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! get 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. &plquo;Give thy thoughts no tongue,
&plquo;Nor any unproportion'd thought his act:
&plquo;Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar;
&plquo;The friends thou hast, and their adoption try'd,
&plquo;Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel:
&plquo;But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
&plquo;Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware
&plquo;Of Entrance to a quarrel: but being in,
&plquo;Bear't that th' opposed may beware of thee.
&plquo;Give ev'ry man thine ear; but few thy voice.
&plquo;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:
A 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 invites you, go, your servants tend.

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 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;
Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,)
Wronging 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 highter rate,
Than a command to parley. For lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, that he is young;
And with a larger † ^notetether may he walk,
Than may be given you. In few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
^{i note}Not of that die which their investments shew,
But meer implorers 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'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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