Another part of the Park.
 Enter BEROWNE, with a paper in his hand.

Berowne	The king he is hunting the deer; I am coursing myself. They 
	have pitched a toil; I am toiling in a pitch - pitch that 
	defiles. Defile, a foul word! Well, set thee down, sorrow; 
	for so they say the fool said, and so say I - and I the fool. 
	Well proved, wit! By the Lord, this love is as mad as Ajax: 
	it kills sheep, it kills me - I a sheep. Well proved again 
	o'my side! I will not love; if I do, hang me. I'faith, I will 
	not. O but her eye! By this light, but for her eye I would 
	not love her; yes, for her two eyes. Well, I do nothing in 
	the world but lie, and lie in my throat. By heaven, I do 
	love, and it hath taught me to rhyme, and to be melancholy; 
	and here is part of my rhyme, and here my melancholy. Well, 
	she hath one o'my sonnets already; the clown bore it, the 
	fool sent it, and the lady hath it. Sweet clown, sweeter 
	fool, sweetest lady! By the world, I would not care a pin if 
	the other three were in. Here comes one with a paper. God 
	give him grace to groan!
															[Climbs into a tree.

                       Enter the KING with a paper.

King	Ay me!

Berowne	[Aside.] Shot, by heaven! Proceed, sweet Cupid; thou hast 
	thumped him with thy bird-bolt under the left pap. In faith, 
	secrets!

King	[Reads.]	"So sweet a kiss the golden sun gives not
				To those fresh morning drops upon the rose,
			As thy eye-beams when their fresh rays have smote
				The night of dew that on my cheeks down flows;
			Nor shines the silver moon one half so bright
				Through the transparent bosom of the deep,
			As doth thy face through tears of mine give light.
				Thou shin'st in every tear that I do weep;
			No drop but as a coach doth carry thee;
				So ridest thou triumphing in my woe.
			Do but behold the tears that swell in me,
				And they thy glory through my grief will show.
			But do not love thyself; then thou will keep
			My tears for glasses, and still make me weep.
			O queen of queens, how far dost thou excel
			No thought can think, nor tongue of mortal tell!"

	How shall she know my griefs? - I'll drop the paper.
	Sweet leaves, shade folly. Who is he comes here?
															[Stands aside.

                   Enter LONGAVILLE, with many papers.

	[Aside.] What, Longaville; and reading! Listen, ear.

Berowne	[Aside.] Now, in thy likeness, one more fool appear!

Longaville	Ay me, I am forsworn!

Berowne	[Aside.] Why, he comes in like a perjure, wearing papers.

King	[Aside.] In love, I hope: - sweet fellowship in shame!

Berowne	[Aside.] One drunkard loves another of the name.

Longaville	Am I the first that have been perjured so?

Berowne	[Aside.] I could put thee in comfort: not by two that I know.
	Thou makest the triumviry, the corner-cap of society,
	The shape of love's Tyburn, that hangs up simplicity.

Longaville	I fear these stubborn lines lack power to move.
	O sweet Maria, empress of my love,
	These numbers will I tear, and write in prose.

Berowne	[Aside.] O, rhymes are guards on wanton Cupid's hose;
	Disfigure not his slop.

Longaville							This same shall go.
	[Reads.]	"Did not the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye,
				'Gainst whom the world cannot hold argument,
			Persuade my heart to this false perjury?
				Vows for thee broke deserve not punishment.
			A woman I forswore, but I will prove,
				Thou being a goddess, I forswore not thee:
			My vow was earthly, thou a heavenly love;
				Thy grace being gained cures all disgrace in me.
			Vows are but breath, and breath a vapour is;
				Then thou, fair sun, which on my earth dost shine,
			Exhal'st this vapour-vow; in thee it is.
				If broken then, it is no fault of mine;
			If by me broke, what fool is not so wise
			To lose an oath to win a paradise?"

Berowne	[Aside.] This is the liver vein, which makes flesh a deity,
	A green goose a goddess - pure, pure idolatry.
	God amend us, God amend! We are much out o'th'way.

Longaville	By whom shall I send this? - Company! Stay.
															[Stands aside.

                       Enter DUMAINE with a paper.

Berowne	[Aside.] All hid, all hid - an old infant play.
	Like a demigod here sit I in the sky,
	And wretched fools' secrets heedfully o'ereye.
	More sacks to the mill! O heavens, I have my wish!
	Dumaine transformed! - Four woodcocks in a dish!

Dumaine	O most divine Kate!

Berowne	[Aside.] O most profane coxcomb!

Dumaine	By heaven, the wonder in a mortal eye!

Berowne	[Aside.] By earth, she is not, corporal; there you lie.

Dumaine	Her amber hairs for foul have amber quoted.

Berowne	[Aside.] An amber-coloured raven was well noted.

Dumaine	As upright as the cedar.

Berowne	[Aside.]					Stoop, I say;
	Her shoulder is with child.

Dumaine									As fair as day.

Berowne	[Aside.] Ay, as some days; but then no sun must shine.

Dumaine	O, that I had my wish!

Longaville	[Aside.]					And I had mine!

King	[Aside.] And I mine too, good Lord!

Berowne	[Aside.] Amen, so I had mine! Is not that a good word?

Dumaine	I would forget her; but a fever she
	Reigns in my blood, and will remembered be.

Berowne	[Aside.] A fever in your blood? Why, then incision
	Would let her out in saucers. Sweet misprision!

Dumaine	Once more I'll read the ode that I have writ.

Berowne	[Aside.] Once more I'll mark how love can vary wit.

Dumaine	[Reads.]	"On a day - alack the day!-
			Love, whose month is ever May,
			Spied a blossom passing fair
			Playing in the wanton air.
			Through the velvet leaves the wind
			All unseen can passage find,
			That the lover, sick to death,
			Wished himself the heaven's breath.
			Air, quoth he, thy cheeks may blow;
			Air, would I might triumph so!
			But, alack, my hand is sworn
			Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn:
			Vow, alack, for youth unmeet,
			Youth so apt to pluck a sweet.
			Do not call it sin in me,
			That I am forsworn for thee;
			Thou for whom Jove would swear
			Juno but an Ethiop were;
			And deny himself for Jove,
			Turning mortal for thy love."

	This will I send, and something else more plain,
	That shall express my true love's fasting pain.
	O, would the king, Berowne, and Longaville
	Were lovers too! Ill to example ill
	Would from my forehead wipe a perjured note;
	For none offend where all alike do dote.

Longaville	[Advancing.] Dumaine, thy love is far from charity,
	That in love's grief desir'st society.
	You may look pale, but I should blush, I know,
	To be o'erheard and taken napping so.

King	[Advancing.] Come, sir, you blush: as his your case is such.
	You chide at him, offending twice as much.
	You do not love Maria! Longaville
	Did never sonnet for her sake compile,
	Nor never lay his wreathd arms athwart
	His loving bosom to keep down his heart.
	I have been closely shrouded in this bush,
	And marked you both, and for you both did blush.
	I heard your guilty rhymes, observed your fashion,
	Saw sighs reek from you, noted well your passion.
	'Ay me!' says one; 'O Jove!' the other cries;
	One, her hairs were gold; crystal the other's eyes.
	[To LONGAVILLE.]
	You would for paradise break faith and troth;
	[To DUMAINE.]
	And Jove, for your love, would infringe an oath.
	What will Berowne say when that he shall hear
	A faith infringd, which such zeal did swear?
	How will he scorn, how will he spend his wit!
	How will he triumph, leap, and laugh at it!
	For all the wealth that ever I did see,
	I would not have him know so much by me.
									 [BEROWNE descends from the tree.

Berowne	Now step I forth to whip hypocrisy.
	Ah, good my liege, I pray thee pardon me.
	Good heart, what grace hast thou thus to reprove
	These worms for loving, that art most in love?
	Your eyes do make no coaches; in your tears
	There is no certain princess that appears;
	You'll not be perjured, 'tis a hateful thing;
	Tush, none but minstrels like of sonneting!
	But are you not ashamed? Nay, are you not,
	All three of you, to be thus much o'ershot?
	[To LONGAVILLE.]
	You found his mote; the king your mote did see;
	But I a beam do find in each of three.
	O, what a scene of foolery have I seen,
	Of sighs, of groans, of sorrow, and of teen!
	O me, with what strict patience have I sat,
	To see a king transformd to a gnat;
	To see a great Hercules whipping a gig,
	And profound Solomon to tune a jig,
	And Nestor play at push-pin with the boys,
	And critic Timon laugh at idle toys!
	Where lies thy grief? O, tell me, good Dumaine,
	And, gentle Longaville, where lies thy pain?
	And where my liege's? All about the breast.
	A caudle, ho!

King					Too bitter is thy jest.
	Are we betrayed thus to thy overview?

Berowne	Not you by me, but I betrayed to you.
	I that am honest, I that hold it sin
	To break the vow I am engagd in;
	I am betrayed by keeping company
	With men like you, men of inconstancy.
	When shall you see me write a thing in rhyme?
	Or groan for Joan? Or spend a minute's time
	In pruning me? When shall you hear that I
	Will praise a hand, a foot, a face, an eye,
	A gait, a state, a brow, a breast, a waist,
	A leg, a limb?

King					Soft, whither away so fast?
	A true man or a thief that gallops so?

Berowne	I post from love; good lover, let me go.

                      Enter JAQUENETTA and COSTARD.

Jaquenetta	God bless the king!

King						What present hast thou there?

Costard	Some certain treason.

King							What makes treason here?

Costard	Nay, it makes nothing, sir.

King								If it mar nothing neither,
	The treason and you go in peace away together.

Jaquenetta	I beseech your grace, let this letter be read:
	Our parson misdoubts it; 'twas treason, he said.

King	Berowne, read it over.
											 [BEROWNE reads the letter.
	Where hadst thou it?

Jaquenetta	Of Costard.

King	Where hadst thou it?

Costard	Of Dun Adramadio, Dun Adramadio.
											 [BEROWNE tears the letter.

King	How now, what is in you? Why dost thou tear it?

Berowne	A toy, my liege, a toy. Your grace needs not fear it.

Longaville	It did move him to passion, and therefore let's hear it.

Dumaine	[Gathering up the pieces.]
	It is Berowne's writing, and here is his name.

Berowne	[To COSTARD.]
	Ah, you whoreson loggerhead, you were born to do me shame!
	Guilty, my lord, guilty! I confess, I confess.

King	What?

Berowne	That you three fools lacked me, fool, to make up the mess.
	He, he, and you - and you my liege! - and I,
	Are pick-purses in love, and we deserve to die.
	O, dismiss this audience, and I shall tell you more.

Dumaine	Now the number is even.

Berowne							True, true; we are four.
	Will these turtles be gone?

King								Hence, sirs - away!

Costard	Walk aside the true folk, and let the traitors stay.
									  [Exeunt COSTARD and JAQUENETTA.

Berowne	Sweet lords, sweet lovers - O, let us embrace.
		As true we are as flesh and blood can be.
	The sea will ebb and flow, heaven show his face;
		Young blood doth not obey an old decree.
	We cannot cross the cause why we were born;
	Therefore of all hands must we be forsworn.

King	What, did these rent lines show some love of thine?

Berowne	'Did they?' quoth you. Who sees the heavenly Rosaline
	That, like a rude and savage man of Inde
		At the first opening of the gorgeous east,
	Bows not his vassal head and, strucken blind,
		Kisses the base ground with obedient breast?
	What peremptory eagle-sighted eye
		Dares look upon the heaven of her brow
	That is not blinded by her majesty?

King		What zeal, what fury hath inspired thee now?
	My love, her mistress, is a gracious moon;
		She, an attending star, scarce seen a light.

Berowne	My eyes are then no eyes, nor I Berowne.
		O, but for my love, day would turn to night!
	Of all complexions the culled sovereignty
		Do meet, as at a fair, in her fair cheek,
	Where several worthies make one dignity,
		Where nothing wants that want itself doth seek.
	Lend me the flourish of all gentle tongues-
		Fie, painted rhetoric! O, she needs it not.
	To things of sale a seller's praise belongs:
		She passes praise; then praise too short doth blot.
	A withered hermit, fivescore winters worn,
		Might shake off fifty, looking in her eye.
	Beauty doth varnish age, as if newborn,
		And gives the crutch the cradle's infancy.
	O, 'tis the sun that maketh all things shine!

King		By heaven, thy love is black as ebony.

Berowne	Is ebony like her? O wood divine!
		A wife of such wood were felicity.
	O, who can give an oath? Where is a book,
		That I may swear beauty doth beauty lack
	If that she learn not of her eye to look?
		No face is fair that is not full so black.

King	O paradox! Black is the badge of hell,
		The hue of dungeons, and the school of night;
	And beauty's crest becomes the heavens well.

Berowne		Devils soonest tempt, resembling spirits of light.
	O, if in black my lady's brows be decked,
		It mourns that painting and usurping hair
	Should ravish doters with a false aspect;
		And therefore is she born to make black fair.
	Her favour turns the fashion of the days,
		For native blood is counted painting now;
	And therefore red, that would avoid dispraise,
		Paints itself black, to imitate her brow.

Dumaine	To look like her are chimney-sweepers black.

Longaville		And since her time are colliers counted bright.

King	And Ethiops of their sweet complexion crack.

Dumaine		Dark needs no candles now, for dark is light.

Berowne	Your mistresses dare never come in rain,
		For fear their colours should be washed away.

King	'Twere good yours did; for, sir, to tell you plain,
		I'll find a fairer face not washed today.

Berowne	I'll prove her fair, or talk till doomsday here.

King		No devil will fright thee then so much as she.

Dumaine	I never knew man hold vile stuff so dear.

Longaville		Look, here's thy love:
															[Showing his shoe.
								my foot and her face see.

Berowne	O, if the streets were pavd with thine eyes,
		Her feet were much too dainty for such tread.

Dumaine	O vile! Then, as she goes, what upward lies
		The street should see as she walked overhead.

King	But what of this? Are we not all in love?

Berowne		O, nothing so sure; and thereby all forsworn.

King	Then leave this chat; and, good Berowne, now prove
		Our loving lawful, and our faith not torn.

Dumaine	Ay, marry, there; some flattery for this evil.

Longaville		O, some authority how to proceed;
	Some tricks, some quillets, how to cheat the devil!

Dumaine		Some salve for perjury.

Berowne								'Tis more than need.
	Have at you then, affection's men-at-arms!
	Consider what you first did swear unto:
	To fast, to study, and to see no woman-
	Flat treason 'gainst the kingly state of youth.
	Say, can you fast? Your stomachs are too young,
	And abstinence engenders maladies.
	O, we have made a vow to study, lords,
	And in that vow we have forsworn our books;
	For when would you, my liege, or you, or you,
	In leaden contemplation have found out
	Such fiery numbers as the prompting eyes
	Of beauty's tutors have enriched you with?
	Other slow arts entirely keep the brain,
	And therefore, finding barren practisers,
	Scarce show a harvest of their heavy toil;
	But love, first learnd in a lady's eyes,
	Lives not alone immurd in the brain,
	But with the motion of all elements
	Courses as swift as thought in every power,
	And gives to every power a double power,
	Above their functions and their offices.
	It adds a precious seeing to the eye-
	A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind.
	A lover's ear will hear the lowest sound
	When the suspicious head of theft is stopped.
	Love's feeling is more soft and sensible
	Than are the tender horns of cockled snails.
	Love's tongue proves dainty Bacchus gross in taste.
	For valour, is not Love a Hercules,
	Still climbing trees in the Hesperides?
	Subtle as Sphinx; as sweet and musical
	As bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair;
	And when Love speaks, the voice of all the gods
	Make heaven drowsy with the harmony.
	Never durst poet touch a pen to write
	Until his ink were tempered with Love's sighs;
	O, then his lines would ravish savage ears,
	And plant in tyrants mild humility.
	From women's eyes this doctrine I derive:
	They sparkle still the right Promethean fire;
	They are the books, the arts, the academes,
	That show, contain, and nourish all the world;
	Else none at all in aught proves excellent.
	Then fools you were these women to forswear,
	Or, keeping what is sworn, you will prove fools.
	For wisdom's sake, a word that all men love;
	Or for love's sake, a word that loves all men;
	Or for men's sake, the authors of these women;
	Or women's sake, by whom we men are men-
	Let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves,
	Or else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths.
	It is religion to be thus forsworn,
	For charity itself fulfils the law,
	And who can sever love from charity?

King	Saint Cupid, then! And, soldiers, to the field!

Berowne	Advance your standards, and upon them, lords!
	Pell-mell, down with them! But be first advised,
	In conflict that you get the sun of them.

Longaville	Now to plain-dealing; lay these glozes by.
	Shall we resolve to woo these girls of France?

King	And win them too! Therefore let us devise
	Some entertainment for them in their tents.

Berowne	First, from the park let us conduct them thither;
	Then homeward every man attach the hand
	Of his fair mistress. In the afternoon
	We will with some strange pastime solace them,
	Such as the shortness of the time can shape;
	For revels, dances, masks, and merry hours,
	Forerun fair Love, strewing her way with flowers.

King	Away, away! No time shall be omitted
	That will betime, and may by us be fitted.

Berowne	Allons, allons! Sowed cockle reaped no corn,
		And justice always whirls in equal measure.
	Light wenches may prove plagues to men forsworn;
		If so, our copper buys no better treasure.
															[Exeunt.
