And he from forage will incline to play: Prin. What plume of feathers is he that in- What vane? what weathercock? did you ever hear better? Boyet. I am much deceived but I remember the style. Prin. Else your memory is bad, going o'er it erewhile. Boyet. This Armado is a Spaniard, that keeps here in court; A phantasime, a Monarcho, and one that makes From my lord to my lady. Prin. To whom shouldst thou give it? Prin. From which lord to which lady? Cost, From my lord Biron, a good master of mine, To a lady of France that he call'd Rosaline. Prin. Thou hast mistaken his letter. Come, lords, away. [To Ros.] Here, sweet, put up this: 'twill be thine another day. [Exeunt Princess and train. Boyet. Who is the suitor? who is the suitor ? 93. forage, devouring; regu larly used of wild beasts. 95. repasture, repast. IOI. phantasime, a fantastic fellow. On the Fantastical 100 Monarcho,' see the Introduction. 106. master, patron. IIO. suitor, Qq and Ff shooter, with a view to the pun, the word being sounded approximately so. Ros. Shall I teach you to know? 110 Why, she that bears the bow. Boyet. Ay, my continent of beauty. Finely put off! Boyet. My lady goes to kill horns; but, if thou marry, Hang me by the neck, if horns that year mis carry. Finely put on! Ros. Well, then, I am the shooter. Boyet. And who is your deer? Ros. If we choose by the horns, yourself come not near. Finely put on, indeed! Mar. You still wrangle with her, Boyet, and she strikes at the brow. Boyet. But she herself is hit lower: have I hit her now? Ros. Shall I come upon thee with an old saying, that was a man when King Pepin of France was a little boy, as touching the hit it? Boyet. So I may answer thee with one as old, that was a woman when Queen Guinover of Britain was a little wench, as touching the hit it. Ros. Thou canst not hit it, hit it, hit it, Thou canst not hit it, my good man. Boyet. An I cannot, cannot, cannot, An I cannot, another can. [Exeunt Ros. and Kath. Cost. By my troth, most pleasant: how both did fit it! Mar. A mark marvellous well shot, for they both did hit it. Boyet. A mark! O, mark but that mark! A mark, says my lady! III. continent, complete embodiment. 120 130 Let the mark have a prick in 't, to mete at, if it may be. Mar. Wide o' the bow hand! i' faith, your hand is out. Cost. Indeed, a' must shoot nearer, or he'll ne'er hit the clout. Boyet. An if my hand be out, then belike your hand is in. Cost. Then will she get the upshoot by cleaving the pin. Mar. Come, come, you talk greasily; your lips grow foul. Cost. She's too hard for you at pricks, sir: Boyet. I fear too much rubbing. Good night, Cost. By my soul, a swain! a most simple clown! Lord, Lord, how the ladies and I have put him down! O' my troth, most sweet jests! most incony vulgar wit! When it comes so smoothly off, so obscenely, as it were, so fit. Armado o' th' one side,-O, a most dainty man! And his page o' t' other side, that handful of wit! 134. mete at, aim at. 136. clout, the white mark in a target, supported by a wooden pin. [Shout within. [Exit Costard, running. 140 150 138. upshoot, the deciding shot. 139. greasily, uncleanly. 150. nit, particle (playing on Moth's name-mote). Enter HOLOFERNES, SIR NATHANIEL, and DULL. Nath. Very reverend sport, truly; and done in the testimony of a good conscience. Hol. The deer was, as you know, sanguis, in blood; ripe as the pomewater, who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of caelo, the sky, the welkin, the heaven; and anon falleth like a crab on the face of terra, the soil, the land, the earth. Nath. Truly, Master Holofernes, the epithets are sweetly varied, like a scholar at the least: but, sir, I assure ye, it was a buck of the first head. 10 Hol. Sir Nathaniel, haud credo. Dull. 'Twas not a haud credo; 'twas a pricket. Hol. Most barbarous intimation! yet a kind of insinuation, as it were, in via, in way, of explication; facere, as it were, replication, or rather, ostentare, to show, as it were, his inclination, after his undressed, unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or rather, unlettered, or ratherest, unconfirmed fashion, to insert again my haud credo for a deer. Dull. I said the deer was not a haud credo; 'twas a pricket. Hol. Twice-sod simplicity, bis coctus ! O thou monster Ignorance, how deformed dost thou look! 20 Nath. Sir, he hath never fed of the dainties that are bred in a book; he hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink his intellect is not replenished; he is only an animal, only sensible in the duller parts: And such barren plants are set before us, that we thankful should be, Which we of taste and feeling are, for those parts that do fructify in us more than he. For as it would ill become me to be vain, indiscreet, or a fool, So were there a patch set on learning, to see But omne bene, say I; being of an old father's mind, What was a month old at Cain's birth, that's not Hol. Dictynna, goodman Dull; Dictynna, goodman Dull. Dull. What is Dictynna? Nath. A title to Phoebe, to Luna, to the moon. was no more, And raught not to five weeks when he came to five-score. The allusion holds in the exchange. Dull. 'Tis true indeed; the collusion holds in the exchange. Hol. God comfort thy capacity! I say, the allusion holds in the exchange. Dull. And I say, the pollusion holds in the 32. patch, fool. 41. raught, reached. 30 40 42. the allusion, etc. The statement is equally true when Adam is substituted for Cain. |