Ho. O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver 1
Ham. What, look'd he frowningiy?

Ho.

In sorrow than in anger.

Ham.

Ho. Nay, very pale.

Ham.

up.

A countenance more

Pale, or red?

And fix'd his eyes upon you?

Ho. Most constantly.

Ham.

I would, I had been there.

Very like,

Ho. It would have much amazed you.
Ham.

Very like stay'd it long?

Ho. While one with moderate haste might tell a

hundred.

Mar. Ber. Longer, longer.

Ho. Not when I saw it.

Ham.

His beard was grizzled? no?

Ho. It was, as I have seen it in his life,

Ham. If it assume my noble father's person, I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape, And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,

If

you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,

Let it be tenable in your silence still;

That part of the helmet which protects the lower part of the face, and may be lifted up.

And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
Give it an understanding, but no tongue;
I will requite your loves: so, fare you well:
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,
I'll visit you.

All.

Our duty to your honor.

Ham. Your loves, as mine to you. Farewell. [Exeunt Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo.

My father's spirit in arms! all is not well;

I doubt some foul play: would, the night were come!

Till then, sit still, my soul! Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's [Exit.

eyes.

SCENE III.

A room in Polonius's 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 favor, Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood;

A violet in the youth of primy nature,
Forward, not permanent; sweet, not lasting;
The perfume and suppliance of a minute;
No more.

Oph. No more but so?

Laer.

Think it no more;

For nature, crescent,1 does not grow alone

In thews and bulk; but, as this temple waxes,
The inward service of the mind and soul
Grows wide withal. Perhaps, he loves you now ;
And now no soil nor cautel 3 doth besmirch 4
The virtue of his will: but you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himself is subject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalued persons do,

Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
The safety and the health of the whole state;
And therefore must his choice be circumscribed
Unto the voice and yielding of that body,
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 farther,
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your honor may sustain,
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart; or your chaste treasure open
To his unmaster'd 5 importunity.

Fear it, Ophelia; fear it, my dear sister;

And keep you in the rear of your affection,

1 Increasing.

3 Subtlety, deceit.

5 Licentious.

2 Muscular strength.

4 Discolor.

Out of the shot and danger of desire.
The chariest1 maid is prodigal enough,
If she unmask her beauty to the moon :
Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes :
The canker galls the infants of the spring,
Too oft before their buttons be disclosed;
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
Be wary then best safety lies in fear:
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.

Oph. I shall the effect of this good lesson keep As watchman to my heart: but, good my brother, Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,

Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven
Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own read.2

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.

Po. 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 [laying his hand on Laertes's head.

you;

Most cautious.

2 Heeds not his own lessons.

And these few precepts in thy memory

Look thou character.1 Give thy thoughts no

tongue,

Nor any unproportion'd thought his act:

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar:

The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade: beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,

Bear it, that the opposed may beware of thee:
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:

Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judg

ment:

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

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 of a most select and generous chief,3 in that:
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;

For loan oft loses both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all;-to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell; my blessing season this in thee!
Laer. Most humbly do I take my leave, my
lord.

1 Inscribe.

2 Opinion.

3 Note, estimation.