O, 'tis the sun, that maketh all things shine! O, who can give an oath? where is a book? No face is fair, that is not full so black. King. O paradox! Black is the badge of hell, The hue of dungeons, and the scowl of night; And beauty's crest becomes the heavens well. 3 Biron. Devils soonest tempt, resembling spirits of light. O, if in black my lady's brows be deckt, It mourns, that painting, and usurping hair, 1 Should ravish doters with a false aspéct; And therefore is she born to make black fair. Her favour turns the fashion of the days; For native blood is counted painting now; And therefore red, that would avoid dispraise, Paints itself black, to imitate her brow. Dum. To look like her, are chimney-sweepers black. Long. And, since her time, are colliers counted bright, King. And Ethiops of their sweet complexion crack. Dum. Dark needs no candles now, for dark is light. Biron. Your mistresses dare never come in rain, For fear their colours should be wash'd away. King. 'Twere good, yours did; for, sir, to tell you plain, I'll find a fairer face not wash'd to-day. Biron. I'll prove her fair, or talk till dooms-day here. And beauty's crest becomes the heavens well.] i. e. the very top, the height of beauty, or the utmost degree of fairness, becomes the heavens. 4 and usurping hair,] i. e. false hair. Biron. O, if the streets were paved with thine eyes, Her feet were much too dainty for such tread! Dum. O vile! then as she goes, what upward lies The street should see as she walk'd over head. King. But what of this? Are we not all in love? Biron. O, nothing so sure; and thereby all forsworn. King. Then leave this chat: and, good Birón, now prove Our loving lawful, and our faith not torn. Dum. Ay, marry, there;-some flattery for this evil. Some tricks, some quillets, how to cheat the devil. Biron. .6 O, 'tis more than need! Have at you then, affection's men at arms : Consider, what you first did swear unto;To fast, -to study, and to see no woman; Flat treason 'gainst the kingly state of youth. Say, can you fast? your stomachs are too young; And abstinence engenders maladies. And where that you have vow'd to study, lords, The nimble spirits in the arteries ;7 As motion, and long-during action, tires 5 some quillets,] Quillet is the peculiar word applied to lawchicane. 6 affection's men at arms :] i. e. Ye soldiers of affection. 7 The nimble spirits in the arteries;] In the old system of physic they gave the same office to the arteries as is now given to the nerves. eyes: The sinewy vigour of the traveller. ↑ Mr. Malone has followed this line by a hemistich "with ourselves" for which it would be difficult to find a meaning. 8 Other slow arts entirely keep the brain;] As we say, keep the house, or keep their bed. M. MASON. 9 the suspicious head of theft is stopp'd;] i. e. a lover in pursuit of his mistress has his sense of hearing quicker than a thief (who suspects every sound he hears) in pursuit of his prey. Or, the suspicious head of theft may mean the head suspicious of theft. Than are the tender horns of cockled1 snails; Still climbing trees in the Hesperides? 2 For charity itself fulfils the law; And who can sever love from charity? 3 King. Saint Cupid, then! and, soldiers, to the field! Biron. Advance your standards, and upon them, lords; Pell-mell, down with them! but be first advis'd, In conflict that you get the sun of them. 1 cockled-] i. e. inshelled, like the fish called a cockle. 2 Still climbing trees in the Hesperides?] Our author seems to have thought that the latter word was the name of the garden in which the golden apples were kept: and some of his contemporaries are chargeable with the same inaccuracy. 3 a word that loves all men ;] i. e. that is pleasing to all men. Long. Now to plain-dealing; lay these glozes by: Shall we resolve to woo these girls of France? King. And win them too: therefore let us devise Some entertainment for them in their tents. Biron. First, from the park let us conduct them thither; Then, homeward, every man attach the hand Of his fair mistress: in the afternoon We will with some strange pastime solace them, ACT V. SCENE I. - Another part of the same. Enter HOLOFERNES, Sir NATHANIEL, and DULL. Hol. Satis quod sufficit. Nath. I praise God for you, sir: your reasons at dinner have been sharp and sententious; pleasant without 4 ・your reasons at dinner have been, &c.] I know not well what degree of respect Shakspeare intends to obtain for his vicar, but he has here put into his mouth a finished representation of colloquial excellence. It is very difficult to add any thing to his character of the schoolmaster's table-talk, and perhaps all the precepts of Castiglione will scarcely be found to comprehend a rule for conversation so justly delineated, so widely dilated, and so nicely limited. It may be proper just to note, that reason here, and in many other |