ACT II. SCENE I.

A Room in Polonius's Houfe.

Enter POLONIUS and REYNALDO."

POL. Give him this money, and these notes, Reynaldo.

Rer. I will, my lord.

POL. You fhall do marvellous wifely, good Rey

naldo,

Before you vifit him, to make inquiry

Of his behaviour.

REY.

My lord, I did intend it.

POL. Marry, well faid: very well faid. Look

you, fir,

Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris;
And how, and who, what means, and where they

keep,

What company, at what expence; and finding,
By this encompaffment and drift of question,
That they do know my fon, come you more nearer
Than your particular demands will touch it:^

? Enter Polonius and Reynaldo.] The quartos read-Enter old Polonius with his man or two. STEEVENS.

2

well faid: very well faid.] Thus alfo, the weak and tedious Shallow fays to Bardolph, in the Second Part of King Henry IV. A& III. fc. ii: "It is well faid, fir; and it is well faid indeed too." STEEVENS.

3 Danskers-] Danske (in Warner's Albion's England) is the ancient name of Denmark. STEEVENS.

4 -come you more nearer

Than your particular demands will touch it:] The late editions. read, and point, thus:

Take you, as 'twere, fome diftant knowledge of

him;

As thus, I know his father, and his friends,

And, in part, him ;—Do you mark this, Reynaldo? REY. Ay, very well, my lord.

POL. And, in part, him;-but, you may fay,-not

well:

But, if't be be I mean, he's very wild;
Addicted fo and fo;-and there put on him
What forgeries you please; marry, none fo rank
As may dishonour him; take heed of that;
But, fir, fuch wanton, wild, and ufual flips,
As are companions noted and moft known
To youth and liberty.

RET.

As gaming, my lord.

POL. Ay, or drinking, fencing, fwearing,' quarrelling,

Drabbing:-You may go fo far.

Rer. My lord, that would difhonour him. POL. 'Faith, no; as you may feafon it in the charge."

come you more nearer;

Then your particular demands will touch it:

Throughout the old copies the word which we now write-than, is conftantly written-then. I have therefore printed-than, which the context feems to me to require, though the old copies have then. There is no point after the word nearer, either in the original quarto, 1604, or the folio. MALONE.

5-drinking, fencing, wearing,] I fuppofe, by fencing is meant a too diligent frequentation of the fencing-fchool, a refort of violent and lawless young men. JOHNSON.

Fencing, I fuppofe, means, piquing himself on his skill in the use of the fword, and quarrelling and brawling, in confequence of that fkill. "The cunning of fencers, fays Goffon in his Schoole of Abufe, 1579, is now applied to quarreling: they thinke themselves. no men, if for ftirring of a ftraw, they prove not their valure uppon fome bodies flefhe." MALONE.

'Faith, no; as you may season it &c.] The quarto reads—
Faith, as you may feafon it in the charge. MALONE.

You must not put another scandal on him,"
That he is open to incontinency;

That's not my meaning: but breathe his faults fo quaintly,

That they may feem the taints of liberty:
The flash and out-break of a fiery mind;
A favageness in unreclaimed blood,

Of general affault."

REY.

POL. Wherefore fhould you do this?

REY.

I would know that.

POL.

But, my good lord,

Ay, my lord,

Marry, fir, here's my drift;
And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant:3
You laying these flight fullies on my fon,
As 'twere a thing a little foil'd i'the working,
Mark you,

Your party in converfe, him you would sound,
Having ever feen, in the prenominate crimes,*
The youth you breathe of, guilty, be affur'd,
He clofes with you in this confequence;

7 another fcandal on him,] Thus the old editions. Mr. Theobald reads,-an utter. JOHNSON.

another fcandal-] i. e. a very different and more scandalous failing, namely habitual incontinency. Mr. Theobald in his Shakspeare Reftored propofed to read-an utter scandal on him; but did not admit the emendation into his edition. MALONE.

8 That's not my meaning:] That is not what I mean, when I permit you to accufe him of drabbing. M. MASON.

"A favagenefs-] Savagenefs, for wildness. WARBURTON. 2 Of general affault.] i. e. fuch as youth in general is liable to. WARBURTON.

3 And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant:] So, the folio. The quarto reads, a fetch of wit. STEEVENS.

prenominate crimes,] i. e. crimes already named.

STEEVENS.

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 say?-By the mafs, I was about to fay fomething :-Where did I leave?

REY. At, clofes in the confequence.

POL. At, clofes in the confequence,-Ay, marry ; He clofes with you thus :-I know the gentleman; I faw 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,

I faw him enter fuch a boufe of fale,

(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 o't;

So, by my former lecture and advice,

Shall you my fon: You have me, have you not? REY. My lord, I have.

POL.

God be wi'you; fare you well.

REY. Good my lord,

5 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 addsAt friend, or fo, or gentleman. MALONE.

POL. Obferve his inclination in yourself."

REY. 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 af-
frighted!

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 stockings 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 yourfelf] Sir T. Hanmer reads,―e'en yourself, and is followed by Dr. Warburton; but perhaps in yourself means, in your own perfon, not bfpies. 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. of 1611, the word gyed was changed to gyred.

In the quarto
MALONE.

་