Boyet. To make Judas hang himself.
Hol. Begin, sir; you are my elder.
Biron. Well follow'd; Judas was hanged on an 25
Hal. I will not be put out of countenance.
Biron. Because thou hast no face.
Long. The face of an old Roman coin, scarce
Boyet. The pummel of Casar's faulchion.
Dum. The carv'd-bone face on a flask2.
Biron. St. George's half-cheek in a brooch.
Dum. Ay, and in a brooch of lead.
Biron. Ay, and worn in the cap of a tooth-
drawer;
[tenance.
And now, forward; for we have put thee in coun
Hol. You have put me out of countenance.
Biron. False; we have given thee faces.
Hel. But you have out-tac'd 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? 45
Dum. For the latter end of his name.
Biron. For the ass to the Jude; give it him:
Dum. That mint.
Long. That columbine,
Arm. Sweet lord Longaville, rein 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 breath'd, he was a man-But I will forward with my device; [To the Princess] sweet · royalty, bestow on me the sense of hearing.
Prin. Speak, brave Hector; we are much delighted.
Arm. I do adore thy sweet grace's slipper.
Boyet. Loves her by the foot.
Dum. He may not by the yard.
Arm. "This Hector far surmountedIIannibal,Cost. The party is gone, fellow Hector, she is gone, she is two months on her way.
Arm. What mean'st thou?
Cost. Faith, unless you play the honest Trojan, the poor wench is cast away: she's quick; the child brags in her belly already; 'tis yours.
Arm. Dost thou infamonize me among poten40tates: thou shalt die.
Isl. This is not generous, not gentle, not humBoyet. A light for monsieurJudas; it grows dark, 50 he may stumble.
Prin. Alas, poor Macchabæus, how he hath
Cost. Then shall Hector be whipp'd, for Jaquenetta that is quick by him; and hang'd, for Pompey that is dead by him.
Dum. Most rare Pompey!
Boget. Renowned Pompey!
Biron. Greater than great, great, great, great
Pompey! Pompey the huge!
Biron. Pompey is mov'd:-More Ates, more Ates'; stir thein on, stir them on!
Dum. Hector will challenge him.
Biron. Ay, if he have no more man's blood in's belly 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: I'll slash; I'll do't by the sword:—I pray you, let me borrow my arms again.
Dum. Room for the incensed worthies.
Cost. I'll do it in my shirt.
Dum. Most resolute Pompey!
Moth. Master,letme take you a button-hole lower. Do you not see, Pompey is uncasing for the combat?
A cittern was a musical instrument of the harp kind. 2 That is, a soldier's powder-horn. 'A Trojan, in the time of Shakspeare, was a cant term for a thief. * An orange stuck with cloves appears to have been a common new-year's gift. "Ate was the heathen goddess who incited bloodshed. * Meaning the weapons and armour which he wore in the character of Pompey.
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.
Arm. Sweet bloods, I both may and will.
Biron. What reason have you for't?
Arm. The naked truth of it is, I have no shirt;
I go woolward' for penance.
Boyet. True, and it was enjoin'd him in Rome
for want of linen: since when, I'll be sworn, he
wore none, but a dish-clout of Jaquenetta's; and
that a' wears next his heart for a favour.
Enter Mercade.
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.
All wanton as a child, skipping, and vain;
Form'd by the eye, and, therefore, like the eye,
Full of straying shapes, of habits, and of forms,
Varying in subjects as the eye doth roll
5 To every varied object in his glance:
Which party-coated presence of loose love,
Put on by us, if, in your heavenly eyes,
Have misbecom'd our oaths and gravities,
Those heavenly eyes, that look into these faults,
Suggested' us to make: Therefore, ladies,
Our love being yours, the error that love makes
Is likewise yours: we to ourselves prove false,
By being once false for ever to be true
To those that make us both, fair ladies, you;
15 And even that falshood, in itself a sin,
Thus purifies itself, and turns to grace.
Prin. We have receiv'd your letters, full of love;
Your favours, the ambassadors of love;
And, in our maiden council, rated them
At courtship, pleasant jest, and courtesy,
As bombast and as lining to the time:
But more devout than this, in our respects,
Have we not been; and therefore met your loves
In their own fashion, like a merriment. [than jest.
Dum. Our letters, madam, shew'd much more
Long. So did our looks.
Mer. Even so: my tale is told.
Biron. Worthies, away; the scene begins to
Arm. For mine own part, I breathe free breath:
I have seen the days of wrong through the little
hole of discretion, and I will right myself like a 25|
soldier.
[Exeunt Worthies.
King. How fares your majesty?
Prin. Boyet, prepare; I will away to-night.
King. Madam, not so; I do beseech you, stay.
Prin Prepare, Isay.-I thank you,gracious lords, 30
For all your fair endeavours; and entreat,
Out of a new-sad soul, that you vouchsafe
In your rich wisdom, to excuse, or hide,
The liberal' opposition of our spirits:
If over-boldly we have borne ourselves
In the converse of breath, your gentleness
Was guilty of it.-Farewell, worthy lord!
A heavy heart bears not an humbie tongue:
Excuse me so, coming so short of thanks
For my great suit so easily obtain'd.
King. The extreme parts of time extremely forms
All causes to the purpose of his speed;
And often, at his very loose, decides
That which long process could not arbitrate:
And though the mourning brow of progeny
Forbid the smiling courtesy of love
The holy suit which fain it would convince;
Yet, since love's argument was first on foot,
Let not the cloud of sorrow justle it
Ros. We did not quote them so.
King. Now, at the latest minute of the hour, Grant us your loves.
Frin. Å time, methinks, too short
To make a world-without-end bargain in:
No,no, my lord, your grace is perjur'd much,
Full of dear guiltiness; and therefore this,-
If for my love (as there is no such cause)
35 You will do aught, this shall you do for me:
Your oath I will not trust: but go with speed
To some forlorn and naked hermitage,
Remote from all the pleasures of the world;
There stay, until the twelve celestial signs
40 Have brought about their annual reckoning:
If this austere insociable lite
Change not your offer made in heat of blood;
If frosts, and fasts, hard lodging, and thin weeds,
Nip not the gaudy blossoms of your love;
45 But that it bear this trial, and last love;
Then, at the expiration of the year,
Come challenge, challenge me by these deserts,
And, by this virgin-palm, now kissing thine,
I will be thine: and till that instant, shut
50 My woeful self up in a mourning-house;
Raining the tears of lamentation,
From what it purpos'd; since, to wail friends lost,
Is not by much so wholesome, profitable,
As to rejoice at friends but newly found.
Prin. I understand you not, my griefs are double.
Biron. Honest plain words best pierce the ear of
And by these badges understand the king. [grief;-55
For your fair sakes have we neglected time,
Play'dfoul play withouroaths; your beauty, ladies,
Hath much deform'd us, fashioning our humours
Even to the opposed end of our intents:
And what in us hath seem'd ridiculous,
As love is full of unbefitting strains;
For the remembrance of my father's death.
If this thou do deny, let our hands part;
Neither intitled in the other's heart.
King. If this, or more than this, I would deny,
To flatter' up these powers of mine with rest,
The sudden hand of death close up mine eye!
Hence ever then my heart is in thy breast. Biron. And what to me, my love? and what to me? Ros. You must be purged too, your sins are rank; Your are attaint with fault and perjury:
1To go woolward was a phrase appropriated to pilgrims and penitentiaries, and means, that he was clothed in woo, and not in linen. 2 Liberal here signifies, as has been remarked in other places, free to excess. That is, tempted us. Bombast was a stuff of loose texture, and used formerly to
swell the garment, and thence used to signify bulk, or shew without solidity. 'That is, to sonk.
Therefore, if you my favour mean to get,
A twelve-month shall you spend, and never rest,
But seek the weary beds of people sick.
Arm. Sweet majesty, vouchsafe me,—
Prin. Was not that Hector?
Dum. That worthy knight of Troy.
Arm. I will kiss thy royal finger, and take leave: I am a votary; I have vow'd to Jaquenetta to hold the plough for her sweet love three year. But, most esteem'd greatness, will you hear the di10alogue that the two learned men have compiled, in praise of the owl and the cuckow? it should have follow'd in the end of our show.
Dum. But what to me, my love? but what to
[nesty: 5
Kath. A wife!-a beard, fair health, and ho-
With three-fold love I wish you all these three.
Dum. O, shall I say, I thank you, gentle wife?
Kath. Not so,my lord;--a twelve-month anda day
I'll mark no words that smooth-fac'd wooers say:
Come when the king doth to my lady come,
Then, if I have much love, I'll give you some.
Dum. I'll serve thee true and faithfully till then.
Kath. Yet swear not, lest you be forsworn again.
Long. What says Maria?
Mar. At the twelve-month's end,
I'll change my black gown for a faithful friend.
Long. I'll stay with patience; but the time is long.
Mar. The liker you; few taller are so young.
Biron. Studies my lady? mistress, look on me,
Behold the window of my heart, mine eye,
What humble suit attends thy answer there;
Impose some service on me for thy love.
King. Call them forth quickly, we will do so.
Arm. Holloa! approach.-
Enter all for a song.
This side is Hiems; winter.
This Ver, the spring; the one maintain'd by the
The other by the cuckow.
SPRING.
When daizies pied, and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver-white,
And cuckow-buds of yellow hue,
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckow then, on every tree,
Mocks marry'd men, for thus sings he,
Cuckow;
30 Cuckow, cuckow,—O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
Ros. Oft have I heard of you, my lord Biron,
Before I saw you, and the world's large tongue
Proclaims you for a man replete with mocks;
Full of comparisons, and wounding flouts;
Which you on all estates will execute,
That lie within the mercy of your wit:
To weed this wormwood from your faithful brain;
And therewithal, to win me, if you please,
(Without the which I am not to be won)
You shall this twelve-month term from day to day
Visit the speechless sick, and still converse
With groaning wretches; and your task shall be, 35
With all the nerce' endeavour of your wit,
To enforce the pained impotent to smile. [death?
Biron. To move wild laughter in the throat of
It cannot be; it is impossible:
Mirth cannot move a soul in agony.
Ros. Why, that's the way to choak a gibing spirit,
Whose influence is begot of that loose grace,
Which shallow laughing hearers give to fools:
A jest's prosperity lies in the ear
Of him that hears it, never in the tongue
Of him that makes it: then, if sickly ears,
Deaf'd with the clamours of their own dear' groans,
Will hear your idle scorns, continue then,
And I will have you, and that fault withal;
But, if they will not, throw away that spirit,
And I shall find you empty of that fault,
Right joyful of your reformation.
Biron. A twelve-month? well, befal what will
befal,
I'll jest a twelve-month in an hospital.
Prin. Ay, my sweet lord; and so I take my
leave.
[To the King.
King. No, madam; we will bring you on your
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
And merry larks are plowmen's clocks,
When turtles treud, and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckow then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
Cuckow;
Cuckow, cuckow,-O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married car!
WINTER.
When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipt, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-who;
50 Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot3.
When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's sawʻ,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-who;
[play: Biron. Our wooing doth not end like an old 60 Jack hath not Jill: these ladies' courtesy Might well have made our sport a comedy. King. Come, sir, it wants a twelve-month and And then 'twill end. [a day,
Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
Arm. The words of Mercury are harsh after the
songs of Apollo. You, that way; we, this way.
[Exeunt omnes.
Fierce here means vehement, rapid. Dr. Johnson thinks, that dear should here, as in many other places, be dere, sad, odious. i. e. Scum the pot. The word is yet used in Ireland. i. e. his discourse. MIDSUMMER
Other Fairies attending their King and Queen: Attendants on Theseus and Hippolita.
SCENE, Athens, and a Wood not far from it.
The Palace of Theseus, in Athens.
Enter Theseus, Hippolita, Philostrate, with Attendants.
The. NOW, fair Hippolita, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace; four happy days
bring in
Another moon: but, oh, methinks, how slow
This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires,
Like to a step-dame, or a dowager,
Long withering out a young man's revenue.
Hip. Four days will quickly steep themselves
in nights;
Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
And then the moon, like to a silver bow
New bent in heaven, shall behold the night
Of our solemnities.
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Hippolita, I woo'd thee with my sword, And won thy love, doing thee injuries; But I will wed thee in another key, With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling. 5 Enter Egeus, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius. Ege. Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke! The. Thanks, good Egeus: What's the news With thee?
Ege. Full of vexation come I, with complaint
10 Against my child, my daughter Hermia.—
Stand forth, Demetrius ;-My noble lord,
This man hath my consent to marry her:
Stand forth, Lysander;--and, my gracious duke,
This man hath witch'd the bosom of my child:
15 Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhimes,
And interchang'd love-tokens with my child:
Thou hast by moon-light at her window sung,
With feigning voice, verses of feigning love:
And stol'n the impression of her fantasy
20 With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,
Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweet-meats, messengers
Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth:
With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart;
Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
To stubborn harshness: And, my gracious duke,
Be it so she will not here before your grace
Consent to marry with Demetrius,
I beg the ancient privilege of Athens;
As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
Which shall be either to this gentleman,
Or to her death; according to our law,
Immediately provided in that case.
[naid:
The. What say you, Hermia? be advised, fair
To you your father should be as a god;
One that compos'd your beauties; yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax,
By him imprinted, and within his power
To leave the figure, or disfigure it.
Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
Her. So is Lysander.
But, in this kind, wanting your father's voice,
The other must be held the worthier.
Her. I would my father look'd but with my eyes. The. Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.
Her. I do intreat your grace to pardon me.
I know not by what power I am made bold;
Nor how it may concern my modesty,
In such a presence here, to plead my thoughts:
But I beseech your grace, that I may know
The worst that may befal me in this case,
If I refuse to wed Demetrius.
The. Either to die the death, or to abjure
For ever the society of men.
Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires,
Know of your youth', examine well your blood
Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,
You can endure the livery of a nun;
For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice blessed they, that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage:
But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness.
Her. So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
Ere I will yield my virgin patent up
Unto his lordship, to whose unwish'd yoke
My soul consents not to give sovereignty.
The. Take time to pause; and by the next new
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Den. Relent, sweet Hermia;-And, Lysander, Thy crazed title to my certain right.
Lys. You have her father's love, Demetrius; Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.
'i, e. consider your youth. i. e. give them.
Ege. Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love;
And what is mine, my love shall render him':
And she is mine; and all my right of her
I do estate unto Demetrius.
Lys. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he, As well possess'd; my love is more than his; My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd, It not with vantage, as Demetrius'; And, which is more than all these boasts can be, 10I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia: Why should not I then prosecute my right? Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head, Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena, And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes, 15 Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolaty,
Upon th's spotted and inconstant man.
The. I must confess, that I have heard so much, And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof; But, being over-full of self-affairs,
20 My mind did lose it.--But, Demetrius, come; And come, Egeus; you shall go with me,
I have some private schooling for you both.-
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
To fit your fancies to your father's will;
25 Or else the law of Athens yields you up
(Which by no means we may extenuate)
To death, or to a vow of single life.-
Come, my Hippolita; What cheer, my love?—
Demetrius, and Egeus, go along:
30 must employ you in some business
Against our nuptial; and confer with you
Of something, nearly that concerns yourselves.
Ege. With duty, and desire, we follow you.
[Exeunt Thes. Hip. Egeus, Dem. and train. Lys. How now, my love? Why is your cheek
How chance the roses there do fade so fast? [well
Her. Belike, for want of rain; which I could
Beteem' them from the tempest of mine eyes.
Lys. Ah me! for aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth.
But, either it was different in blood;—
Her. O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low!
45 Lys. Or else misgrated, in respect of years ;-
Her. O spight! too old to be engag'd to young!
Lys. Or else it stood upon the choice of friends:-
Her. O hell! to chuse love by another's eye!
Lys. Or if there were a sympathy in choice,
50 War, death, or sickness, did lay siege to it;
Making it momentary as a sound,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;
Brief as the lightning in the colly'd' night
That, in a spleen', unfolds both heaven and earth,
55 And ere a man hath power to say,-Behold!
The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
So quick bright things come to confusion.
Her. If then true lovers have been ever cross'd,
It stands as an edict in destiny:
60 Then let us teach our tryal patience,
Because it is a customary cross;
i. e. black. Meaning, in a sudden hasty fit.
|