Kath. A beard, fair health, and honesty ; Ros. Oft have I heard of you, my Lord Biron, To weed this wormwood from your fruitful brain, 840 850 You shall this twelvemonth term from day to day 860 Visit the speechless sick and still converse With groaning wretches; and your task shall be, With all the fierce endeavour of your wit To enforce the pained impotent to smile. 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, Whose influence is begot of that loose grace Which shallow laughing hearers give to fools: A jest's prosperity lies in the ear Of him that hears it, never in the tongue Deaf'd with the clamours of their own dear groans, 870 Biron. A twelvemonth! well; befall what will befall, I'll jest a twelvemonth in an hospital. Prin. [To the King] Ay, sweet my lord; and so I take my leave. 881 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 Re-enter ARMADO. Arm. Sweet majesty, vouchsafe me,- Dum. The worthy knight of Troy. 890 Arm. I will kiss thy royal finger, and take leave. I am a votary; I have vowed to Jaquenetta to hold the plow 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. 900 Re-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. THE SONG. SPRING. When daisies pied and violets blue Do paint the meadows with delight, The cuckoo then, on every tree, Mocks married men; for thus sings he, Cuckoo ; Cuckoo, cuckoo: O word of fear, When shepherds pipe on oaten straws And maidens bleach their summer smocks, 910 When icicles hang by the wall And Dick the shepherd blows his nail And milk comes frozen home in pail, Tu-who, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. When all aloud the wind doth blow And coughing drowns the parson's saw And Marian's nose looks red and raw, Tu-who, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. 920 980 Arm. The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo, You that way; we this way, [Exeunt. SCENE I. Athens. The palace of THESEUS. Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, and Attend ants.. The. Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour Draws on apace; four happy days bring in Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires, Like to a step-dame or a dowager Long withering out a young man's revenue. Hip. Four days will quickly steep themselves in night; Four nights will quickly dream away the time; And then the moon, like to a silver bow New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments; 10 Turn melancholy forth to funerals; The pale companion is not for our pomp. [Exit Philostrate. And won thy love, doing thee injuries; With pomp, with triumph and with revelling. Enter EGEUS, HERMIA, LYSANDER, and DEMETRIUS. Ege. Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke! The. Thanks, good Egeus what's the news with thee? Stand forth, Lysander and, my gracious duke, With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits, To stubborn harshness and, my gracious duke, I beg the ancient privilege of Athens, The. What say you, Hermia? be advised, fair maid : To you your father should be as a god; One that composed your beauties, yea, and one To whom you are but as a form in wax By him imprinted and within his power To leave the figure or disfigure it. Her. So is Lysander. The. In himself he is; But in this kind, wanting your father's voice, The other must be held the worthier. Her. I would my father look'd but with my eyes. 38 40 50 50 |