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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 Goddess 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 shrows." Prin. But what was fent to you from fair Dumain? Cath. Madam, this glove.

Prin. Did he not fend you twain ?

Cath. Yes, Madam; and moreover, Some thousand verfes of a faithful lover:

5 'Ware pencils!

Were pencils

-] The former editions read,

Sir T. Hanmer here rightly restored,

"Ware pencils

Rofaline, a black beauty, reproaches the fair Catherine for paint ing. JOHNSON.

The folio reads,

Ware penfals

STEEVENS.

Pox of that jeft! and I beforew 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 reafon why the fhould start all at once into this coarfe dialect. Rosaline and Catherine are rally. ing 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 wish in heart, The chain were longer, and the letter short?

Mar. Ay, or I would thefe hands might never part.
Prin. We are wife girls to mock our lovers fo.
Rof. They are worfe fools to purchase mocking so.
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 feason, and obferve the times,
And spend his prodigal wits in bootless rhimes;
And fhape his fervice all to my behefts,

8

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

Prin

7 in 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 fervice for any time limited, as if I had hired him.

8 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 bis 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 firatagems to avoid Death or Fate; which very stratagems, as they are ordered, bring the Fool, at every turn, into the very jaws of Fate. To this Shakespeare alludes again in Meafure for Measure,

-merely thou art Death's Fool;

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

It is plain from all this, that the nonfenfe of pertaunt-like, fhould be read, portent-like, i. e. I would be his fate or destiny, and, like a portent, hang over, and influence his fortunes. For pertints were not only thought to forsbode, but to influence. So the Latins called

VOL. II.

Ff

a per

Prin. None are fo furely caught when they are
catch'd,

As wit turn'd fool: folly, in wisdom 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 fuch
excefs,

As gravity's revolt to wantonness.

Mar. Folly in fools bears not so strong 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 stabb'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; stand 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, fay,

a perfon deftined to bring mifchief, fatale portentum.

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WARBURTON.

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9 None are so, &c.] Thefe are obfervation worthy of a man who has furveyed human nature with the clofeft attention.

* Saint Dennis, 10 faint Cupid!] The Princess of France invokes, with too much levity, the patron of her country, to op pofe 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 reft,
Toward that fhade, I might behold, addrest
The king and his companions: warily
I ftole into a neighbour thicket by,
And overheard, what you shall 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 shalt thou fee;
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 clap'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 fpeech 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
they do; and are apparell'd

thus,

Like Mufcovites, or Ruffians: as I guess 3
Their purpose is to parley, court, and dance:

And

"Spleen ridiculous] is, a ridiculous fit. JOHNSON. 3 Like Mufc.vites, or Ruffins, as I guess.] The fettling commerce

1

And every one his love feat will advance
Unto his feveral mistress; which they'll know
By favours several, which they did bestow.

Prin. And will they fo? the gallants fhall be
tafk'd:

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For, ladies, we will every one be mafk'd,
And not a man of them fhall have the grace,
Defpight of fuit, to fee a lady's face.

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Hold, Rofaline, this favour thou shalt wear;
And then the king will court thee for his dear:
Hold, take you this, my fweet, and give me thine;
So fhall Biron take me for Rofaline.--
And change your favours too; fo fhall
your loves
Woo contrary, deceiv'd by these removes.
Rof. Come on then, wear the favours most in
fight.

Cath. 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 feveral councils they unbofom shall
To loves miftook; and fo be mock'd withal,
Upon the next occafion that we meet,
With vifages difplay'd, to talk, and greet,

Rof. But fhail we dance, if they defire us to't?
Prin. No, to the death, we will not move a foot:
Nor to their penn'd fpeech render we no grace:
But, while 'tis fpoke, each turn away her face.
Boyet. Why, that contempt will kill the fpeaker's
heart,

And quite divorce his memory from his part.

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in Ruffia was, at that time, a matter that much ingroffed the concern and converfation of the publick. There had been feve ral embaflies employed thither on that occafion; and feveral trads of the manners and state of that nation written: fo that a mask of Mufcovites was as good an entertainmenment to the audience of that time, as a coronation has been fince. WARBURTON,

Prin.

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