Boyet. Nothing, but peace and gentle vifitation.

Rof. Why, That they have; and bid them fo be gone.

Boyet. She fays, you have it; and you may be gone. King. Say to her, we have meafur'd many miles, To tread a measure with her on the grass.

Boyet They fay, that they have meafur'd many a mile, To tread a measure with you on this grafs.

Rof. It is not fo. Ask them, how many inches
Is in one mile if they have measur'd many,
The measure then of one is easily told.

Boyet. If to come hither you have measur'd miles,
And many miles; the Princess bids you tell,

How many inches do fill up one mile?

Biron. Tell her, we measure them by weary steps. Boyet. She hears herself.

Rof. How many weary steps

Of many weary miles, you have o'ergone,
Are number'd in the travel of one mile ?

Biron. We number nothing that we spend for you

Our duty is fo rich, fo infinite,

That we may do it ftill without accompt.
Vouchfafe to fhew the funfhine of your face,
That we (like favages) may worship it.

Rof. My face is but a moon, and clouded too.
King. Bleffed are clouds, to do as fuch clouds do.
Vouchfafe, bright moon, and thefe * thy stars, to shine
(Those clouds remov'd) upon our watery eyne.

Rof. O vain petitioner, beg a greater matter; Thou now request'ft but moon-fhine in the water. King. Then in our measure vouchfafe but one change;

Thou bid'ft me beg, this begging is not strange.

Rof. Play, mufick, then; nay, you must do it foon. Not yet--no dance-Thus, change I like the moon. King Will you not dance? how come you thus eftrang'd.

Ref. You took the moon at full, but now he's

chang'd,

*When Queen Elizabeth asked an ambassadour how he liked her Ladies, It is bard, said he, to judge of ftars in the presence of the Jun

King. Yet ftill fhe is the moon, and I the man. The mufick plays, vouchfafe fome motion to it. Rof. Our ears vouchsafe it.

King. But your legs fhould do it.

Rof. Since you are ftrangers, and come here by chance,

We'll not be nice; take hands ;-we will not dance. King. Why take you hands then?

Rof. Only to part friends ;

Curtfy, fweet hearts, and fo the measure ends.
King. More measure of this measure; be not nice.
Rof. We can afford no more at fuch a price.

King. Prize yourselves then; what buys your company?

Rof. Your abfence only.

King. That can never be.

Rof. Then cannot we be bought; and fo, adieu; Twice to your visor, and half once to you.

King. If you deny to dance, let's hold more chat.
Rof. In private then.

King. I am beft pleas'd with That.

Bion. White-handed miftrefs, one sweet word with thee.

Prin. Honey, and milk, and fugar, there is three.. Biron. Nay then, two treys; and if you grow fo nice,

Methegline, wort, and malmfey;well run, dice:

There's half a dozen fweets.

Prin. Seventh fweet, adieu;

Since you can cog*, I'll play no more with you.

Biron. One word in fecret.

Prin. Let it not be sweet.

Biron. Thou griev'ft my gall,

Prin. Gall? bitter.

Biron. Therefore meet.

Dum. Will you vouchsafe with me to change a word. Mar. Name it.

Dum. Fair lady,

*To cogg fignifies to falfify the dice, and to falfify a narrative, or to lye.

Mar.

Mar. Say you fo? fair lord:

Take that for your fair lady.

Dum. Please it you;

As much in private; and I'll bid adieu.

Cath. What, was your visor made without a tongue ? Long. I know the reafon, lady, why you ask. Cath. O, for your reafon ! quickly, Sir; I long. Long. You have a double tongue within your mask, And would afford my speechlefs vizor half.

Cath. Veal, quoth the Dutch man; is not veal a calf? Long. A calf, fair lady?

Cath. No, a fair lord calf.

Long. Let's part the word.
Cath. No, I'll not be

your

half;

Take all, and wean it ; it may prove an ox,

Long. Look, how you butt yourself in these sharp

mocks !

Will you give horns, chafte lady? do not fo.

Cath. Then die a calf, before your horns do grow.
Long. One word in private with you, ere I die.
Cath. Bleat foftly then, the butcher hears you cry.
Boyet. The tongues of mocking wenches are as keen
As is the razor's edge, invincible,

Cutting a fmaller hair than may be feen:

Above the fenfe of fenfe, fo fenfible

Seemeth their conference, their conceits have wings; Fleeter than arrows, bullets, wind, thought, fwifter things.

Rof. Not one word more, my maids; break off, break off.

Biron. By heaven, all dry-beaten with pure scoff. King. Farewel, mad wenches; you have fimple wits. [Exeunt King and Lords.

SCENE VI.

Prin. Twenty adieus, my frozen Muscovites. Are these the Breed of wits fo wondred at?

Boyet. Tapers they are, with your fweet breaths puft

out

Raf. Well-liking wits they have; grofs, gross; fat,

fat.

Prin. O poverty in wit-kingly ?-poor flout Will they not (think you) hang themselves to night? Or ever, but in vizors, fhew their faces ? This pert Biron was out of count'nance quite. Rof. O! they were all in lamentable cafes. The King was weeping-ripe for a good word. Prin. Biron did fwear himself out of all fuit. Mar. Dumain was at my fervice, and his sword : No, point, quoth 1; my fervant strait was mute, Cath. Lord Longueville faid, I came o'er his heart; And, trow you, what he call'd me ? Prin. Qualm, perhaps.

Cath. Yes, in good faith.

Prin. Go, fickness as thou art !

Rof. Well, better wits have worn plain ftatutecaps (3).

But will you hear? the King is my love fworn.
Prin. And quick Biron hath plighted faith to me.
Cath. And Longueville was for my fervice born.
Mar. Dumain is mine, as fure as bark on tree.
Boyet. Madam, and pretty mistreffes, give ear :
Immediately they will again be here

In their own shapes; for it can never be,
They will digeft this harsh indignity.
Prin. Will they return?

Boyet. They will, they will, God knows
And leap for joy, though they are lame with blows:

(3) Better wits bave worn plain ftatute-caps.] This line is not univerfally understood, because every reader does not know that a ftatute cap is part of the academical habit. Lady Rofaline declares that her expectation was difappointed by these courtly students, and that better wits may be found in the common places of education. Woollen caps were enjoined by act of parliament, in the year 1571, 13th Queen Elizabeth. "Befides the bills paffed into acts "this parliament, there was one which I judge not amifs to be "taken notice of-it concerned the Queen's care for employment "for her poor fort of fubjects. It was for continuance of making " and wearing woollen caps, in behalf of the trade of cappers, pro"viding, that all above the age of fix years, (except the nobility "and fome others) should on Sabbath days, and boly days wear caps of wool, knit, thicked, and dreft in England, upon penalty " of ten groats." Dr. GRAY.

I think my own interpretation of this paffage right.

There

Therefore, change Favours, and, when they repair, Blow, like fweet rofes, in this fummer air.

Prin. How, blow? how, blow? speak to be underftood.

Boyet. (4) Fair ladies, mafkt, are rofes in their bud: Dismaskt, their damask sweet Commixture fhewn, Are angels vailing clouds or roses blown.

Prin. Avaunt, perplexity; what fhall we do. If they return in their own shapes to woo?

Rof. Good Madam, if by me you'll be advis'd, Let's mock them ftill, as well known, as difguis'd; Let us complain to them what fools were here, Difguis'd, like Mufcovites, in fhapeless gear (5);

(4) Fair ladies, mafkt, are rofes in the bud; Difmafkt, their damask fweet commixture fhewn,

Are ANGELS VEILING clouds, or rofes blown.] This firange nonsense, made worse by the jumbling together, and tranfpofing the lines, I directed Mr. Theobald to read thus:

Fair ladies mafk'd are rofes in the bud ;

Or ANGELS VEIL'D IN clouds: are roses blown,
Difmaskt, their damask fweet commixture fhewn.

But he, willing to fhew how well he could improve a thought, would print it,

- Or Angel-veiling Clouds,

i. e. clouds which veil Angels: And by this means gave us, as the old proverb fays, a cloud for a Juno. It was Shakespeare's purpose to compare a fine lady to an angel; it was Mr. Theobald's chance to compare her to a cloud And perhaps the ill-bred reader will fay a lucky one. However, I fuppofed the Poet could never be fo nonfenfical as to compare a masked lady to a cloud, though he might compare her mask to one. The Oxford Editor, who had the advantage both of this emendation and criticism, a great deal more fubtile and refined, and fays it fhould not be angels veil'd in clouds, but angels vailing clouds, i. e. capping the fun as they go by him, just as a man veils his bonnet. WARBURTON.

know not why Sir T. Hanmer's explanation fhould be treated with fo much contemp, or why vailing clouds fhould be capping the fun. Ladies unmasked, fays Boyet, are like angels vailing clouds, or letting those clouds which obfcured their brightness, fink from before them. What is there in this abfurd or contemptible i

(5) fhapeless gear ] Shapeless, for uncouth, or what Shakespeare elsewhere calls diffufed. WARBURTON. And