Neither a borrower nor a lender be;[a 1] 75
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge[a 2] of husbandry.[b 1]
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man. 80
Farewell: my blessing season[b 2] this in thee!
Laer. Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
Pol. The time invites[a 3][b 3] you; go, your servants tend.
Laer. Farewell, Ophelia, and remember well
What I have said to you.
Oph. 'Tis in my memory lock'd, 85
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
Laer. Farewell. [Exit.
Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you?
Oph. So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.
Pol. Marry, well bethought: 90
'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late
- ↑ 77. husbandry] thrift, as in Macbeth, II. i. 4.
- ↑ 81. season] Singer quotes Baret's Alvearie: "To season . . . to temper wisely, to make more pleasant and acceptable." Schmidt explains it "mature, ripen." Clar. Press compares Merchant of Venice, V. i. 107.
- ↑ 83. invites] Theobald follows Q invests, explaining it "besieges, presses upon you on every side."
in that." Staunton, reading "of a most," suggests sheaf, meaning class or set, for which he quotes examples from Jonson's plays. Malone, noting the heraldic meaning of chef, the upper third part of the shield, explains "approve themselves to be of a most select and generous escutcheon by their dress." Steevens conjectures "Select and generous, are most choice in that." Spence (Notes and Queries, 1875) proposes "Are, of a most, select and generous, chief in that" (of a most meaning mostly). Collier (MS.) reads:"Are of a most select and generouschoice in that." I throw out the suggestion that we may retain Or from Q, and emend and, reading "Or of a most select, are generous chief in that"—Polonius adding to "best rank and station" those who, though not of the "best," are yet of a select rank.
