In rich wisdom, to excuse, or hide, King. The extreme parts of time extremely form That which long process could not arbitrate : The holy suit which fain it would convince 63; From what it purpos'd; since, to wail friends lost, As to rejoice at friends but newly found. Prin. I understand you not; my griefs are double. Biron. Honest plain words best pierce the ear of grief; And by these badges understand the king. For your fair sakes have we neglected time, Play'd foul play with our oaths; your beauty, ladies, 60 Free to excess. 61 By humble is here meant obsequiously thankful. 62 Loose may mean at the moment of his parting, i, e. of his getting loose or away from us. 63 i. e. which it fain would succeed in obtaining. Form'd by the eye, and therefore, like the eye, 64 To those that make us both,-fair ladies, you: Prin. We have receiv'd your letters, full of love; Dum. Our letters, madam, show'd much more than jest. Long. So did our looks. 64 Tempted. 65 Thus in Decker's Satiromastix: You shall swear not to bombast out a new play with the old linings of jests.' Bombast was the stuffing or wadding of doublets. Stubbs, in his Anatomie of Abuses, speaks of their being 'stuffed with four, five, or six pounds of bombast at least.' The word originally signified cotton, from the Lat. bombax, this material being principally used for wadding or stuffing. The metaphorical sense is tumid, inflated. The Princess says that this courtship was considered as but bombast, as something to fill out life, which not being closely united with it, might be thrown away at pleasure. Ros. We did not quote 66 them so. King. Now, at the latest minute of the hour, Grant us your Prin. loves. A time, methinks, too short. To make a world-without-end bargain in: Change not your offer made in heat of blood; But that it bear this trial, and last love; Come challenge, challenge me by these deserts, For the remembrance of my father's death. King. If this, or more than this, I would deny, To flatter up these powers of mine with rest, The sudden hand of death close up mine eye! Hence ever then my heart is in thy breast. Biron. And what to me, my love? and what to me? Ros. You must be purged too, your sins are rank; VOL. II. 66 Regard. 67 Clothing. N N You are attaint with faults and perjury; Dum. But what to me, my love? but what to me? Kath. A wife!-A beard, fair health, and honesty; With three-fold love I wish you all these three. Dum. O, shall I say, I thank you, gentle wife? Kath. Not so, my lord;-a twelvemonth and a day I'll mark no words that smooth-fac'd wooers say: Come when the king doth to my lady come, Then, if I have much love, I'll give you some. Dum. I'll serve thee true and faithfully till then. Kath. Yet swear not, lest you be forsworn again. Long. What says Maria? Mar. At the twelvemonth's end, I'll change my black gown for a faithful friend. Long. I'll stay with patience; but the time is long. Mar. The liker you; few taller are so young. Biron. Studies my lady? mistress, look on me, Behold the window of my heart, mine eye, What humble suit attends thy answer there: Impose some service on me for thy love. lord Birón, Ros. Oft have I heard of you, my Before I saw you: and the world's large tongue Proclaims you for a man replete with mocks; Full of comparisons and wounding flouts; Which you on all estates will execute, That lie within the mercy of your wit: To weed this wormwood from your And, therewithal, to win me, if you please (Without the which I am not to be won), You shall this twelvemonth term from day to day Visit the speechless sick, and still converse With groaning wretches; and your task shall be, fruitful brain; With all the fierce 68 endeavour of your wit, To enforce the pained impotent to smile. Biron. To move wild laughter in the throat of death? It cannot be; it is impossible: Mirth cannot move a soul in agony. Ros. Why, that's the way to choke a gibing spirit, Of him that hears it, never in the tongue groans, Biron. A twelvemonth? well,befall what will befall, I'll jest a twelvemonth in an hospital. Prin. Ay, sweet my lord; and so I take my leave. [To the King. King. No, madam; we will bring you on your way. Biron. Our wooing doth not end like an old play; Jack hath not Jill: these ladies' courtesy Might well have made our sport a comedy. King. Come, sir, it wants a twelvemonth and a day. And then 'twill end. Biron. That's too long for a play. Enter ARMADO. Arm. Sweet majesty, vouchsafe me,- Dum. The worthy knight of Troy. Arm. I will kiss thy royal finger, and take leave: I am a votary; I have vowed to Jaquenetta to hold 68 Vehement. 69 Dear. See note on Twelfth Night, Act v. Sc. 1, p. 335. |