Laer.
My necessaries are imbark'd, farewel;
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; tho' 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, 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 doth besmerch(10) ^note

The sanctity and health of the whole State.
And therefore must his choice be circumscrib'd
Unto the voice and yielding of that body,
Whereof he's head. Then if he says, he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it,
As he in his peculiar act and place
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 their 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.

Oph.
I shall th' effects of this good lesson keep,
As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Shew me the steep and thorny way to heav'n;
Whilst, like a puft and careless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads;
And recks not his own reed.

Laer.
Oh, fear me not. Enter Polonius.
I stay too long;—but here my father comes:
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,(11) ^note

And you are staid for. There;—
My Blessing with you; [Laying his hand on Laertes's head.
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 try'd,
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel:
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware
Of Entrance to a quarrel: but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give ev'ry Man thine ear; but few thy voice.
Take each man's censure; but reserve thy judgment,
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not exprest 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 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.
Farewel; my Blessing season this in thee!

Laer.
Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.

Pol.
The time invests you, go, your servants tend.(12) ^note

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

Oph.
'Tis in my mem'ry lockt,
And you your self shall keep the key of it.

Laer.
Farewel. [Exit Laer.

Pol.
What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you?

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 your self
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.

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 your self a baby;
That you have ta'en his tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender your self more dearly;(13) ^note


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

Oph.
My lord, he hath importun'd me with love,
In honourable fashion.

Pol.
Ay, fashion you may call't: go to, go to.

Oph.
And hath giv'n count'nance 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
Lends the tongue vows. These blazes, oh my daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Ev'n in their promise as it is a making,
You must not take for fire. From this time,
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence,
Set your intreatments 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,(14) ^note

Not of that Die which their investments shew,
But meer implorers of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious Bawds,
The better to beguile. This is for all:
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander 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 shall obey, my lord. [Exeunt.

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