That

you know aught of me:-This do you swear, So grace and mercy at your most need help you! GHOST. [Beneath.] Swear.

HAM. Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! (1) So, gentle

men,

With all my love I do commend me to you:
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is

May do, to express his love and friending to you,
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together;
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The time is out of joint ;-O cursed spite!
That ever I was born to set it right!

Nay, come, let's go together.

[Exeunt.

friending to you-shall not lack] Disposition to serve you shall not be wanting.

ACT II. SCENE I.

A Room in Polonius's House.

Enter POLONIUS and REYNOLD.

POL. Give him this money, and these notes,

Reynoldo.

REY. I will, my lord.

.

POL. You shall do marvelous* wisely, good 4tos.

Reynoldo,

Before you visit him, to make inquiry

Of his behaviour.

REY.

My lord, I did intend it.

POL. Marry, well said: very well said." Look

you, sir,

Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris;
And how, and who, what means, and where they
keep,

What company, and what expence; and finding,
By this encompassment and drift of question,"
That they do know my son, come you more nearer*
Than your particular demands will touch it:"
Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of him;
As thus, I know his father, and his friends,
And, in part, him ;-Do you mark this, Reynoldo?
REY. Ay, very well, my lord.

a

POL. And, in part, him ;-but, you may say, not well:

⚫ encompassment and drift] Winding and circuitous course. b Than your particular demands will touch it] Than such inquiry into particulars is likely to reach.

marvels, 1623, 32.

neere, 1632.

*Then, O.C.

* I. O.C.

I. O. C. and so throughout the whole.

But, if't be he I mean, he's very wild;
Addicted so and so;-and there put on hima
What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
As may dishonour him; take heed of that;
But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips,
As are companions noted and most known
To youth and liberty.

REY.

As gaming, my lord. POL. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling,

Drabbing:-You may go so far.

REY. My lord, that would dishonour him.
POL. 'Faith, no; as you may season it in the

d

You must not put another scandal on him,

That he is open to incontinency;

That's not my meaning: but breathe his faults so
quaintly,

That they may seem the taints of liberty:
The flash and out-break of a fiery mind;
A savageness in unreclaimed blood,

Of general assault."

C

Ay, my lord,

Faith, no; as you may season it in the charge.] Manage it, by throwing in some qualifying ingredient.

d another scandal, That he is open to, &c.] A different and a further charge; that he is a professed libertine.

e Breathe his faults so quaintly-Of general assault.] Glance with an easy gaiety at his faults, as the mischiefs of too large a range, and the wildness of untamed blood, by which all youth is assailed.

POL.

Marry, sir, here's my drift;
And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant:"
You laying these slight sullies on my son,
As 'twere a thing a little soil'd i'the working,"
Mark you,

с

Your party in converse, him you would sound,
Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes,
The youth you breathe of, guilty, be assur'd,
He closes with you in this consequence;d
Good sir, or so; or friend, or gentleman,-
According to the phrase, or the addition,
Of man, and country. (3)

REY.

Very good, my lord.

POL. And then, sir, does he this,-He doesWhat was I about to say?-By the mass, I was about to say something:*-Where did I leave?

REY. At, closes in the consequence.

POL. At, closes in the consequence,—Ay,marry; He closes with you thus:-I know the gentleman; I saw him yesterday, or t'other day,

Or then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you
say,

There was he gaming; there o'ertook in his rouse;
There falling out at tennis: or, perchance,

I saw him enter such a house of sale,
(Videlicet, a brothel,) or so forth.-

See you now;

Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth:
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,

With windlaces, and with assays of bias,

* fetch of warrant] Device approved.

As 'twere a thing a little soil'd i'the working] As having in his commerce with the world unavoidably contracted some small blemishes.

• Your party in converse] Puttenham uses much the same phrase: "The common conversant." Arte of Poesie, 4to. 1589, p. 251.

with

closes in this consequence] Something to this effect, falls in
you into this conclusion.

⚫ nothing, 1632.

By indirections find directions out;

So, by my former lecture and advice,,

a

Shall you my son: You have me, have you not? REY. My lord, I have.

POL.

God be wi' you; fare you well.

REY. Good my lord,

POL. Observe his inclination in yourself. (5)

REY. I shall, my lord.

POL. And let him ply his musick.

REY.

Well, my lord,

[Exit.

Enter OPHElia.

POL. Farewell!-How now, Ophelia? What's the matter?

OPH. O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!

POL. With what, in the name of heaven?

OPH. My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle; Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; And with a look so piteous in purport,

As if he had been loosed out of hell,

To speak of horrors, he comes before me.

(6)

My lord, I do not know;

What said he?

OPH. He took me by the wrist, and held me hard; Then goes he to the length of all his arm;

You have me] Take, conceive, me.