Arm. A most acute juvenal: voluble and free of

grace ! By thy favour, sweet welkin, I must sigh in thy

face: Most rude melancholy, valour gives thee place. My herald is return'd.

Re-enter Moth and CostaRD. Moth. A wonder, master; here's a Costard 2

broken in a shin. Arm. Some enigma, some riddle: come, - thy

l'envoy 3; - begin. Cost. No egma, no riddle, no l'envoy ; no salve in the mail, sir: 0, sir, plantain, a plain plantain ; no l'envoy, no l'envoy, no salve, sir, but a plantain!

Arm. By virtue, thou enforcest laughter; thy silly thought, my spleen; the heaving of my lungs provokes me to ridiculous smiling; 0, pardon me, my stars! Doth the inconsiderate take salve for l'envoy, and the word, l'envoy, for a salve ?

Moth. Do the wise think them other ? is not l'envoy a salve? Arm. No, page: it is an epilogue or discourse, to

make plain Some obscure precedence that hath tofore been

sain. I will example it :

The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,

Were still at odds, being but three. There's the moral : Now the l'envoy.

Moth. I will add the l'envoy: Say the moral again.

% A head. s An old French term for concluding verses, which served either to convey the moral, or to address the poem to some person.

a

Arm. The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,

Were still at odds, being but three: Moth. Until the goose came out of door,

And stay'd the odds by adding four. Now will I begin your moral, and do you follow with my l'envoy.

The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,

Were still at odds, being but three: Arm. Until the goose came out of door,

Staying the odds by adding four. Moth. A good l'envoy, ending in the goose; Would you desire more? Cost. The boy hath sold him a bargain, a goose ;

that's fiat: Sir, your pennyworth is good, an your goose be

fat. To sell a bargain well, is as cunning as fast and

loose : Let me see a fat l'envoy; ay, that's a fat goose. Arm. Come hither, come hither : How did this

argument begin? Moth. By saying that a Costard was broken in a

shin. Then call'd you for the l'envoy. Cost. True, and I for a plantain ; Thus came

your argument in; Then the boy's fat l'envoy, the goose that you

bought; And he ended the market.

Arm. But tell me; how was there a Costard broken in a shin?

Moth. I will tell you sensibly.

Cost. Thou hast no feeling of it, Moth ; I will speak that l'envoy: I, Costard, running out, that was safely within, Fell over the threshold, and broke my shin.

Arm. We will talk no more of this matter.
Cost. Till there be more matter in the shin.
Arm. Sirrah Costard, I will enfranchise thee.

Cost. O, marry me to one Frances : - I smell some l'envoy, some goose, in this.

Arm. By my sweet soul, I mean, setting thee at liberty, enfreedoming thy person; thou wert immured, restrained, captivated, bound.

Cost. True, true; and now you will be my purgation, and let me loose.

Arm. I give thee thy liberty, set thee from durance; and, in lieu thereof, impose on thee nothing but this: Bear this significant to the country maid Jaquenetta: there is remuneration; [Giving him money.) for the best ward of mine honour, is, rewarding my dependents. Moth follow.

[Exit. Moth. Like the sequel, I. - Signior Costard,

adieu. Cost. My sweet ounce of man's flesh ! my in

(Exit Moth. Now will I look to his remuneration. Remuneration ! O, that's the Latin word for three farthings ; three farthings remuneration.

What's the price of this inkle ? a penny:

No, I'll give you a remuneration : why, it carries it. - Remuneration ! why, it is a fairer name than French crown. I will never buy and sell out of this word.

Enter BIRON. Biron. O, my good knave Costard ! exceedingly well met.

Cost. Pray you, sir, how much carnation ribbon may a man buy for a remuneration ?

+ Delightful.

cony 4 Jew

а

Biron. What is a remuneration ? Cost. Marry, sir, half-penny farthing. Biron. 0, why then, three-farthings-worth of silk.

Cost. I thank your worship: God be with you!

Biron. O, stay, slave; I must employ thee:
As thou wilt win my favour, good my knave,
Do one thing for me that I shall entreat.

Cost. When would you have it done, sir?
Biron. O, this afternoon.
Cost. Well, I will do it, sir : Fare

you

well.
Biron. O, thou knowest not what it is.
Cost. I shall know, sir, when I have done it.
Biron. Why, villain, thou must know first.

Cost. I will come to your worship to-morrow morning. Biron. It must be done this afternoon. Hark,

slave, it is but this ;The princess comes to hunt here in the park, And in her train there is a gentle lady; When tongues speak sweetly, then they name her

name, And Rosaline they call her: ask for her; And to her white hand see thou do.commend This seald up counsel. There's thy guerdons; go.

[Gives him money. Cost., Guerdon, O sweet guerden! better than remuneration; eleven-pence farthing better: Most sweet guerdon! - I will do it, sir, in print.6. Guerdon remuneration.

[Erit. Biron. O! — And I, forsooth, in love! I that have been love's whip; A very beadle to a humorous sigh; A critick; nay, a night-watch constable;

a

A domineering pedant o'er the boy,
Than whom no mortal so magnificent !
This wimpled 7, whining, purblind, wayward boy ;
This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Čupid;
Regent of love-rhymes, lord of folded arms,
The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans,
Liege of all loiterers and malcontents,
Dread prince of plackets 8, king of codpieces,
Sole imperator, and great general
Of trotting paritors 9, O my little heart!
And I to be a corporal of his field,
And wear his colours like a tumbler's hoop!
What? I! I love! I sue! I seek a wife !
A woman that is like a German clock,
Still a repairing ; ever out of frame;
And never going aright, being a watch,
But being watch'd that it may still go right?
Nay, to be perjur'd, which is worst of alī:
And, among three, to love the worst of all ;
A whitely wanton with a velvet brow,
With two pitch balls stuck in her face for eyes;
Ay, and, by heaven, one that will do the deed,
Though Argus were her eunuch and her guard :
And I to sigh for her! to watch for her !
To pray for her! Go to; it is a plague
That Cupid will impose for my neglect
Of his almighty dreadful little might.
Well, I will love, write, sigh, pray, sue, and groan;
Some men must love my lady, and some Joan.

(Erit. 7 Hooded, veiled.