The safety[a 1][b 1] and health[a 2] of this[a 3] whole state;
And therefore must his choice be circumscribed
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,
If fits your wisdom so far to believe it 25
As he in his particular act and place[a 4][b 2]
May give his saying deed; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain,
If with too credent ear you list his songs, 30
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmaster'd importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,
And keep you in[a 5] the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire. 35
The chariest[b 3] maid is prodigal enough
If she unmask her beauty to the moon;
Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes;
The canker[b 4] galls the infants[a 6] of the spring
Too oft before their[a 7] buttons[b 5] be disclosed, 40
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
- ↑ 21. safety] Q, sanctity F and many editors, sanity Hanmer (Theobald conj.)
- ↑ 21. health] the health Warburton and many editors.
- ↑ 21. this] Q, the F.
- ↑ 26. particular act and place] Q, peculiar Sect and force F.
- ↑ 34. keep you in] Q, keepe within F.
- ↑ 39. infants] Qq 2, 3, F; infant Qq 4–6, Ff 2–4.
- ↑ 40. their] Q, the F.
- ↑ 21. safety] "Sanity," as conjectured by Theobald, may be right. Safety is a trisyllable in Spenser's Faerie Queene, V. 4, 46: "Where he himself did rest in safety"; but in line 43 of this scene it has the usual pronunciation, and so elsewhere in Shakespeare.
- ↑ 26. particular act and place] Editors make new readings by various combinations from Q and F. White reads "peculiar sect and place," understanding "sect" as class, rank.
- ↑ 36. chariest] Hudson reads "Th' unchariest," that is the least reserved. "Chariest" means entirely modest.
- ↑ 39. canker] the canker-worm.
- ↑ 40. buttons] buds (Fr. bouton), as in Two Noble Kinsmen, III. i. 6.
