Moth. How mean you, Sir? I pretty, and my saying apt? or I apt, and my saying pretty? Arm. Thou pretty, because little. Moth. Little pretty, because little: Wherefore apt? Arm. And therefore apt, because quick. Moth. Speak you this in my praise, master ? Arm. In thy condign praise. Moth. I will praise an eel with the same praise. Arm. What? that an eel is ingenious? Arm. I do say, thou art quick in answers: Thou heatest my blood. Moth. I am answer'd, Sir, Moth. He speaks the mere contrary, crosses love not him. [Aside. Arm. I have promised to study three years with the duke. Moth. You may do it in an hour, Sir. Moth. How many is one thrice told? Arm, I am ill at reckoning, it fitteth the spirit of a tapster. Arm. Is that one of the four complexions? Moth. As I have read, Sir; and the best of them too. Arm. Green, indeed, is the colour of lovers: but to have a love of that colour, methinks, Samson had small reason for it. He, surely, affected her for her wit. Moth. It was so, Sir; for she had a green wit. Arm. My love is most immaculate white and red. Moth. Most maculate thoughts, master, a masked under such colours. Arm. Define, define, well-educated infant. Moth. My father's wit, and my mother's tongue, assist me! Arm. Sweet invocation of a child; most pretty and pathetical! Moth. If she be made of white and red, By this you shall not know; For still her cheeks possess the same, A dangerous rhyme, master, against the reason of white and red. Arm. Is there not a ballad, boy, of the King and the Beggar ? Moth. The world was very guilty of such a ballad some three ages since: but, I think, now 'tis not to be found; or, if it were, it would neither serve for the writing, nor the tune. Arm. I will have the subject newly writ o'er, that I may example my digression + by some mighty precedent. Boy, I do love that country girl, that I took in the park with the rational hind Costard; she deserves well. Moth. To be whipped; and yet a better love than my master. [Aside. Arm. Sing, boy, my spirit grows heavy in Moth. You are a gentleman, and a gamester, Sir. "Arm. I confess both; they are both the var-love. nish of a complete man. Moth. Then, I am sure, you know how much the gross sum of deuce-ace amounts to. Arm. It doth amount to one more than two. [Aside. Moth. Why, Sir, is this such a piece of study? Now here is three studied, ere you'll thrice wink and how easy it is to put years to the word three, and study three years in two words, the dancing horse will tell you. Arm. A most fine figure! Moth. To prove you a cipher. Arm. I will hereupon confess, I am in love: and, as it is base for a soldier to love, so am I in love with a base wench. If drawing my sword against the humour of affection would deliver me from the reprobate thought of it, I would take desire prisoner, and ransom him to any French courtier for a new devised courtesy. I think scorn to sigh; methinks, I should out-swear Cupid. Comfort me, boy: What great men have been in love? Moth. Hercules, master. Arm. Most sweet Hercules !-More authority, dear boy, name more; and, sweet my child, let them be men of good repute and carriage. Moth. Samson, master: he was a mau of good carriage, great carriage; for he carried the town-gates on his back, like a porter: and he was in love. Arm. O well-knit Samson! strong-jointed Samson! I do excel thee in my rapier, as much as thou didst me in carrying gates. I am in love too, Who was Samson's love, my dear Moth ?Moth. A woman, master. Arm. Of what complexion? Moth. Of all the four, or the three, or the two; or one of the four. Arm. Tell me precisely of what complexion? Moth. Of the sea-water green, Sir. Moth. And that's great marvel, loving a light wench. Arm. I say, sing. Moth. Forbear till this company be past. Enter DULL, COSTARD, and JAQUENETTA. Dull. Sir, the duke's pleasure is, that you keep Costard safe; and you must let him take no delight, nor no penance; but a' must fast three days a week: for this damsel, I must keep her at the park; she is allowed for the day-woman. † Fare you well. Arm. I do betray myself with blushing. Maid. Jaq. Man. Arm. I will visit thee at the lodge. Arm. I know where it is situate. Jaq. Fair weather after you ! [Exeunt DULL and JAQUENETTA, Arm. Villain, thou shalt fast for thy offences, ere thou be pardoned. Cost. Well, Sir, I hope, when I do it, I shall do it on a full stomach. Arm. Thou shalt be heavily punished. Cost, I am more bound to you, than your fellows, for they are but lightly rewarded. Arm. Take away this villain; shut him up. Moth. Come, you transgressing slave; away. Cost. Let me not be pent up, Sir; I will fast being loose. Moth. No, Sir; that were fast and loose : thou shalt to prison. Cost. Well, if ever I do see the merry days of desolation that I have seen, some shall seeMoth. What shall some see ? Cost. Nay, nothing, master Moth, but what they look upon. It is not for prisoners to be too silent in their words: and therefore, I wi say nothing: I thank God, I have as little patience as another man; and, therefore, I can be quiet. Prin. All pride is willing pride, and your's Who are the votaries, my loving lords, Mar. I know him, madam; at a marriage Between lord Perigort and the beauteous heir [Exeunt MоTH and COSTARD. Arm. I do affect the very ground, which is base, where her shoe, which is baser, guided by her foot, which is basest, doth tread. I shall be forsworn, (which is a great argument of falsehood,) if I love: And how can that be true love, which is falsely attempted? Love is a familiar : | love is a devil: there is no evil angel but love. Yet Samson was so tempted and he had an excellent strength: yet was Solomon so seduced: and he had a very good wit. Cupid's butt-It shaft is too hard for Hercules' club, and therefore too much odds for a Spaniard's rapier. The first and second cause will not serve my turn; the passado he respects not, the duello he regards not his disgrace is to be called boy; but his glory is, to subdue men. Adieu, valour ! rust, rapier! be still, drum! for your manager is in love; yea, he loveth. Assist me some extemporal god of rhyme, for, I am sure, I shall turn sonneteer. Devise wit; write pen; for I am for whole volumes in folio. [Exit. ACT II. SCENE I.--Another part of the same.-A Enter the PRINCESS OF FRANCE, ROSALINE, Boyet. Now, madam, summon up your dear- Consider who the king your father sends; Of all perfections that a man may owe, Prin. Good lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean, Needs not the painted flourish of your praise; Who are the rest? Kath. The young Dumain, a well-accom. Of all that virtue love for virtue jov'd: For he hath wit to make an ill shape good, Ros. Another of these students at that time, never spent an hour's talk withal: That every one her own hath garnished Re-enter BOYET. Prin. Now, what admittance, lord? Boyet. Navarre had notice of your fair approach; And he, and his competitors in oath, Were all address'd to meet you, gentle lady, learnt, He rather means to lodge you in the field, King. Fair princess, welcome to the court of Prin. Fair, 1 give you back again; and, welcome I have not yet: the roof of this court is too high to be your's; and welcome to the wild fields too base to be mine. King. You shall be welcome, madam, to my Prin. I will be welcome then; conduct me | And, if you prove it, I'll repay it back, thither. King. Hear me, dear lady; I have sworn an oath. Prin. Our Lady help my lord! he'll be for sworn. King. Not for the world, fair madam, by my will. Prin. Why, will shall break it will, and nothing else. King. Your ladyship is ignorant what it is. Prin. Were my lord so, his ignorance were wise, Where now his knowledge must prove igno rance. I hear, your grace hath sworn out house-keeping: 'Tis deadly sin to keep that oath, my lord, But pardon me, I am too sudden-bold; [Gives a paper. King. Madam, I will, if suddenly I may. Prin. You will the sooner, that I were away; For you'll prove perjur'd, if you make me stay. Biron. Did not I dance with you in Bra Ros. Not till it leave the rider in the mire. Ros. The hour that fools should ask. Ros. Fair fall the face it covers ! Biron. Nay, then will I be gone. King. Madam, your father here doth intimate 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 be, or we, (as neither have,) which, One part of Aquitain is bound to us, On payment of a hundred thousand crowns, de 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. Prin. You do the king my father too much wrong, 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; • Whereas. Or yield up Aquitain. Prin. We arrest your word: Boyet, you can produce aquittances, For such a sum, from special officers Of Charles his father. King. Satisfy me so. Boyet. So please your grace, the packet is not come, Where that and other specialties are bound: King. It shall suffice me; at which inter view, All liberal reason I will yield unto. To-morrow shall we visit you again. 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? Ros. Alack, let it blood. Biron. Would that do it good? Ros. My physic says, 1. Biron. Will you prick't with your eye? [Retiring. Dum. Sir, I pray you, a word: What lady is that same? her name. Boyet. She hath but one for herself; to desire that were a shame. Long. Pray you, Sir, whose daughter? 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 LONGAVILLE. 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 BIRON.-Ladies unmask. Mar. That last is Biron, the merry mad-cap lord; Not a word with him but a jest. Boyet. And every jest but a word. Prin. It was well done of you to take him at his word. Boyet. I was as willing to grapple, as he was to board. 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: Methought, all his senses were lock'd in his eye, As jewels in crystal for some prince to buy; Who, tend'ring their own worth, from where they were glass'd, Did point you to buy them, along as you pass'd. Prin. Come, to our pavilion: Boyet is dispos'd Boyet. But to speak that in words, which his eye hath disclos'd: I only have made a mouth of his eye, Mar. He is Cupid's grandfather, and learns news of him. Ros. Then was Venus like her mother; for her father is but grim. Boyet. Do you hear, my mad wenches? Boyet. What then, do you see? Ros. Ay, our way to be gone. Boyet. You are too hard for me. [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE 1.-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 4 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 brawl? ‡ A quibble several signified uninclosed lands. Arm. How mean'st thou? brawling in 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 suip and away: These are complements, these are bumours; these betray nice wenches-that would be betrayed 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. Moth. -the hobby-borse is forgot. Arm. Callest 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. 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 carry me a letter. 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 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. Minimè, 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 canuon; and the bullet, that's be: of grace! By thy favour, sweet welkin, I must sigh in thy face: Most rude melancholy, valour gives thee place. My herald is return'd. Re-enter MоTH and COSTARD. Moth. A wonder, master; here's a Costard broken in a shin. Arm. Some enigma, some riddle: come,-thy V'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. + Quick, ready. 1 A head. An old French term for concluding verses, which served either to convey the moral, or to address the poem to some person. I will example it: 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, The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee, 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: Sir, your pennyworth is good, an your goose be fat. 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? Moth. By saying that a Costard was broken in a shin. Then call'd you for the l'envoy. Then the boy's fat l'envoy, the goose that you And he ended the market. Enter BIRON. Biron. O my good knave Costard! exceedingly well met. Cost. Pray you, Sir, how much carnation ib bon may a man buy for a remuneration ? Biron. What is a remuneration? Cost. Marry, Sir, halfpenny farthing. Bost. I thank your worship: God be with you! Cost. When would you have it done, Sir? Cost. Well, I will do it, Sir: Fare you well. Biron. It must be done this afternoon. Hark, slave, it is but this ; The princess comes to hunt here in the park, name, And Rosaline they call her: ask for her; Cost. Guerdon,-O sweet guerdon! better A very beadle to a humorous sigh; A critic; nay, a night-watch constable : Arm. But tell me; how was there a Costard Sole imperator, and great general 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. Oh! 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 remuneration; [Giving him money.] for the best ward of mine honour, is, rewarding my dependants. Moth, [Exit. follow. 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. Remuneration! Oh! 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.Remuneration !-why, it is a fairer name than French crown. I will never buy and sell out of this word. • Delightful. of trotting paritors, -O my little heart!- ACT IV. SCENE I.-Another part of the same. Enter the PRINCESS, ROSALINE, MARIA, KATHARINE, BOYFT, Lords, Attendants, and a FORESTER. Prin. Was that the king, that spuri'd his horse so hard Against the steep uprising of the bill? • Reward. + With the utmost exactness. Honded, veiled. Petticoats. The officers of the spi itual courts who serve citations. |