Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

And fuch barren plants are set before us,

ful fhould be

that we thank

that

(Which we of taste and feeling are) for those

do fructify in us more than he.

parts

For as it would ill become me to be vain, indifcreet, or

a fool,

So, were there a patch set on learning, to see him in a fchool:

But, omne bene, fay I; being of an old father's mind,
Many can brook the weather, that love not the wind.

DULL. You two are book-men: Can you tell by your wit,

What was a month old at Cain's birth, that's not five weeks old as yet?

HOL. Dictynna, good man Dull; Dictynna, good man Dull.

DULL. What is Dictynna?

'NATH. A title to Phoebe, to Luna, to the moon.

HOL. The moon was a month old when Adam was no

more;

And raught not to five weeks, when he came to fivescore. The allufion holds in the exchange.

DULL. 'Tis true, indeed, the collufion holds in the exchange.

HOL. God comfort thy capacity! I fay, the allusion holds in the exchange.

DULL. And I fay the pollufion holds in the exchange; for the moon is never but a month old: and I fay befide, that 'twas a pricket that the princefs kill'd.

HOL. Sir Nathaniel, will you hear an extemporal epitaph on the death of the deer? and, to humour the ignorant, I have call'd the deer the princefs kill'd, a pricket.

NATH. Perge, good mafter Holofernes, perge; fo it shall please you to abrogate fcurrility.

HOL. I will fomething affect the letter; for it argues facility.

pricket;

The praifeful princefs pierc'd and prick'd a pretty pleafing [booting. Some fay, a fore; but not a fore, till now made fore with The dogs did yell; put l to fore, then forel jumps from thicket ;

Or pricket, fore, or else forel; the people fall a hooting. If fore be fore, then L to fore makes fifty fores; O fore L! Of one fore I an hundred make, by adding but one more L. NATH. A rare talent!

DULL. If a talent be a claw, look how he claws him with a talent.

HOL. This is a gift that I have, fimple, fimple; a foolish extravagant spirit, full of forms, figures, fhapes, objects, ideas, apprehenfions, motions, revolutions: these are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourished in the womb of pia mater, and deliver'd upon the mellowing of occafion: But the gift is good in those in whom it is acute, and I am thankful for it.

NATH. Sir, I praise the Lord for you; and fo may my parishioners; for their fons are well tutor'd by you, and their daughters profit very greatly under you: you are a good member of the commonwealth.

HOL. Mehercle, if their fons be ingenious, they fhall want no inftruction: if their daughters be capable, I will put it to them: But, vir fapit, qui pauca loquitur: a foul feminine faluteth us.

Enter FAQUENETTA and COSTARD.

J42. God give you good morrow, mafter person. HOL. Mafter perfon,-quafi perf-on. And if one should be pierced, which is the one?

Cosr. Marry, master schoolmaster, he that is likeft to a hogfhead.

HOL. Of piercing a hogfhead! a good luftre of conceit in a turf of earth; fire enough for flint, pearl enough for a fwine: 'tis pretty; it is well.

F42. Good mafter parson, be so good as read me this letter; it was given me by Coftard, and fent me from Don Armatho I befeech you, read it.

HOL. Faufte, precor gelida quando pecus omne fub umbrá Ruminat, and fo forth. Ah, good old Mantuan! I may fpeak of thee as the traveller doth of Venice;

-Vinegia, Vinegia,

Chi non te vede, ei non te pregia.

Old Mantuan! old Mantuan! Who understandeth thee not, loves thee not.-Ut, re, fol, la, mi, fa.-Under pardon, fir, what are the contents? or, rather, as Horace fays in his-What, my foul, verfes?

NATH. Ay, fir, and very learned.

HOL. Let me hear a staff, a stanza, a verfe; Lege, domine. NATH. If love make me forefworn, how fhall I fwear

to love,

Ah, never faith could hold, if not to beauty vowed! Though to myself forfworn, to thee I'll faithful

prove; Those thoughts to me were oaks, to thee like ofiers

bowed.

Study his bias leaves, and makes his book thine eyes ; Where all those pleasures live, that art would com

prehend:

If knowledge be the mark, to know thee fhall fuffice; Well learned is that tongue, that well can thee com

mend :

All ignorant that foul, that fees thee without wonder

(Which is to me fome praise, that I thy parts admire ;)

Thy eye Jove's lightning bears, thy voice his dreadful thunder,

Which, not to anger bent, is mufick, and sweet fire. Celestial, as thou art, oh pardon, love, this wrong,

That fingsheaven's praife with fuch an earthly tongue! HOL. You find not the apostrophes, and fo miss the accent: let me fupervize the canzonet. Here are only numbers ratified; but, for the elegancy, facility, and golden cadence of poesy, caret. Ovidius Naso was the man: and why, indeed Nafo; but for smelling out the odoriferous flowers of fancy, the jerks of invention? Imitari, is nothing fo doth the hound his master, the ape his keeper, the tired horse his rider. But, damofella virgin, was this directed to you?

F42. Ay, fir, from one monfieur Biron, one of the ftrange queen's lords.

HOL. I will overglance the fuperfcript. To the fnowwhite band of the most beauteous Lady Rofaline. I will look again on the intellect of the letter, for the nomination of the party writing to the perfon written unto : Your Ladyship's in all defired employment, BIRON. Sir Nathaniel, this Biron is one of the votaries with the king; and here he hath framed a letter to a fequent of the stranger queen's, which, accidentally, or by the way of progreffion, hath mifcarried.-Trip and go my fweet; deliver this paper into the royal hand of the king; it may concern much: Stay not thy compliment; I forgive thy duty; adieu. [life!

J42. Good Coftard, go with me.-Sir, God fave your COST. Have with thee, my girl. [Exeunt COST. and J42. NATH. Sir, you have done this in the fear of God, very religiously; and, as a certain father faith

HoL. Sir, tell not me of the father, I do fear colourable

colours. But, to return to the verses; Did they please you, Sir Nathaniel?

NATH. Marvellous well for the pen.

HOL. I do dine to-day at the father's of a certain pupil of mine; where if, before repast, it shall please you to gratify the table with a grace, I will, on my privilege I have with the parents of the forefaid child or pupil, undertake your ben venuto; where I will prove those verses to be very unlearned, neither favouring of poetry, wit, nor invention: I beseech your fociety.

NATH. And thank you too: for fociety, (faith the text,) is the happiness of life.

HOL. And, certes, the text most infallibly concludes it. -Sir, [To DULL.] I do invite you too; you shall not fay me, nay: pauca verba. Away; the gentles are at their game, and we will to our recreation.

SCENE III. Another part of the fame.

Enter BIRON with a paper.

[Exeunt.

BIRON. The king he is hunting the deer; I am courfing myself: they have pitch'd a toil; I am toiling in a pitch; pitch, that defiles; defile! a foul word. Well, Set thee down, forrow! for fo, they say, the fool said, and fo fay I, and I the fool. Well proved, wit! By the lord, this love is as mad as Ajax: it kills fheep; it kills me, I a sheep: Well proved again on my fide! I will not love: if I do, hang me; i'faith, I will not. O, but her eye,by this light, but for her eye, I would not love her; yes, for her two eyes. Well, I do nothing in the world but lie, and lie in my throat. By heaven, I do love: and it hath taught me to rhyme, and to me melancholy; and here is part of my rhyme, and here my melancholy. Well, the hath one o' my fonnets already; the clown bore it, the

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »