Arm. Peace!

The armipotent Mars, of lances the almighty,
Gave Hector a gift, the heir of Ilion;

A man so breathed, that certain he would fight, yea
From morn till night, out of his pavilion.

I am that flower,

Dum.

Long.

That mint.

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 breathed, he was a man-but I will forward with my device. Sweet royalty, [To the Princess.] bestow on me the sense of hearing.

[BIRON whispers COSTARD. 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 surmounted Hannibal,

Cost. The party is gone, fellow Hector; she is gone; she is two months on her way.

Arm. What meanest 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 potentates?

Thou shalt die.

Cost. Then shall Hector be whipped, for Jaquenetta that is quick by him; and hanged, for Pompey that is dead by him.

Dum. Most rare Pompey!

Boyet. Renowned Pompey!

Biron. Greater than great, great, great, great Pompey! Pompey the huge!

Dum. Hector trembles.

Biron. Pompey is moved.—More Ates,1 more Ates, Stir them 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 it 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, let me take you a buttonhole lower. Do you not see, Pompey is uncasing for the combat? What mean you? You will lose your reputation.

1

Arm. Gentlemen, and soldiers, pardon me; I will not combat in my shirt.

Dum. You may not deny it.

the challenge.

go

Pompey hath made

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; 1 woolward 2 for penance.

Boyet. True, and it was enjoined 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 he wears next his heart for a favor.

Enter a Messenger, MONSIEUR 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 fatherPrin. Dead, for my life.

Mer. Even so; my tale is told.

i. e. more instigation. Ate was the goddess of discord.

2 That is, clothed in wool, and not in linen; a penance often njoined m times of superstition.

Biron. Worthies, away; the scene begins to cloud Arm. For mine own part, I breathe free breath. I have seen the day of wrong through the little hole of discretion,' and I will right myself like a soldier.

King. How fares your majesty?

[Exeunt Worthies

Prin. Boyet, prepare; I will away to-night.
King. Madam, not so; I do beseech you, stay.
Prin. Prepare, I say.-I thank you, gracious lords,

For all your fair endeavors, 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 a humble tongue:
Excuse me so, coming so short of thanks
For my great suit so easily obtained.

King. The extreme parts of time extremely form All causes to the purpose of his speed;

And often, at his very loose,2 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 ;3
Yet, since love's argument was first on foot,
Let not the cloud of sorrow justle it

From what it purposed; 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 grief;

And by these badges understand the king.

1 Armado probably means to say, in his affected style, that "he had discovered he was wronged." "One may see day at a little hole," is a proverb.

2 Loose may mean at the moment of his parting; i. e. of his getting loose or away from us.

31. e. which it fain would succeed in obtaining.

For your fair sakes have we neglected time,

Played foul play with our oaths; your beauty, ladies,
Hath much deformed us, fashioning our humors
Even to the opposed end of our intents;
And what in us hath seemed ridiculous,-
As love is full of unbefitting strains;
All wanton as a child, skipping, and vain ;
Formed by the eye, and therefore, like the eye,
Full of strange shapes, of habits, and of forms,
Varying in subjects as the eye doth roll
To every varied object in his glance;
Which party-coated presence of loose love
Put on by us, if, in your heavenly eyes,
Have misbecomed 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 forever to be true

To those that make us both,-fair ladies, you;
And even that falsehood, in itself a sin,
Thus purifies itself, and turns to grace.

Prin. We have received your letters, full of love;
Your favors, 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.

Dum. Our letters, madam, showed much more than

We did not quote2 them so

King. Now, at the latest minute of the hour, Grant us your loves.

Prin.

A time methinks too short

1 Thus in Decker's Satiromastix: "You shall swear not to bombast out

a new play with the old linings of jests."

2 Regard.

To make a world-without-end bargain in.
No, no, my lord, your grace is perjured much,
Full of dear guiltiness; and, therefore this,-
If for my love (as there is no such cause)
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
Have brought about their annual reckoning.
If this austere, insociable life

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,
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
My woful self up in a mourning house;
Raining the tears of lamentation,

For the remembrance of my father's death
If this thou do deny, let our hands part;
Neither entitled 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; You are attaint with faults and perjury;

Therefore, if you my favor mean to get,

A twelvemonth shall you spend, and never rest,
But seek the weary beds of people sick.

Dum. But what to me, my love? but what to me? Kath. A wife!-A beard, fair health, and honesty ; With threefold love I wish you all these three.

1 Clothing.