Moth. I will tell you sensibly. Cost. Thou hast no feeling of it, Moth; I will speak that l'envoy. I, Costard, running out, that was safely within, Arm. We will talk no more of this matter. Arm. By my sweet soul, I mean, setting thee at liberty, enfreedoming thy person; thou wert immured, restrained, captivated, bound. Cost. True, true; and now you will be my purgation, and let me loose. 1 Arm. I give thee thy liberty, set thee from durance; and, in lieu thereof, impose on thee nothing but this. Bear this significant to the country maid Jaquenetta. There is remuneration; [Giving him money.] for the best ward of mine honor is, rewarding my dependants. Moth, follow. [Exit. Moth. Like the sequel, I.-Seignior Costard, adieu. Cost. My sweet ounce of man's flesh! My incony 1 Jew![Exit MOTH. Now will I look to his remuneration. Remuneration! O, that's the Latin word for three farthings: three farthings—remuneration.-What's the price of this inkle? A penny.-No, I'll give you a remuneration. Why, it carries it. Remuneration!-Why, it is a fairer name than French crown. I will never buy and sell out of this word. Enter BIRON. Biron. O, my good knave Costard! exceedingly well met. Cost. Pray you, sir, how much carnation riband may a man buy for a remuneration ? · Incony or kony, says Warburton, signifies, in the north, fine or delicate. It seems to be substantially the same with canny, a familiar Scotch word. Biron. What is a remuneration? Cost. Marry, sir, half-penny farthing. Biron. O, why, then, three farthings worth of silk. As thou wilt win my favor, good my knave, Cost. When would you have it done, sir? Cost. Well, I will do it, sir. Fare you well. Cost. I shall know, sir, when I have done it. Cost. I will come to your worship to-morrow morning. Biron. It must be done this afternoon. Hark slave, it is but this. The princess comes to hunt here in the park, And in her train there is a gentle lady; When tongues speak sweetly, then they name her name, And Rosaline they call her. Ask for her; And to her white hand see thou do commend This sealed-up counsel. There's thy guerdon; go. [Gives him money. Cost. Guerdon,-O sweet guerdon! better than remuneration; eleven-pence farthing better. Most sweet guerdon !-I will do it, sir, in print.'-Guerdon [Exit. -remuneration. Biron. O!—And I, forsooth, in love! I, that have been love's whip; A very beadle to a humorous sigh; A critic; nay, a night-watch constable; A domineering pedant o'er the boy, Than whom no mortal so magnificent! 2 This wimpled,3 whining, purblind, wayward boy; 1 With the utmost nicety. 2 Magnificent here means glorying, boasting. 3 To wimple is to veil, from guimple (Fr.). Shakspeare means no more than that Cupid was hood-winked. VOL. II. 14 This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid; Of trotting paritors 2-O my little heart- 4 3 And wear his colors like a tumbler's hoop! Well, I will love, write, sigh, pray, sue, and groan; 1 Plackets were stomachers. 2 The officers of the spiritual courts who serve citations. 3 It appears from Lord Stafford's Letters, vol. ii. p. 199, that a corporal of the field was employed, as an aid-de-camp is now, "in taking and carrying to and fro the directions of the general, or other higher officers of the field." 4 It was once a mark of gallantry to wear a lady's colors. So in Cynthia's Revels, by Jonson, "despatches his lacquey to her chamber early, to know what her colors are for the day." It appears that a tumbler's hoop was usually dressed out with colored ribands. SCENE I. ACT IV. Another part of the same. Enter the Princess, ROSALINE, MARIA, KAtharine, BOYET, Lords, Attendants, and a Forester. Prin. Was that the king, that spurred his horse so hard Against the steep uprising of the hill ? Boyet. I know not; but I think it was not he. Prin. Whoe'er he was, he showed a mounting mind. Well, lords, to-day we shall have our despatch; O short-lived pride! Not fair? alack for woe! Prin. [Giving him money. A giving hand, though foul, shall have fair praise.— If wounding, then it was to show my skill, When, for fame's sake, for praise, an outward part, The poor deer's blood, that my heart means no ill. Prin. Only for praise; and praise we may afford Enter COSTARD. Here comes a member of the commonwealth.1 2 Cost. God dig-you-den all! Pray you, which is the head lady? Prin. Thou shalt know her, fellow, by the rest that have no heads. Cost. Which is the greatest lady, the highest? Prin. The thickest, and the tallest. Cost. The thickest, and the tallest! It is so; truth is truth. An your waist, mistress, were as slender as my wit, One of these maids' girdles for your waist should be fit. Are not you the chief woman? You are the thickest here. Prin. What's your will, sir? what's your will? Cost. I have a letter from monsieur Biron, to one lady Rosaline. Prin. O, thy letter, thy letter; he's a good friend of mine. Stand aside, good bearer.-Boyet, you can carve; 1 The princess calls Costard a member of the commonwealth, because he is one of the attendants on the king and his associates in their newmodelled society. 2 A corruption of God give you good even. 3 i. e. open this letter. The poet uses this metaphor as the French do their poulet; which signifies both a young fowl and a love-letter. |