Mar. Ber. Longer, longer. Hor. Not when I saw it. Ham. His beard was grizzl'd? no? Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life, A sable silver'd. Ham. I will watch to-night; Perchance, 'twill walk again. Ham. If it assume my noble father's person, All. Our duty to your honour. Ham. Your loves, as mine to you: Farewell. [Exe. HORATIO, MARCELLUS, and Bernardo. My father's spirit in arms! all is not well; I doubt some foul play: 'would, the night were come! SCENE III. [Exit. A Room in POLONIUS' House. Enter LAERTES and OPHELIA. Laer. My necessaries are embark'd; farewell : And, sister, as the winds give benefit, And convoy is assistant, do not sleep, 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 primy nature, Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting, Oph. No more but so? Laer. Think it no more: For nature, crescent, does not grow alone [6] The perfume, and suppliance of a minute; what is supplied to us for a mi nute. The idea seems to be taken from the short duration of vegetable perfume. STEEVENS. In thews, and bulk; but, as this temple waxes, Carve for himself; for on his choice depends And therefore must his choice be circumscrib'd Whereof he is the head: Then if he says he loves you, It fits your wisdom so far to believe it, As he in his particular act and place 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; Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; [7] The virtue of his will means his virtuous intentions. Cautel means craft. So Coriolanus says: "Be caught by cautelous baits and practice." Unmaster'd- i. e. licentious. Do not advance so far as your affection would lead you. MASON. JOHNSON. 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, 2 And you are staid for: There, my blessing with you; Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Bear it that the opposer may beware of thee. 4 But not express'd 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; Lear. Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord. The shoulder of your sail---this is a common sea-phrase. STEEVENS. 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. [4] Censure---opinion. So in K. Henry VI. "The king is old enough to give his censure." STEEVENS. [5] Season, for infuse. WARBURTON.------It is more than to infuse, it is to in fix it in such a manner as that it may never wear out. JOHNSON. Oph. 'Tis in my memory lock'd, And you yourself shall keep the key of it. Laer. Farewell. Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you? [Exit. 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 bounteous. 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 your honour : 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? 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 Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, Wronging it thus,) you'll tender me a fool. Oph. My lord, he hath importun'd me with love, Pol. Ay, fashion you may call it :" go to, go to. lord, With almost all the holy vows of heaven. Pol. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know, Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter, [6] Sifted means tempted. See St. Luke xxxi. 22. HARRIS. JOHNSON. And with a larger tether may he walk, I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, SCENE IV. [Exeunt. 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 Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk. [season, [A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot of, within. What does this mean, my lord? Ham. The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse, 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 : They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase From our achievements, though perform'd at height, [9] Tether is that string by which an animal, set to graze in grounds uninclosed, is confined within the proper limits. JOHNSON. Theobald for bonds substitutes bawds. JOHNSON. B |