Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal. Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister; And keep you in the rear of Oph. I shall th' effect of this good lesson keep, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Laer. O! fear me not. I stay too long;-but here my father comes. Enter POLONIUS. A double blessing is a double grace; Occasion smiles upon a second leave. Pol. Yet here, Laertes? aboard, aboard, for shame! The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, And you are stay'd for. There, my blessing with you; [Laying his Hand on LAERTES' Head. And these few precepts in thy memory 7 And RECKS not his own READ.] i. e. And cares not for his own counsel or advice. "Read" was used of old both as a substantive and a verb. Look thou characters. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Beware Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy: And they in France, of the best rank and station, For loan oft loses both itself and friend, What I have said to you. Oph. 'Tis in my memory lock'd, And you yourself shall keep the key of it. 8 Look thou CHARACTER:] i. e. Look thou imprint, as in characters. The folio has, "See thou character." 9- with HOOPS of steel ;] Malone would substitute hooks for "hoops," without any authority. The oldest quarto has, " with a hoop of steel," and all the others, and the folios, "with hoops of steel." Lower down the quartos have courage for "comrade," and the folio unhatch'd for "new-hatch'd." 1 Are of a most select and generous CHIEF in that.] The meaning perhaps is, "Are of a most select and generous rank and station, chiefly in that." Malone, however, thought that "chief" might here be used as in heraldry. 2 The time INVITES you :] Every quarto but the first, where the passage is wanting, has, "The time incests you :" the folio "invites." Laer. Farewell. [Exit LAERTES. Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you? Oph. So please you, something touching the lord Hamlet. Pol. Marry, well bethought: 'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late Given private time to you; and you yourself Have of your audience been most free and bounteous. And that in way of caution) I must tell you, Oph. He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders Of his affection to me. Pol. Affection? pooh! you speak like a green girl, Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. Do you believe his tenders, as you call them? Oph. I do not know, my lord, what I should think. Pol. Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby; That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay, Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly; Or, not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, Wronging 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 it; go to, go to. Oph. And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, With almost all the holy vows of heaven1. Pol. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know, 3 WRONGING it thus,] The folios read, "Roaming it thus," and the quartos, 1604, &c. "Wrong it thus." Possibly the true reading may have been, “Running it thus." Warburton printed " Wringing it thus," and Coleridge (Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 217) suspected that "wronging" was used much in the same sense as wringing or wrenching. 4 With almost all the holy vows of heaven.] The folio reads poorly, and lamely, "With all the vows of heaven." Our text is that of the quartos. When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, [Exeunt. * LENDS the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,] The folio has Gires for "Lends" of all the quartos: the last is to be preferred, if on no other account, because the next line begins with "Giving." Coleridge did not doubt (Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 217) " that a spondee had dropped out in this line," but we have had many previous examples of eight-syllable lines, and the old copies are uniform in the text. * FROM this time,] So the quartos, 1604, &c. "Fire" is to be read as a dissyllable: the folio has, "For this time, daughter," which is clearly wrong. 7 Not of THAT DIE-] So every quarto but that of 1603, which does not contain the passage. The folios, "Not of the eye," probably a mere misprint: the "die" has reference to the "investments," or vestments. 8 — and pious BONDS,] Theobald, with great plausibility, and with reference to "brokers " just above, read bawds for "bonds ;" but as the text is intelligible without alteration, we make none. - any moment leisure,] i. e. any leisure moment. The old copies, quarto and folio, are uniform in this text, and modern editors uniform in varying from it. At the same time it is to be admitted, that "any moment's leisure " would not be objectionable, if change were required. SCENE IV. The Platform. Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS. Ham. The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold. Hor. It is a nipping, and an eager air. Ham. What hour now? Hor. Mar. No, it is struck. I think, it lacks of twelve. Hor. Indeed? I heard it not: it then draws near the season, Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk. [A Flourish of Trumpets, and Ordnance shot off, within'. What does this mean, my lord? Ham. The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse, Keeps wassel, and the swaggering up-spring reels; Hor. Ham. Ay, marry, is't : Is it a custom ? But to my mind, though I am native here, More honour'd in the breach, than the observance. 10 it is very cold.] So all the quartos, and no doubt rightly. The folio absurdly makes it a question, " is it very cold?" after Hamlet has himself complained that" the air bites shrewdly." 1.. and Ordnance shot off, within.] The folios have no stage-direction here: in the quarto, 1604, it is, "and 2 pieces go off :" perhaps the theatre had only two pieces belonging to it. 2 This heavy-headed revel, east and west] This and the twenty-one following lines are not in the folio, nor is there any trace of them in the quarto, 1603, but they are inserted in all the other quarto editions. Possibly they never |