ACT V. SCENE I. Another part of the same. But, with the motion of all elements, Still climbing trees in the Hesperides ?1 For charity itself fulfills the law; And who can sever love from charity? 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, 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 corn; And justice always whirls in equal measure: Light wenches may prove plagues to men forsworn, If so, our copper buys no better treasure. [Exeunt. Enter Ho LOFERNES, SIR NATHANIEL, and DULL. Hol. Satis quod sufficit. reasons" at Nath. I praise God for you, sir: your dinner have been sharp and sententious; pleasant without scurrility, witty without affection, audacious without impudency, learned without opinion, and strange without heresy. I did converse this quondam day with a companion of the king's, who is intituled, nominated, or called, Don Adriano de Armado. Hol. Novi hominem tanquam te: His humour is lofty, his discourse peremptory, his tongue filed, his eye ambitious, his gait majestical, and his general behaviour vain, ridiculous, and thrasonical. He is too picked, too spruce, too affected, too odd, as it were, too peregrinate, as I may call it. Nath. A most singular and choice epithet. [Takes out his Table-book. Hol. He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument. I abhor such fantastical phantasms, such insociable and pointdevise companions; such rackers of orthography, as to speak, doubt, fine, when he should say, doubt; det, when he should pronounce, debt: d, e, b, t; not d, e, t: he clepeth a calf, eauf; half, hauf; neighbour, vocatur, nebour, neigh, abbreviated, ne This is abhominable, (which he would call abomi nable,) it insinuateth me of insanie; Ne intelligis, domine? to make frantic, lunatic. Nath. Laus deo, bone intelligo. Hol. Bone?-bone, for bene: Priscian a little scratch'd; 'twill serve. Enter ARMADO, MOTH, and COSTARD. Nath. Videsne quis venit? Hol. Video, et gaudeo. Arm. Chirra! [TO MOTH. Hol. Quare Chirra, not sirrah? Moth. They have been at a great feast of languages, and stolen the scraps. [To COSTARD aside. Cost. O, they have lived long in the alms-basket12 of words! I marvel, thy master hath not eaten thee for a word: for thou art not so long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus:13 thou art easier swallowed than a flap-dragon.14 Moth. Peace; the peal begins. Arm. Monsieur, [To HoL.] are you not letter'd? Moth. Yes, yes; he teaches boys the horn-book: What is a, b, spelt backward with a horn on his head? Hol. Ba, pueritia, with a horn added. Moth. Ba, most silly sheep, with a horn:-You hear his learning. Shakspeare intends to obtain for his vicar, but he has loquial excellence. It is very difficult to add any thing here put into his mouth a finished representation of colto his character of the school-master's table taĺk, and perhaps all the precepts of Castiglione will scarcely be found to comprehend a rule for conversation so justly 1 Shakspeare had read of the gardens of the Hes-delineated, so widely dilated, and so nicely limited.' perides,' and thought the latter word was the name of Reason, here signifies discourse; audacious is used the garden. Some of his contemporaries have made the in a good sense for spirited, animated, confident; afsame mistake. fection is affectation; opinion is obstinacy, opinia trete. 2 Few passages have been more discussed than this. The most plausible interpretation of it is, 'Whenever love speaks, all the gods join their voices in harmonious concert.' 3 i. e. that is pleasing to all men. So in the language of the time :-it likes me well, for it pleases me. Shakspeare uses the word licentiously for the sake of the antithesis. 8 Filed is polished. 9 Thrasonical is vainglorious, boastful. that is, too nice in his dress. The substantive is used 10 Picked, piked, or picket, neat, spruce, over nice; by Ben Johnson in his Discoveries: Pickedness for nicety in dress. 4 In the days of archery, it was of consequence to 11 A common expression for exact, precise, or finical, 12 i. e. the refuse of words. The refuse meat of fami have the sun at the back of the bowmen, and in the face lies was put into a basket, and given to the poor, in of the enemy. This circumstance was of great advan-Shakspeare's time. tage to our Henry V. at the Battle of Agincourt. Shakspeare had, perhaps, an equivoque in his thoughts. 5 Fair love is Venus. So in Antony and Cleopatra: 'Now for the love of love, and her soft hours.' 6 i. e. enough's as good as a feast. 13 This word, whencesoever it comes, is often mentioned as the longest word known, 14 A flap-dragon was some small combustible body set on fire and put afloat in a glass of liquor. It was an act of dexterity in the toper to swallow it without burn 'I know not (says Johnson) what degree of respecting his mouth. Hol. Quis, quis, thou consonant? Hol. Joshua, yourself; myself, or this gallant Moth. The third of the five vowels, if you repeat gentleman, Judas Maccabeus; this swain, because them; or the fifth, if I. i. Hol. I will repeat them, a, e, Moth. The sheep: the other two concludes it; o, u. Arm. No, by the salt wave of the Mediterraneum, a sweet touch, a quick venew of wit: snip, snap, quick and home; it rejoiceth my intellect: true wit. Moth. Offered by a child to an old man; which is wit-old. Hol. What is the figure; what is the figure? Hol. Thou disputest like an infant: go, whip thy gig. Moth. Lend me your horn to make one, and I will whip about your infamy circum circa; A gig of a cuckold's horn! Cost. An I had but one penny in the world, thou shouldst have it to buy gingerbread: hold, there is the very remuneration I had of thy master, thou half-penny purse of wit, thou pigeon-egg of discretion. O, an the heavens were so pleased, that thou wert but my bastard! what a joyful father wouldst thou make me! Go to; thou hast it ad dunghill, at the fingers' ends, as they say. Hol. O, I smell false Latin; dunghill for unguem. Arm. Arts-man, præambula; we will be singled from the barbarous. Do you not educate youth at the charge-house2 on the top of the mountain? Hol. Or, mons, the hill. Arm. At your sweet pleasure for the mountain. Arm. Sir, it is the king's most sweet pleasure and affection, to congratulate the princess at her pavilion, in the posteriors of this day; which the rude multitude call, the afternoon. Hol. The posterior of the day, most generous sir, is liable, congruent, and measureable for the afternoon: the word is well cull'd, chose; sweet and apt, I do assure you, sir, I do assure. of his great limb or joint, shall pass Pompey the great; the page, Hercules. Arm. Pardon, sir, error: he is not quantity enough for that worthy's thumb: he is not so big as the end of his club. Hol. Shall I have audience? He shall present Hercules in minority: his enter and exit shall be strangling a snake; and I will have an apology for that purpose. Moth. An excellent device! so, if any of the audience hiss, you may cry well done Hercules! now thou crushest the snake! that is the way to make an offence gracious; though few have the grace to do it. Arm. For the rest of the worthies ?- Arm. We will have, if this fadge not, an antic. Hol. Via, goodman Dull! thou hast spoken no word all this while. Dull. Nor understood none neither, sir. Hol. Allons! we will employ thee. Dull. I'll make one in a dance, or so; or I will play on the tabor to the worthies, and let them dance the hay. Hol. Most dull, honest Dull, to our sport, away. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Another part of the same. Before the Princess's Pavilion. Enter the Princess, KATHARINE, ROSALINE, and MARIA. Prin. Sweet hearts, we shall be rich ere we de- If fairings thus come plentifully in; Ros. Madam, came nothing else along with that? Ros. That was the way to make his god-head wax:10 Arm. Sir, the king is a noble gentleman; and my familiar, I do assure you, very good friend :-For what is inward between us, let it pass :-I do be-As would be cramm'd up in a sheet of paper, seech thee, remember thy courtesy ;4-I beseech Writ on both sides the leaf, margent and all; thee, apparel thy head;-and among other impor-That he was fain to seal on Cupid's name. tunate and most serious designs,-and of great import indeed, too;-but let that pass:-for I must tell thee, it will please his grace (by the world) sometime to lean upon my poor shoulder; and with his royal finger, thus, dally with my excrement, with my mustachio: but, sweet heart, let that pass. By the world, I recount no fable; some certain special honours it pleaseth his greatness to impart to Armado, a soldier, a man of travel, that hath seen the world: but let that pass.-The very all of all is, but, sweet heart, I do implore secrecy,-that the king would have me present the princess, sweet chuck, with some delightful ostentation, or show, or pageant, or antic, or firework. Now, understanding that the curate and your sweet self, are good at such eruptions, and sudden breaking out of mirth, as it were, I have acquainted you withal, to the end to crave your assistance. For he hath been five thousand years a boy. Hol. Sir, you shall present before her the nine worthies.-Sir Nathaniel, as concerning some entertainment of time, some show in the posterior of this day, to be rendered by our assistance,-the king's command, and this most gallant, illustrate, and learned gentleman,-before the princess; I say, none so fit as to present the nine worthies. Nath. Where will you find men worthy enough to present them? Kath. He made her melancholy, sad, and heavy ; Kath. A light condition in a beauty dark. Ros. Look, what you do, you do it stiil i'the Kath. So do not you; for you are a light wench. for me. Ros. Great reason; for, Past cure is still past care. Prin. Well bandied both: a set of wit well play'd. 7 That is, convert our offence against yourselves into a dramatic propriety. 8 i. e. suit not, go not. 3 Confidential. 4 By remember thy courtesy, Armado probably means 'remember that all this time thou art standing with thy hat off. The putting off the hat at table is a kind of courtesie or ceremonie rather to be avoided than other-on! wise.'-Florio's Second Frutes, 1591. 5 The beard is called valour's excrement in the Mer chant of Venice. 9 An Italian exclamation, signifying Courage! Come 10 Grow. 11 This was a term of endearment formerly. 12 Snuff is here used equivocally for anger, and the 6 i. e. shall march, or walk in the procession for snuff of a candle. See King Henry IV. Act i. Sc. 3 Pompey. 13 A set is a term at tennis for a game. But Rosalme, you have a favour too: Ros. Much, in the letters; nothing in the praise. My red dominical, my golden letter: Prin. Did he not send you twain. Mar. This, and these pearls, to me sent Longa- The letter is too long by half a mile. Prin. I think no less: Dost thou not wish in heart, O, that I knew he were but in by the week! Against your peace: Love doth approach disguis'd, That charge their breath against us? say, scout, say. I should have fear'd her, had she been a devil. Making the bold wag by their praises bolder. Prin. None are so surely caught, when they are Unto his several mistress; which they'll know catch'd, As wit turn'd fool; folly, in wisdom hatch'd, Ros. The blood of youth burns not with such ex- As gravity's revolt to wantonness. Mar. Folly in fools bears not so strong a note, Enter BOYET. Prin. Here comes Boyet, and mirth is in his face. 1 She advises Katharine to beware of drawing likenesses, lest she should retaliate. By favours several, which they did bestow. For, ladies, we will every one be mask'd; Ros. Come on, then; wear the favours most in sight. Kath. But, in this changing, what is your intent? which Warburton has given an ingenious but unfounded 6 Johnson remarks that these are observations worthy of a man who has surveyed human nature with the closest attention.' 7 Via. See p. 83. 2 Theobald is scandalized at this language from a princess. But Dr. Farmer observes there need no alarm -the small-por only is alluded to; with which it seems Katharine was pitted; or as it is quaintly expressed "her face was full of O's." Davison has a canzonet "on his lady's sicknesse of the pore ;" and Dr. Donne writes to his sister, "At my return from Kent, I found Pegge had the pore." Such a plague was the small-laughter. por formerly, that its name might well be used as an imprecation. 3 This is an expression taken from the hiring of servants; meaning, I wish I knew that he was in love with me, or my servant,' as the phrase is. 8 Spleen ridiculous is a ridiculous fit of laughter. The spleen was anciently supposed to be the cause of 9 In the first year of K. Henry VIII. at a banquet made for the foreign ambassadors in the parliament chamber at Westminster, 'came the Lorde Henry Earle of Wiltshire and the Lorde Fitzwater, in two long gownes of yellow satin traversed with white satin, and in every 4 The meaning of this obscure line seems to be,-Ibend of white was a bend of crimosen sattin after the would make him proud to flatter me, who make a mock of his flattery. 5 The old copies read pertaunt-like. The modern editions read with Sir T. Hanmer, portentlike; of fashion of Russia or Ruslande, with furred hattes of grey on their hedes, either of them havyng an hatchet in their handes, and bootes with pykes turned up '-Hall, Henry, VIII. p. 6. t With visages display'd, to talk and greet. And quite divorce his memory from his part. Prin. Therefore I do it: and, I make no doubt, The rest will ne'er come in, if he be out. There's no such sport, as sport by sport o'erthrown; To make theirs ours, and ours none but our own: So shall we stay, mocking intended game; And they, well mock'd, depart away with shame. [Trumpets sound within. Boyet. The trumpet sounds; be mask'd, the maskers come. [The Ladies mask. ; Enter the King, BIRON, LONGAVILLE, and DvMAIN, in Russian habits, and masked; MOTH, Musicians, and Attendants. Math. All hail, the richest beauties on the earth! Boyet. Beauties no richer than rich taffata.1 Moth. A holy parcel of the fairest dames, [The ladies turn their backs to him. That ever turn'd their-backs-to mortal views! Biron. Their eyes, villain, their eyes. Moth. That ever turn'd their eyes to mortal views! Out Boyet. True; out, indeed." Moth. Out of your favours heavenly spirits, vouchsafe Not to behold Biron. Once to behold, rogue. Moth. Once to behold with your sun-beamed eyes. -with your sun-beamed eyes—————— Boyet. They will not answer to that epithet; You were best call it daughter-beamed eyes. Moth. They do not mark me, and that brings rogue. Ros. What would these strangers? know their minds, Boyet: If they do speak our language, 'tis our will Boyet. What would you with the princess? be gone. Boyet. She says, you have it, and you may be gone. King. Say to her we have measur'd many miles, To tread a measure with her on this grass. Boyet. They say that they have measur'd many a mile, To tread a measure2 with you on this grass. Ros. It is not so: ask them how many inches Is in one mile: if they have measur'd many, The measure then of one is easily told. Boyet. If,to come hither you have measur'd miles, And many miles, the princess bids you tell, mile. How many inches do fill up one Biron. Tell her we measure them by weary steps. Boyet. She hears herself. Ros. How many weary steps, Of many weary miles you have o'ergone, Are number'd in the travel of one mile? Biron. We number nothing that we spend for you; Our duty is so rich, so infinite, That we may do it still without accompt. 1 i. e. the taffata masks they wore. Vouchsafe to show the sunshine of your face,' Ros. My face is but a moon, and clouded too. King, Blessed are clouds, to do as such clouds do! Vouchsafe, bright moon, and these thy stars, to shine3 (Those clouds remov'd) upon our wat'ry eyne. Ros. O vain petitioner! beg a greater matter; Thou bid'st me beg; this begging is not strange. soon. estrang'd? Ros. You took the moon at full; but now she's chang'd. King. Yet still she is the moon, and I the man. The music plays; vouchsafe some motion to it. Ros. Our ears vouchsafe it. King. Ros. We'll not be nice : take hands ;-We will not dance. Ros. Your absence only. King. If you deny to dance, let's hold more chat. I am best pleas'd with that. [They converse apart. Biron. White-handed mistress, one sweet word with thee. Prin. Honey, and milk, and sugar; there is three. Biron. Nay then, two treys (an if you grow so nice,) Metheglin, wort, and malmsey ;-Well run, dice! Seventh sweet, adieu! Let it not be sweet. Biron. Thou griev'st my gall. Prin. Gall? bitter. Biron. Therefore meet. [They converse apart. Dum. Will you vouchsafe with me to change a word? Mar. Name it. Dum. Mar. Fair lady,Take that for your fair lady. Dum. 1 Say you so? Fair lord,- As much in private, and I'll bid adieu. [They converse apart. Kath. What, was your visor made without a tongue? Long. I know the reason, lady, why you ask. Kath. O, for your reason! quickly, sir; I long. Long. You have a double tongue within your mask, And would afford my speechless visor half. Kath. Veal, quoth the Dutchman ;-Is not veal a calf? Long. A calf, fair lady? Kath. No, a fair lord calf. Long. Let's part the word. he liked her ladies? It is hard,' said he, 'to judge of stars in the presence of the sun.' 'Doct 2 A grave solemn dance, with slow and measured steps, like the minuet. As it was of so solemn a nature, it was performed at public entertainments in the Inns of 4 To cog is to lie or cheat. Hence, to cog the dice. Court; and it was not unusual, nor thought inconsistent, 5 The same joke occurs in Dr. Dodypoll.' for the first characters in the law to bear a part in tread-Hans, my very speciall friend; fait and trot me be right ing a measure. Sir Christopher Hatton was famous for it. glad for see you reale. Hans. What, do you make a 8 When Queen Elizabeth asked an ambassador how calfe of me, M. Doctor?" Kath. No, I'll not be your half: Will you give horns, chaste lady? do not so. cry. Boyet. The tongues of mocking wenches are as keen As is the razor's edge invisible, Cutting a smaller hair than may be seen; Above the sense of sense: so sensible Seemeth their conference; their conceits have wings, Fleeter than arrows, bullets, wind, thought, swifter things. Ros. Not one word more, my ma ds; break off, break off. Biron. By heaven, all dry-beaten with pure scoff! King. Farewell, mad wenches; you have simple wits. [Exeunt King, Lords, MOTH, Music, and Attendants. Prin. Twenty adieus, my frozen Muscovites."Are these the breed of wits so wonder'd at? Boyet. Tapers they are, with your sweet breaths puff'd out. Ros. Well-liking wits they have; gross, gross; fat, fat. Prin. O poverty in wit, kingly-poor flout! Will they not, think you, hang themselves to-night? Or ever, but in visors, show their faces? This pert Biron was out of countenance quite. Ros. O they were all in lamentable cases! The king was weeping-ripe for a good word. Prin. Biron did swear himself out of all suit. Mar. Dumain was at my service, and his sword: No point, quoth I; my servant straight was mute. Kath. Lord Longaville said, I came o'er his heart, And trow you what he call'd me? Prin. Kath. Yes, in good faith. Prin. Qualm, perhaps. Go, sickness, as thou art! Ros. Well, better wits have worn plain statute caps.' But will you hear? the king is my love sworn. Prin. How blow? how blow? speak to be understond. Boyet. Fair ladies, mask'd, are roses in their bud: Dismask'd, their damask sweet commixture shown, Are angels vailing clouds, or roses blown. Prin. Avaunt, perplexity! What shall we do, If they return in their own shapes to woo? Ros. Good madam, if by me you'll be advis'd, Let's mock them still, as well known, as disguis'd; Let us complain to them what fools were here, King. Fair sir, God save you! Where is the princess? Boyet. Gone to her tent: Please it your majesty, Command me any service to her thither? King. That she vouchsafe me audience for one word. Boyet. I will; and so will she, I know, my lord. [Exit. Biron. This fellow pecks up wit, as pigeons peas; And utters it again when Jove doth please: He is wit's pedler: and retails his wares At wakes and wassels," meetings, markets, fairs; And we that sell by gross, the Lord doth know, Have not the grace to grace it with such show. This gallant pins the wenches on his sleeve; Had he been Adam, he had tempted Eve: He can carve too, and lisp: Why this is he, That kiss'd away his hand in courtesy This is the ape of form, monsieur the nice, That, when he plays at tables, chides the dice In honourable terms; nay, he can sing A mean most meanly; and, in ushering, Mend him who can: the ladies call him, sweet; The stairs, as he treads on them, kiss his feet: This is the flower that smiles on every one, To show his teeth as white as whales bone:" And consciences, that will not die in debt, Pay him the due of honey-tongued Boyet. King. A blister on his sweet tongue with my heart, That put Armado's page out of his part! Enter the Princess, usher'd by BOYET; ROSALINE, MARIA, KATHARINE, and Attendants. Biron. See where it comes!-Behaviour, what wert thou, Till this man show'd thee? and what art thou now? King. All hail, sweet madam, and fair time of day' Prin. Fair, in all hail, is foul, as I conceive. King. Construe my speeches better, if you may. Prin. Then wish me better, I will give you leave. King. We came to visit you; and purpose now To lead you to our court: vouchsafe it then. Prin. This field shall hold me; and so hold your 5 Ladies unmask d are like angels vailing clouds, 1 Well-liking is the same as well-conditioned, fat.or letting those clouds which obscured their brightness So in Job, xxxix. 4. Their young ones are in good-sink before them. So in The Merchant of Venice, Act tiking. 2 No point. A quibble on the French adverb of negation, as before, Act ii. Sc. 1. 3 An act was passed the 13th of Elizabeth (1571,) For the continuance of making and wearing woollen caps, in behalf of the trade of cappers, providing that all above the age of six years (except the nobility and some others,) should on Sabbath days and holidays, wear caps of wool, knit, thicked, and dressed in England, upon penalty of ten groats.' The term flat cap for a citizen will now be familiar to most readers from the use made of it by the author of The Fortunes of Nigel. The meaning of this passage probably is, 'better wits may be found among citizens.' i. Sc. 1. Vailing her high top lower than her ribs.' 6 Uncouth. 7 Wassels. Festive meetings, drinking-bouts: from the Saxon was-hel, be in health, which was the form of drinking a health; the customary answer to which was drine-hel, I drink your health. The wassel-cup, wassel-bowl, wussel-bread, wassel-candle, were all aids or accompaniments to festivity. 8 The tenor in music. 9 Whales bone: the Saxon genitive case. It is a common comparison in the old poets. This bone was the tooth of the Horse-whale, morse, or walrus, now superseded by ivory. |