Biron. We number nothing that we spend for Our duty is so rich, so infinite, That we may do it still without account. you; 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 shine Those clouds removed) upon our watery eyne. Ros. O vain petitioner! Beg a greater matter; Thou now request'st but moonshine in the water. King. Then in our measure vouchsafe but one change; Thou bid'st me beg; this begging is not strange. Ros. Play, music, then; nay, you must do it soon. [Music plays. Not yet. No dance;-thus change I like the moon. King. Will you not dance? How come you thus estranged? Ros. You took the moon at full; but now she's changed. 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. But your legs should do it. Ros. Since you are strangers, and come here by chance, We'll not be nice. Take hands;-we will not dance. King. Why take we hands, then? Ros. Only to part friends.Court'sy, sweet hearts; and so the measure ends. King. More measure of this measure; be not nice. Ros. We can afford no more at such a price. King. Prize you yourselves. pany? Ros. Your absence only. King. What buys your com That can never be. Ros. Then cannot we be bought; and so adieu ; Twice to your vizor, and half once to you! King. If you deny to dance, let's hold more chat. Ros. In private then. King. I am best pleased 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! There's half a dozen sweets. Prin. Seventh sweet, adieu! Since you can cog,' I'll play no more with you. Biron. Thou griev'st my gall. Prin. Biron. Let it not be sweet. Gall? Bitter. Therefore meet. [They converse apart. Dum. Will you vouchsafe with me to change a word? Please it you, 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. Long. Let's part the word. Kath. No, a fair lord calf. No, I'll not be your half. Take all, and wean it; it may prove an ox. 1 To cog is to lie or cheat; hence, to cog the dice. Long. Look how you butt yourself in these sharp mocks! Will you give horns, chaste lady? Do not so. Kath. Then die a calf, before your horns do grow. Long. One word in private with you, ere I die. Kath. Bleat softly, then; the butcher hears you cry. [They converse apart. Boyet. The tongues of mocking wenches are as keen As is the razor's edge invisible, Cutting a smaller hair than may be seen; So sensible Above the sense of sense. Seemeth their conference; their conceits have wings, Fleeter than arrows, bullets, wind, thought, swifter things. Ros. Not one word more, my maids; break off, break off. wits. Biron. By Heaven, all dry-beaten with pure scoff! King. Farewell, mad wenches; you have simple [Exeunt King, Lords, Motн, Music, and Attendants. Prin. Twenty adieus, my frozen Muscovites.Are these the breed of wits so wondered at? Boyet. Tapers they are, with your sweet breaths puffed 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 Birón was out of countenance quite. Ros. O! They were all in lamentable cases! The king was weeping-ripe for a good word. 2 Prin. Birón 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 called me? 1 Well-liking is the same as well-conditioned, fat. 2 No point; a quibble on the French adverb of negation, as before, Act ii. Sc. 1. Prin. Kath. Yes, in good faith. Prin. Qualm, perhaps. Go, sickness, as thou art! Ros. Well, better wits have worn plain statute caps.1 But will you hear? The king is my love sworn. In their own shapes; for it can never be, Boyet. They will, they will, God knows; And leap for joy, though they are lame with blows. Therefore, change favors; and, when they repair, Blow like sweet roses in this summer air. 2 Prin. How blow? how blow? Speak to be understood. Boyet. Fair ladies, masked, are roses in their bud. Dismasked, their damask sweet commixture shown, Are angels veiling clouds,3 or roses blown. Prin. Avaunt, perplexity! What shall we do, Ros. Good madam, if by me you'll be advised, Should be presented at our tent to us. 1 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." 2 Features, countenances. 3 Ladies unmasked are like angels veiling clouds, or letting those clouds which obscured their brightness sink before them. Boyet. Ladies, withdraw; the gallants are at hand. Prin. Whip to our tents, as roes run over land. [Exeunt Princess, Ros., KATH., and MARIA. Enter the King, BIRON, LONGAVILLE, and DUMAIN, in their proper habits. 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. A mean 2 most meanly; and, in ushering, 1 Wassels; festive meetings, drinking-bouts; from the Saxon washæl, be in health, which was the form of drinking a health; the customary answer to which was drine-hæl, I drink your health. The wasselcup, wassel-bowl, wassel-bread, wassel-candle, were all aids or accompaniments to festivity. 2 The tenor in music. 3 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. |