pol. Marry, well bethought!

'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late

Given private time to you; and you your

felf

Have of your audience been moft free and bounteous.

If it be fo, (as fo 'tis put on me,

And that in way of caution,) I must tell you,
You do not understand your felf fo clearly,
As it behoves my daughter, and your honour.

(7) The Time invites You, -] This Reading is as old as the firft Folio; however I fufpect it to have been fubftituted by the Players, who did not understand the Term which poffeffes the elder Quarto's:

The Time invefts you,

i. e. besieges, preffes upon you on every Side. To invest a Town,' is the military Phrase from which our Author borrow'd his Metaphor.

What

What is between you? give me up the truth.

Oph. He hath, my lord, of late, made many tenders Of his Affection to me.

Pol. Affection! puh! you speak like a green girl, Ufifted in fuch perilous circumstance.

Do

you believe his tenders, as you call them?

Oph. I do not know, my lord, what I fhould think. Pol. Marry, I'll teach you; think your self a baby; have ta'en his tenders for true pay,

That you

Which are not sterling. Tender your felf more dearly; (8)

Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Wringing it thus) you'll tender me a fool.

Oph. My lord, he hath importun'd me with love,
In honourable fashion.

:

Pol. Ay, fashion you may call't go to, go to. Oph. And hath giv'n count'nance to his fpeech, my lord,

With almost all the holy vows of heaven.

Pol. Ay, fpringes to catch woodcocks. I do know, When the blood burns, how prodigal the foul Lends the tongue vows. Thefe blazes, oh my daughter, Giving more light than heat, extinct in both, Ev'n in their promife as it is a making, You must not take for fire. From this time, Be fomewhat fcanter of your maiden-prefence, Set your intreatments as a higher rate, Than a command to parley. For lord Hamlet, Believe fo much in him, that he is young; And with a larger tether he may walk, Than may be given you. In few, Ophelia,

(8) Tender your self more dearly;

Or (not to crack the Wind of the poor Phrase) Wronging it thus, you'll tender me a Fool. The Parenthefis is clos'd at the wrong place; and we muft make likewife a flight Correction in the laft Verfe. Polonius is racking and playing on the Word Tender, 'till he thinks proper to correct himself for the Licence; and then he would fay ther to crack the Wind of the Phrafe by twisting and contort ing it, as I have done; c.

Vo L. VIII.

F

not far

Mr. Warburton.
Do

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