To his unmaster'd importunity. Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister; Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Laer. O! fear me not. 34 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, And you are stay'd for. There, my blessing with you; [Laying his Hand on LAERTES' Head. And these few precepts in thy memory Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; 35 And they in France, of the best rank and station, Oph 19 '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. | 87 Pol. Marry, well bethought: 'T is 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 't is put on me, And that in way of caution) I must tell you, Oph. He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders. Pol. Affection? pooh! 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. | Oph. My lord, he hath importun'd me with love, 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 1 Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter, Even in their promise, as it is a making, Be somewhat scanter of Than a command to parley. For lord Hamlet, I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, SCENE IV. 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? Mar. No, it is struck. 10 [Exeunt. [ I think, it lacks of twelve. Hor. Indeed? I heard it not: it then draws near the season, Wherein the spirit held his wonted 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 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. Ham. Ay, marry, is 't: Is it a custom ? But to my mind, though I am native here, More honour'd in the breach, than the observance. [ 39 40 41 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, So, oft it chances in particular men, That for some vicious mole of nature in them, By their o'ergrowth of some complexion, Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason; Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect Shall in the general censure take corruption Look, my lord! it comes, 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, Thou com'st in such a questionable shape, That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee, Hamlet, King, Father, Royal Dane: O! answer me: Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell, With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls? 43 Hor. It beckons you to go away with it, Mar. Look, with what courteous action It waves you to a more removed ground: But do not go with it. Hor. No, by no means, Ham. It will not speak; then, will I follow it. Ham. Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life at a pin's fee; And, for my soul, what can it do to that, It waves me forth again: - I'll follow it. Hor. What, if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff, That beetles o'er his base into the sea, And there assume some other horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, Ham. It waves me still: Go on, I'll follow thee. Hor. Be rul'd: you shall not go. Hold off your hands. My fate cries out, And makes each petty artery in this body [Ghost beckons. [Breaking from them. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me: [Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET. Hor. He waxes desperate with imagination. Mar. Let's follow; 't is not fit thus to obey him, Hor. Have after. To what issue will this come? Mar. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Hor. Heaven will direct it. Mar. Nay, let 's follow him. [Exeunt. | 44 |