SCENE I. The Countess of Ronfilign's House in France. Enter Bertram, the Countess of Roufillon, Helena, and Lafeu, all in black. Laf. How call'd you the man you speak of, madam? Count. He was famous, fir, in his profeffion, and it was his great right to be fo: Gerard de Narbon. Laf. He was excellent, indeed, madam; the N delivering my fon from me, I bury king very lately spoke of him, admiringly, and Count. I fecond husband. Ber. And I, in going, madam, weep o'er my father's death anew: but I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward, evermore in fubjection. Laf. You fhall find of the king a husband, madam;-you, fir, a father: He that fo generally is at all times good, muft of neceffity hold his virtue to you; whofe worthiness would ftir it up where it wanted, rather than lack it where there is fuch abundance. mourningly he was skilful enough to have liv'd ftill, if knowledge could have been fet up against mortality. Ber. What is it, my good lord, the king languithes of? Laf. A fiftula, my lord. Ber. I heard not of it before.. Laf. I would, it were not notorious.-Was this gentlewoman the daughter of Gerard de Narbon? Count. His fole child, my lord; and bequeathed to my overlooking. I have thofe hopes of her Count. What hope is there of his majefty's good, that her education promifes: her difpofiamendment? Laf. He hath abandon'd his physicians, madam; under whofe practices he hath perfecuted time with hope; and finds no other advantage in the procefs, but only the lofing of hope by time. Count. This young gentlewoman had a father, (0, that bad! how fad a paffage 2 'tis! whofe fkill was almost as great as his honesty; had it ftretch'd fo far, it would have made nature immortal, and death fhould have play'd for lack of work. 'Would, for the king's fake, he were living! I think, it would be the death of the king's dileale. tions fhe inherits, which makes fair gifts fairer : for where an unclean mind carries virtuous qualities, there commendations go with pity, they are virtues and traitors too 3; in her they are the bet ter for their fimpleness4; fhe derives her honefty, and atchieves her goodness. Laf. Your commendations, madam, get from her tears. Count. 'Tis the best brine a maiden can feafon her praise in. The remembrance of her father never approaches her heart, but the tyranny of her forrows takes all livelihood from her cheek. No The heirs of great fortunes were anciently the king's wards. 2 Paffage means any thing that falles, and is here applied in the fame fenfe as when we fay the paffage of a book. 3 Dr. Jonnion thus comments upon this paffage: "Eftimable and ufeful qualities, joined with an evil difpofition, give that evil difpofition power over others, who, by admiring the virtue, are betrayed to the malevolence." + i. e. her excellencies are the better because they are artic's and open, without fraud, without defign. T 3 more more of this, Helena, go to, no more; left it be Look bleak in the cold wind: withal, full oft rather thought you affect a forrow, than to have. Hel. I do affect a forrow, indeed, but I have it too. Laf. Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead, exceffive grief the enemy to the living. Count. If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess makes it foon mortal 1. Ber. Madam, I defire your holy wishes. [father Laf. He cannot want the best, That fhall attend his love. Count. Heaven blefs him! Farewell, Bertram. [Exit Countefs. Ber. [To Helena.] The best wishes, that can be forg'd in your thoughts, be fervants to you! Be comfortable to my mother, your mistress, and make much of her. Laf. Farewell, pretty lady: You must hold the credit of your father. [Ex. Bertram and Lafeu. Hel. Oh, were that all!-I think not on my father; And these great tears 2 grace his remembrance more, Enter Parolles. we fee Cold 4 wifdom waiting on fuperfluous folly. Hel. And you, monarch. Hel. And no. Par. Are you meditating on virginity? Hel. Ay. You have fome 5 stain of foldier in you; let me aík you a question: Man is enemy to virginity; how may we barricado it against him ? Par. Keep him out. Hel. But he aflails; and our virginity, though valiant, in the defence yet is weak; unfold to us fome warlike refiftance. Par. There is none; man, fitting down before you, will undermine you, and blow you up. Hel. Bless our poor virginity from underminers, and blowers up!-Is there no military policy, how virgins might blow up men ? Par. Virginity being blown down, man will quicklier be blown up: marry, in blowing him down again, with the breach yourselves made, you lofe your city. It is not politick in the commonwealth of nature, to preserve virginity. Lofs of virginity is rational increafe; and there was never virgin got, till virginity was firft loft. That, you were made of, is metal to make virgins. Virgi nity, by being once loft, may be ten times found; by being ever kept, is ever loft: 'tis too cold a companion; away with it. Hel. I will stand for't a little, though therefore I die a virgin. Par. There's little can be faid in't; 'tis against the rule of nature. To speak on the part of virginity, is to accufe your mothers; which is moft infallible difobedience. He, that hangs himself, is a virgin virginity murders itfelf; and should be buried in highways, out of all fanctified limit, as a defperate offendrefs against nature. Virginity breeds mites, much like a cheese; confumes itself to the very paring, and fo dies with feeding its own ftomach. Befides, virginity is peevish, proud, idle, made of felf-love, which is the most inhibited fin in the canon. Keep it not; you cannot chufe but lofe by't: Out with't: within ten years it will make itself two, which is a goodly increafe; and the principal itself not much the worse. Away with 't. Hel. How might one do, fir, to lose it to her own liking? Par. Let me fee: Marry, ill, to like him that ne'er it likes. 'Tis a commodity will lofe the glofs with lying; the longer kept, the lefs worth: off One that goes with him: I love him for his fake; with 't, while 'tis vendible: anfwer the time of reAnd yet I know him a notorious liar, Think him a great way fool, folely a coward; Yet thefe fix'd evils fit fo fit in him, That they take place, when virtue's steely bones quefl. Virginity, like an old courtier, wears her cap out of fashion; richly fuited, but unfuitable: just like the brooch and the tooth-pick, which wear not now: Your date is better in your pye That is, if the living do not indulge grief, grief deftroys itfelf by its the tears of the king and countofs. 31. e. fome peculiar feature of his face. naked, and thus contraited with fuperfluous or over-cloathed. 5 Meaning, fome was in red, as appears from his being alterwards called red-tail'd humble beç. own excefs." 2 i. e. 4 Cold is here put for colour of foldier. Parolles i. e. forbidden fin. and Hel. Not my virginity yet. There fhall your mafter have a thousand loves, A mother, and a mistress, and a friend, [Exit. 1 and your porridge, than in your cheek: And thou dieft in thine unthankfulness, and thine ignoyour virginity, your old virginity, is like one of our rance makes thee away; farewel. When thou French wither'd pears: it looks ill, it eats dryly; haft leifure, fay thy prayers; when thou haft none, marry, 'tis a wither'd pear: it was formerly bet-remember thy friends: get thee a good husband, ter; marry, yet, 'tis a wither'd pear: Will you and ufe him as he ufes thee; fo farewel. any thing with it? Hel. Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we afcribe to heaven: the fated fky Gives us free fcope; only, doth backward pull Our flow defigns, when we ourselves are dull. What power is it, which mounts my love fo high; That makes me fee, and cannot feed mine eve? The mightieft fpace in fortune nature brings To join like likes, and kifs like native things 4. Impoffible be ftrange attempts, to thofe That weigh their pain in feafe; and do fuppofe, What hath been cannot be: Who ever ftrove To fhew her merit, that did mifs her love? The king's difeafe-my project may deceive me, But my intents are fix'd, and will not leave me. [Exit. A phoenix, captain, and an enemy, Hel. That I wish well.'Tis pity- Hel. That wishing well had not a body in't, Enter Page. Page. Monfieur Parolles, my lord calls for you. [Exit Page. Par. Little Helen, farewel: if I can remember thee, I will think of thee at court. Have fought with equal fortune, and continue 1 Lord. So 'tis reported, fir. King. Nay, 'tis most credible; we here receive it A certainty, vouch'd from our cousin Austria, Hel. Monfieur Parolles, you were born under a With caution, that the Florentine will move us charitable star. Hel. I efpecially think, under Mars. Par. Under Mars, I. Par. Why under Mars? For fpeedy aid; wherein our dearest friend 1 Lord. His love and wifdom, Hel. The wars have kept you fo under, that you Approv'd fo to your majesty, may plead muft needs be born under Mars. Par. When he was predominant. For ampleft credence. King. He hath arm'd our anfwer, Hel. When he was retrograde, I think, rather. And Florence is deny'd before he coines: Hel. You go fo much backward, when you fight. Hel. So is running away, when fear propofes the fafety: But the compofition, that your valour and fear makes in you, is a virtue of a good wing 3, and I like the wear well. Yet, for our gentlemen, that mean to fee 2 Lord. It may well ferve King. What's he comes here? Par. I am fo full of bufineffes, I cannot anfwer thee acutely: I will return perfect courtier; in the which, my instruction shall serve to naturalize thee, fo thou wilt be capable of courtier's counsel, and King. Youth, thou bear'st thy father's face; understand what advice thall thruft upon thee; elfe (Frank nature, rather curious than in hafte, Enter Bertram, Lefta, and Parolles. 1 Lord. It is the count Roufillon, my good lord, Young Bertram. 1 Shakspeare here quibbles on the word date, which means both age, and a kind of candied fruit. 2 Dr. Warburton is of opinion, that the eight lines following friend, is the nonfense of some foolish conceited player, who finding a thousand loves fpoken of, and only three reckoned up, namely, a mother's, a miftrefs's, and a friend's, would help out the number by the intermediate nonfenfe. The meaning of Helen, however, in this paffage may be, that the hall prove every thing to Bertran. 3 A metaphor taken from falconry; and meaning, a virtue that will fly high. + Dr. Johnfon explains thefe lines thus; "Nature brings like qualities and dilpositions to meet through any distance that fortune may have fet between them; fhe joins them, and makes them kifs like things born together." s The Senois were the people of a fmail republick, of which the capital was Sienna, and with whom the Florentines were at conftant variance. Hath T4 Hath well compos'd thee. Thy father's moral parts) Since the phyfician at your father's died? Ber. My thanks and duty are your majesty's. In their poor praise he humbled 3: Such a man He was much fam'd. Ber. Some fix months fince, my lord. King. If he were living, I would try him yet;- Ber. Thank your majefty. [Flourish. Excunt. III. A Room in the Count's Palace. Enter Countefs, Steward, and Clown 6. Count. I will now hear what fay you of this gentlewoman? Stew. Madam, the care I have had to even your content 7, I with might be found in the calendar of my paft endeavours; for then we wound our modefty, and make foul the clearness of our defervings, when of ourselves we publifh them. Count. What does this knave here? Get you gone, firrah: The complaints, I have heard of you, I do not all believe; 'tis my flowness, that I do not: for, I know, you lack not folly to commit them, and have ability enough to make fuch Which follow'd well, would demonstrate them now knaveries yours 8. Ber. His good remembrance, fir, Lies richer in your thoughts, than on his tomb; So in approof 4 lives not his epitaph, As in your royal speech 5. Clo. 'Tis not unknown to you, madam, that I am a poor fellow. Count. Well, fir. Clo. No, madam, 'tis not fo well, that I am poor: though many of the rich are damn'd: But, King. Would, I were with him! ́He would al-if I may have your ladyship's good will to go to ways fay, (Methinks, I hear him now; his plaufive words the world 9, Ifbel the woman and I will do as we may. Count. Wilt thou needs be a beggar? Clo. I do beg your good will in this cafe. Clo. In Ifbel's cafe, and mine own. Service is no heritage and, I think, fhall never have the blefling of God, till I have iffue of my body; for, they fay, bearns are bleffings. Count. Tell me thy reafon why thou wilt marry. Clo. My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on by the fieth; and he muft needs go, that the devil drives. Count. Is this all your worship's reafon ? Clo. Faith, madam, I have other holy reafons, fuch as they are. Count. May the world know them? Clo. I have been, madam, a wicked creature, as you and all fleth and blood are; and, indeed, I do marry, that I may repent. That is, cover petty faults with great merit. 2 i. e. he made allowances for their conduct, and bore from them what he would not from one of his own rank. 3 i. e. by condescending to ftoop to his inferiors, he exalted them and made them proud; and, in the gracious receiving their poor praife, he humbled even his humility. 4 Approof is approbation. 5 Mr. Tollet explains this pallage thus: "His epitaph or infcription on his tomb is not fo much in approbation or commendation of him, as is your royal fpeech." A Clown in Shakspeare is commonly taken for a licen fed efter, or domeftick feel. We are not to wonder that we find this character often in his plays, fince fools were, at that time, maintained in all great families, to keep up merriment in the house. 7 i. e. to equal your defires. 8 i. e. You are fool enough to commit thofe irregu larities you are charged with, and yet not fo much fool neither, as to difcredit the accufation by any defect in your ability. 9 i. e, to be married. See note 1, p. 128. Count Count. Thy marriage, fooner than thy wickedness. Clo. I am out of friends, madam; and I hope to have friends for my wife's fake. Count. Well, now. Stew. I know, madam, you love your gentlewoman intirely. Count. Faith, I do: her father bequeath'd her to me; and the herself, without other advantage, may lawfully make title to as much love as the finds : there is more owing her, than is paid; and more thall be paid her, than the'll demand. Chant. Such friends are thine enemies, knave. Clo. You are fhallow, madam, in great friends; for the kuaves come to do that for me, which I am aweary of. He, that ears my land, fpares my team, and gives me leave to inn the crop : if I be his cuckold, he's my drudge: He, that comforts my wife, is the cherisher of my fleth and blood; he that cherishes my flesh and blood, loves my flesh and blood; he that loves my flesh and blood, is my friend: ergo, he that kiffes my wife, is my friend. If men could be contented to be what they are, there were no fear in marriage; for young Charbon the puritan, and old Poyfarn the papift, howfoe'er their hearts are fevered in religion, their heads are both one, they may joul horns together, like any deer i' the herd. Count. Wilt thou ever be a foul-mouth'd and ca-allault, or ranfom afterward : This fhe deliver'd in lumnicus knave ? Stew. Madam, I was very late more near her than, I think, the wild me: alone the was, and did communicate to herfelf, her own words to her own ears; he thought, I dare vow for her, they touch'd not any stranger fenfe. Her matter was, the lov'd your fon : Fortune, the faid, was no goddefs, that had put fuch difference betwixt their two eftates; Love, no god, that would not extend his might, only where qualities were level: Diana, no queen of virgins, that would fuffer her poor knight to be furprifed without rescue in the first the moft bitter touch of forrow, that e'er I heard Clo. A prophet 2, L, madam: and I speak the a virgin exclaim in: which I held my duty, speeditruth the next 3 way. For I the ballad will repeat, Which men full true shall find; Count. Get you gone, fir; I'll talk with you more anon. Stew. May it pleafe you, madam, that he bid Helen come to you; of her I am to speak. Count. Sirrah, tell my gentlewoman, I would fpeak with her : Helen I mean. Clo. Was this fair face the caufe, quoth fie,Singing. Was this king Priam's joy. There's yet one good in ten. Ch. One good woman in ten, madam; which is a purifying o' the fong: 'Would God would ferve the world fo all the year! we'd find no fault with the tythe-woman, if I were the parion: One in ten, quoth a'! an we might have a good woman! born but every blazing ftar, or at an earthquake, 'twould mend the lottery well; a man may draw his heart out, ere he pluck one. ly to acquaint you withal; fithence, in the lofs that may happen, it concerns you fomething to know it. Count. You have discharg'd this honestly; keep it to yourself: many likelihoods inform'd me of this before, which hung to tottering in the balance, that I could neither believe, nor mifdoubt: Pray you, leave me : ftall this in your bofom, and I thank you for your honest care: I will tpeak with you further anon. [Exit Steward. Enter Helena. Why not a mother? When I faid, a mother, Count. You'll be gone, fir knave, and do as IA native flip to us from foreign feeds: command you? You ne'er opprefs'd me with a mother's gran, Clo. That man fhould be at a woman's com- Yet I expreis to you a mother's care :--mand, and yet no hurt done!—Though honefty God's mercy, maiden! does it curd thy blood, be no puritan, yet it will do no hurt ; it will wear To say, I am thy mother? What's the matter, the furplice of humility over the black gown of That this diftemper'd meflenger of wet, a big heart.—I am going, forfooth: the bufinefs is The many-colour'd Iris, rounds thine eye? To ear is to plough. 2 It is a fuperftition, which hath run through all ages and people, that natural fools have fomething in them of divinity; on which account they were efteemed facred. 3. c. the nearett way. 4 Fond here means filifly done. 5. e. according to our recollection Hel. |