Or not my father's; for I cannot be I be not thine: to this I am most constant, Though destiny say, no. Be merry, gentle; Of celebration of that nuptial, which We two have sworn shall come. Per. Stand you auspicious! O lady Fortune, Enter Shepherd, with POLIXENES and CAMILLO, disguised; Clown, MOPSA, DORCAS, and others. Flo. See, your guests approach : Address yourself to entertain them sprightly, And let's be red with mirth. Shep. Fie, daughter! When my old wife lived, upon This day, she was both pantler, butler, cook; Both dame and servant; welcomed all, served all; With labor; and the thing she took to quench it, You are retired, Pray you, bid These unknown friends to us welcome; for it is As your good flock shall prosper. Per. Welcome, sir! [To PoL. It is my father's will I should take on me The hostesship o' the day.-You're welcome, sir! [TO CAMILLO. Give me those flowers there, Dorcas.-Reverend sirs, For you there's rosemary, and rue; these keep Seeming, and savor,1 all the winter long. Pol. Per. Sir, the year growing ancient,— Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth Of trembling winter,-the fairest flowers o' the season Which some call nature's bastards. Of that kind Pol. Do you neglect them? Per. 2 Wherefore, gentle maiden, For I have heard it said, There is an art, which, in their piedness, shares Pol. Say, there be; Yet nature is made better by no mean, But nature makes that mean; so, o'er that art, Which, you say, adds to nature, is an art That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry A gentler scion to the wildest stock; And make conceive a bark of baser kind By bud of nobler race. This is an art Which does mend nature,-change it rather: but Pol. Then make your garden rich in gilliflowers, And do not call them bastards. I'll not put Per. This youth should say, 'twere well; and only therefore 1 i. e. appearance and smell. Rue, being used in exorcisms, was called herb of grace, and rosemary was supposed to strengthen the memory; it is prescribed for that purpose in the ancient herbals. Ophelia distributes the same plants with the same attributes. 2 The allusion is to the common practice of producing, by art, particular varieties of colors on flowers, especially on carnations. Desire to breed by me.-Here's flowers for you; Per. Out, alas! You'd be so lean, that blasts of January Would blow you through and through.-Now, my fairest friend, I would I had some flowers o' the spring, that might That come before the swallow dares, and take 2 eyes, Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses, Flo. Per. No, like a bank, for Not like a corse: or if,-not But quick, and in mine arms. What, like a corse? love to lie and play on; to be buried, Come, take Come, take your flowers. 1 "Some call it sponsus solis, the spowse of the sunne, because it sleeps and is awakened with him."-Lupton's Notable Things, book vi. 2 Perhaps the true explanation of this passage may be deduced from the subjoined verses in the original edition of Milton's Lycidas, which he subsequently omitted, and altered the epithet unwedded to forsaken in the preceding line. Methinks, I play as I have seen them do In Whitsun' pastorals. Sure, this robe of mine Flo. What you do, Still betters what is done. When you speak, sweet, I'd have you buy and sell so; so give alms; To sing them too. When you do dance, I wish Crowns what you are doing in the present deeds, Per. O Doricles, you Your praises are too large: but that your youth, You wooed me the false way. Flo. I think you have As little skill to fear,' as I have purpose That never mean to part. Per. I'll swear for 'em.2 Pol. This is the prettiest low-born lass, that ever Ran on the green sward; nothing she does, or seems, But smacks of something greater than herself; Too noble for this place. He tells her something, Cam. Clo. Good sooth, she is Come on, strike up. Dor. Mopsa must be your mistress: marry, garlic, To mend her kissing with. 1 i. e. you as little know how to fear that I am false, as, &c. 2 This is a common phrase of acquiescence, like "I'll warrant you." Mop. Now in good time! Clo. Not a word, a word; we stand upon our manners.1 Come, strike up. [Music. Here a dance of Shepherds and Shepherdesses. Pol. Pray, good shepherd, what Fair swain is this, which dances with your daughter? Shep. They call him Doricles, and he boasts himself To have a worthy feeding; but I have it Upon his own report, and I believe it; 2 He looks like sooth. He says he loves my daughter, I think so too; for never gazed the moon Upon the water, as he'll stand, and read, As 'twere, my daughter's eyes; and, to be plain, Who loves another best. Pol. She dances featly.3 Shep. So she does any thing; though I report it, That should be silent. If young Doricles Do light upon her, she shall bring him that Enter a Servant. Serv. O, master, if you did but hear the pedler at the door, you would never dance again after a tabor and pipe; no, the bagpipe could not move you. He sings several tunes faster than you'll tell money; he utters them as he had eaten ballads, and all men's ears grew to his tunes. Clo. He could never come better; he shall come in. I love a ballad but even too well; if it be doleful matter, merrily set down, or a very pleasant thing indeed, and sung lamentably. Serv. He hath songs, for man, or woman, of all sizes; no milliner can so fit his customers with gloves ; * he has the prettiest love-songs for maids; so without 1 i. e. we are now on our good behavior. 3 That is, dexterously, nimbly. 2 Truth. 4 The trade of a milliner was formerly carried on by men exclusively. 4 |