The Dramatic Works and Poems

But Rosaline, you have a favour too:
Who sent it? and what is it?

Ros.
I would, you knew:
And if my face were but as fair as yours,
My favour were as great: be witness this.
Nay, I have verses too, I thank Biron :
The numbers true : and, were the numb'ring too,
I were the fairest goddess on the ground:
I am compared to twenty thousand fairs.
O, he hath drawn my picture in his letter !
Prin. Any thing like?

Ros. Much, in the letters; nothing in the praise.
Prin. Beauteous as ink; a good conclusion.
Kath. Fair as a text B in a copy-book.
Ros. 'Ware pencils! How! let me not die your
debtor,

My red dominical, my golden letter:
O, that your face were not so full of O's!
Kath. A pox of that jest! and beshrew all shrows!
Prin. But what was sent to you from fair Dumain?
Kath. Madam, this glove.

Prin.

Did he not send you twain.
Kath. Yes, madam; and moreover,
Some thousand verses of a faithful lover:
A huge translation of hypocrisy,
Vilely compil'd, profound simplicity.

Mar. This, and these pearls, to me sent Longa-
ville;

The letter is too long by half a mile.

Prin. I think no less: Dost thou not wish in heart,
The chain were longer, and the letter short?
Mar. Ay, or I would these hands might never part.
Prin. We are wise girls, to mock our lovers so.
Ros. They are worse fools to purchase mocking so.
That same Biron I'll torture ere I go.

O, that I knew he were but in by the week!'
How I would make him fawn, and beg and seek;
And wait the season, and observe the times,
And spend his prodigal wits in bootless rhymes;
And shape his service wholly to my behests;
And make him proud to make me proud that jests!
So potent-like would I o'ersway his state,
That he should be my fool, and I his fate.

Against your peace: Love doth approach disguis'd,
Armed in arguments; you'll be surpris'd:
Muster your wits; stand in your own defence;
Or hide your heads like cowards, and fly hence.
Prin. Saint Dennis to saint Cupid! What are
they,

That charge their breath against us? say, scout, say.
Boyet. Under the cool shade of a sycamore,
I thought to close mine eyes some half an hour:
When lo! to interrupt my purpos'd rest,
Toward that shade I might behold addrest
The king and his companions: warily
I stole into a neighbour thicket by,
And overheard what you shall overhear,
That, by and by, disguis'd they will be here.
Their herald is a pretty knavish page,
That well by heart hath conn'd his embassage.
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,
Presence majestical would put him out;
For, quoth the king, an angel shalt thou see,
Yet fear not thou, but speak audaciously.
The boy reply'd, An angel is not evil;

I should have fear'd her, had she been a devil.
With that all laugh'd, and clapp'd him on the
shoulder;

Making the bold wag by their praises bolder.
One rubb'd his elbow, thus; and fleer'd, and swore,
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 cried, All goes well:
The fourth turn'd on the toe, and down he fell.
With that they all did tumble on the ground,
With such a zealous laughter, so profound,
That in the spleen ridiculous appears,
To check their folly, passion's solemn tears.
Prin. But what, but what, come they to visit us?
Boyet. They do, they do; and are apparel'd thus,-
Like Muscovites, or Russians: as I guess,
The purpose is, to parle, to court, and dance:
And every one his love-feat will advance

Prin. None are so surely caught, when they are Unto his several mistress; which they'll know

catch'd,

1 She advises Katharine to beware of drawing likenesses, lest she should retaliate.

By favours several, which they did bestow.
Prin. And will they so? the gallants shall be

task'd:

For, ladies, we will every one be mask'd;
And not a man of them shall have the grace,
Despite of suit, to see a lady's face.-
Hold, Rosaline, this favour thou shalt wear;
And then the king will court thee for his dear;
Hold, take thou this, my sweet, and give me thine;
So shall Biron take me for Rosaline.-
And change your favours too; so shall your loves
Woo contrary, deceiv'd by these removes.

Ros. Come on, then; wear the favours most in

sight.

Koth. But, in this changing, what is your intent?
Prin. The effect of my intent is to cross theirs:
They do it but in mocking merriment;
And mock for mock is only my intent.
Their several counsels they unbosom shall
To loves mistook; and so be mock'd withal,
Upon the next occasion that we meet,

which Warburton has given an ingenious but unfounded
explanation.

6 Johnson remarks that 'these are observations wor. thy of a man who has surveyed human nature with the closest attention.'

7 Via. See

2 Theobald is scandalized at this language from a princess. But Dr. Farmer observes 'there need no alarm -the small-por only is alluded to; with which it seems Katharine was pitted; or as it is quaintly expressed "her face was full of O's." Davison has a canzonet "on his lady's sicknesse of the poxe ;" and Dr. Donne writes to his sister, " At my return from Kent, I found Pegge had the pore." Such a plague was the small-laughter. pox formerly, that its name might well be used as an Imprecation.

3 This is an expression taken from the hiring of servants; meaning, I wish I knew that he was in love with me, or my servant,' as the phrase is.

4 The meaning of this obscure line seems to be,-I would make him proud to flatter me, who make a mock of his flattery.

5 The old copies read pertaunt-like. The modern editions read with Sir T. Hanmer, portentlike; of

83.

8 Spleen ridiculous is a ridiculous fit of laughter. The spleen was anciently supposed to be the cause of

9 In the first year of K. Henry VIII. at a banquet made for the foreign ambassadors in the parliament chamber at Westminster, 'came the Lorde Henry Earle of Wiltshire and the Lorde Fitzwater, in two long gownes of yellow satin traversed with white satin, and in every bend of white was a bend of crimosen sautin after the fashion of Russia or Ruslande, with furred hattes of grey on their hedes, either of them havyng an hatchet in their handes, and bootes with pykes turned up -Hall, Henry VIII. p. 6.

With visages display'd, to talk and greet.
Ros. But shall we dance, if they desire us to't?
Prin. No; to the death, we will not move a foot:
Nor to their penn'd speech render we no grace;
But, while 'tis spoke, each turn away her face.
Boyet. Why, that contempt will kill the speaker's
heart,

And quite divorce his memory from his part.

Prin. Therefore I do it: and, I make no doubt, The rest will ne'er come in, if he be out. There's no such sport, as sport by sport o'erthrown; To make theirs ours, and ours none but our own: So shall we stay, mocking intended game; And they, well mock'd, depart away with shame. [Trumpets sound within. Boyet. The trumpet sounds; be mask'd, the maskers come. [The Ladies mask.

Enter the King, BIRON, LONGAVILLE, and DuMAIN, in Russian habits, and masked; MOTH, Musicians, and Attendants.

Moth. All hail, the richest beauties on the earth! Boyet. Beauties no richer than rich taffata.1 Moth. A holy parcel of the fairest dames,

[The ladies turn their backs to him. That ever turn'd their-backs-to mortal views! Biron. Their eyes, villain, their eyes. Moth. That ever turn'd their eyes to mortal views!

Out

Ros. What would these strangers? know their minds, Boyet:

If they do speak our language, 'tis our will
That some plain man recount their purposes:
Know what they would.

Boyet. What would you with the princess?
Biron. Nothing but peace and gentle visitation.
Ros. What would they, say they?

Boyet. Nothing but peace and gentle visitation. Ros. Why, that they have; and bid them so

be gone. Boyet. She says, you have it, and you may be

gone.

King. Say to her we have measur'd many miles, To tread a measure with her on this grass.

Boyet. They say that they have measur❜d many a mile,

To tread a measure with you on this grass.

Ros. It is not so: 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. Ros. 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 so rich, so infinite, That we may do it still without accompt.

1 i. e. the taffata masks they wore.

2 A grave solemn dance, with slow and measured steps, like the minuet. As it was of so solemn a nature, It was performed at public entertainments in the Inns of Court; and it was not unusual, nor thought inconsistent, for the first characters in the law to bear a part in treading a measure. Sir Christopher Hatton was famous for it. 3 When Queen Elizabeth asked an ambassador how

Vouchsafe to show the sunshine of your face, That we, like savages, may worship it.

Ros. My face is but a moon, and clouded too. King. Blessed are clouds, to do as such clouds do! Vouchsafe, bright moon, and these thy stars, to shine3 (Those clouds remov'd) upon our wat'ry eyne.

Ros. O vain petitioner! beg a greater matter; Thou now request'st but moonshine in the water. King. Then in our measure vouchsafe but one change;

soon.

Thou bid'st me beg; this begging is not strange. Ros. Play, music, then: nay, you must do it [Music plays. Not yet:-no dance:-thus change I like the moon. King. Will you not dance? How come you thus estrang'd?

Ros. You took the moon at full; but now she's chang'd.

King. Yet still she is the moon, and I the man. The music plays; vouchsafe some motion to it.

Ros. Our ears vouchsafe it.

King.
But your legs should do it.
Ros. Since you are strangers and come here by

chance,

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

Ros.

Only to part friends :Court'sy, sweet hearts; and so the measure ends. King. More measure of this measure; be not nice. Ros. We can afford no more at such a price. King. Prize you yourselves; What buys your company?

Ros. Your absence only. King.

That can never be. Ros. Then cannot we be bought and so adieu; Twice to your visor, and half once to you! King. If you deny to dance, let's hold more chat. Ros. In private then. King.

I am best pleas'd with that. [They converse apart.

Biron. White-handed mistress, one sweet word

with thee.

Prin. Honey, and milk, and sugar; there is three. Biron. Nay then, two treys (an if you grow so

nice,)

Metheglin, wort, and malmsey ;-Well run, dice!
There's half a dozen sweets.
Prin.

Seventh sweet, adieu!
Since you can cog, I'll play no more with you.
Biron. One word in secret.
Prin.

Let it not be sweet. Biron. Thou griev'st my gall. Prin. Gall? bitter. Biron. Therefore meet. [They converse apart. Dum. Will you vouchsafe with me to change a word? Mar. Name it. Dum. Mar.

Fair lady,Take that for your fair lady. Dum.

Say you so? Fair lord,-
Please it you,

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

[They converse apart. Kath. What, was your visor made without a tongue?

Long. I know the reason, lady, why you ask. Kath. O, for your reason! quickly, sir; I long, And would afford my speechless visor half. Long. You have a double tongue within your mask, Kath. Veal, quoth the Dutchman ;-Is not veal a calf? Long. A calf, fair lady? Kath.

No, a fair lord calf. Long. Let's part the word.

he liked her ladies?—It is hard,' said he, 'to judge of stars in the presence of the sun.'

4 To cog is to lie or cheat. Hence, to cog the dice. 5 The same joke occurs in Dr. Dodypoll. Doct Hans, my very speciall friend; fait and trot me be right glad for see you veale. Hans. What, do you make a calfe of me, M. Doctor?

Kath. 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, chaste lady? do not so.
Kath. Then die a calf, before your horns do grow.
Long. One word in private with you, ere die.
Kath. Bleat softly, then, the butcher hears you
[They converse apart.

cry.

Boyet. The tongues of mocking wenches are as keen

As is the razor's edge invisible, Cutting a smaller hair than may be seen;

Above the sense of sense: so sensible Seemeth their conference; their conceits have wings, Fleeter than arrows, bullets, wind, thought, swifter things.

Ros. Not one word more, my ma ds; break off, break off.

Biron. By heaven, all dry-beaten with pure scoff! King. Farewell, mad wenches; you have sunple wits. [Exeunt King, Lords, MOTH, Music, and Attendants. Prin. Twenty adieus, my frozen Muscovites.Are these the breed of wits so wonder'd at? Boyet. Tapers they are, with your sweet breaths puff'd out.

Ros. Well-liking' wits they have; gross, gross; fat, fat.

Prin. O poverty in wit, kingly-poor flout! Will they not, think you, hang themselves to-night? Or ever, but in visors, show their faces? This pert Biron was out of countenance quite. Ros. O they were all in lamentable cases! The king was weeping-ripe for a good word.

Prin. Biron did swear himself out of all suit. Mar. Dumain was at my service, and his sword: No point, quoth I; my servant straight was mute. Kath. Lord Longaville said, I came o'er his heart, And trow you what he call'd me? Prin.

Kath. Yes, in good faith. Prin.

Qualm, perhaps.

Go, sickness, as thou art! Ros. Well, better wits have worn plain statute

caps.3

But will you hear? the king is my love sworn.
Prin. And quick Biron bath plighted faith to me.
Kath. And Longaville was for my service born.
Mar. Dumain is mine, as sure as bark on tree,
Boyet. Madam, and pretty mistresses, give ear:
Immediately they will again be here
In their own shapes; for it can never be,
They will digest this harsh indignity.
Prin. Will they return?

Boyet. They will, they will, God knows; And leap for joy, though they are lame with blows: Therefore, change favours; and, when they repair, Blow like sweet roses in this summer air.

Prin. How blow? how blow? speak to be understood.

Boyet. Fair ladies, mask'd, are roses in their bud: Dismask'd, their damask sweet commixture shown, Are angels vailing clouds, or roses blown.

Prin. Avaunt, perplexity! What shall we do, If they return in their own shapes to woo?

Ros. Good madam, if by me you'll be advis'd, Let's mock them still, as well known, as disguis'd;

Let us complain to them what fools were here,
Disguis'd like Muscovites, in shapeless gear;
And wonder, what they were; and to what end
Their shallow shows, and prologue vilely penn'd,
And their rough carriage so ridiculous,
Should be presented at our tent to us.
Boyet. Ladies, withdraw; the gallants are at hand.
Prin. Whip to our tents, as roes run over land.
[Exeunt Princess, Ros. KATH. and MARIA.
Enter the King, BIRON, LONGAVILLE, and
DUMAIN, in their proper habits.

King. Fair sir, God save you! Where is the princess?

Boyet. Gone to her tent: Please it your majesty, Command me any service to her thither?

King. That she vouchsafe me audience for one

word.

Boyet. I will; and so will she, I know, my lord. [Exit. Biron. This fellow pecks 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 wassels, meetings, markets, fairs; And we that sell by gross, 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 lisp: Why this is he, That kiss'd away his hand in courtesy; This is the ape of form, monsieur the nice, That, when he plays at tables, chides the dice In honourable terms; nay, he can sing A mean most meanly; and, in ushering, Mend him who can: the ladies call him, sweet, The stairs, as he treads on them, kiss his feet: This is the flower that smiles on every one, To show his teeth as white as whales bone:" And consciences, that will not die in debt, Pay him the due of honey-tongued Boyet.

King. A blister on his sweet tongue with my heart, That put Armado's page out of his part! Enter the Princess, usher'd by BOYET; ROSALINE, MARIA, KATHARINE, and Attendants. Biron. See where it comes!-Behaviour, what wert thou,

Till this man show'd thee? and what art thou now? King. All hail, sweet madam, and fair time of day. Prin. Fair, in all hail, is foul, as I conceive. King. Construe my speeches better, if you may. Prin. Then wish me better, I will give you leave. King. We came to visit you; and purpose now To lead you to our court: vouchsafe it then. Prin. This field shall hold me; and so hold your

5 Ladies unmask'd are like angels vailing clouds,

1 Well-liking is the same as well-conditioned, fat. or letting those clouds which obscured their brightness So in Job, xxxix. 4. Their young ones are in good-sink before them. So in The Merchant of Venice, Act tiking. i. Sc. 1.

2 No point. A quibble on the French adverb of negation, as before, Act ii. Sc. 1.

3 An act was passed the 13th of Elizabeth (1571,) 'For the continuance of making and wearing woollen caps, in behalf of the trade of cappers, providing that all above the age of six years (except the nobility and some other,) should on Sabbath days and holidays, wear caps of wool, knit, thicked, and dressed in England, upon penalty of ten groats.'

Vailing her high top lower than her ribs." 6 Uncouth.

7 Wassels. Festive meetings, drinking-bouts: from the Saxon was-heel, be in health, which was the form of drinking a health; the customary answer to which was drine-hæl, I drink your health. The wassel-cup, was sel-bowl, wassel-bread, wassel-candle, were all aids or accompaniments to festivity.

8 The tenor in music.

9 Whales bone: the Saxon genitive case. It is a common comparison in the old poets. This bone was the tooth of the Horse-whale, morse, or walrus, now

The term flat cap for a citizen will now be familiar to most readers from the use made of it by the author of The Fortunes of Nigel. The meaning of this passage probably is, 'better wits may be found among citizens. I superseded by ivory.

So much I hate a breaking-cause to be
Of heavenly oaths, vow'd with integrity.
King. O, you have lived in desolation here,
Unseen, unvisited, much to our shame.
Prin. Not so, my lord; it is not so, I swear;
We have had pastimes here, and pleasant game;
A mess of Russians left us but of late.
King. How, madam? Russians?
Prin.
Ay, in truth, my lord;
Trim gallants, full of courtship, and of state.
Ros. Madam, speak true:-It is not so, my lord;
My lady, (to the manner of the days,')
In courtesy, gives undeserving praise:
We four, indeed, confronted here with four
In Russian habit: here they stay'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 jest is dry to me.-Fair, gentle sweet,
Your wit makes wise things foolish; when we greet
With eyes best seeing heaven's fiery eye,
By light we lose light: Your capacity
Is of that nature, that to your huge store
Wise things seem foolish, and rich things but poor.
Ros. This proves you wise and rich; for in my

eye,

Biron. I am a fool, and full of poverty.

Ros. But that you take what doth to you belong, It were a fault to snatch words from my tongue. Biron. O, I am yours, and all that I possess. Ros. All the fool mine? Biron. I cannot give you less. Ros. Which of the visors was it, that you wore ? Biron. Where? when? what visor? why demand you this?

Ros. There, then, that visor; that superfluous case,

That hid the worse, and show'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 sad?

Ros. Help, hold his brows! he'll swoon! Why

look you pale?-

Sea-sick, I think, coming from Muscovy. Biron. Thus pour the stars down plagues for perjury.

Can any face of brass hold longer out?Here stand 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 wish thee never more to dance,

Nor never more in Russian habit wait. O! never will I trust to speeches penn'd,

Nor to the motion of a schoolboy's tongue; Nor never come in visor to my friend;2

Nor woo in rhyme, like a blind harper's song ; Taffata phrases, silken terms precise,

Three-pil'd hyperboles, spruce affectation, Figures pedantical; these summer-flies

Have blown me full of maggot ostentation:
I do forswear them, and I here protest,
By this white glove, (how white the hand, God
knows!)

Henceforth my wooing mind shall be express'd
In russet yeas, and honest kersey noes:
And, to begin, wench,-so God help me, la!--
My love to thee is sound, sans crack or flaw.
Ros. Sans SANS, I pray you.

1 After the fashion of the times.

2 Mistress. 3 A metaphor from the pile of velvet. 4i. e. without French words, I pray you. 5 This was the inscription put upon the doors of houses infected with the plague. The tokens of the plague were the first spots or discolorations of the skin.

6 That is, how can those be liable to forfeiture that begin the process? The quibble lies in the ambiguity of the word sue, which signifies to proceed to law, and to petition.

i. e. you care not, or do not regard forswearing.

Biron. Yet I have a trick Of the old rage:-bear with me, I am sick; I'll leave it by degrees. Soft, let us see ;Write, Lord have mercy on us,' on those three; They are infected, in their hearts it lies, They have the plague, and caught it of your eyes. These lords are visited; you are not free, For the Lord's tokens on you do I see.

Prin. No, they are free, that gave these tokens

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 forswear. King. Despise me, when I break this oath of mine. Prin. I will; and therefore keep it :-Rosaline, What did the Russian whisper in your ear?

Ros. Madam, he swore, that he did hold me dear As precious eye-sight; 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,

never swore this lady such an oath.

Ros. By heaven, you did; and to confirm it plam, You gave me this: but take it, sir, again. King. My faith, and this, the princess I did give; I knew her by this jewel on her sleeve.

Prin. Pardon, me, sir, 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 see the trick on't:--Here was a consent, (Knowing aforehand of our merriment,) To dash it like a Christmas comedy: Some carry-tale, some please-man, some slight zany,9

Some mumble-news, some trencher-knight, some Dick,

That smiles his cheek in jeers;10 and knows the trick

To make my lady laugh, when she's dispos'd,-
Told our intents before; which once disclos'd,
The ladies did change favours; and then we,
Following the signs, woo'd but the sign of she.
Now, to our perjury to add more terror,

e are again forsworn; in will and error.11 Much upon this it is:-And might not you, [To BOYET. Forestall our sport, to make us thus untrue? Do not you know my lady's foot by the squire,12 And laugh upon the apple of her eye?

Welcome, pure wit! thou partest a fair fray.

Cost. O Lord, sir, they would know,
Whether the three worthies shall come in, or no.
Biron, What, are there but three?
Cost.
No, sir; but it is vara fine,
For every one pursents three.
Biron.
And three times thrice is nine.
Cost. Not so, sir; under correction, sir; I hope,
it is not so:

You cannot beg us,2 sir, I can assure you, sir; we
know what we know:

I hope, sir, three times thrice, sir,-
Biron.

Is not nine. Cost. Under correction, sir, we know whereuntil it doth amount.

Biron. By Jove, I always took three threes for nine.

Cost. O lord, sir, it were pity you should get your living by reckoning, sir.

Biron. How much is it?

Cost. O Lord, sir, the parties themselves, the actors, sir, will show whereuntil it doth amount: for my own part, I am, as they say, but to parfect one man,-e'en one poor man; Pompion the great, sir. Biron. Art thou one of the worthies?

Cost. It pleased them, to think me worthy of Pompion the great: for mine own part, I know not the degree of the worthy; but I am to stand for him. Biron. Go, bid them prepare. Cost. We will turn it finely off, sir; we will take [Exit COSTARD. King. Biron, they will shame us, let them not approach.

some care.

Biron. We are shame-proof, my lord: and 'tis some policy

To have one show worse than the king's and his company.

King. I say, they shall not come.

Prin. Nay, my good lord, let me o'errule you now;
That sport best pleases, that doth least know how:
Where zeal strives to content, and the contents
Die in the zeal of them which it presents,
Their form confounded makes most form in mirth;

When great things labouring perish in their birth.
Biron. A right description of our sport, my lord.
Enter ARMADO.

Arm. Anointed, I implore so much expense of thy
royal sweet breath, as will utter a brace of words.
[ARMADO converses with the King, and delivers
him a paper.]

1 That is, you are an allowed or a licensed fool or jester.

2 In the old common law was a writ de idiota inquirendo, under which if a man was legally proved an idiot, the profits of his lands, and the custody of his person, might be granted by the king to any subject. Such a person, when this grant was asked, was said to be begged for a fool. See Blackstone, b. 1. c. 8. 19. One of the legal tests appears to have been to try whether the party could answer a simple arithmetical question. 3 The old copies read

Prin. Doth this man serve God?
Biron. Why ask you?

Prin. He speaks not like a man of God's making. Arm. That's all one, my fair, sweet, honey mo narch: for, I protest, the schoolmaster is exceeding fantastical; too, too vain; too, too vain: But we will put it, as they say, to fortuna della guerra. I wish you the peace of mind, most royal couple[Exit ARMADO. ment.3

'Dies in the zeal of that which it presents.' The emendation in the text is Malone's, and he thus endeavours to give this obscure passage a meaning. The word it, I believe, refers to sport. That sport, says the princess, pleases best, where the actors are least skilful; where zeal strives to please, and the contents, or great things attempted, perish in the very act of being produced, from the ardent zeal of those who present the sportive entertainment. It, however, may refer to contents, and that word may mean the most material part of the exhibition.

King. Here is like to be a good presence of wor thies: He presents Hector of Troy; the swain, Pompey the great; the parish curate, Alexander; Armado's page, Hercules; the pedant, Judas Machabæus.

And if these four worthies in their first show thrive,
These four will change habits, and present the other
five.

Biron. There is five in the first show.
King. You are deceiv'd, 'tis not so.

Biron. The pedant, the braggart, the hedge-priest, the fool, and the boy :

A bare throw at novum ; and the whole world again,
Cannot prick out five such, take each one in his vein.
King. The ship is under sail, and here she comes
amain.

[Seats brought for the King, Princess, &r
Pageant of the Nine Worthies.

Enter COSTARD arm'd, for Pompey.

Cost. I Pompey am,—
Boyet.

Cost. I Pompey am,-
Boyet.

You lie, you are not he.

With libbard's head on knee."

Biron Well said, old mocker; I must needs be
friends with thee.

Cost. I Pompey am, Pompey, surnam'd the big,—
Dum. The great.

Cost. It is great, sir ;-Pompey surnam'd the great;
That oft in field, with turge and shield, did make my
foe to sweat:
here am come by
And travelling along this coast,

chance;

And lay my arms before the legs of this sweet lass of
France.

If your ladyship would say, Thanks, Pompey, I had

done.

Prin. Great thanks, great Pompey.

Cost. "Tis not so much worth; but, I hope, I was perfect: I made a little fault in, great.

Biron. My hat to a halfpenny, Pompey proves the best worthy.

Enter NATHANIEL arm'd, for Alexander. Nath. When in the world I liv'd, I was the world's commander;

By cast, west, north, and south, I spread my con

quering might:

My 'scutcheon plain declares that I am Alisander. Boyet. Your nose says, no, you are not, for it stands too right."

Biron. Your nose smells, no, in this, most tender.
smelling knight.10

Prin. The conqueror is dismay'd: Proceed, good
Alexander.

4 Labouring here means in the act of parturition. 5 This word is used again by Shakspeare in his 21st Sonnet:

'Making a couplement of proud compare.'

6 A game at dice, properly called novem quinque, from the principal throws being nine and fire. The first folio reads Abate throw,' &c. The second folio, which reads 'A bare throw,' is evidently right.

7 Pick out.

8 This alludes to the old heroic habits, which, on the knees and shoulders, had sometimes by way of ornament the resemblance of a leopard's or lion's head. See Cotgrave's Dictionary, in v. Masquine.

9 It should be remembered, to relish this joke, that the head of Alexander was obliquely placed on his shoulders.

10 His (Alexander's) body had so sweet a smell of itselfe that all the apparell he wore next unto his body, tooke thereof a passing delightful savour, as if it had been perfumed. North's Plutarch.

« Předchozí Pokračovat »

Knihy

The Dramatic Works and Poems, Svazek 1