Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye,
Not utter'd by base sale of chapinen's tongues :
I am lefs proud to hear you tell my worth,
Than you much willing to be counted wife.
In fpending your wit in the praise of mine..
But now to talk the tasker,-Good Boyet,
You are not ignorant, all-telling fame
Doth noife abroad, Navarre hath made a vow,
Till painful ftudy fhall out-wear three years,
No woman may approach his filent court:
Therefore to us feemeth it a needful courfe,"
Before we enter his forbidden gates,

To know his pleasure; and in that behalf,
Bold of your worthinefs, we fingle you
As our beft-moving fair folicitor:

Tell him, the daughter of the king of France,
On ferious bufinefs, craving quick defpatch,
Importunes perfonal conference with his grace.
Hafte, fignify fo much; while we attend,
Like humble-visag'd fuitors, his high will.
Boy. Proud of employment, willingly I go.

[Exit. PRIN. All pride is willing pride, and yours is

fo.—

Who are the votaries, my loving lords,
That are vow-fellows with this virtuous duke?

Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye,

Not utter'd by bafe fale of chapmen's tongue :] So, in our au thor's 102d Sonnet:

"That love is merchandiz'd, whofe rich efteeming
"The owner's tongue doth publish every where.

MALONE.

Chapman here feems to fignify the feller, not, as now commonly, the buyer. Cheap or cheaping was anciently the market; chapman therefore is marketman. The meaning is, that the estimation of beauty depends not on the uttering or proclamation of the feller, but on the eye of the buyer. JOHNSON.

6 Bold of your worthiness,] i. e. confident of it. STEEVENS.

1. LORD. Longaville is one.

PRIN.

Know you the man? MAR. I know him, madam; at a marriage feast, Between lord Perigort and the beauteous heir Of Jaques Faulconbridge folémnized, In Normandy faw I this Longaville : A man of sovereign parts he is esteem'd; Well fitted in the arts, glorious in arms: Nothing becomes him ill, that he would well. The only foil of his fair virtue's glofs,

1 Longaville

9

-] For the fake of manners as well as metre,

we ought to read Lord Longaville

STEEVENS.

8 A man of fovereign parts he is efteem'd;] Thus the folio. first quarto, 1598, has the line thus:

"A man of fovereign peerelfe, he's efteem'd.”

I believe, the author wrote

60 A man of, - fovereign, peerless, he's efteem'd.'

The

A man of extraordinary accomplishments, the speaker pethaps would have faid, but fuddenly checks himself; and adds "fovereign, peerless he's esteem'd. So, before: “ Matchlefs Navarre. '

"

In the old copies no attention feems to have been given to abrupt fentences. They are, almoft uniformly printed corruptly, without any mark of abruption. Thus, in Much ado about nothing, we find both in the folio and quarto," but for the ftuffing well, we are all morial. See Vol. IV. p.400. See also p. 209, ibid. Sir, mock me not: - - your story.

Perhaps our author wrote —

MALONE.

"A man, a fovereign pearl, he is efteem'd. "

66

i. c. not only a pearl, but fuch a one as is pre-eminently valuable. In Troilus and Creffida Helen is called "a pearl;" and in Mac-. beth the nobles of Scotland are ftyled "the kingdom s pearl." The phrafe —“ a sovereign pearl" may alfo be countenanced by captain jewels in a carcanet, an expreffion which occurs in one of our author's Sonnets. STEEVENS.

9 Well fitted in the arts, Well fitted is well qualified.

JOHNSON.

The, which is not in the old copies, was added for the fake of the metre, by the editor of the fecond folio.

MALONE.

1

(If virtue's glofs will stain with any foil,)
Is a fharp wit match'd with too blunt a will;
Whofe edge hath power to cut, whofe will still wills
It fhould none fpare that come within his power.

PRIN. Some merry mocking lord, belike; is't fo?
MAR. They fay fo moft, that moft his humours

know.

PRIN. Such fhort-liv'd wits do wither as they grow.

Who are the reft?

KATH. The young Dumain, a well-accomplish'd youth,

Of all that virtue love for virtue lov'd:

Moft power to do moft harm, leaft knowing ill;
For he hath wit to make an ill fhape good,
And fhape to win grace though he had no wit.
I faw him at the duke Alençon's once;
And much too little of that good I faw,
Is my report, to his great worthiness.

ROSA. Another of thefe ftudents 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:
His eye begets occafion for his wit;
For every object that the one doth catch,
The other turns to a mirth-moving jeft;
Which his fair tongue (conceit's expositor, }
Delivers in fuch apt and gracious words,
That aged ears play truant at his tales,
And younger hearings are quite ravifhed;
So fweet and voluble is his difcourfe.

8

match'd with ] Is combined or joined with. JOHNSON. 9 And much too little, &c.] i. e. And my report of the good I faw, is much too little compared to his great worthiness. НЕАТН.

PRIN. God bless my ladies! are they all in love; That every one her own hath garnished

With fuch bedecking ornaments of praife?
MAR. Here comes Boyet.

PRIN.

Re-enter BOYET.

Now, what admittance, lord?

BOYET. Navarre had notice of your fair approach; And he, and his competitors in oath,

2

Were all addrefs'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 befiege his court,)
Than seek a dispensation for his oath,

To let you enter his unpeopled house.
Here comes Navarre.

[The Ladies mafk.

Enter King, LONGAVILLE, DUMAIN, BIRON, and

Attendants.

KING. Fair princefs, 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 wide fields too bafe to be mine."

2

KING. You fhall be welcome, madam, to my

court.

competitors in oath, ] i. c. confederates. So, in Antony and

Cleopatra:

"It is not Cæfar's natural vice to hate

"

"Our great competitor. STEEVENS.

3 Were all address'd — ] To address is to prepare. So, in Hamlet :it lifted up its head, and did addrefs

66

Atself to motion.'

STEEVENS.

PRIN. I will be welcome then; conduct me thither.

KING. Hear me, dear lady; I have fworn an oath. PRIN. Our Lady help my lord! he'll be forfworn. KING. Not for the world, fair madam, by my will. PRIN. Why, will fhall break it; will, and nothing

elfe.

KING. Your ladyfhip is ignorant what it is.

PRIN. Were my lord fo, his ignorance were wife,
Where now his knowledge 'must prove ignorance.
I hear, your grace hath fworn-out house-keeping:
'Tis deadly fin to keep that oath, my lord,
And fin to break it: +

But pardon me, I am too fudden-bold;
To teach a teacher ill befeemeth me.
Vouchsafe to read the purpose of my coming,
And fuddenly refolve me in my fuit.

[ Gives a paper.
KING. Madam, I will, if fuddenly I may.
PRIN. You will the fooner, that I were away;
For you'll prove perjur'd, if you make me stay.
BIRON. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?'
Ros. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?

3 Where -] Where is here used for whereas. So, in Pericles,

A& I. fc. i:

"Where now you're both a father and a fon."

See note on this paffage. STEEVENS.

4 And fin to break it:] Sir T. Hanmer reads:

"Not fin to break it:

I believe erroneously. The princefs fhows an inconvenience very frequently attending rafh oaths, which, whether kept or broken, produce guilt. JOHNSON.

Rof. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?] Thus the folio. In the first quarto, this dialogue paffes between Catharine and Biron. It is a matter of little confequence. MALONE.