Page:Some Textual Difficulties in Shakespeare.djvu/38



King. Thou still hast been the father of good news.

Polonius. Have I, my lord? Assure you, my good liege,

I hold my duty as I hold my soul,

Both to my God, and to my gracious king.

(Hamlet, ii, 2, 45, Modern editions)

I hold my dutie, as I hold my Soule,

Both to my God, one to my gracious king.

(Folios)

one of this last line, because it has proved impossible to construe it into any evident sense, has long been considered an error. Modern editions have substituted and for the original one of the Folios. Furness, acceding to the general opinion that one was an error of the early printers, makes the following comment in his Variorum:

"Dyce (Strictures, etc., 187) truly says that the attempts to explain the error, one, of the Ff have proved unsuccessful."

If we will only have regard for what Polonius naturally would say, both in respect of his character and the common sense of the case, it is not difficult to see that Shakespeare wrote the word one in this place. Polonius, with his usual way of making fine distinctions, comes before the king and says:—"I hold my duty as I hold my soul; both to my God, one to my gracious king." In other words, Polonius holds or owes both his soul and his duty to his