Should be presented at our tent to us. 308
Boyet. Ladies, withdraw: the gallants are at hand.
Prin. Whip to your tents, as roes runs o'er land.
Enter the King and the rest [of the Lords].
King. Fair sir, God save you! Where is the princess?
Boyet. Gone to her tent. Please it your majesty, 312
Command me any service to her thither?
King. That she vouchsafe me audience for one word.
Boyet. I will; and so will she, I know, my lord.
Ber. This fellow pecks up wit, as pigeons pease, 316
And utters it again when God doth please:
He is wit's pedlar, and retails his wares
At wakes and wassails, meetings, markets, fairs;
And we that sell by gross, the Lord doth know, 320
Have not the grace to grace it with such show.
This gallant pins the wenches on his sleeve;
Had he been Adam, he had tempted Eve:
He can carve too, and lisp: why, this is he 324
That kiss'd his hand away in courtesy.
This is the ape of form, monsieur the nice,
That, when he plays at tables, chides the dice
In honourable terms: nay, he can sing 328
A mean most meanly, and in ushering
Mend him who can: the ladies call him sweet;
The stairs, as he treads on them, kiss his feet.
This is the flower that smiles on every one, 332
To show his teeth as white as whales-bone;
310 runs: run
319 wakes: night festivals
wassails: drinking bouts
324 can carve: knows the art of amorous glance and gesture
327 tables: backgammon
329 mean: tenor
333 whales-bone: whale's bone, walrus tusk
