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Boy, I do love that country girl, that I took in the park with the rational hind Costard; she deserves well.

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Moth. To be whipped; and yet a better love than my

master.

[Aside. Arm. Sing, boy; my spirit grows heavy in love. Moth. And that's great marvel, loving a light wench. Arm. I say, sing.

Moth. Forbear till this company be past.

Enter DULL, COSTARD, and JAQUENETTA.

Dull. Sir, the duke's pleasure is, that you keep Costard safe and you must let him take no delight, nor no penance; but a' must fast three days a-week: For this damsel, I must keep her at the park: she is allowed for the day-woman.7 Fare you well.

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Arm. I'do betray myself with blushing.-Maid.
Jaq. Man.

Arm. I will visit thee at the lodge.

Jaq. That's hereby.8

Arm. I know where it is situate.

Jaq. Lord, how wise you are!
Arm. I will tell thee wonders.

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Again, in our author's Rape of Lucrece;
my digression is so vile, so base,
"That it will live engraven on my face."

Malone.

the rational hind Costard:] Perhaps we should read

the irrational hind, &c. Tyrwhitt.

The rational hind, perhaps, means only the reasoning brute, the animal with some share of reason. Steevens.

I have always read irrational hind; if hind be taken in its bestial sense, Armado makes Costard a female. Farmer.

Shakspeare uses it in its bestial sense in Julius Cæsar, Act I, sc. iii, and as of the masculine gender:

"He were no lion, were not Romans hinds."

Again, in King Henry IV, P. I, sc. iii: "you are a shallow cowardly hind, and you lie." Steevens.

7 - for the day-woman.] "i. e. for the dairy-maid. Dairy, says Johnson in his Dictionary, is derived from day, an old word for milk. In the northern counties of Scotland, a dairy-maid is at present termed a day or dey." Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1786. Steevens.

8 That's hereby.] Jaquenetta and Armado are at cross purposes. Hereby, is used by her (as among the vulgar in some counties) to signify-as it may happen. He takes it in the sense of just by. Steevens.

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Arm. Villain, thou shalt fast for thy offences, ere thou be pardoned.

Cost. Well, sir, I hope, when I do it, I shall do it on a full stomach.

Arm. Thou shalt be heavily punished.

Cost. I am more bound to you than your fellows, for they are but lightly rewarded.

Arm. Take away this villain; shut him up.

Moth. Come, you transgressing slave; away.

Cost. Let me not be pent up, sir; I will fast, being loose.

Moth. No, sir; that were fast and loose: thou shalt to prison.

Cost. Well, if ever I do see the merry days of desolation that I have seen, some shall see

Moth. What shall some see?

Cost. Nay nothing, master Moth, but what they look upon. It is not for prisoners to be too silent in their words;1 and, therefore, I will say nothing: I thank God, I have as little patience as another man; and, therefore I can be quiet. [Exeunt MoтH and Cosт.

9 With that face?] This cant phrase has oddly lasted till the present time; and is used by people who have no more meaning annexed to it, than Fielding had; who putting it into the mouth of Beau Didapper, thinks it necessary to apologize (in a note) for its want of sense, by adding-"that it was taken verbatim, from very polite conversation." Steevens.

1 It is not for prisoners to be too silent in their words;] I suppose we should read, it is not for prisoners to be silent in their wards, that is, in custody, in the holds. Johnson.

The first quarto, 1598, (the most authentic copy of this play,) reads "It is not for prisoners to be too silent in their words;" and so without doubt the text should be printed. Malone.

I don't think it necessary to endeavour to find out any meaning in this passage, as it seems to have been intended that Costard should speak nonsense. M. Mason.

Arm. I do affect2 the very ground, which is base, where her shoe, which is baser, guided by her foot, which is basest, doth tread. I shall be forsworn, (which is a great argument of falshood,) if I love: And how can that be true love, which is falsely attempted? Love is a familiar; love is a devil: there is no evil angel but love. Yet Sampson was so tempted: and he had an excellent strength: yet was Solomon so seduced; and he had a very good wit. Cupid's butt-shaft is too hard for Hercules' club, and therefore too much odds for a Spaniard's rapier. The first and second cause will not serve my turn; the passado he respects not, the duello he regards not: his disgrace is to be called boy; but his glory is, to subdue men. Adieu, valour! rust, rapier!5 be still, drum! armiger for your manager is in love; yea, he loveth. Assist me some extemporal god of rhyme, for, I am sure, I shall turn "sonneteer."" Devise wit; write pen; for I am for whole volumes in folio.

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4

[Exit.

affect] i. e. love. So, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. XII, ch. lxxiv:

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"But this I know, not Rome affords whom more you might

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butt-shaft-] i. e. an arrow to shoot at butts with. The butt was the place on which the mark to be shot at was placed. Thus, Othello says—

66 here is my butt,

"And very sea-mark of my utmost sail." Steevens.

4 The first and second cause will not serve my turn;] See the last act of As you like it, with the notes. Johnson.

5

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-rust, rapier!] So, in All's well that ends well:

"Rust, sword!"cool blushes, and Parolles, live!" Steevens.

sonneteer.] The old copies read only-sonnet. Steevens.

The emendation is Sir T. Hanmer's.

Malone.

Sonnet-maker · ms. 1632.

ACT II....SCENE I.

Another part of the same.

A Pavilion and Tents

at a distance.

Enter the Princess of France, ROSALINE, MARIA, KaTHARINE, BOYET, lords, and other attendants.

Boyet. Now, madam, summon up your"dearest"spirits:"
Consider who the king your father sends;
clearest
To whom he sends; and what's his embassy:
Yourself, held precious in the world's esteem;
To parley with the sole inheritor

Of all perfections that a man may owe,
Matchless Navarre: the plea of no less weight
Than Aquitain; a dowry for a queen.
Be now as prodigal of all dear grace,
As nature was in making graces dear,
When she did starve the general world beside,
And prodigally gave them all to you.

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Prin. Good lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean, Needs not the painted flourish of your praise; Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye, Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues:"

7 your dearest spirits:] Dear, in our author's language, has many shades of meaning. In the present instance and the next, it appears to signify-best, most powerful. Steevens.

The

8 Needs not the painted flourish of your praise,] Rowe has borrowed and dignified this sentiment in his Royal Convert. Saxon Princess is the speaker:

"Whate'er I am

“Is of myself, by native worth existing,
"Secure, and independent of thy praise:

"Nor let it seem too proud a boast, if minds

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By nature great, are conscious of their greatness,
"And hold it mean to borrow aught from flattery."
"Fucati sermonis opem mens conscia laudis
"Abnuit," Steevens.

Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye,

Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues:] 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 signify the seller, not, as now com

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I am less proud to hear you tell my worth,
Than you much willing to be counted wise
In spending your wit in the praise of mine.
But now to task the tasker,-Good Boyet,
You are not ignorant, all-telling fame
Doth noise abroad, Navarre hath made a vow,
Till painful study shall out-wear three years,
No woman may approach his silent 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 single you
As our best-moving fair solicitor:

Tell him, the daughter of the king of France,
On serious business, craving quick despatch,
Impórtunes personal conference with his grace.
Haste, signify so much; while we attend,
Like humbly-visag'd suitors, his high will.
Boy. Proud of employment, willingly I go. [Exit.
Prin. All pride is willing pride, and yours is so.—

Who are the votaries, my loving lords,

That are vow-fellows with this virtuous duke?

1 Lord. Longaville is one.

Prin.

Know you the man?

Mar. I know him, madam; at a marriage feast, Between lord Perigort and the beauteous heir

Of Jaques Falconbridge solémnized,

In Normandy saw I this Longaville:

A man of sovereign parts he is esteem'd;3

monly, the buyer. Cheap 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.

1 Bold of your worthiness,] i. e. confident of it.

Steevens.

2 Longaville-] For the sake of manners as well as metre, we ought to read-Lord Longaville — Steevens.

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

"A man of sovereign peerlesse, he 's esteem'd."

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 herself; and adds" sove,

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