You gave me this: but take it, sir, again.

Cost. O Lord, sir, they would know

I knew her by this jewel on her sleeve.

Prin. Pardon me, sir, this jewel did she wear; And Lord Birón, I thank him, is my dear.What, will you have me, or your pearl again?

Biron. Neither of either; I remit both twain.—

I see the trick on't:-here was a consent,109
Knowing aforehand of our merriment,
To dash it like a Christmas comedy:

Some carry-tale, some please-man, some slight zany,110

Some mumble-news, some trencher-knight, some Dick,

trick

113

To make my lady laugh when she's dispos'd,
Told our intents before; which once disclos'd,
The ladies did change favours; and then we,
Following the signs, woo'd but the sign of she.114
Now, to our perjury to add more terror,
We are again forsworn,-in will and error."s
Much upon this it is :-[To BOYET] and might not
you

Forestall our sport, to make us thus untrue?
Do not you know my lady's foot by the squire,116
And laugh upon the apple of her eye ?1?
And stand between her back, sir, and the fire
Holding a trencher, jesting merrily?
You put our page out: go, you are allow'd ;118
Die when you will, a smock shall be your shroud.
You leer upon me, do you? there's an eye
Wounds like a leaden sword.

113. Dispos'd. Used for 'disposed to be merry,''mirthfully inclined, in a gay humour.' See Note 26, Act ii. 114. She. Shakespeare sometimes uses this word substantively; to express a woman. Here (chiefly for the sake of rhyme) he employs it to signify the particular lady each of us loved.' 115. Forsworn,-in will and error. 'Forsworn,-first wilfully, afterwards by mistake.'

116. Know my lady's foot by the squire. Equivalent to the vulgar phrase, 'He has the length of her foot,' that is, 'knows her

Biron. By Jove, I always took three threes for nine.

Cost. O Lord, sir, it were pity you should get your living by reckoning, sir.

Biron. How much is it?

Cost. O Lord, sir, the parties themselves, the actors, sir, will show whereuntil it doth amount: for mine own part, I am, as they say, but to parfect one man in one poor man,122-Pompion the Great, sir.

Biron. Art thou one of the Worthies? Cost. It pleased them to think me worthy of Pompion the Great: for mine own part, I know not the degree of the Worthy; but I am to stand for him.

Biron. Go, bid them prepare.

Cost. We will turn it finely off, sir; we will take

humour exactly." square or rule. 117. Laugh upon the apple of her eye? 'Laugh in accordance with her directing glance;' 'Laugh with her at her favourite subjects of mirth.' This and the two following lines refer to some of the services expected of a gentleman-usher. See Note 92, Act v.

"Squire" is from the French esquierre, a

118. You are allow'd. 'You are privileged,' 'you have a license for jesting, in virtue of your office.'

119. Manage, this career. Terms of the tilt-yard. "Manage" meant the controlment or government of a horse; "career," the meeting in encounter at full gallop.

120. Pursents. For 'presents,' which meant 'enacts,' 'represents.

121. You cannot beg us. Alluding to a custom of asking for the property and wardship of one who was proved a lunatic or an idiot; which was called being 'begged for a fool.' One of the legal tests of lunacy was requiring an answer to an arithmetical question.

122. But to parfect one man in one poor man. 'I am but to represent one Worthy in one poor person;' meaning himself.

Prin. Nay, my good lord, let me o'errule you

now:

That sport best pleases that doth least know how: Where zeal strives 123 to content, and the content Lies in the zeal of those which it present;

Their form confounded makes most form in mirth;

When great things labouring perish in their birth. Biron. A right description of our sport, my lord.

Enter ARMADO.

Arm. Anointed, I implore so much expense of thy royal sweet breath as will utter a brace of words.

[Converses with the King and delivers
to him a paper.

Prin. Doth this man serve God?
Biron. Why ask you P

Prin. He speaks not like a man of God's making.

Arm. That's all one, my fair, sweet, honey monarch; for, I protest, the schoolmaster is exceeding fantastical; too too vain; too too vain: but we will put it, as they say, to fortuna della guerra.121 I wish you the peace of mind, most royal couple[Exit.

ment! 125

King. Here is like to be a good presence of Worthies. He presents Hector of Troy; the swain, Pompey the Great; the parish curate, Alexander; Armado's page, Hercules; the pedant, Judas Maccabæus;

And if these four Worthies in their first show thrive,

These four will change habits, and present the other five.

Biron. There are five in the first show
King. You are deceiv'd; 'tis not so.
Biron.

The pedant, the braggart, the hedgepriest, the fool, and the boy :—

123. Where zeal strives, &c. This sentence is so hopelessly obscured by misprint in the Folio (the two lines standing there thus

'Where Zeale strives to content, and the contents
Dies in the Zeale of that which it presents'),

that it is difficult to descry correct text and meaning. Various alterations have been proposed; and we adopt Monk Mason's reading, taking it to mean-'Where zeal strives to give content, and the content is derived from the zeal of those who present it.' 124. Fortuna della guerra. The fortune of war.

125. Couplement. This rarely-used word occurs only once again in Shakespeare's works (in his 21st Sonnet); but Spenser has it in his " Faerie Queen," Book vi., Canto 5, Stanza 24. It means a coupling together; a couple, a pair. Here, Armado applies it to the king and princess. It is also to be noted that, in this speech, the Spaniard repays Holofernes in his own coin ; by disparaging him behind his back, though flattering him to his face.

126. Abate throw at novum. "Novum," or 'novem,' was a game at dice; wherein the paramount numbers were five and

127.

You lie, you are not he. Bojet means to say, 'You are not Pompey; you only personate him,—and that badly.'

128. With libbard's head on knee. This alludes to the attire of ancient heroes, which bore on the shoulders and knees a leopard's or lion's head, by way of ornament. "Libbard" is an old form of leopard.'

129. Targe. A target, or buckler.

130. It stands too right. This allusion to the want of correct position in Alexander the Great's nose, and (in the next speech to the native fine odour that distinguished him, is derived from Plutarch; who mentions Alexander's manner of holding his neck, somewhat hanging down towards the left side;' that his skin had a marvellous good savour; and that his breath was very sweet.'

Prin. The conqueror is dismay'd.— Proceed, good Alexander.

Nath. When in the world I liv'd, I was the world's commander;

Boyet. Most true, 'tis right; you were so, Alisander.

Biron. Pompey the Great,

Cost. Your servant, and Costard.

Biron. Take away the conqueror, take away Alisander.

132

Cost. [To SIR NATH.] Oh, sir, you have overthrown Alisander the conqueror! You will be scraped out of the painted cloth for this; 131 your lion, that holds his poll-axe sitting on a stool,'3 will be given to Ajax: he will be the ninth Worthy. A conqueror, and afeard to speak! run away for shame, Alisander. [SIR NATH. retires.] There, an't shall please you; a foolish mild man; an honest man, look you, and soon dashed. He is a marvellous good neighbour, faith, and a very good bowler: 133 but, for Alisander,-alas! you see how 'tis,—a little o'erparted.13-But there are Worthies a-coming will speak their mind in some other sort. Prin. Stand aside, good Pompey.

131. You will be scraped out of the painted cloth for this. In allusion to the custom of introducing into antique cloth hangings, mottoes, and moral sentences proceeding from the mouths of the figures painted thereon.

132. Your lion, that holds his poll-axe sitting on a stool. The arms given in the old history of "The Nine Worthies" to Alexander, represent him (in heraldic language) “with a lion or, sciante in a chayer, holding a battle-ax argent.'

133 And a very good bowler. This climax to honest Costard's simple laudation of the worthy parish parson, brings to mind a similar pleasant trait recorded of Dr. Young, the author of the "Night Thoughts;" who was in the habit of playing a game of bowls on a Sunday evening with his parishioners, after having performed the service for them in the morning and afternoon. 134 A little o'erparted. Has had a part given him to enact that is a little too much for him.'

135. Canus. Instead of canis, dog; for the sake of the rhyme.

Dum. The more shame for you, Judas.
Hol. What mean you, sir?

Boyet. To make Judas hang himself.

Hol. Begin, sir; you are my elder.

Biron. Well follow'd: Judas was hanged on an elder. 137

Hol. I will not be put out of countenance.
Biron. Because thou hast no face.
Hol. What is this?

Boyet. A cittern head.138

Dum. The head of a bodkin.
Biron. A Death's face in a ring.

Long. The face of an old Roman coin, scarce

seen.

Boyet. The pummel of Cæsar's falchion.
Dum. The carved bone face on a flask.139
Biron. Saint George's half cheek 140 in a brooch.
Dum. Ay, and in a brooch of lead.141

Biron. Ay, and worn in the cap of a toothdrawer.-And now forward; for we have put thee

in countenance.

Hol. You have put me out of countenance. Biron. False; we have given thee faces. Hol. But you have outfaced them all. Biron. An thou wert a lion, we would do so. Boyet. Therefore, as he is an ass, let him go.And so adieu, sweet Jude! nay, why dost thou stay?

Dum. For the latter end of his name.

Biron. For the ass to the Jude; give it him :

Jud-as, away!

Hol. This is not generous, not gentle, not humble.

Boyet. A light for Monsieur Judas! it grows dark, he may stumble,

Prin. Alas! poor Maccabæus, how hath he been baited!

Enter ARMADO armed, for Hector. Biron. Hide thy head, Achilles: here comes Hector in arms.

Dum. Though my mocks come home by me, I will now be merry.

The pedant keeps up his character, by introducing scraps of Latin even into his address. Manus, hand; quoniam, since that, inasmuch as; ergo, therefore.

136. Yeliped. Properly spelt "ycleped" (see Note 34, Acti.); but it is given thus in the Folio here, to mark the pronunciation which affords Dumain his punning rejoinder of " clipt." 137. Hanged on an elder. The tradition is that Judas Iscariot, in his remorse, hung himself on an elder-tree.

138. A cittern head. It was the custom to decorate the head of a cittern, gittern, or guitar, with a grotesque face. 139. A flask. A powder-horn; which it was the fashion to ornament with a carved head.

were for140. Half cheek. "Half cheek" and "half face" merly used to express what is now called a 'side face,' or 'profile.' "The face of an old Roman coin, scarce seen," a few lines before, alludes to the same thing.

141. A brooch of lead. A "brooch" was used as an orna

King. Hector was but a Trojan 142 in respect of

this.

Boyet. But is this Hector?

King. I think Hector was not so clean-timbered.

Long. His leg is too big for Hector.
Dum. More calf, certain.

Boyet. No; he is best indued in the small.
Biron. This cannot be Hector.

Dum. He's a god or a painter; for he makes faces.

Arm. The armipotent Mars, of lances the almighty, Gave Hector a gift,

Dum. A gilt nutmeg,14

Biron. A lemon,

Long. Stuck with cloves.

Dum. No, cloven.

Arm. Sweet Lord Longaville, reign thy tongue. Long. I must rather give it the rein; for it runs against Hector.

Dum. Ay, and Hector's a greyhound.

Arm. The sweet war-man is dead and rotten; sweet chucks, beat not the bones of the buried: when he breathed, he was a man.-) -But I will forward with my device.—[To the PRINCESS] Sweet royalty, bestow on me the sense of hearing.

[BIRON whispers COSTARD.

Prin. Speak, brave Hector: we are much delighted.

Arm. I adore thy sweet grace's slipper.
Boyet. Loves her by the foot.

mental fastening for hat-bands, girdles, mantles, &c.; and a “brooch of lead" was probably the common sort, fit for "the cap of a tooth-drawer," as well as suited to afford a fleer at Holofernes' cadaverous complexion, which we find was like "a Death's face in a ring." The latter expression, by the way, refers to the practice of wearing a ring with a Death's head in it, as a memento mori,' or reminder of mortality.

142. Trojan. A cant name for a thief. Perhaps originating in a reference to Paris, who stole Helen, the wife of Menelaus. 143. Lances. Used for lance-men.

Biron. Pompey is moved.-More Ates, more Ates!145 stir them on, stir them on !

Dum. Hector will challenge him. Biron. Ay, if he have no more man's blood in's body than will sup a flea.

Arm. By the north pole, I do challenge thee. Cost. I will not fight with a pole, like a northern man;1 146 I'll slash; I'll do it by the sword.-I pray you, let me borrow my arms 147 again.

Dum, Room for the incensed Worthies!
Cost. I'll do it in my shirt.

Dum. Most resolute Pompey!

Moth. Master, let me take you a button-hole lower. Do you not see Pompey is unceasing for the combat? What mean you? you will lose your reputation.

Arm. Gentlemen and soldiers, pardon me; I will not combat in my shirt.

Dum. You may not deny it: Pompey hath made the challenge.

Mer. God save you, madam!

Prin. Welcome, Mercade;

But that thou interrupt'st our merriment.

Mer. I am sorry, madam; for the news I bring Is heavy in my tongue. The king your father— Prin. Dead, for my life!

Mer. Even so; my tale is told.

Biron. Worthies, away! the scene begins to cloud.

Arm, For mine own part, I breathe free breath. I have seen the day of wrong through the little hole

148. Go woolward. An expression for wearing no underlinen, so as to let the woollen outer garment touch the skin. This was done penitentially by pilgrims and other ascetic personages; and sometimes was practised perforce by those who possessed no second shirt to wear in change while their only