Page 2418 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1

ACT IV IT

Scene I IT

Enter the Princess, Rosaline, Maria, Katharine, Boyet and two more
attendant Lords, and a Forester.

PRINCESS

Was that the King that spurred his horse so hard
Against the steep-up rising of the hill?

FIRST LORD

I know not, but I think it was not he.

PRINCESS

Whoe’er ’a was, ’a showed a mounting mind.
Well, lords, today we shall have our dispatch; [5]
On Saturday we will return to France.
Then, forester, my friend, where is the bush
That we must stand and play the murderer in?

FOREST ER

Hereby, upon the edge of yonder coppice;
A stand where you may make the fairest shoot. [10]

PRINCESS

I thank my beauty, I am fair that shoot,
And thereupon thou speakest ‘the fairest shoot’.

FOREST ER

Pardon me, madam, for I meant not so.

PRINCESS

What, what? First praise me, and again say no?
O short-lived pride! Not fair? Alack for woe! [15]