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 itfelf 'fcapes not calumnious ftrokes ;
The canker galls the infants of the fpring,
"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 itself rebels, though none else near.

Oph. I fhall th' effects of this good leffon keep, As watchmen to my heart "But, good my brother. "Do not, as fome ungracious paftors do,

"Show me the fteep and thorny way to heav'n; "Whilft, he a puft and reckless libertine,

"Himfelf the primrose path of dalliance treads, "And recks not his own reed t.

Laert. Oh, fear me not.

SCENE VI.

Enter Polonius.

I ftay too long;

-but here my

father comes.

A double bleffing is a double grace;

Occafion fmiles upon a second leave.

Pol. Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for fhame, The wind fits in the fhoulder of your fail,

And you are ftaid for. There, my bleffing with you; [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 palar 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 referve thy judgment

Coftly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

But not exprefs'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,

And they in France of the best rank and ftation
Are most select * and generous, chief in that.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be:
For loan oft lofes both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
I his above all; to thine own felf be true;
And it must follow, as the light the day,
Thou canst not then be falfe to any man.
Farewel; my bleffing feafon † this in thee!

Laert. Moft humbly do I take my leave, my Lord. Pol. The time inveits you, go, your fervants tend. Laer. Farewel, Ophelia, and remember well

"What I have faid.

Oph. 'Tis in my mem❜ry lock'd,

And you yourself thall keep the key of it.

Lacit. Farewel.

[Exit Laer.

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

Oph. So please you, fomething touching the Lord

Hamlet.

Pol. Marry, weil bethought?

'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you; and you yourself

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 yourself so clearly,
As it behoves my daughter, avd your honour.
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, Unfilted in such perilous circumftance. #

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 yourself a baby;

That you have ta en his tenders for true pay,

felett, for elegant.

+feafon, for infufe. unfifted, for untried.

Which are not sterling

Tender yourself more dearly;

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

Oph. My Lord, he hath importuned 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 With almost all the holy vows of heaven.

[Lord,
Pol. Ay, fpringes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the foul
Lends the tongue vows. These blazes, oh my daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Evin in the promise as it is a-making,

You must not take for fire. From this time,
Be fomewhat fcanter of your maiden-prefence,
Set your intraitments at 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,
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments fhew,
But mere implorers of unholy, fuits,

Breathing like fanctified and pious bonds,
The better to beguile.

This is for all;

I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you fo flander any moment's leisure,

As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you, come your way.
Oph. I fhall obey, my Lord.

[Exeunt,

Changes to the platform before the palace.

Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus,

Ham. The air bites fhrewdly; it is very cold.
Hor. It is a nipping and an eager air.

Ham. What hour now?

Hor. I think it lacks of twelve.

Mar. No, it is truck,

Hor. I heard it not it then draws near the feafon,

Wherein the fpirit held his wont to walk.

[Noife of warlike mufic within.

What does this mean, my Lord?

Ham. The king doth wake to night, and takes his.

route,

Keeps waffe, and the fwagg'ring up-fpring reels;
And as he drains his draughts. of Rhenith down,
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out

The triumph of his pledge.

Hor. Is it a cultom?

Ham. Ay, marry, is't.

But, to my mind, though I am native here,
And to the manner born, it is a custom

More honour'd in the breach, than the observance.
Enter Ghoft.

Hor. Look, my Lord, it comes !

Ham. " Angels and minifters of grace defend us! "Be thou a fpirit of health, or goblin damn'd,

Bring with thee airs from heav'n, or blasts from hell, "Be thy advent wicked or charitable,

than the obfervance.

This heavy-headed revel caft and west,

Makes us traduc'd, and tax'd of other nations;
They clepe us drunkards, and with fwin fh phrafe
Soil our addition: and, indeed, it takes

From our atchievements, though perform'd at he'ght,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.

So. oft it chances in particular men,

That for fome vicios mole of nature in them,
As, in their birth, (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot chufe his ori_in),
Ey the o'ergrowth of fome complexi n,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reafon :
Or by fome habit, that too much o'cleavens
The form of plaufive manners: that these men
Carrying, I fay, the stamp of one defect,
(Being nature's livery, or fortune's fear),
Their virtues elfe, be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo,
Shall in the general cenfure take corruption
From that particular fault. The dram of bafs
Doth all the noble fubftance of worth out,
1o his own fcandal.

Enter, &c.

"Thou com'ft in fuch a questionable shape,
"That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee Hamlet,.

་་

King, father, Royal Dane: oh! answer me; "Let me not burst in ignorance: but tell,

"Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in earth,
"Have burst their cearments? why the fepulchre,,
"Wherein we faw thee quietly inurn'd,
"Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws,
"To caft thee up again? What may this mean?
"That thou, dead corfe, again, in compleat steel,
"Revifits thus the glimpfes of the moon,

66

Making night hideous, and us fools of nature "So horribly to fhake our difpofition t

"With thoughts beyond the reaches of our fouls? Say, why is this! wherefore? what fhould we do?

[Ghoft beckons Hamlet..

Hor. It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it fome impartment did defire.
To you alone.

Mar, Look, with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removed ground.
But do not go with it.

Hor. No, by no means.

[Holding Hamlet...

Ham. It will not speak; then I will follow it.

Hor. Do not, my Lord..

Ham. Why, what should be the fear?

I do not fet my life at a pin's fee;

And, for my foul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itfelf?

It waves me forth again.

-I'll follow it

Hor." What if it tempt you tow'rd the flood, my "Or to the dreadful fummit of the cliff,

"That beetles o'er his bafe unto the fea;

"And there affume some other horrible form,

[Lord?

"Which might deprave your fov'reignty of reason,.
"And draw you into madnefs? think of it.
"The very place puts toys ‡ of desperation,'
"Without more motive, into ev'ry brain,
"That looks fo many fathoms to the fea;

• By questionable, is meant, inviting question, provoking question..
+difpofition, for frame.

toys, for wh.ms.