Thou makest the triumviry, the corner-cap of

society,

The shape of love's Tyburn that hangs up sim

plicity.

Lon. I fear, these stubborn lines lack power to

move.

O sweet Maria, empress of my love!

These numbers will I tear, and write in prose.

Bir. O, rhymes are guards on wanton Cupid's

hose :

Disfigure not his slop.

[aside.

Lon.

This same shall go.

[he reads the sonnet.

'Did not the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye, ('Gainst whom the world cannot hold argu

ment)

Persuade my heart to this false perjury?

Vows, for thee broke, deserve not punishment. A woman I forswore; but, I will prove,

Thou being a goddess, I forswore not thee : My vow was earthly, thou a heavenly love; Thy grace being gain'd, cures all disgrace

in me.

Vows are but breath, and breath a vapor is:

Then thou, fair sun, which on my earth dost shine,

Exhalest this vapor vow; in thee it is:

If broken then, it is no fault of mine; If by me broke, what fool is not so wise, To lose an oath to win a paradise?'

Bir. [aside.] This is the liver vein,1 which makes flesh a deity;

A green goose, a goddess: pure, pure idolatry.
God amend us, God amend! we are much out o' the

Lon. By whom shall I send this?-Company!

stay.

[stepping aside. Bir. [aside.] All hid, all hid,2 an old infant play : Like a demigod here sit I in the sky,

And wretched fools' secrets heedfully o'er-eye. More sacks to the mill! O heavens, I have my wish; Dumain transform'd: four woodcocks in a dish! Dum. O most divine Kate !

Bir. O most profane coxcomb!

[aside.

Dum. By heaven, the wonder of a mortal eye! Bir. By earth, she is but corporal; there you lie.

[aside. Dum. Her amber hairs for foul have amber coted.3 Bir. An amber-color'd raven was well noted.

[aside.

1 The liver was anciently supposed to be the seat of love. 2 Children's cry at hide and seek.

Outstripped, surpassed.

Bir. Ay, as some days; but then no sun must

shine.

Dum. O that I had my wish!

Lon.

[aside.

And I had mine! [aside.

King. And I mine too, good lord!

[aside.

Bir. Amen, so I had mine. Is not that a good

word?

[aside.

Dum. I would forget her; but a fever she Reigns in my blood, and will remember'd be. Bir. A fever in your blood? why, then incision Would let her out in saucers. Sweet misprision! [aside.

Dum. Once more I'll read the ode that I have writ. Bir. Once more I'll mark how love can vary wit. [aside.

Dum. On a day, (alack the day!)

Love, whose month is ever May,
Spied a blossom, passing fair,
Playing in the wanton air:

Through the velvet leaves the wind,
All unseen, 'gan passage find
That the lover, sick to death,

Wish'd himself the heaven's breath.
Air, quoth he, thy cheeks may blow;
Air, would I might triumph so!
But, alack, my hand is sworn,
Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn :
Vow, alack, for youth unmeet;
Youth, so apt to pluck a sweet.
Do not call it sin in me,

That I am forsworn for thee;

Thou, for whom even Jove would swear,
Juno but an Ethiop were ;

And deny himself for Jove,

Turning mortal for thy love.'

This will I send; and something else more plain,
That shall express my true love's fasting pain.
O, would the king, Biron, and Longaville
Were lovers too! Ill, to example ill,

Would from my forehead wipe a perjured note;
For none offend, where all alike do dote.

Lon. Dumain, [advancing.] thy love is far from charity,

That in love's grief desirest society:

You may look pale; but I should blush, I know,
To be o'erheard, and taken napping so.

King. Come, sir, [advancing.] you blush; as his your case is such ;

You chide at him, offending twice as much :
You do not love Maria; Longaville
Did never sonnet for her sake compile ;
Nor never lay his wreathed arms athwart
His loving bosom, to keep down his heart.
I have been closely shrouded in this bush,
And mark'd you both, and for you both did blush.
I heard your guilty rhymes, observed your fashion;
Saw sighs reek from you, noted well your passion :
Ah me!' says one; O Jove!' the other cries;
One, her hairs were gold, crystal the other's eyes:
You would for paradise break faith and troth;

[to Longaville. And Jove, for your love, would infringe an oath.

[to Dumain.

What will Biron say, when that he shall hear
Faith infringed, which such zeal did swear?
How will he scorn? how will he spend his wit?
How will he triumph, leap, and laugh at it?
For all the wealth that ever I did see,

I would not have him know so much by me.
Bir. Now step I forth to whip hypocrisy.—
Ah, good my liege, I pray thee, pardon me.

[descends from the tree. Good heart, what grace hast thou, thus to reprove These worms for loving, that art most in love? Your eyes do make no coaches; in your tears, There is no certain princess that appears: You'll not be perjured; 'tis a hateful thing: Tush, none but minstrels like of sonneting. But are you not ashamed? nay, are you not, All three of you, to be thus much o'ershot? You found his mote; the king your mote did

see;

But I a beam do find in each of three.

O, what a scene of foolery I have seen,

Of sighs, of groans, of sorrow, and of teen! 1
O me, with what strict patience have I sat,
To see a king transformed to a gnat!
To see great Hercules whipping a gig,
And profound Solomon to tune a jig,
And Nestor play at push-pin with the boys,
And critic 2 Timon laugh at idle toys!