PRIN. I will be welcome then; conduct me thither.

KING. Hear me, dear lady; I have fworn an oath. PRIN. Our Lady help my lord! he'll be forfworn. KING. Not for the world, fair madam, by my will. PRIN. Why, will fhall break it; will, and nothing elfe.

KING. Your ladyfhip is ignorant what it is.

PRIN. Were my lord fo, his ignorance were wife,
Where now his knowledge muft prove ignorance.
I hear, your grace hath fworn-out houfe-keeping:
'Tis deadly fin to keep that oath, my lord,
And fin to break it: +

But pardon me, I am too fudden-bold;
To teach a teacher ill befeemeth me.

Vouchfafe to read the purpofe of my coming,
And fuddenly refolve me in my fuit.

[Gives a paper.
KING. Madam, I will, if fuddenly I may.
PRIN. You will the fooner, that I were away;
For you'll prove perjur'd, if you make me ftay.
BIRON. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?
Ros. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?

3 Where -] Where is here used for whereas. So, in Pericles,

A&t I. fc. i:

"Where now you're both a father and a fon."

See note on this paffage. STEEVENS.

4 And fin to break it :] Sir T. Hanmer reads: "Not fin to break it :"

I believe erroneously. The princefs fhows an inconvenience very frequently attending rafh oaths, which, whether kept or broken, produce guilt. JOHNSON.

Rof. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?] Thus the folio. In the first quarto, this dialogue paffes between Catharine and Biron. It is a matter of little confequence. MALONE.

Ros. 'Tis 'long of you that spur me with fuch queftions.

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 fhould afk.
BIRON. Now fair befal your mask!

Ros. Fair fall the face it covers!
BIRON. And fend you many lovers!
Ros. Amen, fo 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 fum, Disbursed by my father in his wars.

But say, that he, or we, (as neither have,)
Receiv'd that fum; yet there remains unpaid
A hundred thoufand more; in furety 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 unfatisfied,
We will give up our right in Aquitain,
And hold fair friendship with his majefty,
But that, it seems, he little purposeth,
For here he doth demand to have repaid

An hundred thoufand 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,"
And have the money by our father lent,
Than Aquitain fo gelded as it is.

Dear princefs, were not his requests fo far
From reafon's yielding, your fair self should make
A yielding, 'gainst some reason, in my breast,
And go well fatisfied to France again.

PRIN. You do the king my father too much wrong,

And wrong the reputation of your name,

- and not demands,

On payment, &c.] The former editions read:

crowns.

66

and not demands

"One payment of a hundred thousand crowns,
"To have his title live in Aquitain."

I have reftored, I believe, the genuine fenfe of the paffage. Aquitain was pledged, it feems, 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: inftead whereof (fays Navarre) he should rather pay the remaining moiety, and demand to have Aquitain re-delivered. up to him. This is plain and eafy reafoning upon the fact suppos'd; and Navarre declares, he had rather receive the refidue of his debt, than detain the province mortgaged for fecurity 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. fc. iii. MALONE. 6depart withal,] To depart and to part were anciently fynonymous. So, in K. John:

"Hath willingly departed with a part." Again, in Every Man out of his Humour:

66

Faith, fir, I can hardly depart with ready money."

STEEVENS.

7 — gelded] To this phrafe Shak fpeare is peculiarly attached. It occurs in The Winter's Tale, King Richard II. King Henry IV. King Henry VI. &c. &c. but never lefs properly than in the prefent formal speech, addressed by a king to a maiden princess.

STEEVENS,

In fo unseeming to confefs receipt

Of that which hath fo faithfully been paid.
KING. I do proteft, I never heard of it;
And, if you prove it, I'll repay it back,
Or yield up Aquitain.

PRIN.
We arreft your word:-
Boyet, you can produce acquittances,
For fuch a fum, from special officers
Of Charles his father.

KING.

Satisfy me fo.

BorET. So please your grace, the packet is not

come,

Where that and other fpecialties are bound;
To-morrow you fhall have a fight of them.

KING. It fhall fuffice me: at which interview, All liberal reason I will yield unto.

Mean time, receive fuch welcome at my hand,
As honour, without breach of honour, may
Make tender of to thy true worthinefs:
You may not come, fair princefs, in my gates;
But here without you shall be so receiv'd,

As

you fhall deem yourself lodg'd in my heart, Though fo denied fair harbour in my house. Your own good thoughts excufe me, and farewel: To-morrow shall we vifit you again.

PRIN. Sweet health and fair defires confort your

grace!

KING. Thy own with 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 fee it.

BIRON. I would, you heard it groan.

Ros. Is the fool fick?

BIRON. Sick at the heart.

Ros. Alack, let it blood.

BIRON. Would that do it good?

Ros. My phyfick says, I.'

BIRON. Will you prick't with your eye?
Ros. No poynt, with my knife.
BIRON. Now, God fave 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 fame?3

Borer. The heir of Alençon, Rofaline her name.

Is the fool fick?] 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 fide of care."

MALONE.

My phyfick fays, I.] She means to fay, ay. The old fpelling of the affirmative particle has been retained here for the fake of the rhime. MALONE.

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 fame words, Act V. fc. ii. MALONE.

3 What lady is that fame?] It is odd that Shakspeare should make Dumain enquire after Rofaline, who was the mistress of Biron, and neglect Katharine, who was his own. Biron behaves in the fame 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 princefs. STEEVENS.

They certainly did. See p. 215, where Biron fays to Rofaline "Now fair befal your mask!" MALONE.