thither.

King. Hear me, dear lady; I have sworn an oath.

Prin. Our Lady help my lord! he'll be for

sworn.

King. Not for the world, fair madam, by my will.

Prin. Why, will shall break it: will, and nothing else.

King. Your ladyship is ignorant what it is. Prin. Were my lord so, his ignorance were wise,

Where now his knowledge must prove igno

rauce.

I hear, your grace hath sworn out house-keeping :

"Tis deadly sin to keep that oath, my lord,
And sin to break it:

But pardon me, I am too sudden-bold;
To teach a teacher ill beseemeth me.
Vouchsafe to read the purpose of my coming,
And suddenly resolve me in my suit.

[Gives a paper. King, Madam, I will, if suddenly I may. Prin. You will the sooner, that I were away;

For you'll prove perjur'd, if you make me stay. Biron. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?

Ros. Not till it leave the rider in the mire. Biron. What time o' day?

Ros. The hour that fools should ask.

Biron. Now fair befall your mask!

Ros. Fair fall the face it covers !
Biron. And send you many lovers!
Ros. Amen, so you be none.

Biron. Nay, then will I be gone.

King. Madam, your father here doth intimate The payment of a hundred thousand crowns; Being but the one half of an entire sum, Disbursed by my father in his wars.

But say, that he, or we, (as neither have,)
Receiv'd that sum; yet there remains unpaid
A hundred thousand more; in surety of the

Or yield up Aquitain.

Prin. We arrest your word: Boyet, you can produce aquittances, For such a sum, from special officers Of Charles his father.

King, Satisfy me so.

Boyet. So please your grace, the packet is not

come,

Where that and other specialties are bound :
To-morrow you shall have a sight of them.

King. It shall suffice me; at which interview,

All liberal reason I will yield unto.
Mean time receive such welcome at my hand,
As honour, without breach of honour, may
Make tender of to thy true worthiness:
You may not come, fair princess, in my gates;
But here without you shall be so receiv'd,
As you shall deem yourself lodg'd in my heart,
Though so denied fair barbour in my house.
Your own good thoughts excuse me, and fare-
well :

To-morrow shall we visit you again.

Prin. Sweet health and fair desires consort your grace!

King. Thy own wish wish I thee in every place!

[Exeunt KING and his Train. Biron. Lady, I will commend you to my own

heart.

Ros. 'Pray you, do my commendations; I would be glad to see it.

Biron. I would, you heard it groan.
Ros. Is the fool sick?
Biron. Sick at heart.
Ros. Alack, let it blood.

Biron. Would that do it good?

Ros. My physic says, I.

Biron. Will you prick't with your eye!
Ros. No poynt, with my knife.
Biren. Now, God save thy life!
Ros. And your's from long living!
Biron. I cannot stay thanksgiving.

[Retiring.

Dum. Sir, I pray you, a word: What lady as

that same ?

Boyet. A woman sometimes, au you saw her in the light.

Long. Perchance, light in the light: I desire her name.

Boyet. She hath but one for herself; to de

sire that were a shame.

Long. Pray you, Sir, whose daughter ?
Boyet. Her mother's I have heard.

Long. God's blessing on your beard!

Boyet. Good Sir, be not offended :

She is an heir of Falconbridge.
Long. Nay, my choler is ended.
She is a most sweet lady.

[Exit LONGAVILLE.

Boyet. Not unlike, Sir; that may be.

Biron. What's her name, in the cap?
Boyet. Katharine, by good hap.
Biron. Is she wedded, or no?
Boyet. To her will, Sir, or so ?
Biron. You are welcome, Sir; adieu!

his word.

Boyet. I was as willing to grapple, as he was to board.

+ Part.

• Aye, yer.

↑ A French particle of negation.

Proud with his form, in his eye pride expressed,
His tongue, all impatient to speak and not see,
Did stumble with haste in his eye-sight to be;
All senses to that sense did make their repair,
To feel only looking on fairest of fair:
Methought, all his senses were lock'd in
eye,

his

As jewels in crystal for some prince to buy; Who, tend'ring their own worth, from where they were glass'd,

Did point you to buy them, along as you pass'd.
His face's own margent did quote such amazes,
That all eyes saw bis eyes enchanted with gazes
I'll give you Aquitain, and all that is his,
An you give him for my sake but one loving
kiss.

Prin. Come, to our pavilion: Boyet is dispos'd

Boyet. But to speak that in words, which his eye hath disclos'd:

I only have made a mouth of his eye,
By adding a tongue which I know will not lie.
Ros. Thou art an old love-monger, and speak'st
skilfully.

Mar. He is Cupid's grandfather, and learns

news of him.

Arm. How mean'st thon? brawling in French ? Moth. No, my complete master; but to jig off a tune at the tongue's end, canary to it with your feet, humour it with turning up your eyelids; sigh a note, and sing a note; sometime through the throat, as if you swallowed love with singing love; sometime through the nose, as if you snuffed up love by smelling love; with your bat penthouse-like, o'er the shop of your eyes; with your arms crossed on your thin belly-doublet, like a rabbit on a spit; or your hands in your pocket, like a man after the old painting; and keep not too long in one tune, but a snip and away: These are complements, these are bu mours; these betray nice wenches-that would be betrayed without these; and make them men of note, (do you note, men ?) that most are affected to these.

Arm. How hast thou purchased this expe.
rience ?

Moth. By my penny of observation.
Arm. But O,-but 0,-

Moth. the hobby-horse is forgot.

Arm. Callest thou my love, hobby-horse? Moth. No, master; the hobby-horse is but a colt, and your love, perhaps, a hackney. But have you forgot your love?

Arm. Almost I had.

Moth. Negligent student! learn her by heart. Arm. By heart, and in heart, boy.

Moth. And out of heart, master: all those three I will prove.

Arm. What wilt thou prove?

Moth. A man, if I live; and this, by, in, and without, upon the instant: By heart you love her, because your heart cannot come by her; in heart you love her, because your heart is in love with her; and out of heart you love her, being out of heart that you cannot enjoy her.

Arm. I am all these three.

Moth. And three times as much more, and yet nothing at all.

Arm. Fetch hither the swain; he must carry me a letter.

Moth. A message well sympathized; a horse to be ambassador for an ass !

Arm. Ha, ha! what sayest thou?

Moth. Marry, Sir, you must send the ass upon the horse, for he is very slow gaited: But I

go.

Arm. The way is but short; away.

Moth. As swift as lead, Sir.

Arm. Thy meaning, pretty ingenious?

Is not lead a metal heavy, dull, and slow? Moth. Minimè, honest master; or rather, master, no,

Arm. I say, lead is slow.

Moth. You are too swift, Sir, to say so: Is that lead slow which is fir'd from a gun? Arm. Sweet smoke of rhetoric !

He reputes me a cannon; and the bullet, that's he:

I shoot thee at the swain.

[Erit.

Moth. Thump then, and I flee.
Arm. A most acute juvenal; voluble and free

of grace!

By thy favour, sweet welkin, I must sigh in thy face :

Most rude melancholy, valour gives thee place. My herald is return'd.

Re-enter MOTH and COSTARD.

Moth. A wonder, master; here's a Costard broken in a shin.

Arm. Some enigma, some riddle: come,-thy l'envoy ;-begin.

Cost. No egma, no riddle, no l'envoy: no salve in the mail, Sir: O, Sir, plantain, a plain plantain; no l'envoy, no l'envoy, no salve, Sir, but a plantain !

• Canary was the name of a sprightly dance. + Quick, ready. : A head. An old Freuch term for concluding verses, which served either to convey the moral, or 10 address the poem to some person.

Boyet. I know not; but, I think, it was not

he.

Prin. Who'er he was, he show'd a mounting mind.

Well, lords, to-day we shall have our despatch;
On Saturday we will return to France.-
Then, forester, my friend, where is the bush,
That we must stand and play the murderer in?
For. Here by, upon the edge of yonder
coppice;

A stand, when you may make the fairest shoot.
Prin. I thank my beauty, I am fair that shoot,
And thereupon thou speak'st, the fairest shoot.
For. Pardon me, madam, for I meant not so.
Prin. What, what? first praise me, and again
say, no?

O short-liv'd pride! Not fair? alack for woe!
For. Yes, madam, fair.

Prin. Nay, never paint me now; Where fair is not, praise cannot mend the brow.

Here, good my glass, take this for telling true; [Giving him money. Fair payment for foul words is more than due. For. Nothing but fair is that which you in

herit.

Prin. See, see, my beauty will be sav'd by merit.

O heresy in fair, fit for these days!

A giving band, though foul, shall have fair praise.

But come, the bow :-Now mercy goes to kill,
And shooting well is then accounted ill.
Thus will I save my credit in the shoot:
Not wounding. pity would not let me do't;
If wounding, then it was to show my skill.
That more for praise, than purpose, meant to
kill.

And, out of question, so it is sometimes;
Glory grows guilty of detested crimes;

When, for fame's sake, for praise, an outward part,

We bend to that the working of the heart:
As 1, for praise alone, now seek to spill

The poor deer's blood, that my heart means no ill.

Boyet. Do not curst wives hold that selfsovereignty

Only for praise' sake, when they strive to be
Lords o'er their lords ?

Prin. Only for praise and praise we may afford

To any lady that subdues a lord.

Enter COSTARD.

one lady Rosaline.

Prin. Oh! thy letter, thy letter; he's a good friend of mine;

Stand aside, good bearer.-Boyet, you can carve; Break up this capon. +

Boyet. I am bound to serve.

This letter is mistook, it importeth none here; It is writ to Jaquenetta.

God give you good even.

↑ Open this letter.

[ear.

he

Prin. We will read it, I swear : Break the neck of the wax, and every one give Boyet. [Reads.] By heaven that thou art fair, is most infallible; true that thou art beauteous; truth itself, that thou art lovely: More fairer than fair, beautiful than beauteous; truer than truth itself, have commiseration on thy heroical vassal! The magnanimous and most illustrate⋆ king Cophetua set eye upon the pernicious and indubitate beggar Zenelophon; and he it was that might rightly say, veni, vidi, vici; which to anatomize in the vulgar, (0 base and obscure vulgar!) videlicet, he came, sqw, and overcame came, one; saw, two; overcame, three. Who came? the king; Why did he come? to see; Why did he see? to overcome: To whom came he? to the beggar; What saw he? the beggar; Who overcame he? the beggar: The conclusion is victory; On whose side? the king's: the captive is enrich'd; On whose side? the beggar's; The catastrophe is a nuptial; On whose side? the king's ?-no, on both in one, or one in both. I am the king; for so stands the comparison: thou the beggar; for so witnesseth thy lowliness. Shall I command thy love? I may: Shall I enforce thy love? I could: Shall I entreat thy love? I will. What shalt thou exchange for rags? robes; For tittles, titles; For thyself, me. Thus, expecting thy reply, I profane my lips on thy foot, my eyes on thy picture, and my heart on thy every part.

Thine, in the dearest design of industry, DON ADRIANO DE ARMADO. Thus dost thou hear the Nemean lion roar 'Gainst thee, thou lamb, that standest as his prey;

Submissive fall his princely feet before,

And be from forage will incline to play: But if thou strive, poor soul, what art thou then? Food for his rage, repasture for his den.

Prin. What plume of feathers, is he, that indited this letter?

What vane? what weather-cock? did you ever hear better?

Boyet. I am much deceived, but I remember the style,

Prin. Else your memory is bad, going o'er it erewhile. +

Boyet. This Armado is a Spaniard, that keeps here in court;

A phantasm, a Monarcho, and one that makes

Ros. Shall I come upon thee with an old saying, that was a man when king Pepin of France was a little boy, as touching the hit it?

Biron. So I may answer thee with one as old, that was a woman when queen Guinever⚫ of Britain was a little wench, as touching the hit it.

Ros. Thou canst not hit it, hit it, hit it, [Singing. Thou canst not hit it, my good man. Boyet. An I cannot, cannot, cannot, An I cannot, another can. [Exeunt Ros. and KATH. Cost. By my troth, most pleasant! how both did fit it!

Mar. A mark marvellous well shot; for they both did hit it.

Boyet. A mark! O, mark but that mark; A mark, says my lady!

Let the mark have a prick in't, to mete at, if it may be.

Mar. Wide o' the bow hand! I'faith your band is out.

Cost. Indeed, a' must shoot nearer, or he'll ne'er hit the clout.

Boyet. An if my hand be out, then, belike your hand is in.

Cost. Then will she get the upshot by cleaving

the pin.

Mar. Come, come, you talk greasily, your lips grow foul.

Cost. She's too hard for you at pricks, Sir; challenge her to bowl.

Boyet. I fear too much rubbing; Good night, my good owl.

[Exeunt BOYET and MARIA. Cost. By my soul, a swain! a most simple clown!

Lord, lord! how the ladies and I have put him down!

O' my troth, most sweet jests! most incony vulgar wit!

When it comes so smoothly off, so obscenely, as it were, so fit.

Armatho o'the one side,-Oh! a most dainty

man !

To see him walk before a lady, and to bear her fan !

To see him kiss his hand; and how most sweetly a' will swear!

And his page o' t' other side, that handful of wit! Ah! heavens, it is a most pathetical bit! Sola, sola! [Shouting within. [Exit COSTARD, running.

SCENE II.-The same. Enter HOLOFERNES, Sir NATHANIEL, and DULL.

Nath. Very reverent sport, truly; and done in the testimony of a good conscience.

Hol. The deer was, as you know, in san. guis,-blood; ripe as a pomewater, who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of calo,-the sky, the welkin, the heaven; and anon falleth like a crab, on the face of terra,-the soil, the land, the earth.

Nath. Truly, master Holofernes, the epithets are sweetly varied, like a scholar at the least: But, Sir, I assure ye, it was a buck of the first head.

Hol. Sir Nathaniel, haud credo.

plication ; facere, as it were, replication, or rather ostentare, to show, as it were, his incliati a.— after his undressed, unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or rather unlettered, or, ratherest, unconfirmed fashion,-to insert again my haud credo for a deer.

Dull. I said, the deer was not a haud creds; 'twas a pricket.

Hol. Twice sod simplicity, bis coctus 5-0 thou monster ignorance, how deformed dest then look!

Nath. Sir, he hath never fed of the daisties that are bred in a book; he hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drank ink: his intelect is not replenished; be is only an animal, only sensible in the duller parts;

And such barren plants are set before us, that we thankful should be

(Which we of taste and feeling are) for ther parts that do fructify in as more than be. For as it would ill become me to be vam, indiscreet, or a fool,

So, were there a patch set on learning, to see him in a school:

But, omne bene, say I; being of an old father's mind,

Many can brook the weather, that love not

Hol. The moon was a month old, when Adam was no more;

And raught not to five weeks, when be came to fivescore.

The allusion holds in the exchange.

Dull. 'Tis true indeed; the collusion holds in the exchange.

Hol. God comfort thy capacity! I say, the allusion holds in the exchange.

Dull. And I say the pollution holds in the exchange; for the moon is never but a month od: and I say beside, that 'twas a pricket that the princess kill'd.

Hol. Sir Nathaniel, will you hear an extemporal epitaph on the death of the deer? and, to humour the ignorant, I have call'd the deer the princess kill'd, a pricket.

Nath. Perge, good master Holoferness, pergt, so it shall please you to abrogate scurrility. Hol. I will something affect the letter; for it argues facility. The praiseful princess pierc'd and prické a pretty pleasing pricket;

Some say, a sore; but not a sore, till now made sore with shooting.

The dogs did yell; put i to sore, then sarel jumps from thicket;

Or pricket, sore, or else sorel; the people fall a hooting.

If sore

Of one

be sore, then L to sore makes fifty sores; O sore L!

sore I an hundred make, by adding but one more L. Nath. A rare talent!

Dull. If a talent be a claw, look how he claws him with a talent.

and I am thankful for it.

may my parishioners; for their sons are B Nath. Sir, I praise the Lord for you; and so