Hor. Nay very pale.
Ham. And fix'd his eyes upon you?
Hor. Most constantly.
Ham. I would I had been there.
Hor. It would have much amaz'd you.
Ham. Very like, very like: staid it long?
Hor. While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred. All. Longer, longer.
Hor. Not when I saw't.
Ham. His Beard was grisly? no.
Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life,
Ham. I'll watch to Night; perchance 'twill wake again.
Hor. I warrant you it will.
Ham. If it assume my noble Fathers person,
I'll speak to it, though Hell it self should gape
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight;
Let it be treble in your silence still:
And whatsoever else shall hap to night,
Give it an understanding but no tongue;
I will requite your loves; so, fare ye well:
Upon the Platform 'twixt eleven and twelve,
I'll visit you.
All. Our duty to your Honour.
Ham. Your love, as mine to you: farewell.
My Fathers 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 mens eyes.
Enter Laertes and Ophelia.
Laer. My necessaries are imbark'd; Farewell:
And Sister, as the Winds give Benefit,
And Convoy is assistant; do not sleep,
But let me hear from you.
Ophel. Do you doubt that?
Laer. For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favours,
Hold it a fashion and a toy in Blood;
A Violet in the youth of Primy Nature;
Froward, not permanent; sweet not lasting
The suppliance of a minute? No more.
Ophel. No more but so.
Laer. Think it no more:
For nature crescent does not grow alone,
In thews and Bulk: but as his Temple waxes,
The inward service of the Mind and Soul
Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now,
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
The virtue of his fear: 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 sanctity and health of the weole State,
And therefore must his choice be circumscrib'd
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 peculiar Sect and force
May give his saying deed: which is no further,
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your Honour may sustain,
If with too credent ear you list his Songs;
Or lose your Heart; or your chaste Treasure open
To his unmaster'd importunity.
Fear it Ophelia, fear it my dear Sister,
And keep within the rear of your Affection;
Out of the shot and danger of Desire.
The chariest Maid is Prodigal enough,
If she unmask her beauty to the Moon:
Virtue it self scapes not calumnious strokes,
The Canker Galls, the Infants of the Spring
Too oft before the buttons be disclos'd,
And in the Morn and liquid dew of Youth,
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
Be wary then, best safety lies in fear;
Youth to it self rebels, though none else near.
Ophe. I shall th' effect of this good Lesson keep,
As watchmen to my heart: but good my Brother
Do not as some ungracious Pastors do,
Shew me the steep and thorny way to Heaven ;
Whilst like a puff'd and reckless Libertine
Himself, the Primrose path of dalliance treads,
And reaks not his own reade.
I stay too long; but here my Father comes:
A double blessing is a double grace;
Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
Polon. Yet here Laertes? Aboard, aboard for shame, The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are staid for there: my blessing with you;
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 hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy Soul, with hoops of Steel:
But do not dull thy palm, with entertainment
Of each unhatch'd, unfledg'd Comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel: but being in
Bear't that th' opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear; but few thy voice:
Take each mans censure; but reserve thy judgment:
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 cheff in that.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both it self 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.
Polon. The time invites you, go, your servants tend.
Laer. Farewell Ophelia, and remember well
What I have said to you.
Ophe. 'Tis in my memory lock'd,
And you your self shall keep the key of it.
Polon. What is't Ophelia he hath said to you?
Ophe. So please you, something touching the L. Hamlet.
Polon. 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 your self so clearly,
As it behoves my Daughter, and your Honour.
What is between you, give me up the truth?
Ophe. He hath my Lord of late, made many tenders
Of his affection to me.
Polon. Affection, puh. You speak like a green Girl, Unsifted in such perilous Circumstance.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
Ophe. I do not know, my Lord, what I should think.
Polon. Marry I'll teach you; think your self a Baby,
That you have ta'en his tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender your self more dearly;
Or not to crack the wind of the poor Phrase,
Roaming it thus, you'll tender me a fool.
Ophe. My Lord, he hath importun'd me with love, In honourable fashion.
Polon. Ay, fashion you may call it, go to, go to.
Ophe. And hath given countenance to his speech,
My Lord, with all the vows of Heaven.
Polon. Ay, Springes to catch Woodcocks. I do know
When the Blood burns, how Prodigal the Soul
Gives the tongue vows: these blazes, Daughter,
Giving more light than heat; extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a making;
You must not take for fire. For this time Daughter,
Be somewhat scanter of your Maiden presence;
Set your entreatments at a higher rate,
Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, that he is young,
And with a larger tether may he walk,
Than may be given you. In few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows; for they are Brokers,
Not of the eye, which their Investments show:
But mere implorators of unholy Suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bonds,
The better to beguile. This is for all :
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet:
Look to't, I charge you; come your ways.
Ophe. I shall obey my Lord.
Enter Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus.
Ham. The Air bites shrewdly: is it 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: then it draws near the season,
Wherein the Spirit held his wont to walk.
|