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(Like one that comes here to besiege his court,)
Than seek a dispensation for his oath,
To let you enter his unpeopled house.
Here comes Navarre. [The ladies mask.
Enter KING, LONGAVILLE, DUMAIN,
BIRON, and Attendants.

King. Fair princess, welcome to the court of Navarre.

Prin. Fair, I give you back again; and, welcome I have not yet: the roof of this court is too high to be yours; and welcome to the wild fields too base to be mine.

King. You shall be welcome, madam, to my court. [me thither. Prin. I will be welcome then; conduct King. Hear me, dear lady; I have sworn an oath. [forsworn. Prin. Our Lady help my lord! he'll be King. Not for the world, fair madam, by my will. [nothing else. Prin. Why, will shall break it; will, and King. Your ladyship is ignorant what it is. Prin. Were my lord so, his ignorance were

wise.

[norance. Where i now his knowledge must prove ig. I hear, your grace hath sworn-out housekeeping: [is't so?'Tis deadly sin to keep that oath, my lord, And sin to break it:

It should none spare that come within his power.

Prin. Some merry mocking lord, belike; Mar. They say so most, that most his humours know. [they grow. Prin. Such short-liv'd wits do wither as Who are the rest? [plish'd youth, Kath. The young Dumain, a well accomOf all that virtue love for virtue lov'd: fill; Most power to do most harm, least knowing For he hath wit to make an ill shape good, And shape to win grace though he had no wit. I saw him at the duke Alençon's once; And much too little of that good I saw, Is my report, to his great worthiness.

Ros. Another of these students at that time Was there with him: if I have heard a truth, Biron they call him; but a merrier man Within the limit of becoming mirth, I never spent an hour's talk withal: His eye begets occasion for his wit; For every object that the one doth catch, The other turns to a mirth-moving jest; Which his fair tongue (conceit's expositor,) Delivers in such apt and gracious words, That aged ears play truant at his tales, And younger hearings are quite ravished; So sweet and voluble is his discourse.

Prin. God bless my ladies! are they all in That every one her own hath garnished [love; With such bedecking ornaments of praise ? Mar. Here comes Boyet.

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Re-enter BOYET.

But pardon me, I am too sudden-bold;
To teach a teacher ill beseemeth me.
Vouchsafe to read the purpose of my coming,
And suddenly resolve me in ny suit.

[Gives a paper. King. Madam, I will, if suddenly I may. Prin. You will the sooner, that I were

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Biron. Ros. 'Tis 'long of you that spur me with such questions. ['twill tire. Biron. Your wit's too hot, it speeds too fast, Ros. Not till it leave the rider in the mire. Biron. What time o' day?

You must not be so quick.

[mate

Ros. The hour that fools should ask.
Biron. Now fair befal your mask!
Ros. Fair fall the face it covers!
Biron. And send you many lovers!
Ros. Amen, so you be none.
Biron. Nay, then will I be gone.
King. Madam, your father here doth inti-
The payment of a hundred thousand crowns;
Being but the one half of an entire sum,
Disbursed by my father in his wars.
But say, that he, or we, (as neither have,)
Receiv'd that sum; yet there remains unpaid
A hundred thousand more; in surety of the
One part of Aquitain is bound to us, [which,
Although not valued to the money's worth.
If then the king your father will restore
↑ Prepared.

Now, what admittance, lord? Boyet. Navarre had notice of your fair approach;

And he, and his competitors in oath,
Were all address'd t to meet you, gentle lady,
Before I came. Marry, thus much I have learnt,
He rather means to lodge you in the field,

Confederates.

+ Whereas.

But that one half which is unsatisfied,
We will give up our right in Aquitain,
And hold fair friendship with his majesty.
But that, it seems, he little purposeth,
For here he doth demand to have repaid
An hundred thousand crowns; and not de-
mands,

On payment of a hundred thousand crowns,
To have his title live in Aquitain;
Which we much rather had depart* withal,
And have the money by our father lent,
Than Aquitain so gelded as it is.

Dear princess, were not his requests so far From reason's yielding, your fair self should make

A yielding, 'gainst some reason, in my breast,
And go well satisfied to France again. [wrong,
Prin. You do the king my father too much
And wrong the reputation of your name,
In so unseeming to confess receipt
Of that which hath so faithfully been paid.
King. I do protest, I never heard of it;
And, if you prove it, I'll repay it back,
Or yield up Aquitain.
Prin.
We arrest your word:-
Boyet, you can produce acquittances,
For such a sum, from special officers
Of Charles his father.

Satisfy me so.

[come,

King. Boyet. So please your grace, the packet is not Where that and other specialties are bound; To-morrow you shall have a sight of them.

King. It shall suffice me: at which interAll liberal reason I will yield unto. [view, Mean time, receive such welcome at my hand, As honour, without breach of honour, may Make tender of to thy true worthiness: You may not come, fair princess, in my gates; But here without you shall be so receiv'd, As you shall deem yourself lodg'd in my heart, Though so denied fair harbour in my house. Your own good thoughts excuse me, and fareTo-morrow shall we visit you again. [well: Prin. Sweet health and fair desires consort your grace!

King. Thy own wish wish I thee in every place! [Exeunt KING and his Train. Biron. Lady, I will commend you to my

own heart.

Ros. 'Pray you, do my commendations; I would be glad to see it.

Biron. I would, you heard it groan.
Ros. Is the fool sick?
Biron. Sick at heart.
Ros. Alack, let it blood.
Biron. Would that do it good?
Ros. My physic says, It.

Biron. Will you prick't with your eye?
Ros. No poynt, with my knife.
Biron. Now, God save thy life!
Ros. And yours from long living!
Biron. I cannot stay thanksgiving.[Retiring.
Dum. Sir, I pray yon, a word: What lady
is that same?
[name.
Boyet. The heir of Alençon, Rosaline her

* Part.

Dum. A gallant lady! Monsieur, fare you

well.

[Exit. Long. I beseech you a word; What is she [in the light.

in the white? Boyet. A woman sometimes, an you saw her Long. Perchance, light in the light: I desire her name. [that, were a shame. Boyet. She hath but one for herself; to desire Long. Pray you, sir, whose daughter? Boyet. Her mother's, I have heard. Long. God's blessing on your beard! Boyet. Good sir, be not offended: She is an heir of Falconbridge.

Long. Nay, my choler is ended. She is a most sweet lady.

Boyet. Not unlike, sir; that may be. [Exit LONG. Biron. What's her name, in the cap? Boyet. Katharine, by good hap. Biron. Is she wedded, or no? Boyet. To her will, sir, or so. Biron. You are welcome, sir; adieu! Boyet. Farewell to me, sir, and welcome to you. [Exit BIR.-Ladies unmask. Mar. That last is Biron, the merry mad-cap Not a word with him but a jest. [lord; Boyet. And every jest but a word. Prin. It was well done of you to take him [to board. Boyet. I was as willing to grapple, as he was Mar. Two hot sheeps, marry! Boyet.

at his word.

And wherefore not ships?

No sheep, sweet lamb, unless we feed on your lips. [finish the jest? Mar. You sheep, and I pasture; Shall that Boyet. So you grant pasture for me.

[Offering to kiss her. Not so, gentle beast;

Mar. My lips are no common, though severaly they Boyet. Belonging to whom?

Mar.

[be. To my fortunes and me. Prin. Good wits will be jangling; but, gen

tles agree:

The civil war of wits were much better used On Navarre and his book-men; for here 'tis abused.

Boyet. If my observation, (which very sel

dom lies,)

[eyes, By the heart's still rhetoric, disclosed with Deceive me not now, Navarre is infected. Prin. With what?

Boyet. With that which we lovers entitle, Prin. Your reason?

[affected. [sire:

Boyet. Why all his behaviours did make their retire

To the court of his eye, peeping thorough de-
His heart, like an agate, with your print im-
pressed,

Proud with his form, in his eye pride expressed:
His tongue, all impatient to speak and not see,
Did stumble with haste in his eye-sight to be;
All senses to that sense did make their repair,
To feel only looking on fairest of fair: [eye,
Methought, all his senses were lock'd in his
As jewels in crystal for some prince to buy ;

+ Ay, yes.
A French particle of negation.
§ A quibble, several signified unenclosed lands.

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SCENE I. Another part of the same.

Enter ARMADO and MoTH.

Arm. Warble, child; make passionate my
sense of hearing.
Moth. Concolinel-

[Singing. Arm. Sweet air !-Go, tenderness of years; take this key, give enlargement to the swain, bring him festinately hither; I must employ him in a letter to my love.

Moth. Master, will you win your love with a French brawlt?

Arm. What wilt thou prove?

Moth. A man, if I live; and this, by, in, and without, upon the instant: By heart you love her, because your heart cannot come by her in heart you love her, because your heart is in love with her; and out of heart you love her, being out of heart that you cannot enjoy her.

Arm. I am all these three.

Moth. And three times as much more, and yet nothing at all.

Arm. Fetch hither the swain; he must car

Arm. How mean'st thou? brawling inry me a letter. French?

Moth. No, my complete master; but to jig off a tune at the tongue's end, canary to it with your feet, humour it with turning up your eyelids; sigh a note, and sing a note; sometime through the throat, as if you swallowed love with singing love; sometime through the nose, as if you snuffed up love by smelling love; with your hat penthouse-like, o'er the shop of your eyes; with your arms crossed on your thin belly-doublet, like a rabbit on a spit; or your hands in your pocket, like a man after the old painting; and keep not too long in one tune, but a snip and away: These are complements, these are humours; these betray nice wenches-that would be be trayed without these; and make them men of note, (do you note, men?) that most are affected to these.

Arm. How hast thou purchased this experience?

Moth. By my penny of observation.
Arm. But O, but 0,—

Moth. -the hobby-horse is forgot.
Arm. Caliest thou my love, hobby-horse?
Moth. No, master; the hobby-horse is but
a colt, and your love, perhaps, a hackney.
But have you forgot your love?

Arm. Almost I had.

Moth. Negligent student! learn her by heart.
Arm. By heart, and in heart, boy.
Moth. And out of heart, master: all those
three I will prove?

Hastily.

A kind of dance.

Moth. A message well sympathized; a horse to be ambassador for an ass!

Arm. Ha, ha! what sayest thou?
Moth. Marry, sir, you must send the ass
upon the horse, for he is very slow-gaited:
But I go.

Arm. The way is but short; away.

Moth. As swift as lead, sir.

Arm. Thy meaning, pretty ingenious?
Is not lead a metal heavy, dull, and slow?
Moth. Minimé, honest master; or rather,
master, no.

Arm. I say, lead is slow.

Moth. You are too swift, sir, to say so: Is that lead slow which is fir'd from a gun?

Arm. Sweet smoke of rhetoric!

He reputes me a cannon; and the bullet, that's
I shoot thee at the swain.
[he:-
Moth. Thump then, and I flee. [Exit.
Arm. A most acute juvenal; voluble and
[thy face:
By thy favour, sweet welkin, I must sigh in
Most rude melancholy, valour gives thee place.
My herald is return'd.

free of grace!

Re-enter MоTH and COSTARD. Moth. A wonder, master; here's a Costard broken in a shin.

Arm. Some enigma, some riddle: come,thy l'envoy ;-begin.

Cost. No egma, no riddle, no l'envoy; no salve in the mail, sir: O, sir, plantain, a plain plantain; no l'envoy, no l'envoy, no salve, sir, but a plantain!

Canary was the name of a sprightly dance. An old French term for concluding verses, which served either to convey the moral, or to address the poem to some person.

Quick, ready.

A head.

Arm. By virtue, thou enforcest laughter; thy silly thought, my spleen; the heaving of my lungs provokes me to ridiculous smiling: O, pardon me, my stars! Doth the inconsiderate take salve for l'envoy, and the word, l'envoy, for a salve?

Moth. Do the wise think them other? is not l'envoy a salve?

Arm. No, page: it is an epilogue or discourse, to make plain

Some obscure precedence that hath tofore
I will example it:
[been sain.
The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,
Were still at odds, being but three.
There's the moral: Now the l'envoy.
Moth. I will add the l'envoy: Say the
moral again.

Arm. The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,
Were still at odds, being but three:
Moth. Until the goose came out of door,
And stay'd the odds by adding four.
Now will I begin your moral, and do you
follow with my l'envoy.

The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee, Were still at odds, being but three: Arm. Until the goose came out of door, Staying the odds by adding four.

Moth. A good l'envoy, ending in the goose; Would you desire more?

Cost. The boy hath sold him a bargain, a goose, that's flat:[be fat.Sir, your pennyworth is good, an your goose To sell a bargain well, is as cunning as fast and loose:

Let me see a fat l'envoy; ay, that's a fat goose. Arm. Come hither, come hither: How did this argument begin? [in a shin. Moth. By saying that a Costard was broken Then call'd you for the l'envoy.

Cost. True, and 1 for a plantain; Thus came your argument in; Then the boy's fat l'envoy, the goose that you And he ended the market. [bought; Arm. But tell me; how was there a Costard broken in a shin?

Moth. I will tell you sensibly. Cost. Thou hast no feeling of it, Moth; I will speak that l'envoy:

1, Costard, running out, that was safely within, Fell over the threshold, and broke my shin. Arm. We will talk no more of this matter. Cost. Till there be more matter in the shin. Arm. Sirrah Costard, I will enfranchise thee. Cost. O, marry me to one Frances:-I smell some l'envoy, some goose, in this.

Arm. By my sweet soul, I mean, setting thee at liberty, enfreedoming thy person; thou wert immured, restrained, captivated, bound. Cost. True, true; and now you will be my purgation, and let me loose.

Arm. I give thee thy liberty, set thee from durance; and, in lieu thereof, impose on thee nothing but this: Bear this significant to the country maid Jaquenetta: there is renumeration; [Giving him money,] for the best ward

* Delightful. + Reward.
Petticoats.

of mine honour, is, rewarding my dependants. Moth, follow. [Exit Moth. Like the sequel, I.-Signior Costard adieu.

Cost. My sweet ounce of man's flesh! my incony Jew![Exit MOTH Now will I look to his remuneration. Remu neration! O, that's the Latin word for three farthings: three farthings-remuneration.What's the price of this inkle? a penny:No, I'll give you a remuneration: why, it carries it.-Remur:eration !-why, it is a fairer name than French crown. I will never buy and sell out of this word. Enter BIRON.

Biron. O, my good knave Costard! exceed ingly well met.

Cost. Pray you, sir, how much carnation ribbon may a inan buy for a remuneration? Biron. What is a remuneration? Cost. Marry, sir, half-penny farthing. Biron. O, why then, three-farthings'-worth of silk.

Cost. I thank your worship: God be with you! Biron. O, stay, slave, I must employ thee: As thou wilt win my favour, good my knave, Do one thing for me that I shall entreat.

Cost. When would you have it done, sir? Biron. O, this afternoon.

Cost. Well, I will do it, sir: Fare you well. Biron. O, thou knowest not what it is. Cost. I shall know, sir, when I have done it. Biron. Why, villain, thou must know first. Cost. 1 will come to your worship to-mor row morning.

Biron. It must be done this afternoon. Hark, slave, it is but this;The princess comes to hunt here in the park, And in her train there is a gentle lady; When tongues speak sweetly, then they name

her name,

And Rosaline they call her: ask for her; And to her white hand see thou do commend This scal'd-up counsel. There's thy guerdon; [Gives him money.

go.

Cost. Guerdon,-O sweet guerdon! better than remuneration; eleven-pence farthing bet ter: Most sweet guerdon:--I will do it, sir, in print t.-Guerdon-remuneration. [Exit Biron. O! And I, forsooth, in love! I, that have been love's whip;

A very beadle to a humorous sigh;
A critic; nay, a night-watch constable;
A domineering pedant o'erthe boy,
Than whom no mortal so magnificent! [boy
This wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward
This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid;
Regent of love-rhymes, lord of folded arms,
The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans, i
Liege of all loiterers and malcontents,
Dread prince of plackets, king of cod pieces,
Sole imperator, and great general
Of trotting paritors 4,-O my little heart!—
And I to be a corporal of his field,
And wear his colours like a tumbler's hoop!

With the utmost exactness.
Hooded, veiled.
The officers of the spiritual courts who serve citations.

What? I! I love! I sue! I seek a wife!
A woman, that is like a German clock,
Still a repairing; ever out of frame;
And never going aright, being a watch,
But being watch'd that it may still go right?
Nay, to be perjur'd, which is worst of all;
And, among three, to love the worst of all;
A whitely wanton with a velvet brow, [eyes;
With two pitch balls stnck in her face for

Ay, and, by heaven, one that will do the deed,
Though Argus were her eunuch and her guard:
And I to sigh for her! to watch for her!
To pray for her! Go to; it is a plague
That Cupid will impose for my neglect
Of his almighty dreadful little might. [groan;
Well, I will love, write, sigh, pray, sue, and
Some men must love my lady, and some Joan.
[Exit.

SCENE I.

ACT IV.

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Prin. Was that the king, that spurr'd his horse so hard

Against the steep uprising of the hill? Boyet. I know not; but, I think, it was not he. [ing mind. Prin. Whoe'er he was, he show'd a mountWell, lords, to-day we shall have our despatch;

On Saturday we will return to France.Then, forester, my friend, where is the bush, That we must stand and play the murderer in? For. Here by, upon the edge of yonder coppice; [shoot. A stand where you may make the fairest Prin. I thank my beauty, I am fair that [shoot. And thereupon thou speak'st, the fairest For. Pardon me, madam, for I meant not so.

shoot,

Prin. What, what? first praise me, and again say, no?

O short-liv'd pride! Not fair? alack for woe! For. Yes, madam, fair.

Prin. Nay, never paint me now; Where fair is not, praise cannot mend the brow.

[true; Here, good my glass, take this for telling [Giving him money. Fair payment for foul words is more than due. [inherit. For. Nothing but fair is that which you Prin. See, see, my beauty will be sav'd by merit.

O heresy in fair, fit for these days!
A giving hand, though foul, shall have fair
praise.-
[kill,
But come, the bow-Now mercy goes to
And shooting well is then accounted ill.
Thus will I save my credit in the shoot:
Not wounding, pity would not let me do 't;
If wounding, then it was to shew my skill,
That more for praise, than purpose, meant to

kill.

And, out of question, so it is sometimes; Glory grows guilty of detested crimes;

God give you good even.

When, for fame's sake, for praise, an outward

part,

no ill.

We bend to that the working of the heart:
AS I, for praise alone, now seek to spill
The poor deer's blood, that my heart means
[sovereignty
Boyet. Po not curst wives hold that self-
Only for praise' sake, when they strive to be
Lords o'er their lords?
[afford
Prin. Only for praise and praise we may
To any lady that subdues a lord.
Enter COSTARD.

Prin. Here comes a member of the com-
mon-wealth,

Cost. Cod dig-you-den* all! Pray you, which is the head lady?

Prin. Thou shalt know her, fellow, by the rest that have no heads.

Cost. Which is the greatest lady, the high-
Prin. The thickest, and the tallest. [est?
Cost. The thickest, and the tallest! it is
so; truth is truth.

An your waist, mistress, were as slender as
my wit,
[should be fit.
One of these maids' girdles for your waist
Are not you the chief woman? you are the
thickest here.

will?

Prin. What's your will, sir? what's your [to one lady Rosaline. Cost. I have a letter from monsieur Biron, Prin. O, thy letter, thy letter; he's a good friend of mine: [carve; Stand aside, good bearer.-Boyet, you can Break up this capon t. Boyet. I am bound to serve-This letter is mistook, it importeth none It is writ to Jaquenetta. [here; Prin. We will read it, swear: Break the neck of the wax, and every one give ear.

Boyet. [Reads.] By 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 commiseration on thy heroical vassal! The magnanimous and most illustrate king Cophetua set eye upon the pernicious and indubitate beggar Zenelophon; and he it was that might rightly say, veni, vidi, vici; which to anatomize in the vul ↑ Illustrious.

* Open this letter.

R

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