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 Princefs kill'd, a pricket.

Nath. Perge, good mafter Holofernes, perge; fo 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, fimple; 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 first, is called as followeth; the first Year a Fawn; the Second Year a Pricket; the third Year, a Sorel; the fourth Year, a Sore; the fifth Year, a Buck of the first Head, &c.

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

it.

Nath. Sir, I praise 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.

Enter Jaquenetta, and Coftard.

Jaq. G H Water Parlon, quafi Perfon.

OD give you good-morrow, master Parson.

if one fhould be pierc'd, which is the one?

And

Coft. Marry, mafter 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 fays in his What! my foul! verfes ?

Nath. Ay, Sir, and very learned.

Hol. Let me hear a staff, a ftanza, a verse; Lege,

Domine.

Nath.

Nath. If love make me forfworn, how fhall I fwear to love?

Ah, never faith could hold, if not to beauty vow'd;

Tho' to myself forfworn, to thee I'll faithful prove; Thofe thoughts to me were oaks, to thee like ofers bow'd.

Study his biafs leaves, and makes his book thine eyes;

Where all thofe pleasures live, that art would comprehend:

If knowledge be the mark, to know thee fhall fuffice;

Well learned is that tongue, that well can thee commend.

All ignorant that Soul, that fees thee without wonder:

Which is to me fome praise,, that I thy parts admire;

Thy eye Jove's lightning bears, thy voice his dreadful thunder;

Which, not to anger bent, is mufic, and fweet fire.

Celestial as thou art, Oh pardon, love, this wrong, That fings heav'n's praise with such an earthly tongue.

*

Hol. You find not the Apoftrophes, and fo mifs the accent. Let me supervise the canzonet. Here are only numbers ratify'd; but for the elegancy, facility, and golden cadence of poefy, caret: Ovidius Nafo was the man. And why, indeed, Nafo; but for smelling out the odoriferous flowers of fancy? the jerks of invention? imitari, is nothing: † fo doth the hound his

Let me fupervife, &c.] The common Editions give this Speech to Nathaniel. Dr. Thirlby reftores it rightly to Holofernes.

+fo doth the hound his mafter, the ape his keeper, the tired horfe his rider.] The Pedant here, to run down Imitation, fhews that it is a Quality

his master, the ape his keeper, the try'd horse his rider: But Damofella Virgin, was this directly to you? Jaq. Ay, Sir, from one Monfieur Biron, to one of the ftrange Queen's Ladies.

Hol. I will overglance the fuperfcript. To the fnowwhite hand of the most beauteous lady Rofaline. I will look again on the intellect of the letter, for the nomination of the party writing to the person written

too.

Your Ladyship's in all defir'd'employment, Biron.

This Biron is one of the votaries with the King; and here he hath fram'd a letter to a fequent of the ftranger Queen's, which accidentally, or by the way of progreffion, hath mifcarry'd. Trip and go, my fweet; deliver this paper into the hand of the King; it may concern much; ftay not thy compliment; forgive thy duty: adieu.

Jaq. Good Coftard, go with me. your life.

Coft. Have with thee, my girl.

I

Sir, God fave

[Exeunt Coft. and Jaq. Nath. Sir, you have done this in the fear of God, very religioufly: and as a certain father faith

Hol. Sir, tell not me of the father, I do fear colourable colours. But, to return to the verses; did they please you, Sir Nathaniel?

Nath. Marvellous well for the pen.

Hol. I do dine to-day at the father's of a certain pupil of mine; where if (being repast) it shall please you to gratify the table with a grace, I will, on my

not to be true.

within the Capacity of Beats: That the Dog and the Ape are taught to copy Tricks by their Mafter and Keeper; and fo is the tir'd Horse by his Rider. This laft is a wonderful Inftance; but it happens The Author must have wrote---the tried Horfe his Rider: i. e. one, exercis'd, and broke to the Manage: For he obeys every Sign, and Motion of the Rein, or of his Rider. So in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, the Word is used in the Sense of trained,

exercised.

privilege I have with the parents of the aforesaid child or pupil, undertake your ben venuto; where will I prove those verses to be very unlearned, neither favouring of poetry, wit, nor invention. I beseech your fociety.

Nath. And thank you too: for fociety (faith the text) is the happiness of life.

Hol. And, certes, the text moft infallibly concludes it. Sir, I do invite you too; [To Dull.] you fhall not fay me, nay: Pauca verba. Away, the gentles are at their game, and we will to 'our re[Exeunt.

creation.

THE

SCENE IV.

Enter Biron, with a paper in his hand, alone. Biron.HE King is hunting the deer, I am courfing myself. They have pitcht a toil, I am toiling in a pitch; pitch, that defiles; defile! a foul word: well, fet thee down, forrow; for so they fay the fool faid, and fo fay I, and I the fool. Well prov'd wit. By the Lord, this love is as mad as Ajax, it kills fheep, it kills me, I a fheep. Well prov'd again on my fide. I will not love; if I do, hang me; i'faith, I will not. O, but her cye: by this light, but for her eye, I would not love; yes, for her two eyes. Well, I do nothing in the world but lie, and lie in my throat. By heaven, 'I do love; and it hath taught me to rhime, and to be melancholy; and here is part of my rhime, and here my melancholy. Well, The hath one o' my fonnets already; the clown bore it; the fool fent it, and the lady hath it: fweet clown, fweeter fool, fweeteft lady! by the world, I would not care a pin if the other three were in. Here comes one with a paper; God give him grace to groan. [He ftands afide.

Enter