Well fitted in the arts,4 glorious in arms: Is a sharp wit match'd with5 too blunt a will; 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; And much too little of that good I saw, Is my report, to his great worthiness. reign, peerless, he 's esteem'd." So, before: "Matchless Na but you, O you, "So perfect, 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 mortal." Malone. Perhaps our author wrote: 66 "A man, a sovereign pearl, he is esteem'd." i. e. not only a pearl, but such a one as is pre-eminently valuable. In Troilus and Cressida Helen is called-"a pearl," and in Macbeth the nobles of Scotland are styled—“ the kingdom's pearl.”The phrase "a sovereign pearl" may also be countenanced by -" captain jewels in a carcanet," an expression which occurs in one of our author's Sonnets. Sovereign parts, however, is a kin to royalty of nature, a phrase that occurs in Macbeth. Steevens. 4 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. 5 - match'd with —] Is combined or joined with. Johnson. 6 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. Ros. Another of these students at that time Prin. God bless my ladies! are they all in love; With such bedecking ornaments of praise? Prin. Re-enter BoYET. Now, what admittance, lord? Boyet. Navarre had notice of your fair approach; Were all address'd to meet you, gentle lady, [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 wild fields too base to be mine. -competitors in oath,] i. e. confederates. So, in Antony and Cleopatra: "It is not Cæsar's natural vice to hate "Our great competitor." Steevens. Were all address'd-] To address is to prepare. So, in Hamlet: "Itself to motion." Steevens. King. You shall be welcome, madam, to my court. Prin. Were my lord so, his ignorance were wise, But pardon me, I am too sudden-bold; Vouchsafe to read the purpose of my coming, [Gives a paper. Ros. To ask the question! Biron. How needless was it then You must not be so quick. Ros. 'Tis 'long of you that spur me with such questions. Biron. Your wit's too hot, it speeds too fast, 'twill tire. Ros. Not till it leave the rider in the mire. Biron. What time o' day? Ros. The hour that fools should ask. Biron. Now fair befal your mask! 9-— -Where-] Where is here used for whereas. So, in Pericles, Act I, sc. i: "Where now you're both a father and a son." See note on this passage. Steevens. 1 And sin to break it:] Sir T. Hanmer reads: "Not sin to break it:" I believe erroneously. The princess shows an inconvenience, very frequently attending rash oaths, which, whether kept or broken, produce guilt. Johnson 2 Ros. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once? Thus the folio. In the first quarto, this dialogue passes between Katharine and Biron. It is a matter of little consequence. Malone. Ros. Fair fall the face it covers! Biron. Nay, then will I be gone. King. Madam, your father here doth intimate But say, that he, or we, (as neither have) Although not valued to the money's worth. Which we much rather had depart withal,* 3 · and not demands, On payment &c.] The former editions read: crowns. 66 and not demands "One payment of a hundred thousand crowns, I have restored, I believe, the genuine sense of the passage. Aquitain was pledged, it seems, to Navarre's father, for 200,000 The French king pretends to have paid one moiety of this debt, (which Navarre knows nothing of,) but demands this moiety back again: instead whereof (says Navarre) he should rather pay the remaining moiety, and demand to have Aquitain re-delivered up to him. This is plain and easy reasoning upon the fact supposed; and Navarre declares, he had rather receive the residue of his debt, than detain the province mortgaged for security of it. Theobald. The two words are frequently confounded in the books of our author's age. See a note on King John, Act III, sc. iii. Malone. 4 -depart withal,] To depart and to part were anciently synonymous. So, in King John: "Hath willingly departed with a part." Again, in Every Man out of his Humour: "Faith, sir, I can hardly depart with ready money." Steevens. And have the money by our father lent, Dear princess, were not his requests so far From reason's yielding, your fair self should make Prin. You do the king my father too much wrong, Of that which hath so faithfully been paid. Prin. We arrest your word:— Boyet, you can produce acquittances, Boyet. So please your grace, the packet is not come, Where that and other specialties are bound; : To-morrow you shall have a sight of them. King. It shall suffice me: at which interview, Mean time, receive such welcome at my hand, As you shall deem yourself lodg'd in my heart, Prin. Sweet health and fair desires consort your grace! [Exeunt King and his train. Biron. Lady, I will commend you to my own heart. Ros. 'Pray you, do my commendations; I would be glad to see it. 5 gelded] To this phrase Shakspeare is peculiarly attached. It occurs in The Winter's Tale, King Richard II, King Henry IV, King Henry VI, &c. &c. but never less properly than in the present formal speech, addressed by a king to a maiden princess. Steevens. |