Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

Prin. We will read it, I fwear.

Break the neck of the wax, and every one give ear.

Br

Boyet reads.

Y. heaven, that thou art fair, is most infallible; true, that thou art beauteous'; truth itself, that thou art lovely; more fairer than fair, beautiful than beauteous, truer than truth itself; have commiferation on thy heroical vaffal. The magnanimous and moft illuftrate King Cophetua fet eye upon the pernicious and indubitate beggar Zenelophon; and he it was that might rightly fay, veni, vidi, vici; which to anatomize in the vulgar, (0 bafe and obfcure vulgar!) videlicet, he came, faw, and overcame; he came, one; faw, two; overcame, three. Who came? the King. Why did he come? to fee. Why did he fee? to overcome. To whom came he? to the beggar. What faw he? the beggar. Who overcame he? the beggar. The conclufion is victory; on whofe fide? the King's; the captive is inrich d: on whofe fide? the beggar's. The cataArophe is a nuptial: on whofe fide? the King's? no, on both in one, or one in both: I am the King, (for fo flands the comparison) thou the beggar, for fo witneffeth thy lowlinefs. Shall I command thy love? I may. Shall I enforce thy love? I could. Shall I entreat thy love? I will. What fhalt thou exchange for rags? robes; for tittles? titles: for thyfelf? me. Thus expecting thy reply, I prophane my lips on thy foot, my eyes on thy picture, and my heart on thy every part.

Thine in the dearest design of industry,

Don Adriano de Armado.

Thus doft thou hear the Nemean lion roar

'Gainft thee, thou lamb, that standest as his prey; Submiffive fall his princely feet before,

And he from forage will incline to play.

But if thou strive (poor foul) what art thou then? Food for his rage, repafture for his den.

Prin. What plume of feathers is he, that indited

this letter?

What vane ? what weathercock? did you ever hear better?

Boyet. I am much deceived, but I remember the

ftile.

Prin. Elfe your memory is bad, going o'er it ere while.

Boyet. This Armado is a Spaniard that keeps here in
Court,

A phantasme, a monarcho, and one that makes sport
To the Prince, and his book-mates.
Prin. Thou, fellow, a word :
Who gave thee this letter?

Coft. I told you; my lord.

Prin. To whom should'ft thou give it?

Coft. From my lord to my lady.

Prin. From which lord to which lady?

Coft. From my lord Berown, a good mafter of mine, To a lady of France, that he call'd Rofaline.

Prin. Thou haft miftaken his letter. Come, lords,

away.

Here, fweet, put up this; 'twill be thine another day. [Exit Princels atten lid. Boyet. Who is the fhooter ? who is the fhooter? Rof. Shall I teach you to know?

Boyet. Ay, my continent of beauty.

Rof. Why, the that bears the bow. Finely put off. Boyet. My lady goes to kill horns: but if thou marry,

Hang me by the neck, if horns that year miscarry. Finely put on..

Rof. Well then, I am the fhooter.

Boyet. And who is your Deer?

Rof. If we chufe by horns, yourself; come not

near.

Finely put on, indeed.

05

Mar.

1

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

Boyet. But fhe herself is hit lower.

now?

Boyet, and she

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 anfwer 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 mań.

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'erhit the clout.

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

Coft. Then will she 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, chal lenge 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 fimple clown! Lord, Lord! how the ladies and I have put him down!

[ocr errors]

O' my troth, most sweet jests, most in-cony vulgar

wit,

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

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

To see 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.

Nath.

SCENE II.

[Exit Coftard. [Shouting within.

Enter Dull, Holofernes, and Sir Nathaniel.

ERY reverend sport, truly; and done in the teftimony 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 iky, 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 undreffed, unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or ra ther unlettered, or rathereft unconfirmed fashion, to infert again my haud credo for a deer.

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

Hol. Twice fod fimplicity, bis cotus; 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 set before us, that we thankful should be for thofe 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 school.

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 Dialynna?

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 say, 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;

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

and

« PredošláPokračovať »