you tell

Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye,
Not utter'd by base sale of chapinen's tongues :
I am less proud to hear

my worth,
Than you much willing to be counted wife
In spending your wit in the praise of mine..
But now to talk the tasker,--Good Boyet,
You are not ignorant, all-telling fame
Doth noise abroad, Navarre hath made a vow,
Till painful study fall out-wear three years,
No woman may approach his filent court:
Therefore to us seemeth it a needful course,
Before we enter his forbidden gates,
To know his pleasure; and in that behalf,
Bold of your worthiness, we fingle you
As our bel-moving fair folicitor :
Tell him, the daughter of the king of France,
On serious business, craving quick despatch,
Impórtunes personal conference with his grace.
Haite, fignify so much; while we attend,
Like humble-visag'd suitors, his high will.
Boy. Proud of employment, willingly I go.

[ Exit. Prin. All pride is willing pride, and yours is

fo. Who are the votaries, my loving lords, That are vow-fellows with this virtuous duke?

s Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye,

Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongue :] So, in our author's 102d Sonnet:

" That love is merchandiz'd, whose rich esteeming
". The owner's tongue doth publish every where.

MALONE. Chapman here seems to fignify the seller, not, as now commonly, the buyer. Cheup or cheaping was anciently the market; chapman therefore is marketman. The meaning is, that the estimation of beauty depends not on the uttering or proclamation of the seller, but on the eye of the buyer. Johnson.

6 Bold of your worthiness,] i. c. confident of it. STEEVENS.

you the man?

1. LORD. Longaville' is one. PRIN.

Know MAR. I know him, madam ; at a marriage feast, Between lord Perigort and the beauteous heir Of Jaques Faulconbridge solemnized, In Normandy saw I this Longaville : A man of sovereign parts he is esteem’d; Well fitted in the arts, ' glorious in arms: Nothing becomes him ill, that he would well. The oply soil of his fair virtue’s gloss,

19

7 Longaville -] For the sake of manners as well as metre, we ought to read Lord Longaville STEEVENS,

8 A man of sovereign parts he is esteem'il; ] Thus the folio. The first quarto, 1598, has the line thus:

" A man of sovereign pecrelle, he's esteemid." I believe, the author wrote

- A man of, . sovereign, peerless, he's esteem'd." A man of extraordinary accomplishments, the speaker perhaps would have said, but suddenly checks himself; and adds o fovereign, peerless he's esteem’d.” So, before :

Matchlefs Navarre." Again, in The Tempest:

but

you, you, " So perfed, and so peerless are created." In the old copies no attention seems to have been given to abrupt sentences. They are, almost uniformly printed corruptly, without any mark of abruption. Thus, in Much ado about nothing, we find both in the folio and quarto," but for the stuffing well, we are all morial. See Vol. IV. p.400. See also p. 209, ibid. " Sir, mock me not: - your story.

MALONE. Perhaps our author wrote

“ A man, a sovereign pearl, he is esteemid.” i. e. not only a pearl, but such a one as is pre-eminently valuable, In Troilus and Crellida Helen is called “ a pearl;" and in Macan beth the nobles of Scotland are styled " the kingdom s pearl." The phrale

-"a lovereign pearl" may also he countenanced by " captain jewels in a carcanet, an expreffion which occurs in onç of our author's Sonnets. STEEVENS. 9 Well fitted in the arts, ] Well fitted is well qualified,

JOHNSON. The, which is not in the old copies, was added for the sake of the metre, by the editor of the second folio. MALONE.

1

(If virtue's gloss will stain with any, soil,)
Is a sharp wit match'd with 8 too blunt a will;
Whose edge hath power to cut, whose will still wills
It should none spare that come within his

power. Prin. Some merry mocking lord, belike; is't so? Mar. They say fo most, that most his humours

know. Prin. Such short-liv'd wits do wither as they

grow.
Who are the rest ?
Kath. The young Dumain, a well-accomplish'd

youth,
Of all that virtue love for virtue lov'd :
Most power to do most harm, least knowing ill ;
For he hath wit to make an ill shape good,
And shape to win grace though he had no wit.
I saw him at the duke Alençon's once;
And much too little of that good I saw,
Is my report, to his great worthiness.

ROSA. Another of these students at that time
Was there with him: if I have heard a truth,
Biron they call him ; but a merrier man,
Within the limit of becoming mirth,
I never spent an hour's talk withal:
His eye begets occasion for his wit;
For every object that the one doth catch,
The other turns to a mirth-moving jest;
Which his fair tongue (conceit's expositor, )
Delivers in such apt and gracious words,
That aged ears play truant at his tales,
And younger hearings are quite ravished;
So sweet and voluble is his discourse.

match'd with -] Is combined or joined with. JOHNSON. 9 And much too little, &c.] i. e. And my report of the good I saw, is much too little compared to his great worthiness.

HEATH.

8

Prin. God bless my ladies ! are they all in love; That every one her own hath garnished With such bedecking ornaments of praise ?

Mar. Here comes Boyet.

Re-enter BOYET.

PRIN.

Now, what admittance, lord ? Boyet. Navarre had notice of your fair approach; And he, and his competitors in oath, Were all address'd' to meet you, gentle lady, Before I came. Marry, thus much I have learnt, He rather means to lodge you in the field, (Like one that comes here to besiege his court,) Than seek a dispensation for his oath, To let you enter his unpeopled house. Here comes Navarre.

[ The Ladies mask.

Enter King, LONGAVILLE, DUMAIN, BIRON, and

Attendants.

KING. Fair princess, welcome to the court of

Navarre. Prin. Fair, I give you back again; and, welcome I have not yet; the roof of this court is too high to be yours; and welcome to the wide fields toa base to be mine."

KING. You shall be welcome, madam, to my

court.

competitors in oath, ] i. c. confederates. So, in Antony and Cleopatra :

" It is not Cæfar's natural vice to hate

! Our great competitor.' STEEVENS. 3 Were all addressid -] To address is to prepare. So, in Hamlet:

it lifted up its head, aud did address $ Itself to motion.' STEEVENS.

Plin. I will be welcome then; conduct me thi

ther. KING. Hear me, dear lady; I have sworn an oath. Prin. Our Lady help my lord! he'll be forsworn. KING. Not for the world, fair madam, by my will. Prin. Why, will shall break it; will, and nothing

elle. King. Your ladyship is ignorant what it is.

Prin. Were my lord so, his ignorance were wise, Where' now his knowledge 'mult prove ignorance. I hear, your grace hath sworn-out house-keeping: 'Tis deadly fin to keep that oath, my lord, And fin to break it: But pardon me, I am too sudden-bold; To teach a teacher ill befeemeth me. Vouchsafe to read the purpose of my coming,

, And suddenly resolve me in my suit.

[ Gives a paper. King. Madam, I will, if suddenly I may.

PRIN. You will the fooner, that I were away; For you'll prove perjur'd, if you make me ftay.

Biron. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?" Ros. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?

4

3 Where -] Where is here used for whereas. So, in Pericles, A& I. sc. i:

" Where now you're both a father and a son. ' See note on this passage. STEEVENS. * And fin to break it:) Sir T. Hanmer reads:

“ Not fin to break it : I believe erroneously. The princess shows an inconvenience very frequently attending rash oaths, which, whether kept or broken, produce guilt. Johnson.

s Ros. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?] Thus the folio. In the first quarto, this dialogue passes between Catharina and Biron. It is a matter of little consequence. MALONE.