Biron. Devils soonest tempt, resembling spirits of light. O, if in black my lady's brows be deckt, It mourns, that painting, and usurping hair 21, Should ravish doters with a false aspéct: And therefore is she born to make black fair. Her favour turns the fashion of the days; For native blood is counted painting now; And therefore red, that would avoid dispraise, Paints itself black, to imitate her brow. Dum. To look like her, are chimney-sweepers black. Long. And since her time, are colliers counted bright. King. And Ethiops of their sweet complexion crack. Dum. Dark needs no candles now, for dark is light. Biron. Your mistresses dare never come in rain, For fear their colours should be wash'd away. King. Twere good, yours did; for, sir, to tell you plain, I'll find a fairer face not wash'd to-day. Biron. I'll prove her fair, or talk till doomsday here. King. No devil will fright thee then so much as she. Dum. I never knew man hold vile stuff so dear. Long. Look, here's thy love: my foot and her [Shewing his Shoe. face see. Biron. O, if the streets were paved with thine eyes, Her feet were much too dainty for such tread! Dum. O vile! then as she goes, what upward lies The street should see as she walk'd over head. 21 This alludes to the fashion prevalent among ladies in Shakspeare's time, of wearing false hair, or periwigs as they were then called, before that covering for the head had been adopted by men. King. But what of this? Are we not all in love? sworn. King. Then leave this chat; and, good Birón, now prove · Our loving lawful, and our faith not torn. Dum. Ay, marry, there;-some flattery for this evil. Long. O, some authority how to proceed; Some tricks, some quillets 22, how to cheat the devil. Dum. Some salve for perjury. Biron. O, 'tis more than need!— Have at you then, affection's men at arms: Consider what you first did swear unto;To fast, to study,—and to see no woman;Flat treason 'gainst the kingly state of youth. Say, can you fast? your stomachs are too young; And abstinence engenders maladies. And where that you have vow'd to study, lords, In that each of you hath forsworn his book: Can you still dream, and pore, and thereon look? For when would you, my lord, or you, or you, Have found the ground of study's excellence, Without the beauty of a woman's face? From women's eyes this doctrine I derive? They are the ground, the books, the academes, From whence doth spring the true Promethean fire. Why, universal plodding prisons up The nimble spirits in the arteries; As motion, and long during action, tires The sinewy vigour of the traveller. Now, for not looking on a woman's face, You have in that forsworn the use of eyes; 22 A quillet is a sly trick or turn in argument, or excuse. Bailey derives it, with much probability, from quibblet, as a di minutive of quibble. And study too, the causer of your vow: Do we not likewise see our learning there? 23 This hemistich is omitted in all the modern editions except that by Mr. Boswell. It is found in the first quarto and first folio. 24 i. e. our true books, from which we derive most information; the eyes of women. 25 So in Milton's Il Penseroso : 'With a sad leaden, downward cast.' And in Gray's Hymn to Adversity: With leaden eye that loves the ground,' Than are the tender horns of cockled snails; Love's tongue proves dainty Bacchus gross in taste: For valour, is not love a Hercules, Still climbing trees in the Hesperides 26 ? Subtle as sphinx; as sweet, and musical, As bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair; And, when love speaks, the voice of all the gods Make heaven drowsy with the harmony 27. Never durst poet touch a pen to write, Until his ink were temper'd with love's sighs; O, then his lines would ravish savage ears, And plant in tyrants mild humility. From women's eyes this doctrine I derive: They sparkle still the right Promethean fire; They are the books, the arts, the academes, That show, contain, and nourish all the world; Else, none at all in aught proves excellent: Then fools you were these women to forswear; Or, keeping what is sworn, you will prove For wisdom's sake, a word that all men love; Or for love's sake, a word that loves all men* Or for men's sake, the authors of these women; Or women's sake, by whom we men are men; fools. 28 26 Shakspeare had read of the gardens of the Hesperides,' and thought the latter word was the name of the garden. Some of his contemporaries have made the same mistake. So Robert Green in his Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, 1598: 'Shew the tree, leav'd with refined gold, That watch'd the garden call'd Hesperides.' 27 Few passages have been more discussed than this. The most plausible interpretation of it is, Whenever love speaks, all the gods join their voices in harmonious concert.' The power luded to by poets in all ages. The old copies read make. Shakof harmonious sounds to make the hearers drowsy has been al speare often falls into a similar error. 28 i. e. that is pleasing to all men. So in the language of the time :--it likes me well, for it pleases me. Shakspeare uses the word licentiously for the sake of the antithesis. Let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves, For charity itself fulfils the law; And who can sever love from charity? King. Saint Cupid, then! and, soldiers, to the field! lords; Pell-mell, down with them! but be first advis'd, In conflict that you get the sun of them 29. Long. Now to plain-dealing; lay these glozes by; Shall we resolve to woo these girls of France? King. And win them too: therefore let us devise Some entertainment for them in their tents. Biron. First, from the park let us conduct them thither; Then, homeward, every man attach the hand Of his fair mistress: in the afternoon We will with some strange pastime solace them, way with flowers. King. Away, away! no time shall be omitted, That will be time, and may by us be fitted. Biron. Allons! Allons!-Sow'd cockle reap'd no corn; And justice always whirls in equal measure: Light wenches may prove plagues to men forsworn ; If so, our copper buys no better treasure. [Exeunt. 29 In the days of archery, it was of consequence to have the sun at the back of the bowmen, and in the face of the enemy. This circumstance was of great advantage to our Henry V. at the Battle of Agincourt. Shakspeare had, perhaps, an equivoque in his thoughts. 30 Fair love is Venus. So in Antony and Cleopatra: 'Now for the love of love, and her soft hours.' |