Boyet. Gone to her tent.
Please it your majesty, command me any service to her?
King. That fhe vouchsafe me audience for one word.
Boyet. I will; and fo will she, I know, my lord.
Biron. This fellow picks up wit as pigeons peas,
And utters it again, when Jove doth please :
He is wit's pedler, and retails his wares
At wakes, and waffails, meetings, markets, fairs:
And we that fell by grofs, the lord doth know,
Have not the grace to grace it with such show.
This gallant pins the wenches on his sleeve;
Had he been Adam he had tempted Eve.
He can carve too, and lifp: why, this is he,
That kiss'd away his hand in courtesy.
This is the ape of form, monfieur the nice,
That, when he plays at tables, chides the dice
In honourable terms: nay, he can fing
A mean most mainly; and in ushering
Mend him who can: the ladies call him, fweet;
The stairs, as he treads on them, kiss his feet.
This is the flower that smiles on every one,
To fhow his teeth as white as whale his bone.
And confciences, that will not die in debt,
Pay him the due of honey-tongu'd Boyet.
King. A blifter on his sweet tongue with my heart, That put Armado's page out of his part!
SCENE VIII.
Enter the Princefs, Rofaline, Maria, Catharine, Boyet, and
attendants.
King. All hail, fweet madam; and fair time of day!
Prin. Fair, in all hail, is foul, as I conceive.
King. Conftrue my fpeeches better, if you may.
Prin. Then with me better, I will give you leave.
King. We come, &%.
King. We come to vifit you, and purpose now
To lead you to our court; vouchfafe it then.
Prin. This field fhall hold me, and fo hold your vow:
Nor god, nor I, delight in perjur'd men.
King. Rebuke me not for that which you provoke ;
The virtue of your eye makes break
makes break my oath.
Prin. You nickname virtue: vice you should have spoke:
For virtue's office never breaks men's troth.
Now, by my maiden honour, yet as pure ·
As the unfully'd lilly, I proteft,
A world of torments though I should endure,
I would not yield to be your house's guest:
So much I hate a breaking caufe to be
Of heav'nly oaths, vow'd with integrity.
King. O, you have liv'd in defolation here,
Unfeen, unvifited, much to our fhame.
Prin. Not fo, my lord, it is not so, I swear;
We have had pastimes here, and pleasant game : A mefs of Ruffians left us but of late.
King. How, madam? Ruffians?
Prin. Ay, in truth, my lord;
Trim gallants, full of courtship, and of state.
Rof. Madam, fpeak true. It is not so, my lord:
My lady (to the manner of the days)
In courtefy gives undeferving praise.
We four, indeed, confronted were with four
In Ruffian habit: here they ftay'd an hour,
And talk'd apace, and in that hour, my lord,
They did not bless us with one happy word.
I dare not call them fools; but this I think,
When they are thirsty, fools would fain have drink.
Biron. This jeft is dry to me. Fair, gentle, fweet,
Your wit makes wife things foolish; when we greet
With eyes beft feeing heaven's fiery eye,
By light we lofe light; your capacity
Is of that nature, as to your huge store
Wife things feem foolish, and rich things but poor.
Rof. This proves you wife, and rich; for in my eye—
Biron. I am a fool, and full of poverty.
Rof. But that you take what doth to you belong, It were a fault to fnatch words from my tongue.
Biron. O, I am yours, and all that I poffefs.
Rof. All the fool mine?
Biron. I cannot give you lefs.
Rof. Which of the visors was it that you wore ?
Biron. Where? when? what vifor? why demand you this?
Rof. There, then, that visor; that superfluous case,
That hid the worse, and fhow'd the better face.
King. We are descried; they'll mock us now downright.
Dum. Let us confess, and turn it to a jest.
Prin. Amaz'd, my lord? why looks your highness fad ?
Rof. Help! hold his brows! he'll fwoon! why look you pale?
Seafick, I think, coming from Muscovy.
Biron. Thus pour the stars down plagues for perjury.
Can any face of brafs hold longer out?
Here ftand I, lady; dart thy skill at me,
Bruise me with scorn, confound me with a flout,
Thrust thy sharp wit quite through my ignorance,
Cut me to pieces with thy keen conceit;
And I will with thee never more to dance,
Nor never more in Ruffian habit wait. O! never will I trust to speeches pen'd,
Nor to the motion of a schoolboy's tongue, Nor never come in vifor to my friend,
Nor woo in rhyme like a blind harper's fong; Taffata phrases, filken terms precise,
Three-pil'd hyperboles, fpruce affectation, Figures pedantical; these fummer flies
Have blown me full of maggot oftentation.
I do forfwear them, and I here protest,
By this white glove, (how white the hand, god knows)
Henceforth my wooing mind fhall be express'd
In ruffet yeas, and honeft kersey noes:
And, to begin, wench, (fo god help me, law!)
My love to thee is found, fans crack or flaw.
Rof. Sans, fans, I pray you.
Biron. Yet I have a trick
Of the old rage: bear with me, I am fick.
I'll leave it by degrees. Soft! let us fee,
Write, lord have mercy on us, and those three,
They are infected, in their hearts it lies,
They have the plague, and caught it of your eyes:
Thefe lords are vifited, you are not free;
For the lord's tokens on you both I see.
Prin. No, they are free that gave these tokens to us.
Biron. Our states are forfeit, feek not to undo us.
Rof. It is not fo; for how can this be true,
That you ftand forfeit, being those that fue?
Biron. Peace! for I will not have to do with you.
Rof. Nor fhall not, if I do as I intend.
Biron. Speak for yourselves, my wit is at an end.
King. Teach us, sweet madam, for our rude tranfgreffion
Some fair excufe.
Prin. The fairest is confeffion.
Were you not here but even now disguis'd?
King. Madam, I was.
Prin. And were you well advis'd?
King. I was, fair madam.
Prin. When you then were here,
What did you whisper in your lady's ear?
King. That more than all the world I did refpect her.
Prin. When she shall challenge this, you will reject her.
King. Upon mine honour, no.
Prin. Peace, peace! forbear!
Your oath once broke, you force not to forfwear.
King. Despise me when I break this oath of mine.
Prin. I will; and therefore keep it. Rofaline,
What did the Ruffian whifper in your ear?
Rof. Madam, he swore that he did hold me dear
As precious eyefight, and did value me
Above this world; adding thereto, moreover,
That he would wed me, or else die my lover.
Prin. God give thee joy of him! the noble lord
Most honourably doth uphold his word.
King. What mean you, madam? by my life, my troth, I never fwore this lady fuch an oath.
Rof. By heav'n, you did; and to confirm it plain, You gave me this: but take it, fir, again.
King. My faith, and this to th' princess I did give;
I knew her by this jewel on her fleeve.
Prin. Pardon me, fir, this jewel did she wear:
And lord Biron, I thank him, is my dear.
What? will you have me? or your pearl again?
Biron. Neither of either: I remit both twain.
I fee the trick on't; here was a confent,
Knowing aforehand of our merriment,
To dish it like a christmas comedy.
Some carry-tale, fome please-man, fome flight zany,
Some mumble-news, fome trencher-knight, fome Dick,
That smiles his cheek in fleers, and knows the trick
To make my lady laugh, when she's difpos'd,
Told our intents before: which once disclos'd,
The ladies did change favours; and then we
Following the figns, woo'd but the sign of she :
Now to our perjury to add more terrour,
We are again forfworn in will, and errour:
Much upon this it is. And might not you
Foreftal our sport, to make us thus untrue?
Do not you know my lady's foot by th' squier,
And laugh upon the apple of her eye,
And ftand between her back, fir, and the fire,
Holding a trencher, jefting merrily?
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