Boyet. Navarre had notice of your

proach;

And he and his competitors in oath

fair ap

Were all address'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 besiege his court,
Than seek a dispensation for his oath,

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

Enter KING, LONGAVILLE, DUMAIN, BIRON,
and Attendants.

King. Fair Princess, 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 base to be mine.

King. You shall be welcome, madam, to my

court.

Prin. I will be welcome, then conduct me thither.

King. Hear me, dear lady; I have sworn an oath.

Prin. Our Lady help my lord! he'll be for

sworn.

King. Not for the world, fair madam, by my

will.

Prin. Why, will shall break it; will and no-
thing else.

King. Your ladyship is ignorant what it is.
Prin. Were my lord so, his ignorance were
wise,

82. competitors, associates.

83. address'd, ready.

90

100

Where now his knowledge must prove ignorance.
I hear your grace hath sworn out house-keeping:
'Tis deadly sin to keep that oath, my lord,
And sin to break it.

But pardon me, I am too sudden-bold:
To teach a teacher ill beseemeth me.
Vouchsafe to read the purpose of my coming,
And suddenly resolve me in my suit.

King. Madam, I will, if suddenly I may.
Prin. You will the sooner, that I were away;
For you'll prove perjured 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 ?

Biron. I know you did.

Ros. How needless was it then to ask the question!

Biron. You must not be so quick.

Ros. 'Tis 'long of you that spur me with such questions.

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 should ask.
Biron. Now fair befall your mask!
Ros. Fair fall the face it covers!
Biron. And send you many lovers!
Ros. Amen, so you be none.
Biron. Nay, then will I be gone.

ΣΤΟ

120

address himself to the wrong mask; but it is more likely that the rôles of Katharine and Rosaline have been interchanged. Cf. 195, 210.

D

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

But say that he or we, as neither have,
Received that sum, yet there remains unpaid
A hundred thousand more; in surety of the
which,

One part of Aquitaine 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 unsatisfied,
We will give up our right in Aquitaine,
And hold fair friendship with his majesty.
But that, it seems, he little purposeth,
For here he doth demand to have repaid
A hundred thousand crowns; and not demands,
On payment of a hundred thousand crowns,
To have his title live in Aquitaine ;

Which we much rather had depart withal
And have the money by our father lent

Than Aquitaine so gelded as it is.

Dear princess, were not his requests so far

From reason's yielding, your fair self should make

129 f. The general idea of this transaction is borrowed from Monstrelet's Chronicle, where Charles of Navarre, the King's father, is said to have surrendered certain lordships in France to the French king in consideration of receiving the castle of Nemours and 200,000 crowns. Shakespeare, however, has made this sum an advance by Navarre which the French king has not repaid, and for which Navarre holds part of Aquitaine on mortgage. But

130

140

150

neither party considers the mortgaged territory (lacking as it did the best part of the province-so gelded as it is) to be an equivalent of the money due.

The French king therefore seeks to prolong his indebtedness, and even to recover the half of the debt which he professes to have already paid, while Navarre is equally concerned to have the debt, which he professes to be wholly unpaid, paid in full.

147. depart, part.
149. gelded, mutilated.

A yielding, 'gainst some reason, in my breast,
And go well satisfied to France again.

Prin. You do the king my father too much

wrong

And wrong the reputation of your name,

In so unseeming to confess receipt

Of that which hath so faithfully been paid.

King. I do protest I never heard of it;
And if you prove it, I'll repay it back
Or yield up Aquitaine.

Prin.

We arrest your word.
Boyet, you can produce acquittances
For such a sum from special officers
Of Charles his father.

Boyet. So please your grace, the packet is not

come

Where that and other specialties are bound:
To-morrow you shall have a sight of them.

King. It shall suffice me: at which interview
All liberal reason I will yield unto.
Meantime receive such welcome at my hand
As honour, without breach of honour, may
Make tender of to thy true worthiness:
You may not come, fair princess, in my gates;
But here without you shall be so received
As you shall deem yourself lodged in my heart,
Though so denied fair harbour in my house.
Your own good thoughts excuse me, and farewell:
To-morrow shall we visit you again.

Prin. Sweet health and fair desires consort your grace!

King. Thy own wish wish I thee in every

place!

[Exit.

Biron. Lady, I will commend you to mine own heart.

160

170

180

Ros. Pray you, do my commendations; I

would be glad to see it.

Biron. I would you heard it groan.

Ros. Is the fool sick?

Biron. Sick at the heart.

Ros. Alack, let it blood.

Biron. Would that do it good?

Ros. My physic says 'ay.'

Biron. Will you prick't with your eye?
Ros. No point, with my knife.

Biron. Now, God save thy life!

Res. And yours from long living!
Biron. I cannot stay thanksgiving.

[Retiring.

Dum. Sir, I pray you, a word: what lady is that same?

Boyet. The heir of Alençon, Katharine her

name.

Dum. A gallant lady.

well.

Monsieur, fare you

[Exit.

Long. I beseech you a word: what is she in

the white?

Boyet. A woman sometimes, an you saw her in the light.

Long. Perchance light in the light. I desire her name.

Boyet. She hath but one for herself; to desire

that were a shame.

Long. Pray you, sir, whose daughter?
Boyet. Her mother's, I have heard.
Long. God's blessing on your beard!
Boyet. Good sir, be not offended.
She is an heir of Falconbridge.
Long. Nay, my choler is ended.

190. no point, a pun on the French negative particle.

195. Qq and Ff give Rosaline for Katharine, and Katharine for Rosaline below (ii. 1. 210).