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William Shakespeare (1564 -1616). The Oxford Shakespeare. 1914.
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Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Act I. Scene III.

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A Room in POLONIUS' House.
Enter LAERTES and OPHELIA.

	Laertes	My necessaries are embark'd; farewell:
4		And, sister, as the winds give benefit
		And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,
		But let me hear from you.
	Ophelia	Do you doubt that?
8	Laertes	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, sweet, not lasting,
12		The perfume and suppliance of a minute;
		No more.
	Ophelia	No more but so?
	Laertes	Think it no more:
16		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,
20		And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
		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;
24		He may not, as unvalu'd persons do,
		Carve for himself, for on his choice depends
back to top		The safety and the health of the whole state;
		And therefore must his choice be circumscrib'd
28		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
32		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,
36		Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
		To his unmaster'd importunity.
		Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister;
		And keep you in the rear of your affection,
40		Out of the shot and danger of desire.
		The chariest maid is prodigal enough
		If she unmask her beauty to the moon;
		Virtue herself 'scapes not calumnious strokes;
44		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.
48		Be wary then; best safety lies in fear:
		Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.
	Ophelia	I shall th' effect of this good lesson keep,
back to top		As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,
52		Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
		Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,
		Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
		Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
56		And recks not his own rede.
	Laertes	O! fear me not.
		I stay too long; but here my father comes.
		Enter POLONIUS.
60		A double blessing is a double grace;
		Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
	Polonius	Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!
		The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
64		And you are stay'd for. There, my blessing with thee!
		And these few precepts in thy memory
		Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
		Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
68		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
72		Of each new-hatch'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;
76		Take each man¹s censure, but reserve thy judgment.
back to top		Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
		But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
		For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
80		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 itself and friend,
84		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.
88		Farewell; my blessing season this in thee!
	Laertes	Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
	Polonius	The time invites you; go, your servants tend.
	Laertes	Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well
92		What I have said to you.
	Ophelia	'Tis in my memory lock¹d,
		And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
	Laertes	Farewell.  [Exit.]
96	Polonius	What is 't, Ophelia, he hath said to you?
	Ophelia	So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.
	Polonius	Marry, well bethought:
		'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late
100		Given private time to you; and you yourself
back to top		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,
104		You do not understand yourself so clearly
		As it behoves my daughter and your honour.
		What is between you? give me up the truth.
	Ophelia	He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
108		Of his affection to me.
	Polonius	Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,
		Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
		Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
112	Ophelia	I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
	Polonius	Marry, I¹ll teach you: think yourself a baby,
		That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
		Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;
116		Or,--not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
		Running it thus,--you'll tender me a fool.
	Ophelia	My lord, he hath importun'd me with love
		In honourable fashion.
120	Polonius	Ay, fashion you may call it: go to, go to.
	Ophelia	And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
		With almost all the holy vows of heaven.
	Polonius	Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
124		When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
		Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,
back to top		Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
		Even in their promise, as it is a-making,
128		You must not take for fire. From this time
		Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;
		Set your entreatments at a higher rate
		Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
132		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,
136		Not of that dye which their investments show,
		But mere implorators of unholy suits,
		Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
		The better to beguile. This is for all:
140		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 ways.
144	Ophelia	I shall obey, my lord.  [Exeunt.]
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