SCENE III.

Before the Princess's Pavilion,

Enter Princess, and Ladies,

WEET hearts, we fhall be rich ere we depart

Prin. If Fairings come thus plentifully in.
S

A lady wall'd about with diamonds!

Look you, what I have from the loving King.

Rof. Madam, came nothing elfe along with That? Prin. Nothing but this? Yes, as much love in rhime,

As would be cram'd up in a fheet of

paper, Writ on both fides the leaf, margent and all; That he was fain to feal on Cupid's name.

Rof. That was the way to make his God-head wax, For he hath been five thousand years a boy.

Cath. Ay, and a fhrewd unhappy gallows too.
Rof. You'll ne'er be friends with him; he kill'd your
fifter.

Cath. He made her melancholy, fad and heavy,
And fo fhe died; had fhe been light, like you,
Of such a merry, nimble, stirring spirit,

She might have been a grandam ere she dy❜d.
And fo may you; for a light heart lives long.
Ref. What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this
light word?

Cath. A light condition, in a beauty dark.

Rof. We need more light to find your meaning out. Cath. You'll marr the light, by taking it in fnuff; Therefore I'll darkly end the argument.

Ref. Look, what you do; and do it ftill i'th' dark. Cath. So do not you, for you are a light wench. Rof. Indeed, I weigh not you; and therefore light, Cath. You weigh me not; O, that's, you care not for me.

Rof.

Rof. Great reafon; for paft Cure is still paft Care*. Prin. Well bandied both; a fet of wit well play'd. But, Rofaline, you have a Favour too; Who fent it? and what is it?

Rof. I would, you knew.

And if my face were but as fair as yours,
My favour were as great; be witnefs this.
Nay, I have verses too, I thank Biron.
The numbers true and were the numbring too,
I were the fairest Goddess on the ground.
I am compar'd to twenty thousand fairs.
O, he hath drawn my picture in this letter.
Prin. Any thing like?

Rof. Much in the letters, nothing in the praise.
Prin. Beauteous as ink; a good conclufion.
Cath. Fair as a text B in a copy-book.

Rof. 'Ware pencils. How? let me not die your debter,

My red dominical, my golden letter.

O, that your face was not fo full of Oes!

Cath. Pox of that jeft, and I befhrew all fhrews: Prin. But what was fent to you from fair Dumain? Gath. Madam, this glove.

Prin. Did he not send you twain?

Cath. Yes, Madam; and moreover,

Some thousand verfes of a faithful lover.

4 for paft Care is fill pat Cure.] The Tranfpofition which I have made in the two Words, Care and Cure, is by the Direction of the ingenious Dr. Thirlby. THEOBALD.

5 Ware pencils] The former Editions read, were pencils. Sir T. Hanmer here rightly reftored ware pencils. Rofaline, a black beauty, reproaches the fair Catharine for painting.

Pox of that jeft, and I be

forew all Shrews.] In former copies this line is given to the Princess; but as she has behav'd with great Decency all along, there is no Reason why she should start all at once into this coarse Dialect. Rofaline and Catharine are rallying one another without Referve; and to Catharine this firft Line certainly belong'd, and therefore I have ventur'd once more to put her in Poffeffion of it. THEOBALD.

A huge

A huge translation of hypocrify,

Vilely compil'd, profound fimplicity.

Mar. This, and thefe pearls, to me fent Longueville; The letter is too long by half a mile.

Prin. I think no lefs; doft thou not wish in heart, The chain were longer, and the letter fhort?

Mar. Ay, or I would these hands might never part. Prin. We are wife girls to mock our lovers for't. Rof. They are worse fools to purchase mocking fo. That fame Biron I'll torture, ere I go.

O, that I knew he were but in by th' week!
How I would make him fawn, and beg, and feek,
And wait the season, and observe the times,
And spend his prodigal wits in bootlefs rhimes,
And shape his fervice all to my behests,

And make him proud to make me proud with jefts:
So portent-like would I o'erfway his state 7,
That he should be my fool, and I his fate.
Prin. None are fo furely caught, when they are
catch'd,

As wit turn'd fool; folly, in wifdom hatch'd,
Hath wisdom's warrant, and the help of school;
And wit's own grace to grace a learned fool.

7 In former copies:
So PERTAUNT-like would I
o'er faway his ftate,
That he should be my Fool, and
I his Fate.] In old farces,
to fhew the inevitable approaches
of death and deftiny, the Fool
of the farce is made to employ
all his ftratagems to avoid Death
or Fate: Which very ftratagems,
as they are ordered, bring the
Fool, at every turn, into the ve-
ry jaws of Fate. To this Shake-
peare alludes again in Meajure
for Measure,

merely thou art Death's
Fool;
For him thou labour'ft by thy
flight to fhun,

And yet runs towards him fillIt is plain from all this, that the nonfense of pertaunt-like, should be read, portent-like, i. e. would be his fate or destiny, and like a portent hang over, and influence his fortunes. For portents were not only thought to forebode, but to influence. So the Latins called a perfon deftined to bring mifchief. fatale pertenWARBURTON. Mr. Theobald reads, fo Pedant

tum.

like.

8 Thefe are obfervations worthy of a man who has furveyed human nature with the clofett attention.

Rof.

Rof. The blood of youth burns not in fuch excefs As gravity's revolt to wantonness.

Mar. Folly in fools bears not fo ftrong a note,
As fool'ry in the wife, when wit doth dote:
Since all the power thereof it doth apply,
To prove, by wit, worth in fimplicity.

SCENE IV.

Enter Boyet.

Prin. Here comes Boyet, and mirth is in his face: Boyet. O, I am ftabb'd with laughter; where's her Grace?

Prin. Thy news, Boyet?

Boyet. Prepare, Madam, prepare.

Arm, wenches, arm; Encounters mounted are
Against your peace; love doth approach difguis'd,
Armed in arguments; you'll be furpriz'd.
Mufter your wits, ftand in your own defence,
Or hide your heads like cowards, and fly hence.
Prin. Saint Dennis, to faint Cupid! what are they,
That charge their breath against us? fay, fcout, fay.
Boyet. Under the cool fhade of a fycamore,
I thought to close mine eyes fome half an hour;
When, lo! to interrupt my purpos'd Reft,
Toward that fhade, I might behold, addrest
The King and his companions; warily
I ftole into a neighbour thicket by:
And over-heard, what you fhall over-hear:
That, by and by, disguis'd they will be here.
Their Herald is a pretty knavifh Page,
That well by heart hath conn'd his embaffage.

9 Saint Dennis, to St. Cupid.] The Princess of France invokes, with too much levity, the patron

of her country, to oppose his power to that of Cupid.

Action and accent did they teach him there;
Thus must thou speak, and thus thy body bear:
And ever and anon they made a doubt,
Prefence majestical would put him out:
For, quoth the King, an Angel fhalt thou fee
Yet fear not thou, but fpeak audaciously..
The boy reply'd, an Angel is not evil;

I fhould have fear'd her, had fhe been a Devil.→
With that all laugh'd, and clap'd him on the fhoulder,
Making the bold wag by their praifes bolder.
One rubb'd his elbow thus, and fleer'd and fwore,
A better speech was never spoke before.
Another, with his finger and his thumb,
Cry'd, via! we will do't, come what will come.
The third he caper'd and cry'd, all goes well:
The fourth turn'd on the toe, and down he fell.
With that they all did tumble on the ground,
With fuch a zealous laughter, fo profound,
That in this fpleen ridiculous appears*,
To check their folly, paffion's folemn tears.
Prin. But what, but what, come they to vifit us?
Boyet. They do, they do; and are apparell'd thus,
Like Mofcovites, or Ruffians, as I guess'.

Their purpose is to parley, court and dance;
And every one his love-feat will advance
Unto his fev'ral miftrefs; which they'll know
By Favours fev'ral, which they did beftow.

Prin. And will they fo? the gallants fhall be tafkt;
For, ladies, we will every one be mafkt:
And not a man of them shall have the
Defpight of fuit, to fee a lady's face.

* Spleen ridiculous is, a ridiculous fit.

'Like Mufcovites, or Ruffians, as I guess.] The fettling of commerce in Ruffia was, at that time, a matter that much ingroffed the concern and converfation of the publick. There had been feve

grace,

ral embaffies employed thither on that occafion; and feveral tracts of the manners and state of that nation written: So that a mask of Muscovites was as good an entertainment to the audience of that time, as a coronation has been fince. WARBURTON. Hold,