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 itself '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 blaftments are most imminent.
Be wary then, beft fafety lies in fear

;

s;

Youth to itself rebels, though none elfe 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,

"Shew me the fleep and thorny way to heav'n;
"Whilft, he a puft and reckless libertine,
"Himfelf the primrofe path of dalliance treads,
“And recks not his own reed †.

Laert. Oh, fear me not.

SCENE VI.

Enter Polonius.

I ftay too long; -but here my father comes.
A double blefling is a double grace;

Occafion fmiles upon a fecond leave.

Pol. Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard for shame; 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 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 referve thy judgment.

effects, for fubftance.

† i. e. heels not his own leffons.

I 2

Cofly

Coftly thy habit as thy purfe 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 station
Are moft felect* 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.
This 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. Most humbly do I take my leave, my Lord. Pol. The time invests 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 yourfelf fhall keep the key of it.

Laer. Farewel.

[Exit Laer.

Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath faid to you?
Oph. So pleafe 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 yourself

Have of your audience been most 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 yourfelf fo clearly,
As it behoves my daughter, and 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 fpeak like a green girl, Unfifted 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 yourself a baby; That you have ta'en his tenders for true pay,

felect, for elegant.
feafn, for infufe.
unfified, for untried.

Which are not sterling. Tender yourfelf more dearly; Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrafe, 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
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,
Ev'n in the promife 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 inveftments 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 leifure,

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.

SCENE VII.

[Exeunt,

Changes to the platform before the palace.

Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus.

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

Ham. What hour now?

Hor. I think it lacks of twelve.

Mar. No, it is ftruck.

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

I 3

Wherein

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 roufe,

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

Hor. Is it a custom?

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 Gloft.

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 observance.

This heavy headed revel eaft and weft,

Makes us traduce'd, and tax'd of other nations;

They clepe us drunkards, and with fwinish phrafe

Soil our addition: and, indeed, it takes

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

So, oft it chances in particular men,

That for fome vicious mole of nature in them,
As, in their birth, (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot chufe his origin),

By the c'e growth of fome complexion,

Oft b eaking down the pales and forts of reafon;
Or by fome habit, that too much o'erleavens
The form of plaufive manners; that thefe men
Carrying, I fay, the ftamp of one defect,
(Being nature s livery, or fortune's scar),
Their virtues elfe, be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo,

Shail in the g neral cenfure take corruption
From that particular fauit. The dram of base
Doth all the noble fubftance of worth out,
To his own feandal.

Enter, &c.

"Tho

*

Thou com'ft in fuch a queftionable fhape, "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, hearfed in earth, Have burft 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, "Revifit'ft thus the glimpfes of the moon,

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

?

"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

Το 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-fhould 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 itself?

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 into the fea;

[Lord?

"And there affume fome other horrible form,

"Which might deprave your fov'reignty of reason, "And draw you into madness? 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 quefiable is meant, inviting quefii.n, provoking question. difpofition, for frame,

toys, for ubims.

"And