Thrust thy sharp wit quite through my ignorance;
Cut me to pieces with thy keen conceit;
And I will wish thee never more to dance,

Nor never more in Russian habit wait.
O! never will I trust to speeches penn'd,

Nor to the motion of a school-boy's tongue; Nor never come in visor to my friend;

Nor woo in rhyme, like a blind harper's song: Taffata phrases, silken terms precise,

Three-pil'd hyperboles, 8 spruce affectation,

Figures pedantical; these summer-flies

Have blown me full of maggot ostentation:

I do forswear them: and I here protest,

By this white glove, (how white the hand, God knows!)

Henceforth my wooing mind shall be express'd

In russet yeas, and honest kersey noes: And, to begin, wench,- -so God help me, la !My love to thee is sound, sans crack or flaw. Ros. Sans SANS, I pray you.9

Biron. Yet I have a trick

Of the old rage:-bear with me, I am sick;
I'll leave it by degrees. Soft, let us see ;-

Write, Lord have mercy on us, on those three ;
They are infected, in their hearts it lies;

They have the plague, and caught it of your eyes:
These lords are visited; you are not free,

For the Lord's tokens on you do I see.

Prin. No, they are free, that gave these tokens to us. Biron. Our states are forfeit, seek not to undo us. Ros. It is not so; For how can this be true, That you stand forfeit, being those that suc ?2 Biron. Peace; for I will not have to do with you.

[8] A metaphor from the pile of velvet. So, in The Winter's Tale, Autolycus says: "I have worn three-pile." STEEV.

[9] i. e. without sans; without French words: an affectation of which Biron had been guilty in the last line of his speech, though just before he had forsworn all affectation in phrases, terms, &c. TYRWHITT.

[1] This was the inscription put upon the door of the houses infected with the plague, to which Biron compare the love of himself and his companions; and pursuing the metaphor finds the tokens likewise on the ladies. The tokens of the plague are the first spots or discolourations, by which the infection is known to be received. JOHNSON.

[2] That is, how can those be liable to forfeiture that begin the process? The jest lies in the ambiguity of sue, which signifies, to prosecute by law, or to offer a petition. JOHNSON.

Ros. Nor shall not, if I do as I intend.

Biron. Speak for yourselves, my wit is at an end.

King. Teach us, sweet madam, for our rude transgression

Some fair excuse.

Prin. The fairest is confession.

Were you not here, but even now, disguis'd?

King. Madam, I was.

Prin. And were you well advis'd ?3

King. I was, fair madam.

Prin. When you then were here,

What did you whisper in your lady's ear?

King. That more than all the world I did respect her. Prin.When she shall challenge this, you will reject her. King. Upon mine honour, no.

Prin. Peace, peace, forbear:

Your oath once broke, you force not to forswear.4
King. Despise me, when I break this oath of mine.
Prin. I will; and therefore keep it :-Rosaline,
What did the Russian whisper in your ear?

Ros. Madam, he swore, that he did hold me dear
As precious eye-sight; and did value me
Above this world: adding thereto, moreover,
That he would wed me, or else die my lover.
Prin. God give thee joy of him! the noble lord
Most honourably doth uphold his word.

King. What mean you, madam? by my life, my troth, I never swore this lady such an oath.

Ros. By heaven, you did; and to confirm it plain, You gave me this: but take it, sir, again.

King. My faith, and this, the princess I did give,

I knew her by this jewel on her sleeve.

Prin. Pardon me, sir, this jewel did she wear;
And lord Biron, 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,
(Knowing aforehand of our merriment,)
To dash it, like a Christmas comedy:

Some carry-tale, some please-man, some slight zany,5

[3] i. e. acting with sufficient deliberation. STEEV.

[4] You force not, is the same with, you make no difficulty. This is a very just observation. The crime which has been once committed, is committed again with less reluctance. JOHNS.

[5] A zany is a buffoon, a merry Andrew, a gross mimick.

STEEV.

Some mumble-news, some trencher-knight, 6 some Dick,
-That smiles his cheek in years; and knows the trick
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.
Now, to our perjury to add more terror,
We are again forsworn; in will, and error.
Much upon this it is :-And might not you [To BOYET.
Forestal our sport, to make us thus untrue?
Do not you know my lady's foot by the squire,7
And laugh upon the apple of her eye?
And stand between her back, sir, and the fire,
Holding a trencher, jesting merrily?

You put our page out: Go, you are allow'd ; 8
Die when you will, a smock shall be your shrowd.
You leer upon me, do you? there's an eye,
Wounds like a leaden sword.

Boyet. Full merrily

Hath this brave manage, this career, been run.
Biron. Lo, he is tilting straight! Peace ; I have done.—
Enter CoSTARD.

Welcome, pure wit! thou partest a fair fray.
Cost. O Lord, sir, they would know,
Whether the three worthies shall come in, or no.
Biron. What, are there but three?

Cost. No, sir; but it is vara fine,

For every one pursents three.

Biron. And three times thrice is nine.

Cost. Not so, sir; under correction, sir; I hope, it is not so:

You cannot beg us, sir, I can assure you, sir; we know what we know :

I hope, three times thrice, sir,

[6] See a few lines below:

"And stand between her back, sir, and the fire,

[7] From esquierre, French, a rule, or square. The sense is nearly the same as that of the proverbial expression in our own language. he hath got the length of her foot; i. e. he hath humoured her so long that he can persuade her to what he pleases.

HEATH.

[8] i. e. you may say what you will; you are a licensed fool, a common jester. So, in Twelfth Night:

"

There is no slander in an allow'd fool." WARB.

[9] That is, we are not fools; our next relations cannot beg the wardship of our persons and fortunes. One of the legal tests of a natural is to try whether he can number.

JOHNS.

Biron. Is not nine.

Cost. Under correction, sir, we know whereuntil it doth amount.

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 my own part, I am, as they say, but to parfect one man,-e'en one poor man; 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 ;

some care.

King. Birón, they will shame us, let
proach.

we will take [Exit COST. them not ap

Biron. We are shame-proof, my lord: and 'tis some

policy

To have one show worse than the king's and his company. King. I say, they shall not come.

Prin. Nay, my good lord, let me o'er-rule you now;
That sport best pleases, that doth least know how :
Where zeal strives to content, and the contents
Die in the zeal of them which it presents,

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. [ARMADO Converses with the King, and delivers him a paper.

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

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 school-master is exceeding fantastical;

[1] This is a stroke of satire which, to this hour, has lost nothing of its force. Few performers are solicitous about the history of the character they are to represent. STEEV.

too, too vain; too, too vain: But we will put it, as they say, to fortuna della guerra. I wish you the peace of mind, most royal couplement ! [Exit.

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 Machabæus.

And if these four worthies in their first show thrive, These four will change habits, and present the other five. Biron. There is five in the first show.

King. You are deceiv'd, 'tis not so.

Biron. The pedant, the braggart, the hedge-priest, the fool, and the boy

Abate a throw at novum ;2 and the whole world again, Cannot prick out five such, take each one in his vein.

King. The ship is under sail,and here she comes amain. [Seats brought for the King, Princess, c. Pageant of the Nine Worthies.3 Enter COSTARD arm'd, for POMPEY.

Cost. I Pompey am,

Boyet. You lie, you are not he.

Cost. I Pompey am,

Boyet. With libbard's head on knee.4.

[2] I suppose the meaning is, Except or put the chance of the dice out of the question, and the world cannot produce five such as these. Abate, from the Fr. abatre.

MALONE.

[3] . MS. Harl. 2057, p. 31, is "The order of a showe intended to be made Aug. 1, 1621 "

"First, 2 wood men, &c.

"St. George fighting with the dragon.

"The 9 worthies in compleat armour with crownes of gould on their heaus, every one having his esquires to beare before him his shield and penon of armes dressed according as these lords were accustomed to be: 3 Assaralits, 3 Infidels, 3 Christians.

"After them, a Fame, to declare the rare virtues and noble deedes of the 9 worthye women.

Such a pageant as this, we may suppose it was the design of Shakpeare to ridicule. STEEVENS.

"This sort of procession was the usual recreation of our ancestors at Christmas and other festive seasons. Such things, being chiefly plotted and composed by ignorant people, were seldom committed to writing, at least with the view of preservation, and are of course rarely discovered in the researches of even the most industrious antiquaries. And it is certain that nothing of the kind (except the speeches in this scene, which were intended to burlesque them) ever appeared in print " This observation belongs to Mr. Ritson, who has printed a genuine specimen of the poetry and manner of this rude and ancient drama, from an original manuscript of Edward the Fourth's time. (Tanner's MSS. 407.) REED.

[4] This alludes to the old heroic habits, which on the knees and shoulders had usually by way of ornament, the resemblance of a leopard's or lion's head. WARBURTON.