Biron. O, stay, slave; I must employ thee: Cost. Well, I will do it, sir: Fare you well. Biron. O, thou knowest not what it is. Cost. I shall know, sir, when I have done it. Biron. Why, villain, thou must know first. Cost. I will come to your worship to-morrow morning. Biron. It must be done this afternoon. Hark, slave, it is but this; The princess comes to hunt here in the park, When tongues speak sweetly, then they name her name, And Rosaline they call her: ask for her; 8 And to her white hand see thou do commend Cost. Guerdon,-O sweet guerdon! better than remuneration; eleven-pence farthing better: Most sweet guerdon!-I will do it, sir, in print.-Guerdon-remuneration. [Exit. Biron. O! And I, forsooth, in love! I, that have been love's whip; A very beadle to a humorous sigh; A critick; nay, a night-watch constable; A domineering pedant o'er the boy, Than whom no mortal so magnificent!1 This wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy; guerdon ;] i. e. reward. in print.] i. e. exactly, with the utmost nicety. so magnificent!] i. e. glorying, boasting. 2 This wimpled,] The wimple was a hood or veil which fell over the face. This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid; Of trotting paritors, O my little heart!- Well, I will love, write, sigh, pray, sue, and groan; Dread prince of plackets,] A placket is a petticoat. [Exit. Of trotting paritors,] An apparitor, or paritor, is an officer of the Bishop's court, who carries out citations; as citations are most frequently issued for fornication, the paritor is put under Cupid's government. And I to be a corporal of his field,] A corporal of the field was employed as an aide-de-camp is now, in taking and carrying to and fro the directions of the general, or other the higher officers of the field. 6 And wear his colours like a tumbler's hoop!] Tumblers' hoops are to this day bound round with ribbands of various colours. ACT IV. SCENE I. Another part of the same. Enter the Princess, ROSALINE, MARIA, KATHARINE, Boyet, Lords, Attendants, and a Forester. Prin. Was that the king, that spurr'd his horse so hard Against the steep uprising of the hill? Boyet. I know not; but, I think, it was not he. Prin. Whoe'er he was, he show'd a mounting mind. Well, lords, to-day we shall have our despatch; O short-liv'd pride! Not fair? alack for woe! Prin. A giving hand, though foul, shall have fair praise. But come, the bow:-Now mercy goes to kill, When, for fame's sake, for praise, an outward part, The poor deer's blood, that my heart means no ill. Boyet. Do not curst wives hold that self-sovereignty Only for praise' sake, when they strive to be Lords o'er their lords? Prin. Only for praise: and praise we may afford To any lady that subdues a lord, Enter COSTARD. Prin. Here comes a member of the commonwealth. Cost. God dig-you-den' all! Pray you, which is the head lady? Prin. Thou shalt know her, fellow, by the rest that have no heads. Cost. Which is the greatest lady, the highest? Prin. The thickest, and the tallest. Cost. The thickest, and the tallest! it is so; truth is truth. An your waist, mistress, were as slender as my wit, One of these maids' girdles for your waist should be fit. Are not you the chief woman? you are the thickest here. 1 God dig-you-den-] A corruption of-God give you good even. Prin. What's your will, sir? what's your will? Cost. I have a letter from monsieur Biron, to one lady Rosaline. Prin. O, thy letter, thy letter; he's a good friend of mine: Stand aside, good bearer.-Boyet, you can carve; Break up this capon. Boyet. I am bound to serve.This letter is mistook, it importeth none here; It is writ to Jaquenetta. Prin. We will read it, I swear: Break the neck of the wax, and every one give ear. Boyet. [Reads.] By heaven, that thou art fair, is most infallible; true, that thou art beauteous; truth itself, that thou art lovely: More fairer than fair, beautiful than beauteous; truer than truth itself, have commiseration on thy heroical vassal! The magnanimous and most illustrate king Cophetua set eye upon the pernicious and indubitate beggar Zenelophon; and he it was that might rightly say, veni, vidi, vici; which to anatomize in the vulgar, (0 base and obscure vulgar!) videlicet, he came, saw, and overcame: he came, one; saw, two; overcame, three. Who came? the king; Why did he come? to see; Why did he see? to overcome: To whom came he? to the beggar; What saw he? the beggar; Who overcame he? the beggar: The conclusion is victory; On whose side? the king's: the captive is enrich'd; On whose side? the beggar's: The catastrophe is a nuptial; On whose side? The king's?-no, on both in one, or one in both. I am the king; for so stands the comparison: thou the beggar; for so witnesseth thy lowliness. Shall I command thy love? I may: Shall I enforce thy love? Break up this capon.] i. e. open this letter. Our poet uses this metaphor, as the French do their poulet; which signifies both a young fowl and a love-letter. |