Your oaths are pass'd, and now subscribe your

names;

That his own hand may strike his honour down, That violates the smallest branch herein:

a

If you are arm'd to do, as sworn to do,
Subscribe to your deep oaths, and keep them* too.
LONG. I am resolv'd: 'tis but a three years' fast;
The mind shall banquet, though the body pine:
Fat paunches have lean pates, and dainty bits
Make rich the ribs, but bankrupt + quite the wits.
DUм. My loving lord, Dumain is mortified.
The grosser manner of these world's delights
He throws upon the gross world's baser slaves:
To love, to wealth, to pomp, I pine and die;
With all these living in philosophy.

BIRON. I can but say their protestation over;
So much, dear liege, I have already sworn,
That is, to live and study here three years.
But there are other strict observances :
As, not to see a woman in that term;
Which, I hope well, is not enrolled there :
And, one day in a week to touch no food,
And but one meal on every day beside;
The which, I hope, is not enrolled there:
And then to sleep but three hours in the night,
And not be seen to wink of all the day;
(When I was wont to think no harm all night,
And make a dark night too of half the day;)
Which, I hope well, is not enrolled there:
O, these are barren tasks, too hard to keep;
Not to see ladies,-study,-fast,-not sleep.
KING. Your oath is pass'd to pass away from
these.

BIRON. Let me say no, my liege, an if you please; I only swore, to study with your grace, And stay here in your court for three years' space.

LONG. You swore to that, Biron, and to the rest. BIRON. By yea and nay, sir, then I swore in jest. What is the end of study? let me know.

KING. Why, that to know, which else we should not know.

BIRON. Things hid and barr'd, you mean, from

common sense?

If study's gain be thus, and this be so,
Study knows that, which yet it doth not know:
Swear me to this, and I will ne'er say, no.
KING. These be the stops that hinder study

quite,

And train our intellects to vain delight.

BIRON. Why, all delights are vain; but that
most vain,

Which, with pain purchas'd, doth inherit pain:
As, painfully to pore upon a book,

To seek the light of truth; while truth the while Doth falsely blind the eye-sight of his look:

Light, seeking light, doth light of light beguile : So, ere you find where light in darkness lies, Your light grows dark by losing of your eyes. Study me how to please the eye indeed,

By fixing it upon a fairer eye;

Who dazzling so, that eye shall be his heed,
And give him light that it was blinded by.
Study is like the heaven's glorious sun,
That will not be deep-search'd with saucy looks;
Small have continual plodders ever won,

Save base authority from others' books.
These earthly godfathers of heaven's lights,
That give a name to every fixed star,
Have no more profit of their shining nights,

Than those that walk, and wot not what they are. Too much to know, is, to know nought but fame; And every godfather can give a name.

KING. How well he's read, to reason against reading!

DUM. Proceeded well, to stop all good proceeding!

LONG. He weeds the corn, and still lets grow
the weeding.

BIRON. The spring is near, when green geese
are a-breeding.
DUM. How follows that?
BIRON.

Fit in his place and time.

DUM. In reason nothing. BIRON.

Something then in rhyme. KING. Biron is like an envious sneaping frost, That bites the first-born infants of the spring. BIRON. Well, say I am; why should proud

summer boast,

Before the birds have any cause to sing?
Why should I joy in any abortive birth?
At Christmas I no more desire a rose,
Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled shows;
But like of each thing that in season grows.
So you, to study now it is too late,

Climb o'er the house to unlock the little gate."

(*) First folio, and. "Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina; or, Proverbs English and Latine," &c., 8vo. 1630

Fat paunches make lean pates; and grosser bits
Enrich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits."

b Climb o'er the house to unlock the little gate.] This is the reading of the quarto. The folio has

"That were to climb o'er the house to unlock the gate."

Hath this been proclaim'd?

LONG. Four days ago.

BIRON. Let's see the penalty. [Reads.]

-on pain of losing her tongue.

Who devis'd this penalty?
LONG. Marry, that did I.

BIRON. Sweet lord, and why?

LONG. To fright them hence with that dread penalty,

A dangerous law against gentility."
BIRON. [Reads.]

Item, If any man be seen to talk with a woman within the term of three years, he shall endure such public shame as the rest of the court can† possibly devise.

This article, my liege, yourself must break;

For, well you know, here comes in embassy The French king's daughter, with yourself to speak,—

A maid of grace, and complete majesty,—
About surrender-up of Aquitain

To her decrepit, sick, and bed-rid father:
Therefore this article is made in vain,
Or vainly comes th' admired princess hither.

King of Nauar, will onely you sit out?

"Nas. No, king of Fraunce, my bloud's as hot as thine: And this my weapon shall confirme my words."

Love. To fright them hence with that dread penalty,
A dangerous law against gentility.]

So the old copies, but Theobald first, and all the modern editors since, have deprived Longaville of the second line, and given it to Biron. I have no hesitation in restoring it to the proper speaker. The only difficulty in the passage is the word gentility, (in the quarto, gentletie,) which could never have been the expression of the poet. Mr. Collier's old annotator proposes garrulity; that, or scurrility, certainly comes nearer to the sense, but neither

KING. What say you, lords? why, this was quite forgot.

BIRON. So study evermore is over-shot; While it doth study to have what it would, It doth forget to do the thing it should: And when it hath the thing it hunteth most, 'T is won, as towns, with fire; so won, so lost. KING. We must, of force, dispense with this decree ;

She must lie here on mere necessity.

BIRON. Necessity will make us all forsworn Three thousand times within this three years' space;

*for me,

For every man with his affects is born,
Not by might master'd, but by special grace.
If I break faith, this word shall speak
I am forsworn on mere necessity.—
So to the laws at large I write my name:

d

[Subscribes.

And he that breaks them in the least degree, Stands in attainder of eternal shame : Suggestions are to others, as to me; But, I believe, although I seem so loth, I am the last that will last keep his oath. But is there no quick recreation granted? KING. Ay, that there is: our court, you know, is haunted

e

With a refined traveller of Spain;

A man in all the world's new fashion planted,
That hath a mint of phrases in his brain:
One who the music of his own vain tongue

Doth ravish, like enchanting harmony ;.
A man of complements, whom right and wrong
Have chose as umpire of their mutiny:
This child of fancy, that Armado hight,

For interim to our studies, shall relate,

In high-born words, the worth of many a knight
From tawny Spain, lost in the world's debate.
How you delight, my lords, I know not, I;
But, I protest, I love to hear him lie,
And I will use him for my minstrelsy.

BIRON. Armado is a most illustrious wight,
A man of fire-new words, fashion's own knight.

(*) First folio, break.

is satisfactory. By a dangerous law, we are to understand a biting law. In Act I. Sc. 2, there is a similar use of the word:"A dangerous rhyme, master, against the reason of white and red."

c She must lie here-] i. e. reside here.

d Suggestions-] Temptations, seducements.

• No quick recreation-] i.e. lively pastime, brisk diversion. "the quick comedians Extemporally will stage us."

Antony and Cleopatra, Act V. Sc. 2. f A man of complements,-] One versed in punctilios, of pointde-vice manners,-a formalist.

"He walks most commonly with a clove or pick-tooth in his mouth; he is the very mint of compliment; all his behaviours are printed; his face is another volume of essays; and his beard is an Aristarchus."-BEN JONSON's Cynthia's Revels, (Gifford's Ed.) vol. ii. p. 264.

"

g Fire-new words,-] Words freshly coined; brand-new. "Your fire-new stamp of honour scarce is current." Richard the Third, Act I. Sc. 3. Again, in "Twelfth Night," Act III. Sc. 2:"And with some excellent jest, fire-new from the mint," &c.

COST. Sir, the contempts thereof are as touching me.

KING. A letter from the magnificent Armado. BIRON. How low soever the matter, I hope in God for high words.

LONG. A high hope for a low heaven: (2) God grant us patience!

BIRON. To hear? or forbear laughing ? LONG. To hear meekly, sir, and to laugh moderately; or to forbear both.

BIRON. Well, sir, be it as the style shall give us cause to climb in the merriness.

COST. The matter is to me, sir, as concerning Jaquenetta. The manner of it is, I was taken with the manner.

BIRON. In what manner?

COST. In manner and form following, sir; ail

those three: I was seen with her in the manor house, sitting with her upon the form, and taken following her into the park; which, put together, is in manner and form following. Now, sir, for the manner,—it is the manner of a man to speak to a woman: for the form,-in some form.

BIRON. For the following, sir?

COST. As it shall follow in my correction: and God defend the right!

KING. Will you hear this letter with attention? BIRON. As we would hear an oracle.

COST. Such is the simplicity of man to hearken after the flesh.

KING. [Reads.]

So it is, besieged with sable-coloured melancholy, I did commend the black-oppressing humour to the most wholesome physic of thy health-giving air; and, as I am a gentleman, betook myself to walk. The time when? About the sixth hour; when beasts most graze, birds best peck, and men sit down to that nourishment which is called supper. So much for the time when : Now for the ground which; which, I mean, I walked upon it is yeleped, thy park. Then for the place where; where, I mean, I did encounter that obscene and most preposterous event, that draweth from my now-white pen the ebon-coloured ink, which here thou viewest, beholdest, surveyest, or seest : But to the place where,—it standeth north-northeast and by east from the west corner of thy curious-knotted garden: there did I see that low-spirited swain, that base minnow of thy mirth,

COST. Me. KING.

-that unletter'd small-knowing soul,

COST. Me.

Thy curious-knotted garden:] Ancient gardens, Steevens observes, abounded with figures, of which the lines intersected each other in many directions. Thus in "Richard II." Act III. Se. f

BIRON. This is not so well as I looked for, but the best that ever I heard.

KING. Ay, the best for the worst. But, sirral, what say you to this?

COST. Sir, I confess the wench.

KING. Did you hear the proclamation?

COST. I do confess much of the hearing it, but little of the marking of it.

KING. It was proclaimed a year's imprisonment, to be taken with a wench.

COST. I was taken with none, sir; I was taken with a damosel.

KING. Well, it was proclaimed damosel. COST. This was no damosel, neither, sir; she was a virgin.

KING. It is so varied too; for it was proclaimed virgin.

COST. If it were, I deny her virginity; I was taken with a maid.

KING. This maid will not serve your turn, sir. COST. This maid will serve my turn, sir. KING. Sir, I will pronounce your sentence: you shall fast a week with bran and water.

(*) Old copies, which with.

"Her fruit-trees all unprun'd, her hedges ruin'd, Her knots disorder'd," &c.

COST. I had rather pray a month with mutton and porridge.

KING. And don Armado shall be your keeper.My lord Biron, see him deliver'd o'er.And go we, lords, to put in practice that

Which each to other hath so strongly sworn.

[Exeunt KING, LONGAVILLE, and DUMAIN. BIRON. I'll lay my head to any good man's hat, These oaths and laws will prove an idle scorn. Sirrah, come on.

COST. I suffer for the truth, sir: for true it is, I was taken with Jaquenetta, and Jaquenetta is a true girl; and therefore, Welcome the sour cup of prosperity! Affliction may one day smile again, and till then, Sit thee down, sorrow !*

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Another part of the same. Armado's House.

Enter ARMADO and MOTH.

ARM. Boy, what sign is it, when a man of great spirit grows melancholy?

MOTH. A great sign, sir, that he will look sad. ARM. Why, sadness is one and the self-same thing, dear imp.

MOTH. No, no; O lord, sir, no.

ARM. How canst thou part sadness and melancholy, my tender juvenal?

MOTH. By a familiar demonstration of the working, my tough senior.+

ARM. Why tough senior?+ why tough senior?+ MOTH. Why tender juvenal? why tender juvenal ?

ARM. I spoke it, tender juvenal, as a congruent epitheton, appertaining to thy young days, which we may nominate, tender.

MOTH. And I, tough senior,† as an appertinent title to your old time, which we may name, tough. ARM. Pretty, and apt.

MOTH. How mean you, sir; I pretty, and my saying apt or I apt, and my saying pretty? ARM. Thou pretty, because little."

MоTH. Little pretty, because little: Wherefore apt?

ARM. And therefore apt, because quick.
MOTH. Speak you this in my praise, master?

(*) First folio, until then sit down, &c.

(t) First folio, signeur.

a Armado.] Here and throughout the scene in the old copies we have Braggart, instead of Armado.

b Thou pretty, because little:] So in Ben Jonson's play of "The Fox," (Gifford's edition,) vol. iii. p. 236:

"First for your dwarf, he's little and witty,
And every thing, as it is little is pretty."

e Crosses love not him.] A punning allusion, very frequent in

praise.

ARM. What? that an eel is ingenious?

MоTн. That an eel is quick.

ARM. I do say, thou art quick in answers: Thou heat'st my blood.

MOTH. I am answered, sir.

ARM. I love not to be crossed.

Mотн. He speaks the mere contrary, crosses love not him. [A side.

ARM. I have promised to study three years with the duke.

MOTH. You may do it in an hour, sir.
ARM. Impossible.

MOTH. HOW many is one thrice told?

ARM. I am ill at reckoning; it fitteth† the spirit of a tapster.

MOTH. You are a gentleman, and a gamester, sir.(3)

ARM. I confess both; they are both the varnish 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.
MOTH. Which the base vulgar dot call, three.
ARM. True.

MOTH. Why, sir, is this such a piece of study? Now here's 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 (4) will tell you.

ARM. A most fine figure!
MOTH. To prove you a cipher.

[Aside.

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 outswear 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. Sampson, master; he was a man of