Good fir, or fo; or friend, or gentleman,➡
According to the phrafe, or the addition,
Of man, and country.

REY.

Very good, my lord.

POL. And then, fir, does he this,-He doesWhat was I about to fay?-By the mafs, I was about to fay fomething-Where did I leave?

REY. At, clofes in the confequence.

POL. At, closes in the confequence,—Ay, marry; He closes with you thus:-I know the gentleman; Ifaw him yesterday, or t'other day,

Or then, or then; with fuch, or fuch; and, as you fay, There was he gaming; there o'ertook in his roufe; There falling out at tennis: or, perchance,

Ifaw him enter fuch a house of sale,

(Videlicet, a brothel,) or fo forth.

See you now;

Your bait of falfehood takes this carp of truth:
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,

With windlaces, and with affays of bias,
By indirections find directions out;

So, by my former lecture and advice,

Shall you my fon: You have me, have you not?

Rer. My lord, I have.

POL.

God be wi'you; fare you well.

REY. Good my lord,

Good fir, or fo;] I fufpect, (with Mr. Tyrwhitt,) that the poet wrote-Good fir, or fir, or friend, &c. In the last act of this play, fo is used for fo forth: " fix French rapiers and poniards, with their affigns, as girdle, hanger, and so.”

MALONE.

At, clofes in the confequence,] Thus the quarto. The folio adds

At friend, or fo, or gentleman. MALONE.

POL. Obferve his inclination in yourself."

Rer. I fhall, my lord.

POL. And let him ply his musick.

REY.

Well, my lord.

[Exit.

Enter OPHELIA.

POL. Farewell!-How now, Ophelia? what's the matter?

OPH. O, my lord, my lord, I have been fo affrighted!

POL. With what, in the name of heaven?

OPH. My lord, as I was fewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet,—with his doublet all unbrac'd; No hat upon his head; his ftockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle; Pale as his fhirt; his knees knocking each other; And with a look fo piteous in purport,

As if he had been loofed out of hell,

To speak of horrors, he comes before me.

POL. Mad for thy love?

7-in yourself.] Sir T. Hanmer reads,-e'en yourself, and is followed by Dr. Warburton; but perhaps in yourself means, in your own perfon, not by spies. JOHNSON.

The meaning feems to be-The temptations you feel, fufpect in him, and be watchful of them. So, in a fubfequent scene: "For by the image of my caufe, I see

"The portraiture of his."

Again, in Timon:

"I weigh my friend's affection with my own." C.

8 Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle ;] Down-gyved means hanging down like the loofe cincture which confines the fetters round the ancles. STEEVENS.

Thus the quartos 1604, and 1605, and the folio. In the quarto of 1611, the word gyved was changed to gyred. MALONE.

Орн.

But, truly, I do fear it.

POL.

My lord, I do not know

What faid he?

OPH. He took me by the wrift, and held me hard;
Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to fuch perufal of my face,

As he would draw it. Long ftay'd he fo;
At laft,―a little shaking of mine arm,

And thrice his head thus waving up and down,→
He rais'd a figh fo piteous and profound,
As it did feem to fhatter all his bulk,"

And end his being: That done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his fhoulder turn'd,
He feem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For out o'doors he went without their helps,
And, to the laft, bended their light on me.
POL. Come, go with me; I will go feek the king.
This is the very ecstasy of love;
Whofe violent property foredoes itself,
And leads the will to defperate undertakings,
As oft as any paffion under heaven,

That does afflict our natures. I am forry,

What, have you given him any hard words of late? OPH. No, my good lord; but, as you did command,

I did repel his letters, and deny'd

His access to me.

9—all his bulk,] i. e. all his body. So, in The Rape of Lucrece:

66

- her heart

Beating her bulk, that his hand shakes withal.”

See Vol. X. p. 510, n. 4. MALONE.

2- foredoes itfelf,] To foredo is to deftroy. So, in Othelles "That either makes me, or foredoes me quite.”

STEEVENS,

Pot. I am forry, that with better heed, and judgement, I had not quoted him: I fear'd, he did but trifle, And meant to wreck thee; but, befhrew my jealousy! It seems, it is as proper to our age

That hath made him mad.

To caft beyond ourselves in our opinions,
As it is common for the younger fort

To lack difcretion. Come, go we to the king:

3 I had not quoted him:] To quote is, I believe, to reckon, to take an account of, to take the quotient or refult of a computation. JOHNSON.

I find a paffage in The Ifle of Gulls, a comedy, by John Day, 1606, which proves Dr. Johnson's fenfe of the word to be not far from the true one:

" 'twill be a fcene of mirth

"For me to quote his paffions, and his fmiles."

To quote on this occafion undoubtedly means to obferue. Again, in Drayton's Mooncalf:

"This honeft man the prophecy that noted,

"And things therein moft curiously had quoted,

"Found all thefe figns," &c.

Again, in The Woman Hater, by Beaumont and Fletcher, the intelligencer fays,-" I'll quote him to a tittle," i. e. I will mark or observe him.

To quote as Mr. M. Mafon obferves, is invariably used by Shakspeare in this fenfe. STEEVENS.

So, in The Rape of Lucrece:

"Yea, the illiterate

"Will quote my loathed trespass in my looks."

In this paffage, in the original edition of 1594, the word is written cote, as it is in the quarto copy of this play. It is merely the old or corrupt fpelling of the word.. See Vol. V. p. 276, n. 8, and p. 368, n. 8; Vol. VI. p. 367, n. 2; and Vol. VIII. p. 138, n. 5. In Mintheu's Dict. 1617, we find, "To quote, mark, or note, à quotus. Numeris enim fcribentes fententias fuas notant et diftinguunt." See alfo Cotgrave's Dict. 1611: « Quoter. To quote or marke in the margent; to note by the way.”

4 - it is as proper to our age

To caft beyond ourselves in our opinions,

As it is common for the younger fort

MALONE.

To lack difcretion.] This is not the remark of a weak man. The vice of age is too much fufpicion. Men long accustomed to

This must be known; which, being kept close,

might move

More grief to hide, than hate to utter love.

Come.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

A Room in the Caftle.

Enter King, Queen, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and Attendants.

KING. Welcome, dear Rosencrantz, and Guildenftern!

Moreover that we much did long to see you,
The need, we have to ufe you, did provoke
Our hafty fending. Something have you heard
Of Hamlet's transformation; fo I call it,

the wiles of life caft commonly beyond themfelves, let their cunning go farther than reafon can attend it. This is always the fault of a little mind, made artful by long commerce with the world.

JOHNSON.

The quartos read—By heaven it is as proper &c. STEEVENS. In Decker's Wonderful Yeare, 4to. 1603, we find an expreffion fimilar to that in the text. "Now the thirftie citizen cafts beyond the moone." MALONE.

The fame phrafe has already occurred in Titus Andronicus. REED. 5 This must be known; which, being kept clofe, might move

More grief to hide, than hate to utter love.] i. e. this must be made known to the King, for (being kept fecret) the hiding Hamlet's love might occafion more mifchief to us from him and the queen, than the uttering or revealing of it will occafion hate and refentment from Hamlet. The poet's ill and obfcure expreffon feems to have been caused by his affectation of concluding the fcene with a couplet.

Sir T. Hanmer reads,

More grief to hide hate, than to utter love. JOHNSON.
VOL. XV.
H