Prin. God give thee joy of him! the noble lordMoft honourably doth uphold his word.

King. What mean you, madam? by my life, my troth, I never fwore this lady fuch an oath.

Rof. By heaven, you did; and to confirm it plain, You gave me this: but take it, fir, again.

King. My faith, and this, the princess I did give; I knew her by this jewel on her fleeve.

Prin. Pardon me, fir, this jewel did fhe 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 fee the trick on't; here was a confent,
(Knowing aforehand of our merriment)
To dafh it, like a Christmas comedy.

Some carry-tale, fome please-man, fome flight zany,
Some mumble-news, fome trencher-knight, fomeDick,
That fmiles his cheek in years;' and knows the trick
To make my lady laugh, when she's difpos'd,
Told our intents before: which once difclos'd,
The ladies did change favours; and then we,
Following the figns, woo'd but the fign of fhe.
Now, to our perjury to add more terror,
We are again forfworn; in will and error."

1

―fmiles his cheek in years,- -] Mr. Theobald fays, he cannot, for his heart, comprehend the fenfe of this phrafe. It was not his heart but his head that ftood in his way. In years, fignifies, into wrinkles. So in The Merchant of Venice.

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.

See the note on that line. N But the Oxford editor was in the fame cafe, and fo alters it to fleers. WARBURTON.

Much

upon this it is:-And might not you [To Boyet
Foreftal our sport, to make us thus untrue?
Do not you know my lady's foot by the fquier,
And laugh upon the apple of her eye?
And ftand between her back, fir, and the fire,
Holding a trencher, jefting merrily?

You put our page out: Go, you are allow'd; '
Die when you will, a fmock fhall be your throwd.
You leer upon me, do you? there's an eye,
Wounds like a leaden fword.

Boyet. Full merrily

Hath this brave manage, this career, been run.
Biron. Lo, he is tilting ftrait! Peace, I have done.
Enter Coftard.

Welcome pure wit! thou parteft a fair fray.
Coft. O Lord, fir, they would know
Whether the three worthies fhall come in, or no.

Biron. What are there but three?

Cost. No, fir, but it is very fine;

For every one purfents three.

Biron. And three times three is nine?

Coft. Not fo, fir; under correction, fir; I hope, it is not fo.

You cannot beg us, fir; I can affure you fir, we know what we know:

I hope, three times three, fir

3

Biron. Is not nine.

by the fquier,] Efquierre, French, a rule, or fquare. REVISAL. 4-Go, you are allow'd;] i. e. you may fay what you will; you are a licensed fool, a common jefter. So Twelfth Night,

There is no flander in an allow'd fool. WARBURTON. You cannot beg us, That is, we are not fools, our next relations cannot leg the wardship of our perfons and fortunes. One of the legal teits of a natural is to try whether he can number.

JOHNSON.

Coft. Under correction, fir, we know where until it doth amount.

Biron. By Jove, I always took three threes for nine. Coft. O Lord, fir, it were pity you should get your Jiving by reckoning, fir.

Biron. How much is it?

Coft. O Lord, fir, the parties themselves, the actors, fir, will fhew whereuntil it doth amount: for my own part, I am, as they fay, but to perfect one man in one poor man; Pompion the Great, fir.

Biren. Art thou one of the worthies?

Coft. It pleafed 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 ftand for him. Biron. Go, bid them prepare.

Coft. We will turn it finely off, fir; we will take fome

care.

King, Biron, they will fhame us, let them not approach. [Exit Coft. Biron. We are fhame-proof, my lord; and 'tis fome policy

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

pany.

King. I fay, they fhall not come.

Prin. Nay, my good lord, let me o'er-rule you now; That sport beft pleases, that doth least know how.

That Sport beft pleafes, which doth leaft know how. Where zeal ftrives to content, and the contents

Dies in the zeal of that which it presents ;

Their form, &c.

The third line may be read better thus,

-the contents

Die in the zeal of him which them prefents.

This fentiment of the Princefs is very natural, but lefs generous than that of the Amazonian Queen, who fays, on a like occafion, in Midfummer-Night's Dream,

I love not to fee wretchedness d'ercharg'd,
Nor duty in bis fer-vice perishing. JOHNSON.

Where

Where zeal ftrives to content, and the contents
Dies in the zeal of that which it prefents;

There form, confounded, makes moft form in mirth; When great things, labouring, perifh in their birth. Biron. A right defcription of our sport, my lord. Enter Armado."

Arm. Anointed, I implore fo much expence of thy royal sweet breath, as will utter a brace of words. Prin. Doth this man ferve God?

Biron. Why afk you?

Prin. He speaks not like a man of God's making. Arm. That's all one, my fair, fweet, honey monarch: for, I proteft, the school-mafter is exceeding fantastical; too, too vain; too, too vain : But we will put it, as they fay, to fortuna della guerra. I wish you the peace of mind, moft royal couplement.

King. Here is like to be a good prefence of worthies: He prefents Hector of Troy; the fwain, Pompey the Great; the parish curate, Alexander; Armado's page, Hercules; the pedant, Judas Macchabæus. And if these four worthies in their firft fhow thrive, Thefe four will change habits,and prefent the other five. Biron. There are five in the firft fhow.

King. You are deceiv'd, 'tis not so.

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

8

A bare throw at novum, and the whole world again, Cannot prick out five fuch, take each one in his vein,

7 Enter Armado.] The old copies read-Enter Braggart.

King.

STEEVENS.

A bare throw at novum,-] This paffage I do not understand. I fancy that novum should be novem, and that fome allufion is intended between the play of nine pins and the play of the nine wor thies, but it lies too deep for my inveftigation. JOHNSON.

Novum appears from the following paffage in Green's Tu quoque, to have been fome game at dice.-"Change your game for dice; "we are a full number for novum." Again in A Woman never

Gg 4

vex'd,

King. The fhip is under fail, and here fhe comes

amain.

Enter Coftard for Pompey.

Coft. I Pompey am

Boyet. You lye, you are not he.

Coft. 1 Pompey am――

Boyet. With libbard's head on knee."

Biron. Well faid, old mocker: I must needs be friends with thee.

Coft. I Pompey am, Pompey furnam'd the Big.
Dum. The Great.

Coft. It is Great, fir; Pompey furnam'd the Great, That oft in field, with targe and shield, did make my foe to Sweat:

And travelling along this coaft, Ihere am come by chancez And lay my arms before the legs of this fweet lafs of France. If your ladyship would fay, Thanks-Pompey, I had

done.

Prin. Great thanks, great Pompey.

Coft. 'Tis not fo much worth; but, I hope, I was perfect. I made a little fault in great.

Biron. My hat to a half-penny, Pompey proves best worthy.

Enter Nathaniel for Alexander.

the

Nath. When in the world I liv'd, I was the world's commander;

By east, weft, north,and fouth, I fpread my conquering might:

vex'd," What ware deal you in? cards, dice, bowls, or pigeonholes ; fort them yourfelves, either paffage, novum, or mum, "chance." STEEVENS.

• With libbard's head on knee.] This alludes to the old heroic habits, which on the knees and fhoulders had ufually, by way of ornament, the resemblance of a leopard's or lion's head.

WARBURTON. The libbard, as fome of the old English gloffaries inform us, is the male of the panther, STEEVENS.

My