Mar. You ftill wrangle with her, ftrikes at the brow.

Boyet. But fhe herself is hit lower.

now?

Boyet, and the

Have I hit her

Rof. Shall I come upon thee with an old saying, that was a man when King Pippin of France was a little boy, as touching the hit it?

Boyet. So I

may answer thee with one as old, that was a woman when Queen Guinover of Britain was a little wench, as touching the hit it.

Rof. Thou can't not hit it, hit it, hit it. [Singing. Thou can't not hit it, my good man.

Boyet. An' I cannot, cannot, cannot;

An' I cannot, another can.

[Exit Rof. Coft. By my troth, most pleasant; how both did

fit it.

Mar. A mark marvellous well fhot; for they both did hit it.

Boyet. A mark? O, mark but that mark! a mark, fays my lady;

Let the mark have a prick in't; to meet at, if it may be.

Mar. Wide o' th' bow-hand; i'faith, your hand is

out.

Coft. Indeed, a' must shoot nearer, or he'll ne'er hit the clout.

Boyet. An' if my hand be out, then, belike, your hand is in.

Cost. Then will fhe get the upshot by cleaving the pin.

Mar. Come, come, you talk greafily: your lips grow foul.

Coft. She's too hard for you at pricks, Sir, challenge her to bowl.

Boyet. I fear too much rubbing; good night my good owl. [Exeunt all but Coftard. Coft. By my foul, a swain; a most simple clown! Lord, Lord! how the ladies and I have put him down!

O'

O'

my troth, most sweet jefts, most in-cony vulgar

wit,

When it comes fo fmoothly off, so obscenely; as it were, fo fit.

Armado o' th' one fide,—O, a moft dainty man;

To fee him walk before a lady, and to bear her fan. To fee him kifs his hand, and how most sweetly he will fwear:

And his Page o' t'other fide, that handful of Wit; Ah, heav'ns! it is a moft pathetical Nit.

SCENE

[Exit Coftard. [Shouting within.

II.

Enter Dull, Holofernes, and Sir Nathaniel.

VERY

Nath. ERY reverend sport, truly; and done in the testimony of a good Confcience.

Hol. The deer was (as you know) fanguis, in blood; ripe as a pomwater, who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of Calo, the fky, the welkin, the heav'n; and anon falleth like a crab on the face of Terra, the foil, the land, the earth.

Nath. Truly, mafter Holofernes, the epithets are fweetly varied, like a scholar at the leaft: but, Sir, I affure ye, it was a buck of the first head.

Hol. Sir Nathaniel, haud credo.

Dull. 'Twas not a haud credo, 'twas a pricket.

Hol. Moft barbarous intimation; yet a kind of infinuation, as it were in via, in way of explication; facere, as it were, replication; or rather, oftentare, to fhow, as it were his inclination; after his undressed, unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or ra ther unlettered, or ratherest unconfirmed fashion, to infert again my haud credo for a deer.

Dull. I said, the deer was not a haud credo; 'twa a pricket.

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Hol. Twice fod fimplicity, bis coctus; O thou monfter ignorance, how deformed doft thou look ?

Nath. Sir, he hath never fed on 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 fenfible in the duller parts; and fuch barren plants are fet be fore us, that we thankful should be for those parts, (which we taste and feel, ingradare) 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 fet on learning, to see him in a fchool.

But omne bene, fay I; being of an old father's mind, Many can brook the weather, that love not the wind. Dull. You two are book-men; can you tell by your wit,

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.

Dull. What is Didynna?

Nath. A title to Phabe, to Luna, to the Moon.

Hol. The moon was a month old, when Adam was

no more:

And rought not to five weeks, when he came to fivefcore.

*Th' allufion holds in the exchange.

Dull. 'Tis true, indeed; the collufion holds in the exchange.

Hol. God comfort thy capacity! I fay, the allufion holds in the exchange.

Dull. And I fay, the pollution holds in the exchange; for the moon is never but a month old;

Th' allufion holds in the exchange.] i. e. the Riddle is as good when I use the Name of Adam, as when you use the Name of Cain.

and

and I fay befide, that 'twas a pricket that the Princefs kill'd.

Hol. Sir Nathaniel, will you hear an extemporal epitaph on the death of the deer? and to humour the ignorant, I have call'd the deer the Princess kill'd, a pricket.

Nath. Perge, good mafter Holofernes, perge; so it fhall please you to abrogate fcurrility.

Hol. I will fomething affect the letter; for it argues facility.

The praifeful Princess pierc'd and prickt
A pretty pleafing pricket;

Some fay, a fore; but not a fore,
'Till now made fore with fhooting.
The dogs did yell; put L to fore,
Then forel jumpt from thicket;
Or pricket fore, or elfe forel,
The people fall a hooting.
If fore be fore, then L to fore
* Makes fifty fores, of forel!
Of one fore I an hundred make,
By adding but one more L.

Nath. A rare talent!

Dull. If a talent be a claw, look now he claws him with a talent.

Hol. This is a gift that I have, fimple, simple; a foolish extravagant fpirit, full of forms, figures, fhapes, objects, ideas, apprehenfions, motions, revolutions. These are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourish'd in the womb of pia mater, and deliver'd upon the mellowing of occafion; but the gift is good

Makes fifty fores, O forel! We fhould read, of forel, alluding to L being the Numeral for 50. Concerning the Beasts of Chafe, whereof the Buck, being the firft, is called as followeth; the first Year a Fawn; the Jecond Year a Pricket; the third Year, a Sorel; the fourth Year, a Sore; the fifth Year, a Buck of the firft Head, &c.

in

in those in whom it is acute, and I am thankful for

it.

Nath. Sir, I praife the lord for you, and fo may my parishioners; for their fons 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 fons be ingenuous, they fhall want no inftruction: if their daughters be capable, I will put it to them. But vir fapit, qui pauca loquitur; a foul feminine faluteth us.

Jaq.

GOD

And

OD give you good-morrow, mafter Parson. Hol. Mafter Parfon, quafi Perfon. if one fhould be pierc'd, which is the one?

Coft. Marry, master school-mafter, he that is likeft to a hogfhead.

Hol. Of piercing a hogfhead, a good Luftre of conceit in a turf of earth, fire enough for a flint, pearl enough for a fwine: 'Tis pretty, it is well.

Jaq. Good mafter Parfon, be fo good as read me this letter; it was given me by Coftard, and fent me from Don Armatho; I befeech you, read it.

Hol. Faufte, precor, gelida quando pecus omne fub umbra

Ruminat, and fo forth. Ah, good old Mantuan, I may speak of thee as the traveller doth of Venice; Vinegia, Vinegia! qui non te vedi, ei non te pregia. Old Mantuan, old Mantuan! Who understandeth thee not, loves thee not: ut re fol la mi fa. Under pardon, Sir, what are the contents? or rather, as Horace says in his What! my foul! verses ?

Nath. Ay, Sir, and very learned.

Hol. Let me hear a staff, a stanza, a verse; Lege, Domine.

Nath.