Biron. Is not nine.

Cost. Under correction, sir, we know whereuntil it doth amount.

Biron. By Jove, I always took three threes for nine. Cost. O Lord, sir, it were a pity you should get your living by reckoning, sir.

Biron. How much is it?

Cost. O Lord, sir, the parties themselves, the actors, sir, will show where until it doth amount: for my own part, I am, as they say, but to parfect one man,-e'en one poor man; Pompion the great, sir.

Biron. Art thou one of the worthies?

Cost. It pleased them, to think me worthy of Pompion the great for mine own part, I know not the degree of the worthy; but I am to stand for him.'

Biron. Go, bid them prepare.

Cost. We will turn it finely off, sir; we will take some

care.

[Exit COST. King. Birón, they will shame us, let them not ap

proach.

Biron. We are shame-proof, my lord: and 'tis some policy

To have one show worse than the king's and his company. King. I say, they shall not come.

Prin. Nay, my good lord, let me o'er-rule you now ; That sport best pleases, that doth least know how : Where zeal strives to content, and the contents Die in the zeal of them which it presents, Their form confounded makes most form in mirth ; When great things labouring perish in their birth, Biron. A right description of our sport, my lord. Enter ARMADO.

Arm. Anointed, I implore so much expense of thy royal sweet breath, as will utter a brace of words.

[ARMADO converses with the King, and delivers him a paper.

Prin. Doth this man serve God?
Biron. Why ask you?

Prin. He speaks not like a man of God's making. Arm. That's all one, my fair, sweet, honey monarch: for, I protest, the school-master is exceeding fantastical;

[1] This is a stroke of satire which, to this hour, has lost nothing of its force. Few performers are solicitous about the history of the character they are to represent. STEEVENS.

too, too vain; too, too vain. But we will put it, as they say, to fortuna della guerra. I wish you the peace of mind, most royal couplement !

[Exit.

King. Here is like to be a good presence of worthies: He presents Hector of Troy; the swain, Pompey the great; the parish curate, Alexander; Armado's page, Hercules; the pedant, Judas Machabæus.

And if these four worthies in their first show thrive, These four will change habits, and present the other five. Biron. There is five in the first show.

King. You are deceiv'd, 'tis not so.

Biron. The pedant, the braggart, the hedge-priest, the fool, and the boy :

Abate a throw at novum ; and the whole world again, Cannot prick out five such, take each one in his vein. King. The ship is under sail, and here she comes amain. [Seats brought for the King, Princess, &c.

Pageant of the Nine Worthies. Enter COSTARD arm'd, for POMPEY.

Cost. I Pompey am,

Boyet. You lie, you are not he.

Cost. I Pompey am,

Boyet. With libbard's head on knee."

[2] I suppose the meaning is, Except or put the chance of the dice out of the question, and the world cannot produce five such as these. Abate, from the Fr. abatre. MALONE.

[3] In MS. Harl: 2057, p. 31, is "The order of a showe intended to be made Aug. 1, 1621."

First, 2 wood men, &c.

"St. George fighting with the dragon.

"The 9 worthies in compleat armour with crownes of gould on their heads, every one having his esquires to beare before him his shield and penon of armes, dressed according as these lords were accustomed to be: 3 Assaralits, 3 Infidels, 3 Christians. "After them, a Fame, to declare the rare virtues and noble deedes of the 9 worthye women."

Such a pageant as this, we may suppose it was the design of Shakespeare to ridicule. STEEVENS.

This sort of procession was the usual recreation of our ancestors at Christmas and other festive seasons. Such things, being chiefly plotted and composed by ignorant people, were seldom committed to writing, at least with the view of preservation, and are of course rarely discovered in the researches of even the most industrious antiquaries. And it is certain that nothing of the kind (except the speeches in this scene, which were intended to burlesque them) ever appeared in print." This observation belongs to Mr. Ritson, who has printed a genuine specimen of the poetry and manner of this rude and ancient drama, from an original manuscript of Edward the Fourth's time. (Tanner's MSS. 407.) REED.

[4] This alludes to the old heroic habits, which on the knees and shoulders had usually by way of ornament, the resemblance of a leopard's or lion's head. WARBURTON.

Biron. Well said, old mocker; I must needs be friends with thee.

Cost. I Pompey am, Pompey surnam'd the big,

Dum. The great.

Cost. It is great, sir;-Pompey surnam'd the great; That oft in field, with targe and shield, did make my foe to

sweat:

And, travelling along this coast, I here am come by chance, And lay my arms before the legs of this sweet lass of France.

If your ladyship would say, Thanks, Pompey, I had done. Prin. Great thanks, great Pompey.

Cost. 'Tis not so much worth; but, I hope, I was perfect: I made a little fault in, great.

Biron. My hat to a halfpenny, Pompey proves the best worthy.

Enter NATHANIEL arm'd, for Alexander.

Nath. When in the world I liv'd, I was the world's commander;

By east, west, north, and south, I spread my conquering might:

My 'scutcheon plain declares, that I am Alisander.

Boyet. Your nose says no, you are not; for it stands too right."

Biron. Your nose smells, no, in this, most tender-
smelling knight.

Prin. The conqueror is dismay'd: Proceed, good
Alexander.

Nath. When in the world I liv'd, I was the world's com

mander ;—

Boyet. Most true, 'tis right; you were so, Alisander.
Biron. Pompey the great,-

Cost. Your servant, and Costárd.

Biron. Take away the conqueror, take away Alisander. Cost. O, sir, [To NATH.] you have overthrown Alisander the conqueror! You will be scraped out of the painted cloth for this: your lion, that holds his poll-ax sitting on a close-stool,' will be given to A-jax : he will

[6] It should be remembered, to relish this joke, that the head of Alexander was placed obliquely on his shoulders. STEEVENS.

[7] This alludes to the arms given in the old history of the Nine Worthies, to "Alexander, the which did beare geules, a lion, or seiante in a chager, holding a battle-ax argent." Leigh's Accidence of Armory, 1597. TOLLET.

[8] There is a conceit of Ajax and a jakes.

JOHNSON.

be the ninth worthy. A conqueror, and afeard to speak! run away for shame, Alisander. [NATH. retires.]There, an't shall please you; a foolish mild man; an honest man, look you, and soon dash'd! He is a mar vellous good neighbour, insooth; and a very good bowler: but, for Alisander, alas, you see, how 'tis ;-a little o'erparted:2-But there are worthies a coming will speak their mind in some other sort.

Prin. Stand aside, good Pompey.

Enter HOLOFERNES arm'd, for Judas, and MoтH arm'd, for Hercules.

Hol. Great Hercules is presented by this imp,
Whose club kill'd Cerberus, that three-headed canus ;
And, when he was a babe, a child, a shrimp,

Thus did he strangle serpents in his manus :

Quoniam, he seemeth in minority;

Ergo, I come with this apology.

Keep some state in thy exit, and vanish.

[Exit MOTH.

Hol. Judas I am,

Dum. A Judas!

Hol. Not Iscariot, sir.

Judas I am, ycleped Machabæus.

Dum. Judas Machabæus clipt, is plain Judas.

Biron. A kissing traitor :-How art thou prov'd Judas?

Hol. Judas I am,—

Dum. The more shame for you, Judas.

Hol. What mean you, sir?

Boyet. To make Judas hang himself.

Hol. Begin, sir; you are my elder.

Biron. Well follow'd: Judas was hang'd on an elder

Hol. I will not be put out of countenance.

Biron. Because thou hast no face.

Hol. What is this?

Boyet. A cittern head.

Dum. The head of a bodkin.

Biron. A death's face in a ring.

Long. The face of an old Roman coin, scarce seen

Boyet. The pummel of Cæsar's faulchion.

Dum. The carv'd-bone face on a flask.'

[9] That is, the part or character allotted to him in this piece is too considerable.

MALONE.

Biron. St. George's half-cheek in a brooch.

Dum. Ay, and in a brooch of lead.

Biron. Ay, and worn in the cap of a tooth-drawer:
And now, forward; for we have put thee in countenance.
Hol. You have put me out of countenance.

Biron. False; we have given thee faces.
Hol. But you have out-fac'd them all.

Biron. An thou wert a lion, we would do so.

Boyet. Therefore, as he is, an ass,

let him go.

And so adieu, sweet Jude! nay, why dost thou stay?
Dum. For the latter end of his name.

Biron. For the ass to the Jude; give it him :-Jud-as,

away.

Hol. This is not generous, not gentle, not humble. Boyet. A light for monsieur Judas: it grows dark, he may stumble.

Prin. Alas, poor Machabæus, how hath he been baited!

Enter ARMADO arm'd, for Hector.

Biron. Hide thy head, Achilles; here comes Hector in arms.

Dum. Though my mocks come home by me, I will now be merry.

King. Hector was but a Trojan' in respect of this.
Boyet. But is this Hector?

Dum. I think, Hector was not so clean-timber'd,

Long. His leg is too big for Hector.

Dum. More calf, certain.

Boyet. No; he is best indued in the small.

Biron. This cannot be Hector.

Dum. He's a god or a painter; for he makes faces. Arm. The armipotent Mars, of lances the almighty, Gave Hector a gift,—

Dum. A gilt nutmeg.

Biron. A lemon.

Long. Stuck with cloves.*

[2] A Trojan, I believe, was in the time of Shakespeare, a cant term for a thief. So, in King Henry IV. P. I. "Tut, there are other Trojans, that thou dream'st Not of." &c. STEEVENS. [3] i. e. of lance-men. STEEVENS.

[4] An orange stuck with cloves appears to have been a common new-year's gift. A gilt nutmeg is mentioned by Ben Jonson as a present on the same occasion. The use, however, of an orange, &c. may be ascertained from The Second Booke of Notable Thinges, by Thomas Lupton, 4to. bl. 1.: "Wyne wyll be pleasant in taste and savour if an orenge or a Lymon (stickt round about with Cloaves) be hanged within the vessell that it touche not the wyne. And so the wyne wyll be preserved from foystines and evyll savour." STEEVENS.