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SCENE

V.

An Apartment in Polonius's Houfe.

Laer. MY

Enter Laertes and Ophelia.

Y neceffaries are imbark'd, farewel;
And, fifter, as the winds give benefit
And convoy is affiftant, do not sleep,

But let me hear from you.

Oph. Do you doubt that?

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

A violet in the youth of primy nature,
Forward, not permanent; tho' fweet, not lafting;
The perfume, and fuppliance of a minute;

No more.

Opb. No more but fo?

Laer. Think it no more:

For nature crefcent does not grow alone

In thewes and bulk; but as the temple waxes,
The inward fervice of the mind and foul

Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now,
And now no foil nor cautel doth befmirch
The virtue of his will: but you must fear,
His greatnefs weigh'd, his will is not his own:
For he himself is fubject to his birth;
He may not, as unvalued perfons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
The 'fanity and health of the whole ftate:
And therefore muft his choice be circumfcrib'd
Unto the voice and yielding of that body

3

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

2 this

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3 fanctity... old edit. Warb, emend.

May give his faying deed; which is no further,
Than the main voice of Denmark goes

withal. honour sustain,

may

Then weigh what lofs
your
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 chariest 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 blaftments are most imminent.
Be wary then, beft safety lyes 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.

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my

father comes:

I ftay too long;--but here

A double bleffing is a double grace;

Occafion fmiles upon a fecond leave.

Pol. Yet here, Laertes! get aboard for fhame,

The wind fits in the fhoulder of your fail,

And you are ftaid for. There--my bleffing with you;

And these few precepts in thy memory

See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,

Nor

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 fteel:
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 th' oppofed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear; but few thy voice.
Take each man's cenfure; but referve thy judgment.
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 felect 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 false to any man.
Farewel; my bleffing feafon this in thee!

Laer. Moft humbly do I take my leave, my Lord.
Pol. The time invites you, go; your fervants tend.
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.

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

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[Exit Laer.

Opb. 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 self

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

As it behoves my daughter, and your honour.
What is between you? give me up the truth.

Opb. He hath, my Lord, of late, made many tenders Of his affection to me.

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

Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?

Opb. I do not know, my Lord, what I fhould think. Pol. Marry I'll teach you; think your self a baby, That you have ta'en his tenders for true pay, Which are not sterling. Tender your felf 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 importun'd me with love,
In honourable fashion.

Pol. Ay, fafhion 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 scanter of your maiden presence,
Set your intreatments at a higher rate,

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Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe fo much in him, that he is young;
And with a larger tether may he 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 meer implorers of unholy fuits,

Breathing like fanctified and pious 'bawds,

The

(a) Intreatments is the fame as Treatments and fignifies bere, the

manner of your being treated by him.

4 Wronging...old edit. Warb. emend. 5 Bonds... old edit. Theob, emend.

The better to beguile. This is for all:

I would not in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so flander any moment's leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you; come your way.
Opb. I fhall obey, my Lord.

Ham.

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[Exeunt.

Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus.
HE air bites fhrewdly; it is very cold.
Hor. It is a nipping and an eager air.

THE

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

Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.

[Noife of warlike musick within.

What does this mean, my Lord?

[rowfe,

Ham. The King doth wake to-night, and takes his

Keeps waffel, and the fwagg'ring upstart reels;

And as he drains his draughts of Rhenish 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 a native here

And to the manner born, it is a custom

More honour'd in the breach, than the obfervante.

VOL. VI.

Y

Enter

(a) Thefe 20 lines following are in the first edition, but fince left out,

perhaps as being thought too verboje.

This heavy-headed revel, eaft and west,

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

They clepe as drunkards, and with fwinifh phrafe
Soil our addition; and indeed it takes

From

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