ACT II. SCENE I.

A Room in Polonius's House.

Enter POLONIUS and REYNALDO.S

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

REY. I will, my lord.

POL. You shall do marvellous wisely, good Rey

naldo,

Before you visit him, to make inquiry

Of his behaviour.

REY.

My lord, I did intend it.

POL. Marry, well said: very well said. Look you, sir,

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 encompassment and drift of question, That they do know my son, come you more nearer

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

-well said: very well said.] Thus also, the weak and tedious Shallow says to Bardolph, in The Second Part of King Henry IV. Act III. sc. ii: "It is well said, sir; and it is well said

indeed too." STEEVENS.

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

Than your particular demands will touch it: "
Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of him;
As thus, I know his father, and his friends,
And, in part, him ;-Ďo you mark this, Reynaldo?
REY. Ay, very well, my lord.

POL. And, in part, him ;—but, you may say, not well:

But, if't be he I mean, he's very wild;
Addicted so and so;—and there put on him
What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
As
may dishonour him; take heed of that;
But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips,
As are companions noted and most known
To youth and liberty.

REY.

As gaming, my lord.

POL. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling,

Drabbing:-You may go so far.

·come you more nearer

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

-come you more nearer;

Then your particular demands will touch it:

Throughout the old copies the word which we now write→→ than, is constantly written-then. I have therefore printedthan, which the context seems 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.

7----drinking, fencing, swearing,] I suppose, by fencing is meant a too diligent frequentation of the fencing-school, a resort of violent and lawless young men. JOHNSON.

Fencing, I suppose, means piquing himself on his skill in the use of the sword, and quarrelling and brawling, in consequence of that skill. "The cunning of fencers, says Gosson, in his Schoole of Abuse, 1579, is now applied to quarreling: they thinke themselves no men, if for stirring of a straw, they prove not their valure uppon some bodies fleshe." MALONE.

REY. My lord, that would dishonour him.

POL. 'Faith, no; as you may season it in the charge.

8

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

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

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

Of general assault."

Marry, sir, here's my drift;

And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant:*

You laying these slight sullies on my son,
As 'twere a thing a little soil'd i'the working,
Mark you,

*'Faith, no; as you may season it &c.] The quarto reads→→ Faith, as you may season it in the charge. MALONE. —another scandal on him,] Thus the old editions. Mr. Theobald reads an utter. JOHNSON.

9

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

MALONE.

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

4

1 A savageness-] Savageness, for wildness. WArburton.

Of general assault.] i. e. such as youth in general is liable to.

WARBURTON.

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

Your party in converse, him you would sound,
Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes,5
The youth you breathe of, guilty, be assur'd,
He closes with you in this consequence;
Good sir, or so; or friend, or gentleman,-
According to the phrase, or the addition,
Of man, and country.

REY.

Very good, my lord.

POL. And then, sir, does he this,-He doesWhat was I about to say?-By the mass, I was about to say something :-Where did I leave?

REY. At, closes in the consequence.

POL. At,closes in the consequence,7-Ay,marry; He closes with you thus:-I know the gentleman; I saw him yesterday, or t'other day,

Or then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you

say,

There was he gaming; there o'ertook in his rouse;
There falling out at tennis: or, perchance,
I saw him enter such a house of sale,
(Videlicet, a brothel,) or so forth.—

See you now;

Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth:
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
With windlaces, and with assays of bias,
By indirections find directions out;

5

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

6 Good sir, or so;] I suspect, (with Mr. Tyrwhitt,) that the poet wrote-Good sir, or sir, or friend, &c. In the last Act of this play, so is used for so forth: "-six French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hanger, and so.

7

MALONE.

At, closes in the consequence,] Thus the quarto. The folio adds-At friend, or so, or gentleman. MALONE.

So, by my former lecture and advice,

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

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

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

POL. With what, in the name of heaven?

ОPH. My lord, as I was sewing 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 ;

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

in

The meaning seems to be-The temptations you feel, suspect in him, and be watchful of them. So in a subsequent scene: "For by the image of my cause, I see

"The portraiture of his."

Again, in Timon:

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

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