Ros. Fair fall the face it covers !
Biron. And send you many lovers!
Ros. Amen, so you be none.
Biron. Nay, then will I be gone.

King. Madam, your father here doth intimate
The payment of a hundred thousand crowns;
Being but the one half of an entire sum,
Disbursed by my father in his wars.
But say, that he, or we, (as neither have)
Receiv'd that sum; yet there remains unpaid.
A hundred thousand more; in surety of the which,
One part of Aquitain is bound to us,
Although not valued to the money's worth.
If then the king your father will restore
But that one half which is unsatisfied,
We will give up our right in Aquitain,
And hold fair friendship with his majesty.
But that, it seems, he little purposeth,
For here he doth demand to have repaid
An hundred thousand crowns; and not demands,
On payment? of a hundred thousand crowns,
To have his title live in Aquitain;
Which we much rather had depart withal,

3 and not demands,
On payment &c.] The former editions read:

16 and not demands
“ One payment of a hundred thousand crowns,

“ To have his title live in Aquitain." I have restored, I believe, the genuine sense of the passage. Aquitain was pledged, it seems, to Navarre's father, for 200,000 crowns. 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. :-— 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,
Than Aquitain so gelded as it is.
Dear princess, were not his requests so far
From reason's yielding, your fair self should make
A yielding, 'gainst some reason, in my breast,
And go well satisfied to France again.

Prin. You do the king my father too much wrong,
And wrong the reputation of your name,
In so unseeming to confess receipt
Of that which hath so faithfully been paid.

King. I do protest, I never heard of it;
And, if you prove it, I 'll repay it back,
Or yield up Aquitain.
Prin.

We arrest your word:-
Boyet, you can produce acquittances,
For such a sum, from special officers
Of Charles his father.
King.

Satisfy me so.
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,
All liberal reason I will yield unto.
Mean time, receive such welcome at my hand,
As honour, without breach of honour, may
Make tender of to thy true worthiness:
You may not come, fair princess, in my gates;
But here without you shall be so receiv'd,
As you shall deem yourself lodg'd in my heart,
Though so denied fair harbour in my house.
Your own good thoughts excuse me, and farewel:
To-morrow shall we visit you again.

Prin. Sweet health and fair desires consort your grace!
King. Thy own wish wish I thee in every place!

[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.

Biron. I would, you heard it groan.
Ros. Is the fool sick ?6
Biron. Sick at heart.
Ros, Alack, let it blood.
Biron. Would that do it good?
Ros. My physick says, 1.?
Biron. Will you prick 't with your eye?
Ros. No poynt, 8 with my knife.
Biron. Now, God save thy life!
Ros. And yours from long living!
Biron. I cannot stay thanksgiving. [Retiring.
Dum. Sir, I pray you, a word: What lady is that

same? 9

Boyet. The heir of Alençon, Rosaline her name.
Dum. A gallant lady! Monsieur, fare you well. [Exit.
Long. I beseech you a word; what is she in the white?
Boyet. A woman sometimes, an you saw her in the

light. Long. Perchance, light in the light: I desire her name. Boyet. She hath but one for herself; to desire that,

were a shame. Long. Pray you, sir, whose daughter?

0 Is the fool sick?] She means perhaps his heart. So, in Much Ado about Nothing:

“ D. Pedro. In faith, lady, you have a merry heart."

“ Beat. Yes, my lord; I thank it, poor fool, it keeps on the windy side of care." Malone.

7 M, physick says, I.] She means to say, ay. The old spelling of the affirmative particle has been retained here for the sake of the rhyme. Malone. 8 No poynt,] So, in The Shoemaker's Holliday, 1600:

“ tell me where he is.

“No point. Shall I betray my brother?” Steevens. No point was a negation borrowed from the French. See the note on the same words, Act V, sc. ii. Malone.

9 What lady is that same?7 It is odd that Shakspeare should make Dumain inquire after Rosaline, who was the mistress of Biron, and neglect Katharine, who was his own. Biron behaves in the same manner. No advantage would be gained by an exchange of names, because the last speech is determined to Biron by Maria, who gives a character of him after he has made his exit. Perhaps all the ladies wore masks but the princess.

Steevens. They certainly did. See p. 33, where Biron says to Rosaline

« Now fair befal your mask.” Malone.

Boyet. Her mother's, I have heard.
Long. God's blessing on your beard!

Boyet. Good sir, be not offended:
She is an heir of Falconbridge.

Long. Nay, my choler is ended.
She is a most sweet lady.

Boyet. Not unlike, sir; that may be. (Exit Long.
Biron. What's her name, in the cap?
Boyet. Katharine, by good hap.
Biron. Is she wedded, or no?
Boyet. To her will, sir, or so.
Biron. You are welcome, sir; adieu!
Boyet. Farewel to me, sir, and welcome to you.

[Exit BIRON.—Ladies unmask.
Mar. That last is Biron, the merry mad-cap lord;
Not a word with him but a jest.
Boyet.

And every jest but a word. Prin. It was well done of you to take him at his word. Boyet. I was as willing to grapple, as he was to board. Mar. Two hot sheeps, marry! Boyet.

And wherefore not ships? No sheep, sweet lamb, unless we feed on your lips.2 Mar. You sheep, and I pasture; shall that finish the

jest? Boyet. So you grant pasture for me.

[Offering to kiss her. Mar.

Not so, gentle beast; My lips are no common, though several they be.3

1 God's blessing on your beard!] That is, may'st thou have sense and seriousness more proportionate to thy beard, the length of which suits ill with such idle catches of wit. Fohnson.

I doubt whether so much meaning was intended to be convey. ed by these words. Malone.

2 — unless we feed on your lips. Our author has the same expression in his Venus and Adonis :

“ Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale ;

“ Graze on my lips." Malone. 3 My lips are no common, though several they be.] Several is an inclosed field of a private proprietor; so Maria says, her lips are private property. Of a Lord that was newly married, one observed that he grew fat; “ Yes,” said Sir Walter Raleigh, “any beast will grow fat, if you take him from the common and graze him in the several.” Johnson.

Boyet. Belonging to whom?
Mar.

To my fortunes and me.
Prin. Good wits will be jangling: but, gentles, agree:

So, in The Rival Friends, 1632:

" — my sheep have quite disgrest

“ Their bounds, and leap'd into the several.” Again, in Green's Disputation, &c. 1592: “rather would have mewed me up as a henne, to have kept that severall to himself by force,” &c. Again, in Sir John Oldcastle, 1600:

. Of late he broke into a severall

“ That does belong to me.” Again, in Fenton's Tragical Discourses, 4to. bl. 1. 1597 :- "he entered commons in the place which the olde John thought to be reserved severall to himself,” p. 64.b. Again, in Holinshed's History of England, B. VI, p. 150:-" not to take and pale in the commons, to enlarge their severalles.” Steevens.

My lips are no common though several they be. In Dr. Johnson's note upon this passage, it is said that sEVERAL is an en. closed field of a private proprietor.

Dr. Johnson has totally mistaken this word. In the first place it should be spelled severell. This does not signify an enclosed field or private property, but is rather the property of every land. holder in the parish. In the uninclosed parishes in Warwickshire,

and other counties, their method of tillage is thus: The land is · divided into three fields, one of which is every year fallow. This the farmers plough and manure, and prepare for bearing wheat. Betwixt the lands, and at the end of them, some little grass land is interspersed, and there are here and there some little patches of green swerd. The next year this ploughed field bears wheat, and the grass land is preserved for hay; and the year following the proprietors sow it with beans, oats, or barley, at their discre. tion; and the next year it lies fallow again; so that each field in its turn is fallow every third year; and the field thus fallowed is called the common field, on which the cows and sheep graze, and have herdsmen and shepherds to attend them, in order to prevent them from going into the two other fields which bear corn and grass. These last are called the severell, which is not separated from the common by any fence whatever; but the care of preventing the cattle from going into the severell, is left to the herds. men and shepherds; but the herdsmen have no authority over a town bull, who is permitted to go where he pleases in the severell. Dr. James.

Holinshed's Description of Britain, p. 33, and Leigh's Accedence of Armourie, 1597, p. 52, spell this word like Shakspeare. Leigh also mentions the town bull, and says: “ all severells to him are common.” Tollet.

My lips are no common, though several they be.] A play on the word several, which, besides its ordinary signification of separate, distinct, likewise signifies in uninclosed lands, a certain portion of ground appropriated to either corn or meadow, adjoining the coma