Ros. Well then, I am the shooter. come near. Finely put on, indeed!— Mar. You still wrangle with her, Boyet, and she strikes at the brow. Boyet. But she herself is hit lower: Have I hit her now? gar, (0 base and obscure vulgar!) vide- | Finely put on! Thine, in the dearest design of industry, Thus dost thou hear the Nemean lion roar his prey; Submissive fall his princely feet before, And he 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 Boyet. I am much deceived, but I remem- of mine, To a lady of France, that he call'd Rosaline. lords, away. Here, sweet, put up this; 'twill be thine ano- Boyet. My lady goes to kill horns; but, if Hang me by the neck, if horns that year mis carry. 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, [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. [hand is out. Mar. Wide o' the bow hand! i'faith your Cost. Indeed, a' must shoot nearer, or he'll ne'er hit the clout. [your hand is in. Boyet. An if my hand be out, then, belike Cost. Then will she get the upshot by cleaving the pin. Mar. Come, come, you talk greasily, your Cost. She's too hard for you at pricks, clown! [Exeunt BOYET and MARIA. Cost. By my soul, a swain! a most simple [him down! Lord, lord! how the ladies and I have put O' my troth, most sweet jests! most incony vulgar wit! man! When it comes so smoothly off, so obscenely, [Exit COSTARD, running. Nath. Very reverent sport, truly; and done in the testimony of a good conscience. * Just now. Hol. The deer was, as you know, in sanguis,-blood; ripe as a pomewater, who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of cœlo, -the sky, the welkin, the heaven; and anon falleth like a crab, on the face of terra, the soil, the land, the earth. and, to humour the ignorant, I have call'd the deer the princess kill'd, a pricket. Nath. Perge, good master Holofernes, perge; so it shall please you to abrogate scurrility. Hol. I will something affect the letter; for Nath. Truly, master Holofernes, the epi-it argues facility. thets 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. Dull. 'Twas not a haud credo, 'twas a pricket. Hol. Most barbarous intimation! yet a kind of insinuation, as it were, in via, in way, of explication; facere, as it were, replication, or, rather, ostentare, to show, as it were, his inclination,-after his undressed, unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or rather unlettered, or, ratherest, unconfirined fashion, to insert again my haud credo for a deer. Dull. I said, the deer was not a haud credo; 'twas a pricket.. Hol. Twice sod simplicity, bis coctus O thou monster ignorance, how deformed dost thou look! Nath. Sir, he hath never fed of the dainties that are bred in a book; he hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink: his intellect is not replenished; he 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 those parts that do fructify in us more than he. For as it would ill become me to be vain, indiscreet, or a fool, So, were there a patch † set on learning, to see him in a school: The praiseful princess pierc'd and prick'd a pretty pleasing pricket; · Some say, a sore; but not a sore, till now made sore with shooting. The dogs did yell; put L to sore, then sorel jumps from thicket; Or pricket, sore, or else sorel; the people fall a hooting. If sore be sore, then I to sore makes fifty sores; O sore L! Of one 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. Hol. This is a gift that I have, simple, simple; a foolish extravagant spirit, full of forms, figures, shapes, objects, ideas, apprehensions, motions, revolutions: these are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourished in the womb of pia mater; and deliver'd upon the mellowing of occasion: But the gift is good in those in whom it is acute, and I am thankful for it. Nath. Sir, I praise the Lord for you; and so may my parishioners; for their sons are well tutor❜d by you, and their daughters profit very greatly under you you are a good member of the commonwealth. Hol. Mehercle, if their sons be ingenious, they shall want no instruction: if their daughters be capable, I will put it to them: But, vir sapit, qui pauca loquitur: a soul feminine But, omne bene, say I; being of an old fa-saluteth us. Many can brook the weather, that love not What was a month old at Cain's birth, that's not five weeks old as yet? Hol. Dictynna, good man Dull; Dictynna, good man Dull. moon. Dull. What is Dictynna? Nath. A title to Phoebe, to Luna, to the [Adam was no more; Hol. The moon was a month old, when And raught not to five weeks, when he 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 bolds in the exchange; for the moon is never but a month old: and I say beside, that 'twas a pricket that the princess kill'd. Enter JAQUENETTA and COSTARD. Jaq. God give you good morrow, master person. Hol. Master person,-quasi pers-on. And if one should be pierced, which is the one? Cost. Marry, master schoolmaster, he that is likest to a hogshead. Hol. Of piercing a hogshead! a good lustre of conceit in a turf of earth; fire enough for a flint, pearl enough for a swine: 'tis pretty; it is well. Jaq. Good master parson, be so good as read me this letter; it was given me by Cos tard, and sent me from Don Armatho : I beseech you, read it. Hol. Fauste, precor gelida quando pecus Ruminat,—and so forth. Ah, good old Man- I may speak of thee as the traveller doth of Ve- Chi non te vede, ei non te pregia. Hol. Sir Nathaniel, will you hear an extemporal epitaph on the death of the deer? * A species of apple. + Reached. contents? or, rather, as Horace says in hisWhat, my soul, verses? Nath. Ay, sir, and very learned. Hol. Let me hear a staff, a stanza, a verse; Lege, domine. Nath. If love make me fors worn, how shall I swear to love? Ab, never faith could hold, if not to beauty vowed! [prove; Though to myself fors worn, to thee I'll faithful Those thoughts to me were oaks, to thee like osiers bowed. Study his bias leaves, and makes his book thine eyes: [would comprehend: Where all those pleasures live, that art If knowledge be the mark, to know thee shall suffice; [thee commend: Well learned is that tongue, that well can All ignorant that soul, that sees thee without wonder; [parts admire ;) (Which is to me some praise, that I thy Thy eye Jove's lightning bears, thy voice his dreadful thunder, sweet fire. Which, not to anger bent, is music, and [wrong, Celestial, as thou art, oh pardon, love, this That sings heaven's praise with such an earthly tongue! Hol. You find not the apostrophes, and so miss the accent: let me supervise the canzonet. Here are only numbers ratified; but, for the elegancy, facility, and golden cadence of poesy, caret. Ovidius Naso was the man: and why, indeed, Naso; but for smelling out the odoriferous flowers of fancy, the jerks of invention? Imitari, is nothing: so doth the hound his master, the ape his keeper, the tired horse his rider. But damosella virgin, was this directed to you? Jaq. Ay, sir, from one Monsieur Biron, one of the strange queen's lords. Hol. I will overglance the superscript. To the snow-white hand of the most beauteous Lady Rosaline. I will look again on the intellect of the letter, for the nomination of the party writing to the person written unto: Your Ladyship's in all desired employment, BIRON. Sir Nathaniel, this Biron is one of the votaries with the king; and here he hath framed a letter to a sequent of the stranger queen's, which, accidentally, or by the way of progression, hath miscarried.-Trip and go, my sweet; deliver this paper into the royal hand of the king; it may concern much: Stay not thy compliment; I forgive thy duty; adieu. Jaq. Good Costard, go with me.-Sir, God save your life! Cost. Have with thee, my girl. [Exeunt CosT. and JAQ. Nath. Sir, you have done this in the fear of God, very religiously; and, as a certain father saith Hol. Sir, tell not me of the father, I do fear colourable colours. But, to return to the verses; Did they please you, sir Nathaniel? Horse adorned with ribands. Nath. Marvellous well for the pen. Hol. I do dine to-day at the father's of a certain pupil of mine; where if, before repast, it shall please you to gratify the table with a grace, I will, on my privilege I have with the parents of the foresaid child or pupil, undertake your ben venuto; where I will prove those verses to be very unlearned, neither savouring of poetry, wit, nor invention: I beseech your society. Nuth. And thank you too: for society, (saith the text,) is the happiness of life. Hol. And, certes t, the text most infallibly concludes it.-Sir, [To DULL.] I do invite you too; you shall not say me, nay: pauca verba. Away; the gentles are at their game, and we will to our recreation. [Exeunt. SCENE III. Another part of the same. Enter BIRON, with a paper. Biron. The king he is hunting the deer; I am coursing myself: they have pitch'd a toil; I am toiling in a pitch; pitch that defiles; defile! a foul word. Well, Set thee down, sorrow! for so, they say, the fool said, and so say I, and I the fool. Well proved, wit! By the lord, this love is as mad as Ajax: it kills sheep; it kills me, I a sheep: Well proved again on my side! I will not love: if I do, hang me; i'faith, I will not. O, but her eye, by this light, but for her eye, I would not love her; yes, for her two eyes.. Well, I do nothing in the world but lie, and lie in my throat. By heaven, I do love: and it hath taught me to rhyme, and to be melancholy; and here is part of my rhyme, and here my melancholy. Well, she hath one o' my sonnets already; the clown bore it, the fool sent it, and the lady hath it: sweet clown, sweeter fool, sweetest lady! By the world, I would not care a pin if the other three were in: Here comes one with a paper; God give him grace to groan! [Gets up into a tree. Enter the King, with a paper. Biron. [Aside.] Shot, by heaven!-Proceed, sweet Cupid; thou hast thump'd him with thy bird-bolt under the left pap:-I'faith secrets. King. [Reads.] So sweet a kiss the golden sun gives not The night of dew that on my cheeks down Nor shines the silver moon one half so bright Through the transparent bosom of the deep, As doth thy face through tears of mine give light; Thou shin'st in every tear that I do weep: No drop but as a coach doth carry thee, So ridest thou triumphing in my woe; Do but behold the tears that swell in me, And they thy glory through thy grief will show: † In truth. But do not love thyself; then thou wilt keep My tears for glasses, and still make me weep. O queen of queens, how far dost thou excel! No thought can think, nor tongue of mortal tell.[paper; How shall she know my griefs? I'll drop the Sweet leaves, shade folly. Who is he comes here? [Steps aside. Enter LONGAVILLE, with a paper. What, Longaville! and reading! listen, ear. Biron. Now, in thy likeness, one more fool, appear! [Aside. Long. Ah me! I am forsworn. Biron. Why, he comes in like a perjure, wearing papers. King. In love, I hope; Sweet fellowship in shame! [Aside. [Aside. [Aside. Biron. One drunkard loves another of the name: Long. Am I the first that have been perjur'd so? Biron. [Aside.] I could put thee in comfort; not by two, that I know: Thou mak'st the triumviry, the corner cap of O sweet Maria, empress of my love! This same shall go.[He reads the sonnet. Did not the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye ('Gainst whom the world cannot hold ar gument,) Persuade my heart to this false perjury? Vows, for thee broke, deserve not punish ment." A woman I forswore; but, I will prove, Thou being a goddess, I forswore not thee: My vow was earthly, thou a heavenly love; Thy grace being gain'd, cures all disgrace in me. Vows are but breath,and breath a vapour is: Then thou, fair sun, which on my earth dost shine, Exhal'st this vapour vow; in thee it is: A Enter DUMAIN, with a paper. Long. By whom shall I send this?-Company! stay. · · [Stepping aside. Biron. [Aside.] All hid, all hid, an old infant play: Like a demi-god here sit I in the sky, More sacks to the mill! O heavens, I have my wish; [dish! Dumain transform'd: four woodcocks in a Dum. O most divine Kate! Biron. O most profane coxcomb! [Aside. Dum. By heaven,the wonder of a mortal eye! Biron. By earth, she is but corporal; there you lie. [Aside. Dum. Her amber hairs for foul have amber coted *. Biron. An amber colour'd raven was well noted. Dum. As upright as the cedar. Biron. Her shoulder is with child. Dum. [Aside. Stoop, I say; [Aside. As fair as day. Biron. Once more I'll mark how love can Dum. On a day, (alack the day!) Long. Dumain, [advancing!] thy love is far That in love's grief desir'st society a King. Come, sir, [advancing.] you blush; You would for paradise break faith and troth; [TO LONG. And Jove, for your love, would infringe an oath. [To DUMAIN. What will Birón say, when that he shall hear A faith infring'd, which such a zeal did swear? How will he scorn? how will he spend his wit? How will he triumph, leap, and laugh at it? I would not have him know so much by me. prove 1 These worms for loving, that art most in love? King. King. Soft; Whither away, so fast? A true man, or a thief, that gallops so? [go. Biron. I post from love; good lover, let me * Grief. .bt-Cypic. What present hast thou there? Cost. Some certain treason. King. What makes treason here? Cost. Nay, it makes nothing, sir. King. If it mar nothing neither, The treason, and you, go in peace away together. [read; Jaq. I beseech your grace, let this letter be Our parson misdoubts it; 'twas treason, he said. King. Biron, read it over. [Giving him the letter. Where hadst thou it? dost thou tear it? [needs not fear it. Biron. A toy, my liege, a toy; your grace Long. It did move him to passion, and therefore let's hear it. Dum. It is Biron's writing, and here is his [Picks up the pieces. Biron. Ah, you whoreson loggerhead, [To name. COST.] you were born to do me shame.Guilty, my lord, guilty; I confess, I confess. King. What? [to make up the mess: Biron. That you three fools lack'd me fool He, he, and you, my liege, and 1, Are pick-purses in love, and we deserve to die. O, dismiss this audience, and I shall tell you Dum. Now the number is even. [more. Biron. True, true; we are four : Will these turtles be gone? King. Hence, sirs; away. Cost. Walk aside the true folk, and let the traitors stay. [Exeunt COST. & JAQ. Biron. Sweet lords, sweet lovers, O let us embrace!. As true we are, as flesh and blood can be: The sea will ebb and flow,heaven show his face; Young blood will not obey an old decree : We cannot cross the cause why we were born; Therefore, of all hands must we be forsworn. King. What, did these rent lines show some love of thine? [heavenly Rosaline, Biron. Did they, quoth you? Who sees the That, like a rude and savage man of Inde, At the first opening of the gorgeous east, Bows not his vassal head; and, strucken blind, Kisses the base ground with obedient breast? What peremptory eagle sighted eye Dares look upon the heaven of her brow, That is not blinded by her majesty? [now? King.What zeal, what fury hath inspir'd thee My love, her mistress, is a gracious moon; She, an attending star, scarce seen a light. Biron. My eyes are then no eyes, nor I Birón: |