Boyet. An I cannot, cannot, cannot,

An I cannot, another can.

[Exeunt Rof. & Kat. how both did fit it! Mar. A mark marvellous well fhot; for they both did

Coft. By my troth, most pleasant!

hit it.

Boyet. A mark! O, mark but that mark; A mark, fays my lady!

Let the mark have a prick in't, to mete at, if it may be. Mar. Wide o' the bow hand! I'faith, your hand is out. Coft. Indeed, a' must shoot nearer, or he'll ne'er hit the

clout.

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

Coft. Then will fhe get the upfhot by cleaving 'the pin. Mar. Comé, come, you talk greafily, your lips grow

foul.

Coft. She's too hard for you at pricks, Sir; challenge her to bowl.

owl.

Boyet. I fear too much rubbing: Good night, my good [Exeunt all but Coftard. Coft. By my foul, a fwain! a moft fimple clown! Lord, lord! how the ladies and I have put him down! O' my troth, moft fweet jefts! moft incony vulgar wit! When it comes fo fmoothly off, fo obfcenely, as it were,

fo fit.

Armatho o' the one fide,-O, a most dainty man!

To see him walk before a lady, and to bear her fan!

To fee him kifs his hand! and how most sweetly a' will

fwear!

And his page o' t'other fide, that handful of wit!

Ah, heavens, it is a most pathetical nit! [Shouting within. Sola, fola!

[Exit Coftard.

the clout.]-the white mark at which archers take their aim.
the pin.]-the peg that upheld it.

incony-delightful.

SCENE

SCENE II.

t

Enter Dull, Holofernes, and Sir Nathaniel.

Nath. Very reverent fport, truly; and done in the teftimony of a good confcience.

W

Hol. The deer was, as you know, in "fanguis, in blood; ripe as a pomewater, who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of Cælo,-the sky, the welkin, the heaven; 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, fir, I affure ye, it was a buck * of the firft head.

X

Hol. Sir Nathaniel, haud credo.

Dull. 'Twas not a baud 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 show, as it were, his inclination-after his undreffed, unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or rather unlettered, or, rathereft, unconfirmed fashion,-to infert again my baud credo for a deer.

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

t

Holofernes,]-John Florio, teacher of Italian, in Shakspeare's time,

a man much addicted to affectation and scandal.

fanguis, in blood ;]-in prime order.

X

pomerwater,-a kind

of apple, once in high esteem. of the first head.]-of the fifth year.

y

a pricket.]-a buck of the fecond year.

drunk

drunk ink his intellect is not replenished; he is only an amimal, only fenfible in the duller parts:

And fuch barren plants are fet before us, that we thankful should be

(Which we of taste and feeling are) for those parts that do fructify more in us than he.

a

For as it would ill become me to be vain, indiscreet, or a

b

fool,

So were there a patch fet on learning, to see him in a

fchool:

But, omne bene, say 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 Dictynna?

Hol. A title to Phoebe, to Luna, to the moon.

The moon was a month old, when Adam was no more;

And raught not to five weeks, when he came to fivescore. The allufion holds in the exchange.

d

Dull. 'Tis true, indeed; the collufion holds in the exchange.

Hol. God comfort thy capacity! I fay the allufion holds in the exchange.

Dull. And I fay the pollufion holds in the exchange: for the moon is never but a month old and I fay befide, that 'twas a pricket that the princess kill'd.

z (Which]-As.

a than be.]-in him.

So, &c.]-As ill would it become a lout to go to school.
raught]-reached.

in the exchange]-of the names, Adam

for Cain-the riddle is as good when I use the one, as when you use the

other.

Hol.

Hol. Sir Nathaniel, will you hear an extemporal "epigram on the death of the deer? and, to humour the ignorant, I have call'd the deer the princess kill'd, a pricket. Nath. Perge, good master Holofernes, perge; so it shall please you to abrogate fcurrility.

f

Hol. I will fomething affect the letter; for it argues facility.

The praifeful princess pierc'd and prick'd a pretty pleafing

pricket ;

h

Some fay, a fore; but not a fore, 'till now made fore with

Shooting:

The dogs did yell; put L to fore, then forel jumps from

thicket;

Or pricket fore, or elfe forel, the people fall a booting.

k

If fore be fore, then * L to fore makes fifty fores; O fore L! 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 how he claws him with a talent.

Hol. This is a gift that I have, fimple, fimple; a foolish extravagant spirit, full of forms, figures, fhapes, objects, ideas, apprehenfions, motions, revolutions: these are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourished in the womb of pia mater, and delivered upon the mellowing of occafion: But the gift is good in thofe 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

e epitaph. f abrogate fcurrility.]-fupprefs, decline indelicacy.

i forel]-of the third year.

affect the letter ;]-make ufe of alliteration. h a fore]-a buck of the fourth year. * LJ-for fifty. 1 one more L.]-forell. talent]-pun, talon.

their daughters profit very greatly under you: you are a good member of the commonwealth.

Hol. Mebercle, if their fons be ingenious, 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. God give you good morrow, master parson. Hol. Mafter parfon,-quafi" person. And if one should be pierc'd, which is the one?

Coft. Marry, master school-master, he that is likest 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 beseech you, read it.

Hol. Faufte, precor gelidâ quando pecus omne fub umbrá. Ruminat, and fo forth. Ah, good old Mantuan! I may fpeak of thee as the traveller doth of Venice; ° -Vinegia, Vinegia,

Chi non te vide, ei non te pregia.

Old Mantuan! old Mantuan! Who underftandeth thee not, loves thee not.-Ut re, fol, la, mi, fa.-Under pardon, fir, what are the contents? or, rather, as Horace fays in his-What, my foul, verses?

Nath. Ay, fir, and very learned.

P

Hol. Let me hear a staff, a stanza, a verfe; Lege, domine. Nath. If love make me forfworn, how fhall I swear to love?

a perf-one.

Vinegia, &c.]-" O Venice, Venice! he

that hath not seen thee, holds thee not in esteem."

P how fhall I swear to love?]-by what oath may I gain credit with love?

Ah,