Thus doft thou hear the Nemean lion roar

'Gainst thee, thou lamb, that ftandeft as his prey; Submiffive fall his princely feet before,

And he from forage will incline to play.

But if thou ftrive (poor foul) what art thou then ?
Food for his rage, repafture for his den.

[letter? Prin. What plume of feathers is he, that indited this What vane? what weathercock? did you ever hear better? Boyet. I am much deceiv'd, but I remember the ftile. Prin. Elfe your memory is bad, going o'er it ere while. Boyet. This Armado is a Spaniard that keeps here in court, A phantafme, a monarcho, and one that makes sport To the Prince and his book-mates.

Prin. Thou, fellow, a word:

Who gave thee this letter?

Coft. I told you; my Lord.

Prin. To whom should'st thou give it?

Coft. From my Lord to my Lady.

Prin. From which Lord to which Lady?

Coft. From my Lord Berown, a good mafter of mine,

To a Lady of France, that he call'd Rosaline.

Prin.Thou haft mistaken his letter. Come, Lords, away. Here, fweet, put up this; 'twill be thine another day. [Exit Princess attended. Boyet. Who is the fhooter? who is the fhooter? Rofa. Shall I teach you to know ?

Boyet. Ay, my continent of beauty.

Rofa. Why, the that bears the bow. Finely put off. Boyet. My Lady goes to kill horns: but if thou marry, Hang me by the neck, if horns that year miscarry. Finely put on..

Rofa. Well then, I am the fhooter.

Boyet. And who is your deer?

Rofa. If we chufe by horns, yourself; come not near. Finely put on, indeed..

Mar. You ftill wrangle with her, Boyet, and fhe ftrikes at the brow.

Boyet. But fhe herself is hit lower. Have I hit her now? Rofa. Shall I come upon thee with an old faying, that was a man when King Pippin of France was a little boy, as touching the hit it.

Boyet.

Boyet. So I may answer thee with one as old, that was a woman when Queen Guinover of Britain was a little wench, as touching the hit it.

Rofa. Thou can'ft not hit it, hit it, hit it. [Singing. Thou can'ft not hit it, my good man.

Boyet. An I cannot, cannot, cannot; An I cannot, another can.

[Exit Rofa. Coft. By my troth, moft pleasant; how both did fit it. Mar. A mark marvellous well fhot; for they both did hit

it.

Boyet. A mark? O, mark but that mark! a mark, fays my lady;

Let the mark have a prick in't, to meet at, if it may be. Mar. Wide o' th' bow-hand; i'faith, your hand is out. Coft. Indeed, a' must shoot nearer, or he'll ne'er hit the clout.

Boyet. Anif my hand be out, then belike your hand is in. Coft. Then will he get the upshot by cleaving the pin. Mar.Come,come, you talk greafily; your lips grow foul. Coft. She's too hard for you at pricks, Sir, challenge her to bowl.

Boyet. I fear too much rubbing; good night, my good [Exeunt all but Coftard.

owl. Coft. By my foul, a fwain; a moft fimple clown. Lord, Lord! how the Ladies and I have put him down! O' my troth, moft sweet jefts, moft incony vulgar wit, When it comes fo fmoothly off, fo obfcenely, as it were, fo fit.

Armado o' th' one fide,-O, a most dainty man ;

To fee him walk before a Lady, and to bear her fan. To fee him kifs his hand, and how moft fweetly he will

fwear:

And his page o' t' other fide, that handful of wit;
Ah, heav'ns! it is a most pathetical nit.

[Exit Coftard.

[Shouting within.

Enter Dull, Holofernes, and Sir Nathaniel.

Nath. Very reverend fport, truly; and done in the

teftimony of a good conscience.

Hol. The deer was (as you know) sanguis, in blood;

ripe as a pomwater, who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of Colo, the fky, the welkin, the heav'n; and anon falleth like a crab on the face of terra, the foil, the land, the earth.

Nath. Truly, mafter Holofernes, the epithets are fweetly varied, like a fcholar at the leaft: but, Sir, I affure ye, it was a buck of the first head.

Hol. Sir Nathaniel, haud credo.

Dull. 'Twas not a haud credo, 'twas a pricket.

Hol. Moft barbarous intimation; yet a kind of infinuation, as it were in via, in way of explication; facere, as it were, replication; or rather, oftentare, to show, as it were, his inclination; after his undreffed, unpolifhed, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or rather unlettered, or rathereft unconfirmed fashion, to infert again my baud credo for a deer.

Dull. Ifaid, the deer was not a haud credo; 'twas a pricket. Hol. Twice fod fimplicity, bis coctus; O thou monster ignorance, how deformed doft thou look ?

Nath. Sir, he hath never fed on the dainties that are bred in a book. He hath not eat paper as it were; he hath not drunk ink. His intellect is not replenished. He is only an animal, only fenfible in the duller parts; (20) and fuch barren plants are fet before us, that we thankful fhould be for thofe parts, (which we taste and feel, ingradare) that do fructify in us, more than he. For as it would ill become me to be vain, indiscreet, or a fool;

So were there a patch fet on learning, to fee him in a school. (20)- ·And fuch barren plants are fet before us, that we thankful Should be; which we tafie, and feeling are for thofe parts that do fructify in us more than be.] If this be not a ftubborn piece of nonfente, I'll never venture to judge of common fenfe. That editors fhould take fuch paffages upon content, is, furely, furprifing. The words, 'tis plain, have been ridiculously, and ftupidly, tranfpos'd and corrupted. The emendation I have offer'd, I hope, reftores the author; at least, I am fure, it gives him fenfe and grammar: and answers extremely well to his metaphors taken from planting.- -ingradare, with the Italians, fignifies, to rife higher and higher; andare di grado in grado, to make a progreffion; and so at length come to fructify, as the poet expreffes Mr. Warburton.

it.

But

But omne bene, fay I; being of an old father's mind, Many can brook the weather, that love not the wind. Dull. You two are book-men; can you tell by your wit, What was a month old at Cain's birth, that's not five weeks old as yet?

Hol. Dictynna, good-man Dull; Dictynna, good-man Dull.

Dull. What is Dictynna?

Nath. A title to Phabe, to Luna, to the Moon.

Hol. The moon was a month old, when Adam was no

more:

And rought not to five weeks, when he came to five-fcore. Th' allufion holds in the exchange.

Dull. 'Tis true, indeed; the collufion holds in the exchange.

Hol. God comfort thy capacity! I fay, the allufion holds in the exchange.

Dull. And I fay, the pollution holds in the exchange; for the moon is never but a month old; and I fay befide, that 'twas a pricket that the Princess kill'd.

Hol. Sir Nathaniel, will you hear an extemporal epitaph on the death of the deer; and to humour the ignorant, I have call'd the deer the Princess kill'd, a pricket. Nath. Perge, good mafter Holofernes, perge; so it shall please you to abrogate fcurrility.

Hol. I will fomething affect the letter; for it argues facility.

The praiseful Princess pierc'd and prickt
A pretty pleafing pricket.

Some fay, a fore; but not a fore,
"Till now made fore with fhooting.

The dogs did yell; put L to fore,
Then forel jumpt from thicket;
Or pricket fore, or else forel,
The people fall a hooting.
If fore be fore, then L to fore
Makes fifty fores, O forel!
Of one fore I an hundred make,
By adding but one more L.

Nath

Nath. A rare talent!

Dull. If a talent be a claw, look how he claws him with a talent.

Hol. This is a gift that I have, fimple, fimple; a foolish extravagant fpirit, full of forms, figures, shapes, objects, ideas, apprehenfions, motions, revolutions. These are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourish'd in the womb of pia mater, and deliver'd upon the mellowing of occafion; but the gift is good in thofe in whom it is acute, and I am thankful for it.

Nath. Sir, I praise the Lord for you, and fo may my parishioners; for their fons are well tutor'd by you, and their daughters profit very greatly under you; you are a good member of the common-wealth.

Hol. Mehercle, if their fons be ingenuous, they shall want no inftruction: if their daughters be capable, I will put it to them. But vir fapit, qui pauca loquitur; a soul feminine faluteth us.

Enter Jaquenetta, and Coftard.

faq. God give you good-morrow, master Parfon. Hol. Mafter Parfon, quafi Perfon. And if one should be pierc'd, which is the one?

Coft. Marry, mafter school-master, he that is likeft to a hog fhead.

Hol. Of piercing a hogfhead, a good luftre of conceit in a turf of earth, fire enough for a flint, pearl enough for a fwine: 'Tis pretty, it is well.

Faq. Good mafter Parfon, be fo good as read me this letter; it was given me by Coftard, and fent me from Don Armatho. I beseech you, read it.

Hol. Faufte, precor, gelidâ (21) quando pecus omne sub

umbrâ

Ruminat,

(21) Nath. Faufte, precor, gelida) Tho' all the editions concur to give this fpeech to Sir Nathaniel, yet, as Dr. Thirlby ingeniously obferv'd to me, it is evident, it must belong to Holofernes. The curate is employ'd in reading the letter to himfelf; and while he is doing fo, that the stage may not ftand ftill, Holofernes either pulls out a book ; er, repeating fome verfes by heart from Mantuanus, comments upon the character of that poet. Baptifta Spagnolus, (firnamed Mantuanus,

from