Both. Arm'd, my lord.

Ham. From top to toe?

Both. My lord, from head to foot.

Ham. Then faw you not his face?

Hor. Oh, yes, my lord, he wore his beaver up.
Ham. What, look'd he frowningly?

Hor. A count'nance more in forrow than in anger.
Ham. Pale, or red?

Hor. Nay, very pale.

Ham. And fixt his eyes upon you?

Hor. Moft conftantly.

Ham. I would, I had been there!

Hor. It would have much amaz'd you.

Ham. Very like; ftaid it long?

[hundred.

Hor. While one with moderate hafte might tell a

Both. Longer, longer.

Hor. Not when I faw't.

Ham. His beard was grifly?

Hor. It was, as I have feen it in his life,

A fable filver'd.

If

Ham. I'll watch to-night; perchance 'twill walk again.
Hor. I warrant you, it will.

Ham, If it affume my noble father's perfon,
I'll speak to it, tho' hell itself should gape
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
you have hitherto conceal'd this fight,
Let it be treble in your filence still :
And whatsoever fhall befall to-night.
Give it an understanding, but no tongue;
I will requite your loves: fo fare ye well.
Upon the platform 'twixt eleven and twelve
I'll vifit you.

All. Our duty to your honour.

Ham. Your loves, as mine to you: farewel. My father's fpirit in arms! all is not well:

[Exeunt.

I doubt fome foul play; 'would the night were come! 'Till then fit ftill, my foul: foul deeds will rife (Tho' all the earth o'erwhelm them) to men's eyes.

SCENE changes to an Apartment in Polonius's Houfe.

Enter Laertes and Ophelia.

Latr. M. And, fifter, as the winds give benefit,

Y neceffaries are imbark'd, farewel;

And convoy is affistant, do not fleep,

But let me hear from you.

Oph. Do you doubt that?

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

A violet in the youth of prime nature,

Forward, not permanent, tho' fweet, not lafting:
The perfume and fuppliance of a minute:

No more.

Oph. No more but fo?

Laer. Think it no more:

For nature, crefcent, does not go alone

In thews and bulk; but, as this 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 befmerch (10)
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 fanctity and health of the whole state :

(10) And now no foil, nor cautel.] Cautel, from cautela, in its first deriv'd fignification means a prudent firefight or caution: but when we naturalize a Latin word into our tongue, we do not think ourfelves oblig'd to use it in it's precife, native fignification. So here, traductively, 'tis employ'd to mean deceit, craft, infincerity. And in these acceptations we find our Author ufing the adjective fromit, in his Julius Cajar.

Swear priefts, and cowards, and men cautelous.

In the like manner the French use their cauteleux; by which they understand, rufe, trompeur 1 and Minsbew has explain'd the word cautel thus, a erafty way to deceive.

Mr. Warburton.

And

And therefore muft his choice be circumfcrib'd
Unto the voice and yielding of that body,
Whereof he's head. Then, if he says he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it,
As he in his peculiar act and place

May give his faying deed; which is no further,
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh, what lofs your honour may fuftain,
If with to 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 shot and danger of defire.
The charieft maid is prodigal enough,
If the unmask her beauty to the moon:
Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious ftrokes
The canker galls the infants of the fpring,
Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd;
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blaftments are moft imminent.
Be wary then, best safety lies in fear;
Youth to itself 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 primrofe path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own reed.

Laer. Oh, fear me not.

Enter Polonius.

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

Occafion fmiles upon a fecond leave.

Pol. Yet here Laertes! aboard, aboard for fhame; The wind fits in the fhoulder of your fail, (11)

(11) The wind fits in the fhoulder of your fail,

And

And you are faid for there. My bleffing, &c.] Therewhere? in the shoulder of his fail? For to that muft this local adverb relate, as

And you are staid for. There;

My bleffing with you ;

[Laying his handon Laertes' 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.
Coftly thy habit as thy purse 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 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.
This above all; to thine own felf be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be falfe to any man.
Farewel; my bleffing season this in thee!

Laer. Moit humbly do I take my leave, my Lord.

'tis fituated. Befides, it is a dragging idle expletive, and seems of no ufe but to fupport the measure of the verfe. But when we come to point this paffage right, and to the Poet's intention in it, we shall find it neither unneceffary, nor improper, in its place. In the fpeech immediately preceding this, Laertes taxes himself with staying too long; but feeing his father approach, he is willing to ftay for a fecord bleffing, and kneels down to that end: Polonius accordingly lays his hand on his head, and gives him the fecond bleffing. The manner, in which a comic actor behaved upon this occafion, was fure to raise a laugh of pleasure in the audience: and the oldeft quarto's, in the pointing, are a confirmation that thus the Poet intended it, and thus the ftage exprefs'd it.

VOL. VIII.

..F

Pol.

Pol. The time invefts you; go, your fervants tend. (12) Laer. Farewel, Ophelia, and remember well What I have faid.

Oph. 'Tis in my mem'ry lockt,

And you yourself fhall keep the key of it.

Laer. Farewel.

[Exit Laer.

Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath faid to you?
Oph. So please you, fomething touching the Lord
Pol. Marry, well bethought!

'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late

Given private time to you; and you yourself

[Hamlet.

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 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 circumftance.

Do

you believe his tenders, as you call them ?

Oph. I do not know, my Lord, what I should think. Pol. Marry, I'll teach you; think yourself a baby, That you have ta'en his tenders for true pay, Which are not fterling. Tender yourfelfmoredearly; (13) Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,

(12) The time invites you, ] This reading is as old as the first folio; however I fufpect it to have been fubftituted by the players, who did not understand the term which poffeffes the elder quarto's: The time invefts you,

i. e. befieges, preffes upon you on every fide. To inveft a town, is the military phrafe from which our Author borrow'd his metaphor. (13) Tender yourself more dearly;

Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase)

Wronging it thus, you'll tender me a fool.] The parenthefis is clos'd at the wrong place; and we must make likewife a flight correction in the laft verfe. Polonius is racking and playing on the word tender, till he thinks proper to correct himfelf for the licence; and then he would fay not farther to crack the wind of the phrafe by twisting and contorting it, as I have done, &c. Mr. Warburton.

2

Wringing