Come challenge, challenge me by these deserts, For the remembrance of my father's death. King. If this, or more than this, I would deny, Hence ever then my heart is in thy breast. A twelvemonth shall you spend, and never rest, Dum. But what to me, my love? but what to me? Kath. A wife!-a beard, fair health, and honesty ; With three-fold love I wish you all these three. Dum. O, shall I say, I thank you, gentle wife? Kath. Not so, my lord;-a twelvemonth and a day I'll mark no words that smooth-faced wooers say: Come when the king doth to my lady come, Then, if I have much love, I'll give you some. Dum. I'll serve thee true and faithfully till then. Kath. Yet swear not, lest you be forsworn again. Long. What says Maria ? Mar. At the twelvemonth's end, I'll change my black gown for a faithful friend. Ros. Oft have I heard of you, my lord Birón, To weed this wormwood from your fruitful brain; With groaning wretches; and your task shall be, Vehement. Biron. To move wild laughter in the throat of death? It cannot be; it is impossible: Mirth cannot move a soul in agony. Ros. Why, that's the way to choke a gibing spirit, Which shallow-laughing hearers give to fools: Of him that hears it, never in the tongue Deaf'd with the clamour of their own dear* groans, But, if they will not, throw away that spirit, Right joyful of your reformation. Biron. A twelvemonth? well, befal what will befal. I'll jest a twelvemonth in an hospital. Prin. Ay, sweet my lord; and so I take my leave. [To the KING. King. No, madam: we will bring you on your way. Biron. Our wooing doth not end like an old play; Jack hath not Jill: these ladies' courtesy Might well have made our sport a comedy. King. Come, Sir, it wants a twelvemonth and a day, And then 'twill end. Biron. That's too long for a play. Enter ARMADO. Arm. Sweet majesty, vouchsafe me,- Dum. The worthy knight of Troy. Arm. I will kiss thy royal finger, and take leave: I am a votary I have vowed to Jaquenetta to hold the plough for her sweet love three years. But, most esteemed greatness, will you hear the dialogue that the two learned men have compiled, in praise of the owl and the cuckoo? it should have followed in the end of our show. King. Call them forth quickly, we will do so. Enter HOLOFERNES, NATHANIEL, MOTH, COSTARD, and others. This side is Hiems, winter; this Ver, the spring; the one maintained by the owl, the other by the cuckoo. Ver, begin. SONG. Spring. When daisies pied, and violets blue, Cuckoo, cuckoo,-O word of fear, * Dire, sad. II. When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, Mocks married men, for thus sings he, Cuckoo, cuckoo,-O word of fear, III. Winter. When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And milk comes frozen home in pail, To-whit, to-whoo, a merry note, When all aloud the wind doth blow, And coughing drowns the parson's saw,t And Marian's nose looks red and raw, To-whit, to-whoo, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. Arm. The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo. You, that way; we, this way. [Exeunt. + Wild apples. PRINCE OF ARRAGON, Portia. OLD GOBBO, Father to Launcelot. ANTONIO, the Merchant of Venice. STEPHANO, Servants to Portia. BASSANIO, his Friend. SALANIO, Friends to Antonio SALARINO, GRATIANO, and Bassanio. LORENZO, in love with Jessica. SHYLOCK, a Jew. TUBAL, a Jew, his friend. LAUNCELOT GOBBO, a Clown, Servant to Shylock. PORTIA, a rich Heiress. MAGNIFICOES of VENICE, Offi- SCENE.-Partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, the seat of Portia, on the Continent. ACT I. SCENE I-Venice. A Street. Enter ANTONIO, SALARINO, and SALANIO. Ant. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad; And such a want-wit sadness makes of me, Salar. Your mind is tossing on the ocean; As they fly by them with their woven wings. *Ships of large burthen Salan. Believe me, Sir, had I such venture forth, Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still Salar. My wind, cooling my broth, Would blow me to an ague, when I thought And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks? And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought Is sad to think upon his merchandise. Ant. Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for it, My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, Nor to one place: nor is my whole estate Upon the fortune of this present year: Ant. Fie, fie! Salan. Not in love neither? Then let's say, you are sa Because you are not merry: and, 'twere as easy For you, to laugh, and leap, and say, you are merry, And other of such vinegar aspéct, That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile, Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable. Enter BASSANIO, LORENZO, and GRATIANO. Salan. Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman, Gratiano, and Lorenzo: Fare you well; We leave you now with better company. Salar. I would have staid till I had made you merry, If worthier friends had not prevented me. * Lowering. |