Prin. Re-enter BOYET. Now, what admittance, lord? Boyet. Navarre had notice of your fair approach ; And he, and his competitors1 in oath, 2 Were all addressed to meet you, gentle lady, (Like one that comes here to besiege his court,) To let you enter his unpeopled house. [The ladies mask. Enter KING, LONGAVILLE, DUMAIN, BIRON, and Attendants. King. Fair princess, welcome to the court of Navarre. Prin. Fair, I give you back again; and, welcome I have not yet. The roof of this court is too high to be yours; and welcome to the wild fields too base to be mine. King. You shall be welcome, madam, to my court. Prin. I will be welcome then; conduct me thither. King. Hear me, dear lady; I have sworn an oath. Prin. Our lady help my lord! He'll be forsworn. King. Not for the world, fair madam, by my will. Prin. Why, will shall break it; will, and nothing else. King. Your ladyship is ignorant what it is. Prin. Were my lord so, his ignorance were wise, Where now his knowledge must prove ignorance. I hear your grace has sworn-out house-keeping. 'Tis deadly sin to keep that oath, my lord, And sin to break it. But pardon me, I am too sudden-bold ; To teach a teacher ill beseemeth me. Vouchsafe to read the purpose of my coming, Prin. You will the sooner, that I were away; Ros. How needless was it then You must not be so quick. Ros. 'Tis 'long of you that spur me with such questions. 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 should ask. Biron. Now fair befall your mask! King. Madam, your father here doth intimate The payment of a hundred thousand crowns; But say, that he, or we, (as neither have,) A hundred thousand more; in surety of the which, Although not valued to the money's worth. A hundred thousand crowns; and not demands, To have his title live in Aquitain ; Which we much rather had depart1 withal, Than Aquitain so gelded as it is. Dear princess, were not his requests so far From reason's yielding, your fair self should make 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. Prin. We arrest your word.— Boyet, you can produce acquittances, 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, Mean time, receive such welcome at my hand, Prin. Sweet health and fair desires consort your grace! King. Thy own wish wish I thee in every place! [Exeunt King and his Train. 1 To depart and to part were anciently synonymous, Biron. Lady, I will commend you to my own heart. Ros. 'Pray you, do my commendations; I would be glad to see it. Biron. I would you heard it groan. Ros. Is the fool sick? Biron. Sick at the heart. Ros. Alack, let it blood. Biron. Would that do it good? Ros. My Physic says, I.1 1 Biron. Will you prick't with your eye? Ros. No point, with my knife. Biron. Now, God save thy life! Ros. And yours from long living! [Retiring. Dum. Sir, I pray you, a word. What lady is that same? 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? She is an heir of Falconbridge. Boyet. Not unlike, sir; that may be. [Exit LONG. 1 The old spelling of the affirmative particle ay is here retained for the sake of the rhyme. 2 Point, in French, is an adverb of negation, but, if properly spoken, is not sounded like the English word. A quibble was, however, intended. Biron. What's her name, in the cap? Boyet. Katharine, by good hap. Boyet. To her will, sir, or so. Biron. You are welcome, sir; adieu! Boyet. Farewell 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. 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. Mar. You sheep, and I pasture; shall that finish the jest? Boyet. So you grant pasture for me. [Offering to kiss her. Not so, gentle beast; 1 Mar. Mar. To my fortunes and me. Prin. Good wits will be jangling, but, gentles, agree; The civil war of wits were much better used By the heart's still rhetoric, disclosed with eyes, Prin. With what? Boyet. With that which we lovers entitle, affected. Prin. Your reason? 1 A quibble is here intended upon the word several, which, besides its ordinary signification of separate, distinct, signified also an inclosed pasture, as opposed to an open field or common. Bacon and others used it in this sense. |