monarch: for, I protest, the school-master is exceeding fantastical; too, too vain; too, too vain: But we will put it, as they say, to fortuna della guerra. I wish you the peace of mind, most royal couplement! [Frit ARM. King. Here is like to be a good presence of worthies: He presents Hector of Troy; the swain, Pompey the great; the parish curate, Alexander; Armado's page, Hercules; the pedant, Judas Machabæus.

[thrive, And if these four worthies in their first show These four will change habits, and present the

other five.

in his vein.

Biron. There is five in the first show.
King. You are deceiv'd, 'tis not so.
Biron. The pedant, the braggart, the hedge-
priest, the fool, and the boy :-
[again,
Abate a throw at novum ; and the whole world
Cannot prickt out five such, take each one
[comes amain.
King. The ship is under sail, and here she
[Seats brought for the King, Prin. &c.
Pageant of the Nine Worthies.
Enter COSTARD armed, for Pompey.
Cost. 1 Pompey am,-
Boyet.
Cost. I Pompey am,-
Boyet.

You lie, you are not he.

With libbard's head on kuee. Biron. Well said, old mocker; I must needs be friends with thee.

[the big,

Cost. I Pompey am, Pompey surnam'd Dum. The great. [the great; Cost. It is great, sir; -Pompey surnam'd That oft in field, with targe and shield, did make my foe to sweat:

And, travelling along this coast, I here am

come by chance;

And lay my arms before the legs of this

sweet lass of France.

If your ladyship would say, Thanks, Pom

pey, I had done. Prin. Great thanks, great Pompey. Cast. 'Tis not so much worth; but, I hope, I was perfect: I made a little fault in, great. Biron. My hat to a halfpenny, Pompey proves the best worthy.

Enter NATHANIEL armed, for Alexander.
Nath. When in the world 1 liv'd, I was
the world's commander;

By east, west, north, and south, I spread
my conquering might:
[Alisunder.
My'scutcheon plain declares, that I am
Boyet. Your nose says, no, you are not; for
it stands too right.
Biron. Your nose smells, no, in this, most
tender-smelling knight.

Prin. The conqueror is dismay'd: proceed

good Alexander.

Nath. When in the world I livd, I was the world's commander;Boyet. Most true, 'tis right; you were so, Biron. Pompey the great, [Alisander. Cost. Your servant, and Costárd. Biron. Take away the conqueror, take away Alisander.

• A game with dice.

Cost. O, sir, [70 NATH] you have overthrown Alisander the conqueror! You will be scraped out of the painted cloth for this: your lion, that holds his poll-ax sitting on a close-stool, will be given to A-jax: he will be the ninth worthy. A conqueror, and afeard to speak! run away for shame, Alisander. [NATH. retires.] There, an't shall please you; a foolish mild man; an honest man, look you, and soon dash'd! He is a marvelous good neighbour, insooth; and a very good bowler: but, for Alisander, alas, you see, how 'tis ;-a little o'erparted:-But there are worthies a coming will speak their mind in some other sort. Prin. Stand aside, good Pompey. Enter HOLOFERNES urmed, for Judas, and MoTH arm'd, for Hercules. Hol. Great Hercules is presented by this [headed canus; Whose club kill'd Cerberus, that threeAnd, when he was a babe, a child, a shrimp, Thus did he strangle serpents in his manus: Quoniam, he seemeth in minority; Ergo, I come with this apology.Keep some state in thy exit, and vanish.

imp,

Hol. Judas 1 am,

Dum. A Judas!

[Exit Мотн.

Hol. What is this?

Boyet. A cittern head.

Dum. The head of a bodkin.
Biron. A death's face in a ring.
[seen.
Long. The face of an old Roman coin, scarce
Boyet. The pummel of Cæsar's falchion.
Dum. The carv'd-bone face on a flaskĮ.
Biron. St. George's half-cheek in a brooch §.
Dum. Ay, and in a brooch of lead.
Biron. Ay, and worn in the cap of a tooth
[countenance.

drawer.:

And now, forward; for we have put thee in

Hol. You have put me out of countenance.
Biron. False; we have given thee faces.
Hol. But you have out fac'd them all.
Biron. An thou wert a lion, we would do so.
Boyet. Therefore, as he is, an ass, let him go.
And so adieu, sweet Jude! nay, why dost thou
Dum. For the latter end of his name. (stay?
Biron. For the ass to the Jude; give it
him:-Jud-as, away.
[humble.
Hol. This is not generous, not gentle, not
Boyet. A light for monsieur Judas: it grows
dark, he may stumble. [been baited!
Prin. Alas, poor Machabæus, how hath he

1 Pick out.
A soldier's powder-horn.
An ornamental buckle for fastening hat-bands, &c.

Biron. Greater than great, great, great, That which long process could not arbitrate:

+ Até was the goddess of discord.

و Clothed in woel, withent linen.

Let not the cloud of sorrow justle it
[lost,
From what it purpos'd; since, to wail friends
Is not by much so wholesome, profitable,
As to rejoice at friends but newly found.
Prin. I understand you not; my griefs are
double.
[ear of grief;-
Biron. Honest plain words best pierce the
And by these badges understand the king.
For your fair sakes have we neglected time,
Play'd foul play with our oaths; your beauty,
[mours
Hath much deform'd us, fashioning our hu-
Even to the opposed end of our intents:
And what in us hath seem'd ridiculous,-
As love is full of unbefitting strains;

ladies,

All wanton as a child, skipping, and vain;
Form'd 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 misbecom'd 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 for ever 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. [love;
Prin. We have receiv'd your letters, full of
Your favours, 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
In their own fashion, like a inerriment. [loves
Dum.Our.letters, madam, show'd much more
Long. So did our looks.
[than jest.
Ros.
We did not quotet them so.
King. Now, at the latest minute of the hour,
Grant us your loves.
Prin.
A time, methinks, too short.
To make a world-without-end bargain in:
No, no, my lord, your grace is perjur'd much,
Fall 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 I,

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 challange, challenge me by these deserts,
And, by this virgin palm, now kissing thine,
I will be thine; and, till that instant, shut
My woeful self up in a mourning house;

Tempted. + Regard.

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,
[rest,
To flatter up these powers of mine with
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
[rank;
Ros. You must be purged too, your sins are
You are attaint with faults and perjury;
Therefore, if you my favour mean to get,
A twelvemonth shall you spend, and never rest,
But seek the weary beds of people sick.

to me?

to me?

then.

Dum. But what to me, my love? but what
[honesty;
Kath. A wife!-A beard, fair health, and
With three-fold love 1 wish you all these three.
Dum. O, shall I say, I thank you, gentle
wife?
(and a day
Kath. Not so, my lord; -a twelvemonth
I'll mark no words that smooth-fac'd wooers say:
Come when the king doth to my lady come,
Then, if I have much love, i'll give you some.
Dum. I'll serve thee true and faithfully till
[again.
Kath. Yet swear not, lest you be forsworn
Long. What says Maria?
Mar.
At the twelvemonth's end,
I'll change my black gown for a faithful friend.
Long. I'll stay with patience; but the time
[young.
Mar. The liker you; few taller are so
Biron. Studies my lady?mistress look on me,
Behold the window of my heart, mine eye,
What humble suit attends thy answer there;
Impose some service on me for thy love.

is long.

Ros. Oft have I heard of you, my lord Birón,
Before I saw you: and the world's large tongue
Proclaims you for a man replete with mocks;
Full of comparisons and wounding flouts;
Which you on all estates will execute,
That lie within the mercy of your wit: [brain;
To weed this wormwood from your fruitful
And, therewithal, to win me, if you please,
(Without the which I am not to be won,) [day
You shall this twelvemonth term from day to
Visit the speechless sick, and still converse
With groaning wretches; and your task shall
With all the fierce endeavour of your wit, [be,
To enforce the pained impotent to smile.

Biron. To move wild laughter in the throat
It cannot be; it is impossible: [of death?
Mirth cannot move a soul in agony. [spirit,

Ros. Why, that's the way to choke a gibing
Whose influence is begot of that loose grace,
Which shallow laughing hearers give to fools
A jest's prosperity lies in the ear
Of him that hears it, never in the tongue
Of him that makes it: then, if sickly ears,
Deaf'd with the clamours of their own dear
groans,

Will hear your idle scorns, continue then,
And I will have you, and that fault withal;

Clothing. Vehement. || Immediate.

In this play, which all the editors have concurred to censure, and some have rejected as unworthy of our poet, it must be confessed that there are many passages mean, childish, and vulgar; and some which ought not to have been exhibited, as we are told they were, to a maiden queen. But there are scattered through the whole many sparks of genius; nor is there any play that has more evident marks of the hand of Shakspeare.-JOHNSON.

Magnificoes of Venice, Officers of the Court of Justice, Jailer, Servants, and other

Attendants.

Scene, Partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, the Seat of Portia, on the Continent.

ACT I.