Laer. Farewell, Ophelia : and remember well What I have said to you. Oph.

'Tis in my memory lock’d, And you yourself shall keep the key of it.? Laer. Farewell.

[Exit LAERTES. Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you

? Oph. So please you, something 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 bounte

ous :

your honour :

If it be so, (as so 'tis put on me,
And that in way of caution,) I must tell you,
You do not understand yourself so clearly,
As it behoves my daughter, and
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 speak like a green girl, Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. Do you believe his tenders, as you call them? Ꭰ

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 these tenders for true pay, Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more

dearly;"

7

8

i-yourself shall keep the key of it.] i. e. your counsels are as sure of remaining locked up in my memory, as if yourself carried the key of it.

Unsifted-] Unsifted for untried. Untried signifies either not tempted, or not refined; unsifted signifies the latter only, though the sense requires the

former. Tender yourself more dearly;] To tender is to regard with affection.

9

Or, (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Wronging it thus,) you'll tender me a fool.

Oph. My lord, he hath impórtun'd me with love, In honourable fashion.

Pol. Ay, fashion you may call it;' go to, go to. Oph. And hath given countenance to his speech,

my lord,

With almost all the holy vows of heaven.

Pol. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat,-extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a making -
You must not take for fire. From this time,
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;
Set your entreatments’ at a higher rate,
Than a command to parley. For lord Hamlet,
Believe so 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 die which their investments show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bonds,
The better to beguile. This is for all,
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment's leisure,
As to give words or talk with the lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you ; come your ways.
Oph. I shall obey, my lord.

[Exeunt.

4

fashion
you may

call it ;] She uses fashion for manner, and he for a transient practice.

2 Set your entreatments —] i. e. the objects of entreaty; the favours for which lovers sue.

3 Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers -] A broker in old English meant a bawd or pimp.

4 Breathing like sanctified and pious bonds,] i.e. bonds or engagements of love.

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SCENE IV.

5

The Platform.
Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS.
Ham. The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.
Hor. It is a nipping and an eager air."
Ham. What hour now?
Hor.

I think, it lacks of twelve.
Mar. No, it is struck.
Hor. Indeed? I heard it not; it then draws near

the season, Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk. [A Flourish of Trumpets, and Ordnance shot

off, within. What does this mean, my lord?

Ham. The king doth wake to-night, and takes Keeps wassel," and the swaggering up-spring® 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 native here, And to the manner born,-it is a custom More honour'd in the breach, than the observance. This heavy-headed revel, east and west, Makes us traduc'd, and tax'd of other nations :

his rouse,

6

an eager air.] That is, a sharp air, aigre, Fr.

takes his rouse,] A rouse is a large dose of liquor, a debauch. 7 Keeps wassel,] i.e. devotes the night to jollity.

the swaggering up-spring - The blustering upstart. 9 This heavy-headed revel, east and west,] This heavy-headed revel makes us traduced east and west, and taxed of other nations,

N?

8

១

They clepe us, drunkards, and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition; and, indeed it takes
From our achievements, though perform’d at height,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.'
So, oft it chances in particular men,
That, for some vicious mole of nature in them,
As, in their birth, (wherein they are not guilty,
Sinoe nature cannot choose his origin,)
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason;
Or by some habit, that too much o'er-leavens
The form of plausive manners; —that these men,-
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect;
Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,
Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo,)'
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault: The dram of base
Doth all the noble substance often dout,
To his own scandal.

6

Enter Ghost. Hor.

Look, my lord, it comes ! * The pith and marrow of our attribute.] The most valuable part of the praise that would be otherwise attributed to us.

2 complexion,] i.e. humour ; as sanguine, melancholy, phlegmatick, &c.

that too much o'er-leavens The form of plausive manners;] That intermingles too much with their manners; infects and corrupts them. Plausive, in poet's age, signified gracious, pleasing, popular.

-fortune's star,] The word star in the text signifies a scar of that appearance. It is a term of farriery: the white star or mark so common on the forehead of a dark coloured horse, is usually produced by making a scar on the place. Ritson.

$ As infinite as man may undergo,)] As large as can be accumulated

our

Ham. Angels and ministers of grace defend us ! Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd, Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell, Be thy intents wicked, or charitable, Thou com’st in such a questionable shape, That I will speak to thee; I'll call thee, Hamlet, King, father, royal Dane: 0, answer me: Let me not burst in ignorance! but tell, Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death, Have burst their cerements !8 why the sepulchre, Wherein we saw thee quietly in-urn'd, Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws, To cast thee up again! What may this mean, That thou, dead corse, again, in complete steel, Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon, Making night hideous; and we fools of nature, So horridly to shake our disposition,' With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls ? Say, why is this ? wherefore? what should we do?

,

7

8

-questionable shape,] Questionable means here propitious to conversation, easy and willing to be conversed with.

tell,
Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death,

Have burst their cerements!] Hamlet, amazed at an apparition, which, though in all ages credited, has in all ages been considered as the most wonderful and most dreadful operation of supernatural agency, enquires of the spectre, in the most emphatick terms, why he breaks the order of nature, by returning from the dead ; this he asks in a very confused circumlocution, confounding in his fright the soul and body. Why, says he, have thy bones, which with due ceremonies have been entombed in death, in the common state of departed mortals, burst the folds in which they were embalmed? Why has the tomb, in which we saw thee quietly laid, opened his mouth, that mouth which, by its weight and stability, seemed closed for ever? The whole sentence is this: Why dost thou appear,

whom know to be dead? JOHNSON. 9 in complete steel,] It is probable, that Shakspeare introduced his Ghost in armour, that it might appear more solemn by such a discrimination from the other characters: though it was really the custom of the Danish kings to be buried in that manner.

to shake our disposition,] Disposition for frame,

we

9

a