Therefore meet. [They converse apart. Dum. Will you vouchsafe with me to change a word? Mar. Name it. Dum. Mar. Fair lady, Will they not, think you, hang themselves to-night ? Prin. Biron did swear himself out of all suit. Kath. Yes, in good faith. Prin. Go, sickness as thou art! Ros. Well, better wits have worn plain statute-caps.* But will you hear? the king is my love sworn. Prin. And quick Biron hath plighted faith to me. Kath. And Longaville was for my service born. Mar. Dumain is mine, as sure as bark on tree. Boyet. Madam, and pretty mistresses, give ear: Immediately they will again be here In their own shapes; for it can never be, They will digest this harsh indignity. Prin. Will they return? Boyet. They will, they will, God knows, And leap for joy, though they are lame with blows: Therefore, change favours; and, when they repair, Blow like sweet roses in this summer air. Prin. How blow? how blow? speak to be under stood. Boyet. Fair ladies, mask'd, are roses in their bud: Dismask'd, their damask sweet commixture shown, Say you so? Fair lord, Are angels vailing clouds, or roses blown. Take you that for your fair lady. Please it you, No, a fair lord calf. Long. Let's part the word. Kath. No, I'll not be your half: Take all, and wean it; it may prove an ox. Long. Look, how you butt yourself in these sharp mocks! Prin. Avaunt, perplexity! What shall we do, If they return in their own shapes to woo? Ros. Good madam, if by me you 'll be advis'd, Let's mock them still, as well known, as disguis'd : Let us complain to them what fools were here, Disguis'd like Muscovites, in shapeless gear; And wonder what they were; and to what end Their shallow shows, and prologue vilely penn'd, And their rough carriage so ridiculous, Should be presented at our tent to us. Boyet. Ladies, withdraw the gallants are at hand. Prin. Whip to our tents, as roes run over land. [Exeunt PRINCESS, ROS., KATH., and MARIA. Enter the KING, BIRON, LONGAVILLE, and DUMAIN, in their proper habits. King. Fair sir, God save you! Where is the princess? Boyet. Gone to her tent: Please it your majesty, Command me any service to her thither? King. That she vouchsafe me audience for one word. Boyet. I will; and so will she, I know, my lord. [Exit. Biron. This fellow pecks up wit, as pigeons peas, And utters it again when Jove doth please: He is wit's peddler; and retails his wares At wakes, and wassels, meetings, markets, fairs; And we that sell by gross, the Lord doth know, Have not the grace to grace it with such show. This gallant pins the wenches on his sleeve; Had he been Adam, he had tempted Eve: He can carve too, and lisp: Why, this is he, That kiss'd away his hand in courtesy; This is the ape of form, monsieur the nice, That, when he plays at tables, chides the dice In honourable terms; nay, he can sing A mean most meanly; and, in ushering, с By an act of parliament of 1571 it was provided that i above the age of six years, except the nobility and other persons of degree. should, on sabbath-days and holidays, wear caps of wool, manufactured in England." To rail to avale, to cause to fall down; the clouds open as the angels descend. A mean most meanly. The mean, in vocal music, is an intermediate part; a part-whether tenor, or second soprano, of contra-tenor-between the two extremes of highest and lowesIL, Mend him who can: the ladies call him, sweet; King. A blister on his sweet tongue, with my heart, Biron. See where it comes!-Behaviour, what wert thou, Till this man show'd thee? and what art thou now? To lead you to our court: vouchsafe it then. YOW: Nor God. nor I, delights in perjur'd men. King. Rebuke me not for that which you provoke; The virtue of your eye must break my oath. Pria. You nick-name virtue: vice you should have spoke; For virtue's office never breaks men's troth. Now, by my maiden honour, yet as pure As the unsullied lily, I protest, A world of torments though I should endure, I would not yield to be your house's guest: So much I hate a breaking cause to be Ay, in truth, my lord; Trim gallants, full of courtship, and of state. Ros. Madam, speak true:-It is not so, my lord; My lady, (to the manner of the days,) In courtesy, gives undeserving praise. We four, indeed, confronted were with four Is of that nature, that to your huge store eve, Biron, I am a fool, and full of poverty. Pos. But that you take what doth to you belong, Biron. Ros. There, then, that visor; that superfluous case, That bid the worse, and show'd the better face. King. We are descried: they 'll mock us now downright. Dum. Let us confess, and turn it to a jest. * Whales' bone-the tooth of the walrus. Prin. Amaz'd, my lord? Why looks your highness sad ? Ros. Help, hold his brows! he 'll swoon! Why look you pale? Sea-sick, I think, coming from Muscovy. Biron. Thus pour the stars down plagues for per jury. Thrust thy sharp wit quite through my ignorance; Nor never more in Russian habit wait. Nor to the motion of a schoolboy's tongue; Nor never come in visor to my friend; Nor woo in rhyme, like a blind harper's song Taffata phrases, silken terms precise, Three-pil'd hyperboles, spruce affectation, Figures pedantical; these summer-flies Have blown me full of maggot ostentation: I do forswear them: and I here protest, By this white glove, (how white the hand God Henceforth my wooing mind shall be express'd Yet I have a trick E Of the old rage:-bear with me. I am sick; Prin. No, they are free that gave these tokens to us. That you stand forfeit, being those that sue? Biron. Peace; for I will not have to do with yon. Ros. Nor shall not, if I do as I intend. Biron. Speak for yourselves, my wit is at an end: King. Teach us, sweet madam, for our rude transgression Some fair excuse. What did you whisper in your lady's ear? King. Upon mine honour, no. Prin. Peace, peace, forbear; Your oath once broke, you force not to forswear. King. Despise me, when I break this oath of mine. Prin. I will: and therefore keep it :-Rosaline, What did the Russian whisper in your ear? Ros. Madam, he swore that he did hold me dear King. What mean you, madam? by my life, my troth, I never swore this lady such an oath. Lord have mercy on us-the fearful inscription on houses visited with the plague. Ros. By Heaven, you did; and to confirm it plain, You gave me this: but take it, sir, again. King. My faith, and this, the princess I did give; I knew her by this jewel on her sleeve. Prin. Pardon me, sir, this jewel did she wear; Biron. Neither of either; I remit both twain. upon TO BOYET. Forestal our sport, to make us thus untrue? Boyet. Full merrily Hath this brave manage, this career, been run. Arm. Anointed, I implore so much expense of thy royal sweet breath, as will utter a brace of words. [ARMADO converses with the KING, and delivers him a paper. Prin. Doth this man serve God? Biron. Why ask you? Prin. He speaks not like a man of God's making. Arm. That's all one, my fair, sweet, honey monarch: for, I protest the schoolmaster is exceeding fantastical; too, too vain; too, too vain; But we will put it, as they say, to fortuna della guerra. I wish you the peace of mind, most royal couplement! [Exit ARMADO. King. Here is like to be a good presence of worthies: He presents Hector of Troy; the swain, Pompey the great; the parish curate, Alexander; Armado's page, Hercules; the pedant, Judas Machabæus. Biron. Lo, he is tilting straight! Peace; I have And if these four worthies in their first show thrive, done. Cost. O Lord, sir, the parties themselves, the actors, sir, will show whereuntil it doth amount: for mine own part, I am, as they say, but to parfect one man, in one poor man; Pompion the great, sir. Biron. Art thou one of the worthies? Cost. It pleased 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 stand for him. Biron. Go bid them prepare. Cost. We will turn it finely off, sir; we will take [Exit COSTARD. some care. The squire-esquierre, a rule, or square. • Costard means to say we are not idiots. One of the most abominable corruptions of the feudal system of government was for the sovereign, who was the legal guardian of idiots, to grant the wardship of such an unhappy person to some favourite who begged him, granting with the idiot the right of using his pro perty. Prin. Great thanks, great Pompey. a We understand the reading thus:-Where zeal strives to give content, and the contents (things contained) die in the zeal, the form of that which zeal presents, being confounded, makes most form in mirth. Abate a throw. Novum, or quinquenore, was a game at dice, of which nine and five were the principal throws Birou there fore says, Abate a throw-that in, leave out the nine-and the world cannot prick out five such. Liboard-leopard. Boyet. Most true, 't is right; you were so, Alisander. Biron. Pompey the great,Cost. Your servant, and Costard. Biron. Take away the conqueror, take away Alisander. Cost. O, sir, [to NATH.] you have overthrown Alisander the conqueror! You will be scraped out of the painted cloth for this: your lion, that holds his poll-ax sitting on a close stool, will be given to A-jax: he will be the ninth worthy. A conqueror, and afeard to speak! run away for shame, Alisander. [NATH. retires.] There, an 't shall please you; a foolish mild man; an honest man, look you, and soon dashed! He is a marvellous good neighbour, in sooth; and a very good bowler: but, for Alisander, alas, you see how 't is ;-a little o'erparted: -But there are worthies a coming will speak their mind in some other sort. Prin. Stand aside, good Pompey. Enter HOLOFERNES for Judas, and MоTH for Hercules. Hol. "Great Hercules is presented by this imp, Whose club kill'd Cerberus, that three-headed Biron. A death's face in a ring. Long. The face of an old Roman coin, scarce seen. Boyet. The pummel of Cæsar's falchion. Dum. The carv'd-bone face on a flask.d Biron. St. George's half-cheek in a brooch. Oerparted-overparted, not quite equal to his part. The common tradition was that Judas hanged himself on an elder-tree. • A citters-head. The head of a cittern, gittern, or guitar, was terminated with a face. Flask. A soldier's powder horn, which was often elabo rately carved. Dum. Ay, and in a brooch of lead. Biron. Ay, and worn in the cap of a tooth-drawer. And now, forward; for we have put thee in countenance. Hol. You have put me out of countenance. Biron. False: we have given thee faces. Hol. But you have out-faced them all. Biron. An thou wert a lion, we would do so. And so adieu, sweet Jude! nay, why dost thou stay? Boyet. Therefore, as he is an ass, let him go. Dum. For the latter end of his name. Biron. For the ass to the Jude; give it him:-Jud-as, away! may Hol. This is not generous; not gentle; not humble. Biron. Hide thy head, Achilles; here comes Hector in arms. Dum. Though my mocks come home by me, I will now be merry. King. Hector was but a Trojan in respect of this. Dum. I think Hector was not so clean-timbered. Dum. More calf, certain. Boyet. No; he is best indued in the small. Biron. This cannot be Hector. Dum. He's a god or a painter; for he makes faces. Arm. "The armipotent Mars, of lances the almighty, Gave Hector a gift," Dum. A gilt nutmeg. Long. Stuck with cloves. Dum. No, cloven. Arm. Peace! "The armipotent Mars, of lances the almighty, A man so breath'd, that certain he would fight, yea, Dum. Long. That mint. That columbine. Arm. Sweet lord Longaville, rein thy tongue. Long. I must rather give it the rein, for it runs against Hector. Dum. Ay, and Hector 's a greyhound. Arm. The sweet war-man is dead and rotten; sweet chucks, beat not the bones of the buried: when he breathed, he was a man-but I will forward with my device: Sweet royalty, [to the PRINCESS] bestow on me the sense of hearing. [BIRON whispers COSTARD. Prin. Speak, brave Hector: we are much delighted. Arm. I do adore thy sweet grace's slipper. Boyet. Loves her by the foot. Dum. He may not by the yard. Arm. "This Hector far surmounted Hannibal,"Cost. The party is gone, fellow Hector, she is gone; she is two months on her way. Arm. What meanest thou? Cost. Faith, unless you play the honest Trojan, the poor wench is cast away: she 's quick; the child brags in her belly already; 't is yours. Arm. Dost thou infamonize me among potentates? thou shalt die. Cost. Then shall Hector be whipped, for Jaquene!ta that is quick by him; and hanged, for Pompey that is dead by him. Dum. Most rare Pompey! Boyet. Renowned Pompey! Biron. Greater than great, great, great, great Pompey! Pompey the huge! Dum. Hector trembles. Biron. Pompey is moved :-More Ates, more Ates; ! Kath much deform'd us, fashioning our humours stir them on! stir them on! Dum. Hector will challenge him. Biron. Ay, if he have no more man's blood in 's belly As love is full of unbefitting strains; than will sup a flea. Arm. By the north pole, I do challenge thee. Dum. Room for the incensed worthies. Dum. Most resolute Pompey! Moth. Master, let me take you a button-hole lower. Do you not see, Pompey is uncasing for the combat? What mean you? you will lose your reputation. Arm. Gentlemen, and soldiers, pardon me; I will not combat in my shirt. Dum. You may not deny it; Pompey hath made the challenge. Arm. Sweet bloods, I both may and will. Arm. The naked truth of it is, I have no shirt; I go woolward for penance.a Boyet. True, and it was enjoined him in Rome for want of linen: since when, I'll be sworn, he wore none but a dishclout of Jaquenetta's; and that a wears next his heart, for a favour. Enter MERCADE. Mer. God save you, madam! But that thou interrupt'st our merriment. Mer. I am sorry, madam; for the news I bring Is heavy in my tongue. The king, your father— Prin. Dead, for my life. Mer. Even so; my tale is told. Biron. Worthies, away; the scene begins to cloud. Arm. For mine own part, I breathe free breath: I have seen the day of wrong through the little hole of discretion, and I will right myself like a soldier. [Ex. Worthies. King. How fares your majesty? Prin. Boyet, prepare; I will away to-night. King. The extreme parts of time extremely form From what it purpos'd; since, to wail friends lost, As to rejoice at friends but newly found. Prin. I understand you not; my griefs are double. Biron. Honest plain words best pierce the ears of grief; And by these badges understand the king. d foul play with our oaths. Your beauty, ladies, Even to the opposed end of our intents: Prin. We have receiv'd your letters, full of love; Ros. We did not quote them so King. Now, at the latest minute of the hour, Grant us your loves. Prin. A time, methinks, too short Change not your offer made in heat of blood; King. If this, or more than this, I would deny, Hence ever then my heart is in thy breast. Biron. And what to me, my love? and what to me! Dum. But what to me, my love? but what to me Kath. A wife!-A beard, fair health, and honesty; With three-fold love I wish you all these three. Dum. O, shall I say, I thank you, gentle wife? Kath. Not so, my lord;-a twelvemonth and a day I'll mark no words that smooth-fac'd wooers say: Come when the king doth to my lady come, Then, if I have much love, I'll give you some. Dum. I'll serve thee true and faithfully till then. Kath. Yet swear not, lest you be forsworn again. a Bombast, from bomhagia, cotton wool used as stuffing. |