Himself the primrofe path of dalliance treads,
And (6) recks not his own read.

Laer. Oh, fear me not.

SCENE VI.

I ftay too long;

Enter Polonius.

but here

my

father comes:

A double bleffing is a double grace;

Occafion fmiles upon a fecond leave.

Pol. Yet here, Leartes! aboard, aboard for shame; The wind fits in the fhoulder of your fail,

And you are ftaid for. There;

My Bleffing with you;

[Laying his hand on Laertes's bead.

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,
(7) But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarel, but being in,

Bear't that th' oppofer 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 purfe 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.

(6) --recks not bis own read.] That is, heeds not his own leffons.

(7) But do not dull thy palm with entertainment

POPE.

Of each new-batch'd, unfledg'd comrade.] The literal fenfe is, Do not make thy palm callous by fhaking every man by the band. The figurative meaning may be, Do not by promifcuous converfation make tby mind infenfible to the difference of characters.

This above all; to thine own felf be true;
(8) And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be falfe to any man.
Farewel; (9) my Bleffing feason this in thee!

Laer. Moft humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
Pol. (1) The time invites you; go, your feryants

tend.

Laer. Farewel, Ophelia, and remember well What I have faid.

Oph. 'Tis in my mem'ry lock't,

(8) And it must follow as the NIGHT the Day,] The fenfe here requires, that the fimilitude should give an image not of two ef fects of different natures, that follow one another alternately, buť: of a caufe and effect, where the effect follows the caufe by a pbyfical neceffity. For the affertion is, Be true to thyself, and then thou must neceffarily be true to others. Truth to himself then was the cause, truth to others the eff: To illuftrate this neceffity, the speaker employs a fimilitude: But no fimilitude can illustrate it but what prefents an image of a cause and effect; and fuch a caufe as that, where the effects follow by a phyfical, not a moral neceffity for if only, by a moral neceffity the thing illuftrating would not be more certain than the thing illuftrated; which would be a great abfurdity. This being premifed, let us see whate the text fays,

And it must follow as the night the Day.

In this we are fo far from being prefented with an effet following a caufe by a phyfical neceffity, that there is no caufe at all: but only two different effects, proceeding from two different causes, and fucceeding one another alternately. Shakespeare, therefore, without queftion wrote,

And it must follow as the LIGHT the Day.

As much as to fay, Truth to thyfelf, and truth to others, are infeparable, the latter depending neceffarily on the former, as light depends upon the day! where it is to be obferved, that day is ufedfiguratively for the Sun. The ignorance of which, I fuppofe, contributed to mislead the editors. WARBURTON.

(9) my Bleffing season this in thee !] Seafon, for infufe.

WARBURTON.

It is more than to infufe, it is to infix it in fuch a manner as that it never may wear out.

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

i. e. befieges, preffes upon you on every fide. To invest a town, s the military phrafe from which our author borrowed his metaphor.

THEOBALD.

And

And you (2) yourself fhall keep the key of it.

Laer. Farewel.

[Exit Laer. Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath faid to you?

Opb. So please you, fomething 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 moft free and bounteous.
If it be fo, and fo 'tis put on me,

And that in way of caution, I must tell you,
You do not underftand 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 speak like a green girl, (3) Unfifted in fuch perilous circumftance.

Do

you believe his tenders, as you call them?

Oph. I do not know, my Lord, what I fhould 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. (4) Tender yourself more dearly;

Or

(2) —yourself shail keep the key of it.] That is, By thinking on you, I fhall think on your leffons.

(3) Unfifted in fuch perilous circumftance.] Unfifted, for untried. Untied fignifies either not tempted, or not refined; unfifted, fignifies the latter only, though the fente requires the former.

(4) Tender yourself more dearly;

WARBURTON.

Or (not to crack the wind of a poor phrafe) Wronging it thus, you'll tender me a fool.] The parenthesis 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 himself 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.

WARBURTON.

I believe the word turonging has reference, not to the phrafe, but to Opbelia; if you go on wonging it thus, that is, if you continue to go on thus wrong. This is a mode of fpeaking perhaps not very grammatical, but very common, nor have the best writers refuf ed it.

To

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

Oph. My Lord, he hath importun'd me with love,
In honourable paffion.

Pol. Ay, (5) fashion you may call't: Go to, go to. Oph. And hath giv'n count'nance to his fpeech, my Lord,

With almost all the holy vows of heav'n.

Pol. Ay, fpringes to catch woodcocks. I do know, When the blood burns, how prodigal the foul

Lends the tongue vows. Thefe blazes, oh my daugh

ter,

Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Ev'n in their promife as it is a making,
You must not take for fire. From this time,
Be somewhat scanter of thy maiden-prefence,
(6) Set your intreatments at a higher rate,
Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe fo much in him, that he is young;
And with a (7) larger tether he may 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 fhew,
But mere implorers of unholy fuits,

(8) Breathing like fanctified and pious Bonds,

To finner it or faint it, is in Pope. And Rowe -Thus to coy it,

To one who knows you too.

The folio has it,

-roaming it thus,

The

That is, letting yourself loofe to fucb improper liberty. But wronging

seems to be more proper.

(5) fashion you may call 't] She ufes fashion for manner, and

he for a tranfient practice.

(6) Set your intreatments

Intreatments here means company,

converfation, from the French entrétien,

POPE.

(7) larger tether-] A string to tye horses. (8) Bestbing like fanctified and pious Bonds,] On which the editor Mr. Theobald remarks, Tho' all the editions have fwallowed this reading implicitely, it is certainly corrupt; and I bave been furprized bow men of genius and learning could let it pass without fome fufpicion. What ideas can we frame to ourselves of a breathing bond, or of its being fanctified and picus, &c. But he was too hafty in framing ideas

before

The better to beguile. This is for all :

(9) I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, Have you fo flander any moment's leisure,

As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you. Come your way.
Oph. I fhall obey, my Lord.

SCENE VII.

Changes to the Platform before the Palace.

Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus.

[Exeunt.

Ham. The Air bites fhrewdly; 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 ftruck.

Hor. I heard it not. It then draws near the season,

Wherein the Spirit held his wont to walk.

What does this mean, my

[Noife of warlike mufick within. Lord?

Ham. The king doth wake to night, and takes his

roufe,

Keeps waffel, and (1) the fwagg'ring up-fpring reels;

before he understood thofe already framed by the poet, and expreffed in very plain words. Do not believe (fays Polonius to his Daughter) Hamlet's amorous vows made to you; which pretend reHigion in them, the better to beguile,) like thofe fanctified and pious Yows [or bonds] made to beaven. And why should not this pafs without fufpicion ? WARBURTON.

Theobald for bonds fubftitutes bards.

(9) I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,

Have you fo flander any moment's leifure,] The humour of this is fine. The fpeaker's character is all affectation. At laft he fays he will fpeak plain, and yet cannot for his life; his plain fpeech of flandering a moment's leifure being of the like fuftian stuff with the

reft.

WARBURTON.

Here is another fine paffage, of which I take the beauty to be only imaginary. Polonius fays, in plain terms, that is, not in language lefs elevated or embellished than before, but in terms that cannot be mifunderflood: I would not have you difgrace your most idle noxents, as not to find better employment for them than Lord Hamlet's converfation.

(1) the fragg'ring up-fpring] The bluftering upstart.

And