For he himself is subject to his birth: Whereof he is the head: Then if he says, he loves you, May give his saying deed; which is no further, Or lose your heart; or your chaste treasure open Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister; For he himself, &c.] This line is not in the quarto. Malone. 4 The safety and the health of the whole state;] Thus the quarto, 1604, except that it has-this whole state, and the second the is inadvertently omitted. The folio reads: The sanctity and health of the whole state. This is another proof of arbitrary alterations being sometimes made in the folio. The editor, finding the metre defective, in consequence of the article being omitted before health, instead of supplying it, for safety substituted a word of three syllables. Malone. 5 May give his saying deed;] So, in Timon of Athens: " - the deed of saying is quite out of use." Again, in Troilus and Cressida: "Speaking in deeds, and deedless in his tongue." Malone. unmaster'd-] i. e. licentious. Johnson. 6 7 keep you in the rear &c.] That is, do not advance so far as your affection would lead you. Johnson. 8 The chariest maid-] Chary is cautious. So, in Greene's Never too Late, 1616: "Love requires not chastity, but that her soldiers be chary." Again: "She liveth chastly enough, that liveth charily." Steevens. Contagious blastments are most imminent. Oph. I shall the effect of this good lesson keep, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; Laer. O fear me not. I stay too long;-But here my father comes. Enter POLONIUS. A double blessing is a double grace; Occasion smiles upon a second leave. Pol. Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame; The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,1 And you are staid for: There,-my blessing with you; Look thou charácter. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. 9 recks not his own read.] That is, heeds not his own lessons. Pope. So, in the old Morality of Hycke Scorner: 66 Again, ibidem: I reck not a feder." "And of thy living, I reed amend thee." Again, the old proverb, in The Two Angry Women of Abington, 1599: "Take heed, is a good reed.” i. e. good counsel, good advice. Steevens. 1 the shoulder of your sail,] This is a common sea phrase. 2 And these few precepts in thy memory Steevens. Look thou character,] i. e. write; strongly infix. The same phrase occurs in The Two Gentlemen of Verona : I do conjure thee, "Who art the table wherein all my thoughts "Are visibly charácter'd and engrav'd." ~"Malone. Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel;3 Bear it that the opposer may beware of thee. But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy: For the apparel oft proclaims the man ;6 And they in France, of the best rank and station, 3 Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel;] The old copies read with hoops of steel. I have no doubt that this was a corruption in the original quarto of 1604, arising, like many others, from similitude of sounds. The emendation, which was made by Mr. Pope, and adopted by three subsequent editors, is strongly supported by the word grapple. See Minsheu's Dict. 1617: "To hook or grapple, viz. to grapple and to board a ship." A grapple is an instrument with several hooks to lay hold of a ship, in order to board it. This correction is also justified by our poet's 137th Sonnet: "Why of eyes' falshood hast thou forged hooks, "Whereto the judgement of my heart is ty'd ?” It may be also observed, that hooks are sometimes made of steel, but hoops never. Malone. We have, however, in King Henry IV, P. II: "A hoop of gold to bind thy brothers in." The former part of the phrase occurs also in Macbeth: 66 Grapples you to the heart and love of us." 4 But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Steevens. Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade.] The literal sense is, Do not make thy palm callous by shaking every man by the hand. The figurative meaning may be, Do not by promiscuous conversation make thy mind insensible to the difference of characters. Johnson. 5 each man's censure,] Censure is opinion. So, in King Henry VI, P. II: "The king is old enough to give his censure." Steevens. • For the apparel oft proclaims the man ;] “ A man's attire, and excessive laughter, and gait, shew what he is." Ecclus XIX, ver. 30. Todd. 7 Are most select and generous, chief in that.] I think the whole design of the precept shows that we should read: Are most select, and generous chief, in that. Chief may be an adjective used adverbially, a practice common Neither a borrower, nor a lender be: Laer. Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord. Pol. The time invites you;2 go, your servants tend.3 Laer. Farewel, Ophelia; and remember well What I have said to you. Օրհ. 'Tis in my memory lock'd, And you yourself shall keep the key of it. to our author: chiefly generous. Yet it must be owned that the punctuation recommended is very stiff and harsh. I would, however, more willingly read: And they in France, of the best rank and station, Select and generous, are most choice in that. Let the reader, who can discover the slightest approach towards sense, harmony, or metre, in the original line,— Are of a most select and generous chief, in that, adhere to the old copies. Steevens. The genuine meaning of the passage requires us to point the line thus: Are most select and generous, chief in that. i. e. the nobility of France are select and generous above all other nations, and chiefly in the point of apparel; the richness and elegance of their dress. Ritson. 8 ― of husbandry,] i. e. of thrift; œconomical prudence. See Vol. VII, p. 78, n. 9. Malone. 9 And it must follow, as the night the day,] So, in the 145th Sonnet of Shakspeare: 1 "That follow'd it as gentle day my blessing season this in thee!] Season for infuse. Warburton. It is more than to infuse, it is to infix it in such a manner as that it never may wear out. Johnson. So, in the mock tragedy represented before the king: 66 who in want a hollow friend doth try, 2 The time invites you;] So, in Macbeth: 3 - 66 I go, and it is done, the bell invites me." Steevens. •your servants tend.] i. e. your servants are waiting for you. Johnson. 4 -yourself shall keep the key of it,] The meaning is, that Laer. Farewel. [Exit LAER. Pol. What is 't, Ophelia, he hath said to you? Oph. So please you, something touching the lord Ham let. 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: And that in way of caution,) I must tell you, Oph. He hath, my lord, of late, made many tenders Of his affection to me. Pol. Affection? puh! you speak like a green girl, Oph. I do not know, my lord, what I should think. your counsels are as sure of remaining locked up in my memory, as if yourself carried the key of it. So, in Northward Hoe, by Decker and Webster, 1607: "You shall close it up like a treasure of your own, and yourself shall keep the key of it." Steevens. 5 Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.] Unsifted for untried. Untried signifies either not tempted, or not refined; unsifted signifies the latter only, though the sense requires the former. Warburton. It means, I believe, one who has not sufficiently considered, or thoroughly sifted such matters. M. Mason. I do not think that the sense requires us to understand untempted. "Unsifted in," &c. means, I think, one who has not nicely canvassed and examined the peril of her situation. Malone. That sifted means tempted, may be seen in the 31st verse of the 22d chapter of St. Luke's gospel. Harris. 6 Tender yourself more dearly; Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, Wronging it thus,) you'll tender me a fool.] The parenthesis is closed at the wrong place; and we must have likewise a slight correction in the last verse. [Wringing it, &c.] Polonius is racking |