Thou canst not then be falfe to any man.
Farewell: my bleffing season this in thee!

Laer. Moft humbly do I take my leave, my lord. Pol. The time invites you: go, your fervants tend 3.

Laer. Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well What I have faid to you.

Oph. 'Tis in my memory lock'd,

And you yourself shall keep the key of it.

Laer. Farewell.

And it must follow, as the night the day.

[Exit Laer. Pol.

In this we are fo far from being prefented with an effect following a caufe by a phyfical necefiity, that there is no caufe at all but only two different effects, proceeding from two different caufes, and fucceeding one another alternately. Shakefpeare, therefore, without queftion wrote,

And it must follow, as the LIGHT the day.

As much as to fay, Truth to thyfelf, and truth to others, are infeparable, the latter depending neceffarily on the former, as light depends upon the day; where it is to be obferved, that day is ufed figuratively for the fun. The ignorance of which, I fup. pofe, contributed to mislead the editors. WARBURTON.

And it must follow, as the night the day.

This note is very acute, but the common fucceffion of night to day was, I believe, all that our author meant to make Polonius think of, on the prefent occafion. STEEVENS.

-my bleffing feafon this in thee !] Seafon, for infufe.

WARBURTON.

It is more than to infufe, it is to infix it in fuch a manner as that it never may wear out. JOHNSON.

2 The time invites you:-] This reading is as old as the first folio; however, I fufpect it to have been fubftituted by the players, who did not understand the term which poffeffes the elder quartos:

The time invefts you;

i. e. besieges, preffes upon you on every fide. To invest a town, is the military phrafe from which our author borrowed his metaphor. THEOBALD.

for

Either reading may ferve. Macbeth fays,

"I go, and it is done, the bell invites me." STEEVENS. your fervants tend.] i. e. your fervants are waiting you. JOHNSON.

3

4

-yourself fhall keep the key of it.] That is, By thinking on you, I shall think on your leffons. JOHNSON.

The

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

Oph. So please 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 many

tenders

Of his affection to me.

Pol. Affection! puh! you fpeak like a green girl, 5 Unfifted in fuch perilous circumstance.

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 these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. 6 Tender yourself more

dearly;

Or

The meaning is, that your counfels are as fure of remaining locked up in my memory, as if you yourself carried the key of it. STEEVENS.

5 Unfifted in fuch perilous circumftance.] Unfifted, for untried. Untried fignifies either not tempted, or not refined; unfifted, fignifies the latter only, though the fenfe requires the former. WARBURTON.

6

-Tender yourself more dearly;

Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrafe)

Wronging it thus, you'll tender me a fool.] The parenthefis is clofed at the wrong place; and we must have likewife a flight correction in the laft verfe. Polonius is racking and playing on the word tender, till he thinks proper to correct himself for the licence; and then he would fay-not farther to crack the wind of the phrafe, by twisting and contorting it, as I have done. WARBURTON.

I believe

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, 7 fafhion you may call it go to, go to. Oph. And hath given countenance to his fpeech, my lord,

With almost all the holy vows of heaven. Pol. Ay, fpringes to catch woodcocks. know,

I do

When the blood burns, how prodigal the foul
Lends the tongue vows.
Thefe blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Even in their promife as it is a making,
You must not take for fire. From this time,
Be fomewhat fcantier of thy maiden-prefence;
8 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 may he walk,

9

Than may be given you. In few, Ophelia,

I believe the word wronging has reference, not to the phrafe, but to Ophelia; if you go on wronging it thus, that is, if you continue to go on thus wrong. This is a mode of fpeaking perhaps not very grammatical, but very common, nor have the best writers refufed it.

To finner it or faint it,

is in Pope. And Rowe,

-Thus to coy it,

To one who knows you too.

The folio has it,

-roaming it thus,

That is, letting yourself loofe to fuch improper liberty. But wronging feems to be more proper. JOHNSON.

7

fashion you may call it :-] She uses fashion for manner, and he for a tranfient practice. JOHNSON.

8 Set your intreatments- -] Intreatments here means company, converfation, from the French entrétien. JOHNSON.

2 larger tether-] A ftring to tie horfes. POPE. Tether is that ftring by which an animal, fet to graze in grounds uninclofed, is confined within the proper limits.

JOHNSON.

Do

Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments shew,
But meer 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 ways.
Oph. I fhall obey, my lord.
[Exeunt.

I

Breathing like fanctified and pious bonds,] On which the editor Mr. Theobald remarks, Tho' all the editions have fallowed this reading implicitly, it is certainly corrupt; and I have been furprized how men of genius and learning could let it pass without fome fufpicion. What ideas can we frame to ourselves of a breathing bond, or of its being fanctified and pious, &c. But he was too hafty in framing ideas before he underflood thofe already framed by the poet, and expreffed in very plain words. Do not believe (fays Polonius to his daughter) Hamlet's amorous vows made to you; which pretend religion in them (the better to beguile) like thofe fanctified and pious vows [or bonds] made to heaven. And why should not this pass without fuf picion? WARBURTON.

Theobald for bonds fubftitutes bawds. JOHNSON.

2 I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,

Have you fo flander any moment's leifure,] The humour of this is fine. The speaker's character is all affectation. At laft he fays he will speak plain, and yet cannot for his life; his plain fpeech of flandering a moment's leifure being of the like fuftian ftuff with the reft. WARBURTON.

Here is another fine paffage, of which I take the beauty to be only imaginary. Polonius fays, in plain terms, that is, not in language less elevated or embellished than before, but in terms that cannot be misunderstood: I would not have you fo difgrace your most idle moments, as not to find better employment for them than lord Hamlet's converfation. JOHNSON.

SCENE

Changes to a platform.

Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus.

Ham. 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 ftruck.

Hor. Indeed? I heard it not. It then draws near

the feafon,

Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.

[Noife of mufick within.

What does this mean, my lord?

Ham. The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse,

Keeps waffel, and the fwaggering 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 west,
Makes us traduc'd, and tax'd of other nations:

3 -the fwagg'ring up-spring-] The bluftering upftart.

JOHNSON.

+ This heavy-headed revel, east and weft,] i. e. This revelling that obferves no hours, but continues from morning to night, &c. WARBURTON.

I fhould not have fufpected this paffage of ambiguity or obfcurity, had I not found my opinion of it differing from that of the learned critic. I conftrue it thus, This heavy-headed revel makes us traduced eaft and weft, and taxed of other nations. JOHNSON.

VOL. X.

M

They