Hora. O yes my lord, hee wore his beauer vp.
Ham. What look't hee frowningly?

Hora. A countenance more in forrow then in anger.
Ham. Pale or red?

Hora. Nay very pale.

Ham. And fixt his eyes vpon you?

Hora. Moft conftantly.

Ham. I would I had beene there.

Hora. It would haue much amaz'd you.

Ham. Very like: ftaid it long?

Hora. While one with moderate haft might tell a hundreth,

Both. Longer, longer.

Hora. Not when I faw't.

Ham. His beard was grifs'ld, no.

Hora. It was as I haue feene it in his life

A fable filuer'd.

Ham. I will watch to night

Perchance twill walke againe.

Hora. I warn't it will.

Ham. If it affume my noble fathers perfon,
Ile fpeake to it though hell it felfe should gape
And bid mee hold my peace; I pray you all
If you haue hetherto conceald this fight
Let it be tenable in your filence ftill,
And whatfoeuer els fhall hap to night,
Giue it an vnderstanding but no tongue,
I will requite your loues, fo fare you well:
Vpon the platforme twixt a leauen and twelue.
Ile vifit you.

All. Our duety to your homor.

Ham. Your loues as mine to you, farewell.

My fathers fpirit (in armes) all is not well,

Exeunt.

I doubt fome foule play, would the night were come,

Till then fit ftill my foule, foule* deedes will rife
Though all the earth ore-whelme them to mens eyes,

Enter Laertes and Ophelia his fifter.

Laer. My neceffaries are inbarckt, farewell,

And fifter as the winds giue benefit

And conuay, in affistant, do not sleepe

But let me heare from you.

Ophe. Doe you doubt that?

Laer. For Hamlet and the trifling of his fauour,

Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood,

A violet in the youth of primy † nature,
Forward, not permanent, fweet, not lafting.
The perfume and fuppliance of a minute
No more.

Ophe. No more but fo.

Laer. Thinke it no more.

For nature creffant does not grow alone,
In thewes and bulkes, but as this temple waxes
The inward feruice of the mind and foule
Growes wide withall, perhaps hee loues you now,
And now no foyle nor cautell doth befmerch
The vertue of his will, but you must feare,
His greatnes waid, his will is not his owne,
He may not as vnualewed perfons doe,
Craue for himselfe, for on his choife depends
The fafety and health of this whole state,
And therefore muft his choife be circumfcrib'd,

Vnto the voyce and yeelding of that body,

Whereof he is the head, then if he faies he loues you,
It fits your wifdome so farre to beleeue it

As he in his particuler act and place

Exit.

*fond. + prime.

carue,

May

May giue his faying deede, which is no further,
Then the maine voyce of Denmarke goes withall.
Then way what loffe your honor may sustaine,
If with too credent eare you lift his fongs

Or loofe your heart, or your chaft treasure open,
To his vnmaftred importunity.

Feare it Ophelia, feare it my deare sister,
And keepe you in the reare of your affection
Out of the fhot and danger of defire,
"The charieft maide is prodigall enough
If she vnmaske her beauty to the moone
"Vertue it felfe fcapes not calumnious strokes
"The canker gaules the infant of the spring
Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd,
And in the morne and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blaftments are most iminent,
Be wary then, best safety lies in feare,

Youth to it felfe rebels though none else neare.

Ophe. I fhall the effect of this good lesson keepe,
As watchmen to my heart: but good my brother
Doe not as fome vngracious pastors doe,

Show me the fteepe + and thorny way to heauen
Whiles a puft, and reckles libertine,

Himselfe the primrose path of dalience treads.
And reakes not his owne reed.

Enter Polonius.

Laer. O feare me not,

I stay too long, but heere my father comes

A double bleffing, is a double grace,

Occafion fmiles vpon a fecond leaue.

Pel. Yet here Laertes? a bord, a bord for fhame,

The wind fits in the fhoulder of your faile,
And you are staied for, there my bleffing with thee,
And these few precepts in thy memory

Looke thou character, giue thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any vnproportion'd thought his act,

Be thou familier, but by no meanes vulgar,
Those friends thou haft and their adoption tried,
Grapple them vnto thy foule with hoopes of steele,
But do not dull thy palme with entertainement
Of each new hatcht vnfledgd courage; beware
Of entrance to a quarrell, but beeing in,

*

Bear't that th' oppofer may beware of thee.

Giue euery man thy eare, but few thy voyce,
Take each man's cenfure, but referue thy iudgement.
Coftly thy habite as thy purfe can buy,

But not expreft in fancy; rich not gaudy,

For the apparrell oft proclaimes the man :

And they in France of the best ranck and station,

Art of a most select and generous, cheefe in that :
Neither a borrower nor a lender boy,

For loue oft loofes both it felfe, and friend,

And borrowing dulleth ‡ the § edge of husbandry:
This aboue all, to thine owne felfe be true
And it must follow as the night the || day
Thou canst not then bee falfe to any man :
Farewell, my blefling season this in thee.

Laer. Most humbly do I take my leaue my lord.

Pol. The time inuefts you, goe, your feruants tend.
Laer. Farewell Ophelia, and remember well

What I haue faid to you.

Ophe. Tis in my memory lockt

And you your felfe fhall keepe the key of it.

Laer. Farewell.

opposed. tor. dulls. the omitted,

Pol. What ift Ophelia hee hath faid to you?

Ophe. So please you, fomething touching the lord Hamlet. Pol. Marry well bethought

Tis told me hee hath very oft of late

Giuen priuate time to you, and you your felfe

Haue of your audience beene most free and bountious,

If it be fo, as fo tis put on me,

And that in way of caution, I must tell you,
You doe not vnderstand your felfe fo cleerely
As it behooues my daughter and your honor,
What is betweene you giue me vp the truth.

Ophe. He hath my lord of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me.

Pol. Affection, puh, you fpeake like a greene girle, Vnfifted in fuch perrilous circumstance,

Doe you belieue his tenders, as you call them?

Ophe. I doe not know my lord what I should thinke.
Pol. Marry I will teach you, thinke your felfe a babie,
That you haue tane these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling: tender your felfe more dearely
Or (not to crack the winde of the poore phrase)
Wrong it thus*, youle tender me a foole.

Ophe. My lord he hath importun'd me with louc
In honorable fashion.

Pol. I, fashion you may call it, go to, go to.
Ophe. And hath giuen countenance to his speech
My lord, with almost all the holy vowes of heauen.

Pol. I, fpringes to catch wood-cocks, I doe know
When the blood burnes, how prodigall the foule
Lends the tongue vowes, thefe blazes daughter
Giuing more light then heate, extinct in both
Euen in their promise, as it is a making
You must not tak't† for fire: from this time

The parenthefis in the first edition takes in as far as, thus) † rate.

Be