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And you yourself fhall keep the key of it.

Laer. Farewel.

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

[Exit Laer.

Oph. So pleafe you, fomething touching the Lord Hamlet. Pol. 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 moft free and bounteous.
If it be fo, as fo 'tis put on me,

And that in way of caution, I must tell you,
You do not understand yourself fo 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
Of his affection to me.

many tenders

Pol. Affection! puh! you fpeak like a green girl, Unfifted in fuch perilous circumftance.

Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?

Oph. I do not know, my Lord, what I fhould think. Pol. Marry, I'll teach you. Think yourself a baby, That you have ta'en his tenders for true pay, Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly; Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrafe, Wronging it thus) you'll tender me a fool.

Opb. My Lord, he hath importun'd me with love, In honourable fashion.

Pol. Ay, fafhion you may call't: Go to, go to. Oph. And hath giv'n count'nance to his fpeech, my Lord, With almost all the holy vows of heaven.

Pol. Ay, fpringes to catch woodcocks. I do know, When the blood burns, how prodigal the foul

Lends the tongue vows. These blazes, oh my daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Ev'n in their promife, as it is a making,
You must not take for fire. From this time,
Be fomewhat fcanter of thy maiden prefence;
Set your intreatments at a higher rate

Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe fo much in him, that he is young;
And with a larger tether he may walk,
Than may be given you. In few, Ophelia,

Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments fhew,
But mere implorers of unholy fuits,

Breathing like fanctified and pious bonds,
The better to beguile. This is for all:

I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you fo flander any moment's leifure,

As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you. Come your way.
Oph. I fhall obey, my Lord.

No. XXXI.-HAMLET.

[Exeunt.

ACT II. SCENE IV. The Platform before the Palace. Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus.

HAMLET.

THE air bites fhrewdly, it is 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. I heard it not. It then draws near the feafon

Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.

[Noife of warlike mufic within.

What does this mean, my Lord?

Ham. The King doth wake to-night, and takes his roufe, Keeps waffel, and the fwagg'ring up-fpring reels;

And as he drains his draughts of Rhenifh down,

The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out

The triumph of his pledge.

Hor. Is it a custom?

Ham. Ay, marry is't:

But to my mind, though I am native here,

And to the manner born, it is a custom

More honour'd in the breach than the obfervance.
This heavy-headed revel, eaft and weft,
Makes us traduc'd and tax'd of other nations;
They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase

Soil our addition; and, indeed, it takes

From our atchievements, though perform'd at height, The pith and marrow of our attribute.

So, oft it chances in particular men,

That for fome vicious mole of nature in them,
As in their birth, wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot chufe his origin,

By the o'ergrowth of fome complexion,

Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason;
Or by fome habit, that too much o'erleavens
The form of plaufive manners; that these men
Carrying, I fay, the ftamp of one defect,
Being nature's livery, or fortune's fear,
Their virtues elfe, be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo,

Shall in the general cenfure take corruption
From that particular fault.- -The dram of bafe
Doth all the noble fubftance of worth out,

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To his own fcandal.

Enter Ghoft.

Hor. Look, my Lord, it comes!

Ham. Angels and minifters of

grace

defend us!

Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd,

Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell, Be thy intents wicked or charitable,

Thou com'ft in fuch a questionable shape,

That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee Hamlet,
King, Father, Royal Dane: oh! answer me;
Let me not burft in ignorance; but tell
Why thy canoniz'd bones, hears'd in death,
Have burft their cearments? Why the fepulchre,
Wherein we faw thee quietly h-urn'd,
Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws,
To caft thee up again? What may this mean,
That thou, dead corfe, again, in complete fteel,
Revifit'ft thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous, and us fools of nature,
So horribly to fhake our difpofition

With thoughts beyond the reaches of our fouls?

Say, why is this? Wherefore? What should we do?

[Ghoft beckons Hamlet,

Hor. It beckons you to go away with it,

As if it fome impartment did defire alone.

Το you

Mar. Look, with what courteous action

It waves you off to a removed ground:

But do not go with it.

Hor. By no means.

[Holding Hamlet.

Ham. It will not speak: then I will follow it.

Hor. Do not, my Lord.

Ham. Why, what should be the fear?

I do not fet my life at a pin's fee;

And, for my foul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?

It waves me forth again. I'll follow it

Hor. What, if it tempt you toward the flood, my Lord; Or to the dreadful fummit of the cliff,

That beetles o'er his bafe into the sea ;

And there affume fome other horrible form,

Which might deprive your fovereignty of reafon,
And draw you into madnefs? Think of it.
The very place puts toys of defperation,
Without more motive, into every brain,
That looks fo many fathoms to the sea,
And hears it roar beneath.

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Ham. It waves me ftill.-Go on, I'll follow thee.

Mar. You fhall not go, my Lord.

Ham. Hold off your hands.

Mar. Be rul'd, you shall not go.

Ham. My fate cries out,

And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.

Still am I call'd. Unhand ine, gentlemen

[Breaking from them. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me. I fay, away-Go on-I'll follow thee.

[Exeunt Ghoft and Hamlet.

Hor. He waxes defperate with imagination.
Mar. Let's follow! "Tis not fit thus to obey him.
Hor. Have after.-To what iffue will this come?

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Mar. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Hor. Heaven will direct it.

Mar. Nay, let's follow him.

No. XXXII.-H A M LE T.

[Exeunt.

ACT II. SCENE IV. A remote part of the Platform.

Re-enter Ghoft and Hamlet.

HAMLET.

WHITHER wilt thou lead me? Speak, I'll go no further.

Ghoft. Mark me.

Ham. I will.

Ghoft. My hour is almoft come,

When I to fulphurous and tormenting flames

Muft render up myself.

Ham. Alas, poor Ghost!

Ghoft. Pity me not, but lend thy ferious hearing

To what I fhall unfold.

Ham. Speak, I am bound to hear.

Ghoft. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. Ham. What?

Ghost. I am thy father's fpirit;

Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,

And for the day, confin'd to fast in fires;
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature,

Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid
To tell the fecrets of my prifon-house,

I could a tale unfold, whofe lightest word
Would harrow up thy foul, freeze thy young

blood,

Make thy two eyes, like itars, ftart from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine ;
But this eternal blazon muft not be

To cars of flesh and blood. Lift, lift, oh lift!
If thou didst ever thy dear father ve

Ham. O heaven!

Ghoft.

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