Prin. Beauteous as ink; a good conclusion. 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; Vilely compiled, profound simplicity. Mar. This, and these pearls, to me sent Longaville; 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. O that I knew he were but in by the week! 2 And make him proud to make me proud that jests!3 4 That he should be my fool, and I his fate. Prin. None are so surely caught, when they are catched, As wit turned fool. Folly, in wisdom hatched, 1 She advises Katharine to beware of drawing likenesses, lest she should retaliate. 2 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. 3 The meaning of this obscure line seems to be,-I would make him proud to flatter me, who make a mock of his flattery. 4 The old copies read pertaunt-like. The modern editions read, with Sir T. Hanmer, portent-like, VOL. II. 18 Hath wisdom's warrant, and the help of school; Ros. The blood of youth burns not with such excess, As gravity's revolt to wantonness. Mar. Folly in fools bears not so strong a note, As foolery in the wise, when wit doth dote; Since all the power thereof it doth apply, To prove, by wit, worth in simplicity. Enter BOYET. Prin. Here comes Boyet, and mirth is in his face. Boyet. O, I am stabbed with laughter! Where's her grace? Prin. Thy news, Boyet? Boyet. Arm, wenches, arm! Against your peace. Prepare, madam, prepare!Encounters mounted are Love doth approach disguised, Armed in arguments. You'll be surprised: Muster your wits; stand in your own defence; That charge their breath against us? say, scout, say. I thought to close mine eyes some half an hour; I stole into a neighbor thicket by, The boy replied, An angel is not evil; I should have feared her, had she been a devil. With that all laughed, and clapped him on the shoulder; Making the bold wag by their praises bolder. One rubbed his elbow, thus; and fleered, and swore, Cried, Via! we will do't, come what will come : Prin. But what, but what, come they to visit us? Unto his several mistress; which they'll know Prin. And will they so? The gallants shall be tasked; For, ladies, we will every one be masked; And not a man of them shall have the grace, Despite of suit, to see a lady's face.— Hold, Rosaline, this favor 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 Birón take me for Rosaline. And change your favors too; so shall your loves 1 Spleen ridiculous is a ridiculous fit of laughter. The spleen was anciently supposed to be the cause of laughter. 2 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 sattin 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. Ros. Come on, then; wear the favors most in sight. And mock for mock is only my intent. Ros. But shall we dance, if they desire us to't? 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 mocked, depart away with shame. [Trumpets sound within. Boyet. The trumpet sounds; be masked; the mask[The ladies mask. ers come. Enter the King, BIRON, LONGAville, and DUMAIN, in Moth. All hail, the richest beauties on the earth! Moth. A holy parcel of the fairest dames, [The ladies turn their backs to him. That ever turned their-backs-to mortal views! Biron. Their eyes, villain, their eyes. Moth. That ever turned their eyes to mortal views! Out 1 i. e. the taffeta masks they wore. Boyet. True; out, indeed. Moth. Out of your favors, heavenly spirits, vouchsafe Not to behold— Biron. Once to behold, rogue. Moth. Once to behold with your sun-beamed eyes, -with your sun-beamed eyes Boyet. They will not answer to that epithet; You were best call it daughter-beamed eyes. Moth. They do not mark me, and that brings me out. Biron. Is this your perfectness? Begone, you rogue. Ros. What would these strangers? Know their minds, Boyet. If they do speak our language, 'tis our will Boyet. What would you with the princess? Boyet. Nothing but peace and gentle visitation. Boyet. They say that they have measured 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 measured many, The measure then of one is easily told. Boyet. If to come hither you have measured 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 numbered in the travel of one mile? 1 A grave, solemn dance, with slow and measured steps, like the minuet. |