| ACT II SCENE I | The same. | |
| | Enter the PRINCESS of France, ROSALINE, MARIA, KATHARINE,
BOYET, Lords, and other Attendants. | |
| BOYET | Now, madam, summon up your dearest spirits: | |
| | Consider who the king your father sends, | |
| | To whom he sends, and what's his embassy: | |
| | Yourself, held precious in the world's esteem, | 5 |
| | To parley with the sole inheritor | |
| | Of all perfections that a man may owe, | |
| | Matchless Navarre; the plea of no less weight | |
| | Than Aquitaine, a dowry for a queen. | |
| | Be now as prodigal of all dear grace | 10 |
| | As Nature was in making graces dear | |
| | When she did starve the general world beside | |
| | And prodigally gave them all to you. | |
| PRINCESS | Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean, | |
| | Needs not the painted flourish of your praise: | 15 |
| | Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye, | |
| | Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues: | |
| | I am less proud to hear you tell my worth | |
| | Than you much willing to be counted wise | |
| | In spending your wit in the praise of mine. | 20 |
| | But now to task the tasker: good Boyet, | |
| | You are not ignorant, all-telling fame | |
| | Doth noise abroad, Navarre hath made a vow, | |
| | Till painful study shall outwear three years, | |
| | No woman may approach his silent court: | 25 |
| | Therefore to's seemeth it a needful course, | |
| | Before we enter his forbidden gates, | |
| | To know his pleasure; and in that behalf, | |
| | Bold of your worthiness, we single you | |
| | As our best-moving fair solicitor. | 30 |
| | Tell him, the daughter of the King of France, | |
| | On serious business, craving quick dispatch, | |
| | Importunes personal conference with his grace: | |
| | Haste, signify so much; while we attend, | |
| | Like humble-visaged suitors, his high will. | 35 |
| BOYET | Proud of employment, willingly I go. | |
| PRINCESS | All pride is willing pride, and yours is so. | |
| | Exit BOYET. | |
| | Who are the votaries, my loving lords, | |
| | That are vow-fellows with this virtuous duke? | |
| First Lord | Lord Longaville is one. | 40 |
| PRINCESS | Know you the man? | |
| MARIA | I know him, madam: at a marriage-feast, | |
| | Between Lord Perigort and the beauteous heir | |
| | Of Jaques Falconbridge, solemnized | |
| | In Normandy, saw I this Longaville: | 45 |
| | A man of sovereign parts he is esteem'd; | |
| | Well fitted in arts, glorious in arms: | |
| | Nothing becomes him ill that he would well. | |
| | The only soil of his fair virtue's gloss, | |
| | If virtue's gloss will stain with any soil, | 50 |
| | Is a sharp wit matched with too blunt a will; | |
| | Whose edge hath power to cut, whose will still wills | |
| | It should none spare that come within his power. | |
| PRINCESS | Some merry mocking lord, belike; is't so? | |
| MARIA | They say so most that most his humours know. | 55 |
| PRINCESS | Such short-lived wits do wither as they grow. | |
| | Who are the rest? | |
| KATHARINE | The young Dumain, a well-accomplished youth, | |
| | Of all that virtue love for virtue loved: | |
| | Most power to do most harm, least knowing ill; | 60 |
| | For he hath wit to make an ill shape good, | |
| | And shape to win grace though he had no wit. | |
| | I saw him at the Duke Alencon's once; | |
| | And much too little of that good I saw | |
| | Is my report to his great worthiness. | 65 |
| ROSALINE | Another of these students at that time | |
| | Was there with him, if I have heard a truth. | |
| | Biron they call him; but a merrier man, | |
| | Within the limit of becoming mirth, | |
| | I never spent an hour's talk withal: | 70 |
| | His eye begets occasion for his wit; | |
| | For every object that the one doth catch | |
| | The other turns to a mirth-moving jest, | |
| | Which his fair tongue, conceit's expositor, | |
| | Delivers in such apt and gracious words | 75 |
| | That aged ears play truant at his tales | |
| | And younger hearings are quite ravished; | |
| | So sweet and voluble is his discourse. | |
| PRINCESS | God bless my ladies! are they all in love, | |
| | That every one her own hath garnished | 80 |
| | With such bedecking ornaments of praise? | |
| First Lord | Here comes Boyet. | |
| | Re-enter BOYET. | |
| PRINCESS | Now, what admittance, lord? | |
| BOYET | Navarre had notice of your fair approach; | |
| | And he and his competitors in oath | 85 |
| | Were all address'd to meet you, gentle lady, | |
| | Before I came. Marry, thus much I have learnt: | |
| | He rather means to lodge you in the field, | |
| | Like one that comes here to besiege his court, | |
| | Than seek a dispensation for his oath, | 90 |
| | To let you enter his unpeopled house. | |
| | Here comes Navarre. | |
| | Enter FERDINAND, LONGAVILLE, DUMAIN, BIRON, and Attendants. | |
| FERDINAND | Fair princess, welcome to the court of Navarre. | |
| PRINCESS | 'Fair' I give you back again; and 'welcome' I have | |
| | not yet: the roof of this court is too high to be | 95 |
| | yours; and welcome to the wide fields too base to be mine. | |
| FERDINAND | You shall be welcome, madam, to my court. | |
| PRINCESS | I will be welcome, then: conduct me thither. | |
| FERDINAND | Hear me, dear lady; I have sworn an oath. | |
| PRINCESS | Our Lady help my lord! he'll be forsworn. | 100 |
| FERDINAND | Not for the world, fair madam, by my will. | |
| PRINCESS | Why, will shall break it; will and nothing else. | |
| FERDINAND | Your ladyship is ignorant what it is. | |
| PRINCESS | Were my lord so, his ignorance were wise, | |
| | Where now his knowledge must prove ignorance. | 105 |
| | I hear your grace hath 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. | 110 |
| | Vouchsafe to read the purpose of my coming, | |
| | And suddenly resolve me in my suit. | |
| FERDINAND | Madam, I will, if suddenly I may. | |
| PRINCESS | You will the sooner, that I were away; | |
| | For you'll prove perjured if you make me stay. | 115 |
| BIRON | Did not I dance with you in Brabant once? | |
| ROSALINE | Did not I dance with you in Brabant once? | |
| BIRON | I know you did. | |
| ROSALINE | How needless was it then to ask the question! | |
| BIRON | You must not be so quick. | 120 |
| ROSALINE | 'Tis 'long of you that spur me with such questions. | |
| BIRON | Your wit's too hot, it speeds too fast, 'twill tire. | |
| ROSALINE | Not till it leave the rider in the mire. | |
| BIRON | What time o' day? | |
| ROSALINE | The hour that fools should ask. | 125 |
| BIRON | Now fair befall your mask! | |
| ROSALINE | Fair fall the face it covers! | |
| BIRON | And send you many lovers! | |
| ROSALINE | Amen, so you be none. | |
| BIRON | Nay, then will I be gone. | 130 |
| FERDINAND | Madam, your father here doth intimate | |
| | The payment of a hundred thousand crowns; | |
| | Being but the one half of an entire sum | |
| | Disbursed by my father in his wars. | |
| | But say that he or we, as neither have, | 135 |
| | Received that sum, yet there remains unpaid | |
| | A hundred thousand more; in surety of the which, | |
| | One part of Aquitaine is bound to us, | |
| | Although not valued to the money's worth. | |
| | If then the king your father will restore | 140 |
| | But that one half which is unsatisfied, | |
| | We will give up our right in Aquitaine, | |
| | And hold fair friendship with his majesty. | |
| | But that, it seems, he little purposeth, | |
| | For here he doth demand to have repaid | 145 |
| | A hundred thousand crowns; and not demands, | |
| | On payment of a hundred thousand crowns, | |
| | To have his title live in Aquitaine; | |
| | Which we much rather had depart withal | |
| | And have the money by our father lent | 150 |
| | Than Aquitaine so gelded as it is. | |
| | Dear Princess, were not his requests so far | |
| | From reason's yielding, your fair self should make | |
| | A yielding 'gainst some reason in my breast | |
| | And go well satisfied to France again. | 155 |
| PRINCESS | 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. | |
| FERDINAND | I do protest I never heard of it; | 160 |
| | And if you prove it, I'll repay it back | |
| | Or yield up Aquitaine. | |
| PRINCESS | We arrest your word. | |
| | Boyet, you can produce acquittances | |
| | For such a sum from special officers | 165 |
| | Of Charles his father. | |
| FERDINAND | 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. | 170 |
| FERDINAND | It shall suffice me: at which interview | |
| | All liberal reason I will yield unto. | |
| | Meantime receive such welcome at my hand | |
| | As honour without breach of honour may | |
| | Make tender of to thy true worthiness: | 175 |
| | You may not come, fair princess, in my gates; | |
| | But here without you shall be so received | |
| | As you shall deem yourself lodged in my heart, | |
| | Though so denied fair harbour in my house. | |
| | Your own good thoughts excuse me, and farewell: | 180 |
| | To-morrow shall we visit you again. | |
| PRINCESS | Sweet health and fair desires consort your grace! | |
| FERDINAND | Thy own wish wish I thee in every place! | |
| | Exit | |
| BIRON | Lady, I will commend you to mine own heart. | |
| ROSALINE | Pray you, do my commendations; I would be glad to see it. | 185 |
| BIRON | I would you heard it groan. | |
| ROSALINE | Is the fool sick? | |
| BIRON | Sick at the heart. | |
| ROSALINE | Alack, let it blood. | |
| BIRON | Would that do it good? | 190 |
| ROSALINE | My physic says 'ay.' | |
| BIRON | Will you prick't with your eye? | |
| ROSALINE | No point, with my knife. | |
| BIRON | Now, God save thy life! | |
| ROSALINE | And yours from long living! | 195 |
| BIRON | I cannot stay thanksgiving. | |
| | Retiring | |
| DUMAIN | Sir, I pray you, a word: what lady is that same? | |
| BOYET | The heir of Alencon, Katharine her name. | |
| DUMAIN | A gallant lady. Monsieur, fare you well. | |
| | Exit | |
| LONGAVILLE | I beseech you a word: what is she in the white? | 200 |
| BOYET | A woman sometimes, an you saw her in the light. | |
| LONGAVILLE | Perchance light in the light. I desire her name. | |
| BOYET | She hath but one for herself; to desire that were a shame. | |
| LONGAVILLE | Pray you, sir, whose daughter? | |
| BOYET | Her mother's, I have heard. | 205 |
| LONGAVILLE | God's blessing on your beard! | |
| BOYET | Good sir, be not offended. | |
| | She is an heir of Falconbridge. | |
| LONGAVILLE | Nay, my choler is ended. | |
| | She is a most sweet lady. | 210 |
| BOYET | Not unlike, sir, that may be. | |
| | Exit LONGAVILLE | |
| BIRON | What's her name in the cap? | |
| BOYET | Rosaline, by good hap. | |
| BIRON | Is she wedded or no? | |
| BOYET | To her will, sir, or so. | 215 |
| BIRON | You are welcome, sir: adieu. | |
| BOYET | Farewell to me, sir, and welcome to you. | |
| | Exit BIRON. | |
| MARIA | That last is Biron, the merry madcap lord: | |
| | Not a word with him but a jest. | |
| BOYET | And every jest but a word. | 220 |
| PRINCESS | It was well done of you to take him at his word. | |
| BOYET | I was as willing to grapple as he was to board. | |
| MARIA | Two hot sheeps, marry. | |
| BOYET | And wherefore not ships? | |
| | No sheep, sweet lamb, unless we feed on your lips. | 225 |
| MARIA | You sheep, and I pasture: shall that finish the jest? | |
| BOYET | So you grant pasture for me. | |
| | Offering to kiss her | |
| MARIA | Not so, gentle beast: | |
| | My lips are no common, though several they be. | |
| BOYET | Belonging to whom? | 230 |
| MARIA | To my fortunes and me. | |
| PRINCESS | Good wits will be jangling; but, gentles, agree: | |
| | This civil war of wits were much better used | |
| | On Navarre and his book-men; for here 'tis abused. | |
| BOYET | If my observation, which very seldom lies, | 235 |
| | By the heart's still rhetoric disclosed with eyes, | |
| | Deceive me not now, Navarre is infected. | |
| PRINCESS | With what? | |
| BOYET | With that which we lovers entitle affected. | |
| PRINCESS | Your reason? | 240 |
| BOYET | Why, all his behaviors did make their retire | |
| | To the court of his eye, peeping thorough desire: | |
| | His heart, like an agate, with your print impress'd, | |
| | Proud with his form, in his eye pride express'd: | |
| | His tongue, all impatient to speak and not see, | 245 |
| | Did stumble with haste in his eyesight to be; | |
| | All senses to that sense did make their repair, | |
| | To feel only looking on fairest of fair: | |
| | Methought all his senses were lock'd in his eye, | |
| | As jewels in crystal for some prince to buy; | 250 |
| | Who, tendering their own worth from where they were glass'd, | |
| | Did point you to buy them, along as you pass'd: | |
| | His face's own margent did quote such amazes | |
| | That all eyes saw his eyes enchanted with gazes. | |
| | I'll give you Aquitaine and all that is his, | 255 |
| | An you give him for my sake but one loving kiss. | |
| PRINCESS | Come to our pavilion: Boyet is disposed. | |
| BOYET | But to speak that in words which his eye hath | |
| | disclosed. | |
| | I only have made a mouth of his eye, | 260 |
| | By adding a tongue which I know will not lie. | |
| ROSALINE | Thou art an old love-monger and speakest skilfully. | |
| MARIA | He is Cupid's grandfather and learns news of him. | |
| ROSALINE | Then was Venus like her mother, for her father is but grim. | |
| BOYET | Do you hear, my mad wenches? | 265 |
| MARIA | No. | |
| BOYET | What then, do you see? | |
| ROSALINE | Ay, our way to be gone. | |
| BOYET | You are too hard for me. | |
| | Exeunt | |
