Prin. We will read it, I swear: truth itself, that thou art lovely: More fairer "than fair, beautiful than beauteous, truer than 25" truth itself, have commiseration on thy heroical "vassal! The magnanimous and most illustrate Prin. Nay, never paint me now; 66 66 A giving hand, though foul,shall have fair praise.- Only for praise' sake, when they strive to be [ill. [ford Prin. Only for praise: and praise we may afTo any lady that subdues a lord. Enter Costard. Prin. Here comes a member of the common king Cophetua set eye upon the pernicious and indubitate beggar Zenelephon; and he it was that might rightly say, veni, vidi, vici; which to anatomize in the vulgar, (O base and obscure "vulgar) videlicet, he came, saw, and overcame : He came, one; saw, two; overcame, three. "Who came? the king; Why did he come? to see; Why did he see? to overcome; To whom 35" came he? to the beggar; What saw he? the beggar; Whom overcame he? the beggar: The conclusion is victory; On whose side? the king's: "the captive is enrich'd; On whose side? the beggar's: The catastrophe is a nuptial; On whose side? the king's?-no; on both in one, or one in both. I am the king; for so stands "the comparison: thou the beggar; for so wit"nesseth thy lowliness. Shali I command thy love? I may: Shall I enforce thy love? I could: Shall I entreat thy love? I will. What shalt thou exchange for rags? robes; For tittles? titles; For thyself? me. Thus, expecting thy reply, I prophane my lips on thy foot, my eyes on thy picture, and iny heart on thy every part. "Thine, in the dearest design of industry, "DON ADRIANO DE ARMADO." Thus dost thou hear the Nemean lion roar 'Gainst thee,thou lamb, that standest as his prey; Submissive fall his princely feet before, 50 1551 66 66 66 And he from forage will incline to play: That is, Open this letter. Our poet uses this metaphor, as the French do their poulet, which signifies both a young fowl and a love-letter. 2 Illustrate for illustrious. Prin. Prin. What plume of feathers is he, that indited this letter? [hear better? What vane? what weather-cock? Did you ever Boyet. I am much deceived, but I remember [ere while'. 5 Prin. Else your memory is bad, going o'er 'it Boyet. This Armado is a Spaniard, that keeps the stile. here in court; [sport A phantasm, a Monarcho, and one that makes To the prince, and his book-mates. Prin. Thou, fellow, a word: Who gave thee this letter? Cost. I told you, my lord. Prin. To whom shouldst thou give it? Prin. From which lord to which lady? [marry, Boyet. My lady goes to kill horns; but, if thou Hang me by the neck, if horns that year miscarry. Finely put on! Ros. Well then, I am the shooter. [near. Ros. If we chuse by horns, yourself; come not nely put on, indeed!— 10 Cost. Indeed, a' must shoot nearer, or he'll Boyet. An if my hand be out, then, belike, Cost. She's too hard for you at pricks, gir;- Boyet. I fear too much rubbing: Good night, my good owl. [Exeunt all but Costard. Cost. By my soul, a swain! a most simple clown! Lord, lord! how the ladies and I have put him [gar wit! 150' my troth, most sweet jests! most incony vulWhen it comes so smoothly off, so obscenely, as 20 25 down! it were so fit. Enter Dull, Holofernes', and Sir Nathaniel. Nath. Very reverend sport, truly; and done 30 in the testimony of a good conscience. Mar. You still wrangle with her, Boyet, and 35 she strikes at the brow. Boyet. But she herself is hit lower: Have I hit her now? Boyet. So I may answer thee with one as old, that was a woman when queen Guinever of Britain was a little wench, as touching the hit it. Ros. Thou canst not hit it, hit it, hit it, [Singing. 45 Thou canst not hit it, my good man. Boyet. An I cannot, cunnot, cannot, An I cannot, another can. [Ex. Ros. & Kat. Cost. By my troth, most pleasant! how both did fit it! Mar. A mark marvellous well shot; for they both did hit it. 6 Hol. The deer was, as you know, sanguis, in blood, ripe as a pomewater, who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of Colo,-the sky, the wel kin, the heaven; and anon falleth like a crab, on the face of Terra,-the soil, the land, the earth. Nath. Truly, master Holofernes, the epithets are sweetly varied, like a scholar at the least: But, sir, I assure ye, it was a buck of the first head. Hol. Sir Nathaniel, haud credo. Dull. 'Twas not a haud credo, 'twas a pricket. Hol. Most barbarous intimation! yet a kind of insinuation, as it were, in via, in way, of explication; facere, as it were, replication; or, rather ostentare, to shew, as it were, his inclination-after his undressed, unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or rather unletter'd, or ratherest, unconfirmed fashion,—to insert again my haud credo for a deer. Dull. I said, the deer was not a haud credo; 50twas a pricket'. Boyet. A mark! O, mark but that mark; A mark, says.my lady! [may be. Let the mark have a prick in't, to mete at, if it 55 Mar. Wide o' the bow hand! I' faith, your 1 hand is out. 2 Hol. Twice sod simplicity, bis coctus !-O thou monster ignorance, how deformed dost 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 sensible in the duller parts: i. e. the ¿ Dr. A pun upon the word stile. i..e. a little while ago. 3 Shooter here means suitor. white mark at which archers took their aim. The pin was the wooden nail which upheld it. Warburton says, that by Holofernes was designed a particular character, a pedant and a schoolmaster of our author's time, one John Florio, a teacher of the Italian tongue in London. A species of apple. A buck is the first year, a fawn; the second year, a pricket; the third year, a sorell; the jourth year, a soure; the fifth year, a buck of the first head; the sixth year, a compleat buck. And Dull. You two are book-men; Can you tell by your wit, What was a month old at Cain's birth, that's not tive weeks old as yet? 10 Hol. Dictynna, goodman Dull; Dictynna, 15 good man Dull. Dull. What is Dictynna? Nath. A title to Phabe, to Luna, to the moon. Hol. The moon was a month old, when Adam was no more; [tive-score. 20 And raught not to five weeks, when he came to The allusion holds in the exchange'. Dull. 'Tis true, indeed; the collusion holds in the exchange. Hol. God comfort thy capacity! I say the al-25 lusion holds in the exchange. Dull. And I say the pollusion holds in the exchange; for the moon is never but a month old: and I say beside, that 'twas a pricket that the princess 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. 30 Nath. Perge, good master Holofernes, perge; 35 so it shall please you to abrogate scurrility. Hol. I wil something affect the letter; for it argues facility. The praiseful princess pierc'd and prick'd a pretty pleasing pricket; 140 the gift is good in those in whom it is acute, and I am thankful for it. Nath. Sir, I praise the Lord for you; and so may my parishioners; for their sons 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 sons be ingenious, they shall want no instruction: if their daughters be capable, I will put it to them: But, vir sapit, quà pauca loquitur: a soul teminine saluteth us. Enter Jaquenetta, and Costard. son. Jaq. God give you good-morrow, master parHol. Master parson,-quasi person. And if one should be pierc'd, which is the one? Cost. Marry, master school-master, he that is likest to a hogshead. Hol. Of piercing a hogshead! a good lustre of conceit in a turf of earth; fire enough for a flint, pearl enough for a swine: 'tis pretty; it is well. Jaq. Good master parson, be so good as read me this letter: it was given me by Costard, and sent me from Don Armatho: I beseech you, read it. Hol. Fauste, precor gelida quando pecus omne sub umbra Ruminat,—and so forth. Ah, good old Mantuan'! Chi non te vide, ei non te pregiao. Hol. Let me hear a staff, a stanza, a verse; Lege, domine. Nath." If love make me forsworn, how shall I swear to love? [vow'd! "Ah, never faith could hold, if not to beauty "Though to myself forsworn, to thee I'll faith"ful prove; Some say, a soure; but not a sore, 'till now made sore with shooting: [from thicket; The dogs did yell; put L to sore, then sorel jumps Or pricket, sore, or else sorel, the people fall a hooting. [O sore L 45" If sore be sore, then L to sore makes fifty sores; Of one sore I an hundred make, by adding but Nath. A rare talent. Lone more L. Dull. If a talent be a claw, look how he claws him with a talent. 50 Hol. This is a gift that I have, simple, simple; a foolish extravagant spirit, full of forms, figures, shapes, objects, ideas, apprehensions, motions, revolutions: these are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourished in the womb of pia mater, and 55 delivered upon the mellowing of occasion: But "Those thoughts to me were oaks, to thee "like osiers bowed. "suffice; Study his bias leaves, and makes his book thine 66 eyes; [comprehend: "Where all those pleasures live, that art would "If knowledge be the mark, to know thee shall [commend: Well learned is that tongue, that well can thee "All ignorant that soul, that sees thee without "wonder; [adınire) ("Which is to me some praise, that I thy parts Thy eye Jove's lightning bears, thy voice his dreadful thunder, [sweet fire. "Which, not to anger bent, is musick, and 3. e. Patch here means a silly, foolish, fellow. The term is supposed to have been adopted from a celebrated fool named Patch, and who wearing, perhaps in allusion to his name, a party-colour'd dress, all stage fools have ever since been distinguish'd by a motley coat. i. e. reach'd not. the riddle is as good when I use the name of Adam, as when you use the name of Cain. * Alluding to L being the numeral for 50. Baptista Spagnolus (surnamed Mantuanus, from the place of his birth) was a writer of poems, who flourished towards the latter end of the 15th century. His Eclɔgues were translated before the time of Shakspeare. That is, "O Venice, Venice, lie who has neyer seen thee, has thee not in esteem.” 5 "Celestial Celestial as thou art, ob pardon, love, this wrong, "That sings the heaven's praise with such an earthly tongue!" 5 toiling in a pitch; pitch, that defiles; defile! a foul word. Well, Set thee down, sorrow! for so, they say, the fool said, and so say I, and I the fool. Well prov'd, wit! By the lord, this love is as mad as Ajax: it kills sheep: it kills me, I a sheep: Well prov'd again on my side! I will not love: if I do, hang me; ' faith, I will not. O, but her eye,-by this light, but for her eye, Í would not love her; yes, for her two eyes. Well, Hol. You find not the apostrophes, and so miss the accent: let me supervise the canzonet. Here are only numbers ratified; but, for the elegancy, facility, and golden cadence of poesy, caret. Ovidius Naso was the man: and why, indeed, Naso; but for smelling out the odoriferous flowers of fancy? the jerks of invention? Imitari, is no-101 do nothing in the world but lie, and lie in my thing; so doth the hound' his master, the ape his keeper, the tired horse his rider. But damosella virgin, was this directed to you? Jaq. Ay, sir, from one Monsieur Biron, one of the strange queen's lords. Hol. I will overglance the superscript. "To "the snow-white hand of the most beauteous “lady Rosaline." I will look again on the intellect of the letter, for the nomination of the party writing to the person written unto: "Your Ladyship's in all desired employment, "BIRON." 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, she hath one o' my sonnets already; the clown 15bore it, the fool sent it, and the lady hath it: sweet clown, sweeter fool, sweetest 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 stands aside. (20 Sir Nathaniel, this Biron is one of the votaries Jaq. Good Costard, go with me.-Sir, God save your life! Cost. Have with thee, my girl. 30 [Exeunt Cost. and Jaq. Nath. Sir you have done this in the fear of God, 35 very religiously: and, as a certain father saith-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 sha!! please you to gratify the table with a grace, will, on my privilege I have with the parents of the aforesaid child or pupil, undertake your ben venuto; where I will prove those verses to be very unlearned, neither savouring of poetry, wit, nor invention: I beseech your society. Nuth. And thank you too: for society (saith the text) is the happiness of life. 40 "To those fresh morning dropsupon the rose, "As thy eye-beams, when their fresh rays "have smote [flows: "The night of dew that on my checks down "Nor shines the silver moon one half so bright "Through the transparent bosom of the deep, "As doth tiry face through tears of mine give light; "Thou shin'st in every tear that I do weep: "No drop but as a coach doth carry thee, "So ridest thou triumphing in thy woe; "Do but behold the tears that swell in me, "And they thy glory through my grief will "shew: But do not love thyself; then thou wilt keep My tears for glasses, and still make me weep. "O queen of queens, how far dost thou excel! 45" No thought can think,nor tongue of mortal tell." How shall she know my griefs? I'll drop the paper; Sweet leaves, shade folly. Who is he comes here? [The king steps aside. 150 Hol. And, certes, the text most infallibly concludes it.-Sir, I do invite you too; [To Dull you shall not say me, nay: pauca verba. Away; the gentles are at their game, and we will to our [Exeunt. 55 recreation. SCENE III. Enter Longaville. What, Longaville! and reading! listen, ear. Biron. [Aside.] Now, in thy likeness, once more fool appear! Long. Ay me! I am forsworn. Biron. [Aside.] Why, he comes in like a perjure, wearing papers. King. [Aside.] In love, I hope; Sweet fellowship in shame! Biron. [Aside.] One drunkard loves another of the name. i. e. The hound and the ape are taught to imitate the tricks of their masters. Tired here means attired, alluding to Banks's horse, mentioned in a former note, p. 150. That is, specious appearances. * Convicted perjurers, when punished, wear on the breast a paper expressing the crime. Long. Long. [Aside.] Am I the first, that have been perjur'd so? Biron. [Aside.] I could put thee in comfort; [ety, Disfigure not his slop'. Long. This same shall go.-[He reads the sonnet. "Did not the heavenly rhetorick of thine eye in me. "Vows are but breath, and breath a vapour is: "Exhal'st this vapour vow: in thee it is: "If broken then, it is no fault of mine; "If by me broke, What fool is not so wise, "To lose an oath to win a paradise?” Biron. [Aside.] This is the liver vein2, which A green goose, a goddess: pure, pure idolatry. o' the way. Enter Dumain. Long. By whom shall I send this? ny! stay. 30 1351 -Compa Biron. O most prophane coxcomb! [Aside. Dum.Her amber hair for foul hath amber coted. 50 Biron. Once more I'll mark how love can Dumain reads his sonnet, "On a day, (alack the day!) 66 Playing in the wanton air: Through the velvet leaves the wind, Vow, alack, for youth unmeet; "Youth so apt to pluck a sweet. "That I am forsworn for thee: "Thou, for whom even Jove would swear, “Juno but an Ethiope were; "And deny himself for Jove, 66 Turning mortal for thy love.-" This will I send; and something else more plain, Long. Dumain, thy love is far from charity, [Aside. Biron. Ay, as some days; but then no sun must shine. Dum. O that I had my wish! [Aside. Slops are large and wide-knee'd breeches, the garb in fashion in our author's days, as we may observe from old family pictures; but they are now worn only by boors and sea-faring men. liver was supposed to be the seat of love. strip, to overpass. Fasting here signitięs longing, wanting. M You |