Ros. 'Tis 'long of you that spur me with fuch

queftions.

BIRON. Your wit's too hot, it speeds too fast,

'twill tire.

Ros. Not till it leave the rider in the mire.
BIRON. What time o'day?.

Ros. The hour that fools fhould afk.
BIRON. Now fair befal your mask!
Ros. Fair fall the face it covers!
BIRON. And fend you many lovers!
Ros. Amen, fo you be none.

BIRON. Nay, then will I be gone.

KING. Madam, your father here doth intimate The payment of a hundred thousand crowns; Being but the one half of an entire fum, Difburfed by my father in his wars.

But say, that he, or we, (as neither have,)
Receiv'd that fum; yet there remains unpaid
A hundred thousand more; in furety of the which,
One part of Aquitain is bound to us,
Although not valued to the money's worth.
If then the king your father will restore
But that one half which is unfatisfied,
We will give up our right in Aquitain,
And hold fair friendship with his majesty,
But that, it seems, he little purposeth,
For here he doth demand to have repaid
An hundred thousand crowns; and not demands,

On payment of a hundred thousand crowns,
To have his title live in Aquitain;

Which we much rather bad depart withal,"
And have the money by our father lent,
Than Aquitain fo gelded as it is.

Dear princefs, were not his requefis fo far
From reafon's yielding, your fair felf thould make
A yielding, 'gainft fome reafon, in my breast,
And go well fatisfied to France again.

PRIN. You do the king my father too much

"One payment of a hundred thousand crowns,

"To have his title live in Aquitain."

I have restored, I believe, the genuine fenfe of the paffage. Aquitain was pledged, it feems, to Navarre's father, for 200,000 crowns. The French king pretends to have paid one moiety of this debt, (which Navanie knows nothing of) but demands this moiety back again: inftead whereof (fays Navarre) he should rather pay the remaining moiety, and demand to have Aquitain re-delivered up to him. This is plain and eafy reafoning upon the fact fuppos'd; and Navarre declares, he had rather receive the refidue of his debt, than detain the province mortgaged for fecurity of it.

THEOBALD.

The two words are frequently confounded in the books of our author's age. See a note on King John, Ad III. sc. iii. MALONE. depart withal,] To depart and to part were anciently fynonymous. So, in K. John:

6

"Hath willingly departed with a part."

Again, in Every Man out of his Humour:

7

"Faith, fir, I can hardly depart with ready, money."

STEEVENS.

-gelded· ] To this phrase Shakspeare is peculiarly attached. It occurs in The Winter's Tale, King Richard 11. King Henry IV. King Henry VI. &c. &c. but never lefs properly than in the prefent formal fpeech, addreffed by a king to a maiden princefs. STEEVENS.

In fo unfeeming to confefs receipt

Of that which hath fo faithfully been paid.
KING. I do proteft, I never heard of it;
And, if you prove it, I'll repay it back,
Or yield up Aquitain.

PRIN,

We arreft your word :

Boyet, you can produce acquittances,
For such a fum, from special officers

Of Charles his father.

KING.

Satisfy me fo.

BOYET. So please your grace, the packet is not

come,

Where that and other fpecialities are bound;
To-morrow you fhall have a fight of them.

KING. It fhall fuffice me: at which interview, All liberal reafon I will yield unto.

Mean time, receive fuch welcome at my hand,
As honour, without breach of honour, may
Make tender of to thy true worthiness:
You may not come, fair princefs, in my gates;
But here without you shall be so receiv'd,
As you fhall deem yourself lodg`d in my heart,
Though fo denied fair harbour in my house.
Your own good thoughts excufe me, and farewel:
To-morrow fhall we vifit you again.

PRIN. Sweet health and fair defires confort your

grace!

KING. Thy own wifh wifh I thee in every place! [Exeunt King and his train. BIRON. Lady, I will commend you to my own

heart.

Ros. 'Pray you, do

be glad to fee it.

Ros. Is the fool fick? *

BIRON. Sick at the heart.

Ros. Alack, let it blood.

BIRON. Would that do it good?

Ros. My phyfick says, I. ?

BIRON. Will you prick't with your eye?

2

Ros. No poynt, with my knife.

BIRON. Now, God fave thy life!

Ros. And yours from long living!
BIRON. I cannot ftay thanksgiving.

[ Retiring.

DUM. Sir, Ipray you, a word: What lady is that 'fame? 3

BOYET. The heir of Alençon, Rofaline her name.

Is the fool fick?] She means perhaps his heart. So, in Much ado about Nothing:

"D. Pedro. In faith, lady, you have a merry heart.”

"Beat. Yes, my lord; I thank it, poor fool, it keeps on the windy fide of care."

MALONE.

My phyfick fays, I.] She means to fay, ay. The old fpelling of the affirmative particle has been retained here for the sake of the rhime. MALONE.

2 No poynt,] So, in The Shoemaker's Holliday, 1600:

tell me where he is.

"No point. Shall I betray my brother?"

STEEVENS.

No point was a negation borrowed from the French. note on the fame words, A& V. fc. ii. MALONE.

See the

3 What lady is that fame?] It is odd that Shakspeare should make Dumain enquire after Rofaline, who was the miftrefs of Biron, and negle& Katharine, who was his own. Biron behaves in the fame manner. No advantage would be gained by an exchange of names, because the laft fpeech is determined to Biron by Maria, who gives a character of him after he has made his exit. Perhaps all the ladies wore masks but the princefs. STEEVENS.

They certainly did. See p. 215, where Biron fays to Rosaline "Now fair befal your mask!" MALONE.

DUM. A gallant lady! Monfieur, fare you well. [Exit. LONG. I beseech you, a word; What is the in the white?

BOYET. A woman fometimes, an you saw her in the light.

LONG. Perchance, light in the light: I defire

her name.

BOYET. She hath but one for herself; to defire that, were a fhame.

LONG. Pray you, fir, whose daughter?
BOYET. Her mother's, I have heard.

LONG. God's bleffing on your beard!
BOYET. Good fir, be not offended:
She is an heir of Falconbridge.

LONG. Nay, my choler is ended. She is a moft fweet lady.

BOYET. Not unlike, fir; that may be.

[Exit. LONG.

BIRON. What's her name, in the cap?

BOYET. Katharine, by good hap.

BIRON. Is fhe wedded, or no?

BOYET. To her will, fir, or so.

BIRON. You are welcome, fir; adieu!

BOYET. Farewell to me, fir, and welcome to you. [Exit BIRON. Ladies unmafk. MAR. That laft is Biron, the merry mad-cap

lord;

4 God's bleffing on your beard!] That is, may'ft thou have sense and feriousness more proportionate to thy beard, the length of which fuits ill with fuch idle catches of wit. JOHNSON.

I doubt whether fo much meaning was intended to be conveyed by these words. MALONE.