Prin. Nothing but this? Yes, as much love in

rhime,

As would be cramm'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 fuch a merry, nimble, ftirring fpirit,

She might have been a grandam ere fhe dy'd:
And fo may you; for a light heart lives long.
Rof. What's your dark meaning, moufe, 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 mar the light, by taking it in fnuff: Therefore, I'll darkly end the argument.

Rof. Look, what you do; you do it still i' the
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.

3

Rof. Great reafon; for, Paft cure is ftill paft

Prin. Well bandied both; a fet of wit well play'd.

to make his God-head wax ;] To wax anciently fignified to grow. It is yet faid of the moon, that she waxes and wanes. STEEVENS.

-for paft care is fill paft cure.] The tranfpofition which I have made in the two words, care and cure, is by the di rection of the ingenious Dr. Thirlby. THEOBALD.

But,

But, Rofaline, you have a favour too :
Who fent it? and what is it?

Rof. I would, you knew.

An if my face were but as fair as yours,
My favour were as great; be witness this.
Nay, I have verfes too, I thank Biron:
The numbers true; and, were the numb'ring too,
I were the fairest Goddefs on the ground:
I am compar'd to twenty thousand fairs.
O, he hath drawn my picture in his 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 debtor,

My red dominical, my golden letter.

O, that your face were not fo full of O's!

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

Prin. Did he not send you twain?

Cath. Yes, Madam; and moreover,

Some thousand verses of a faithful lover:

'Ware pencils!-
Were pencils-

-] The former editions read,

Sir T. Hanmer here rightly restored,

'Ware pencils

Rosaline, a black beauty, reproaches the fair Catherine for painting. JOHNSON.

The folio reads,

Ware penfals

STEEVENS.

Pox of that jeft! and I befhrew all brews.] In former copies this line is given to the Princefs; but as fhe has behaved with great decency all along, there is no reason why she should start all at once into this coarfe dialect. Rofaline and Catherine are rallying one another without referve; and to Catherine this first line certainly belonged, and therefore I have ventured once more to put her in poffeffion of it. THEOBALD.

A

A huge tranflation of hypocrify,

Vilely compil'd, profound fimplicity.

Mar. This, and thefe pearls, to me fent Longaville;

The letter is too long by half a mile.

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

Mar. Ay, or I would these hands might never part. Prin. We are wife girls to mock our lovers fo. Rof. They are worfe fools to purchase mocking fo. That fame Biron I'll torture, ere I go.

O, that I knew he were but in by the week! 7
How I would make him fawn, and beg, and feek;
And wait the season, and obferve the times,
And spend his prodigal wits in bootless rhimes;
And fhape his fervice all to my behests,

8

And make him proud to make me proud that jefts!
So portent-like would I o'erfway his state,
That he should be my fool, and I his fate.

Prin.

7in by the week!] This I fuppofe to be an expreffion taken from hiring fervants or artificers; meaning, I wish I was as fure of his service for any time limited, as if I had hired him.

So portent-like, &c.] In former copies,

So pertaunt-like, would I o'er-fway his ftate,

That he should be my fool, and I his fate.

STEEVENS.

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 very jaws of Fate. To this Shakespeare alludes again in Measure for Measure,

merely thou art Death's Fool;

For him thou labour'ft by thy flight to fhun,
And yet runs towards him ftill.

It is plain from all this, that the nonsense of pertaunt-like, should be read, portent-like, i. e. I 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 perVOL. II.

Ff

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.

Rof. The blood of youth burns not with such
excefs,

As gravity's revolt to wantonnefs.

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

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 furpris'd.
Mufter your wits; ftand in your own defence;
Or hide your heads like cowards, and fly hence.
Prin. Saint Dennis to St. Cupid!

What are they That charge their breath against us? fay, fcout, say.

a perfon defined to bring mischief, fatale portentum.

WARBURTON.

None are fo, &c.] Thefe are observation worthy of a man who has furveyed human nature with the closest attention.

JOHNSON.

1 Saint Dennis, to faint Cupid!] The Princess of France invokes, with too much levity, the patron of her country, to oppofe his power to that of Cupid. JOHNSON.

Boyet

Boyet. Under the cool fhade of a fycamore,
I thought to close my eyes fome 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 ftole into a neighbour thicket by,
And overheard, what you fhall overhear;
That, by and by, difguis'd they will be here.
Their herald is a pretty knavifh page,
That well by heart hath conn'd his embaffage.
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 speak audaciously.
The boy reply'd, An angel is not evil;
Ifbould have fear'd her, had she been a devil.

With that all laugh'd, and clap'd him on the fhoulder;
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 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,

2

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 Mufcovites, or Ruffians: as I guess3
Their purpose is to parley, court, and dance:

And

3fp'een ridiculous] is, a ridiculous fit. JOHNSON. 3 Like Mufc.vites, or Ruffians, as I guess.] The fettling commerce