Hel.

Not here, sir?

too late to pare her nails now. Wherein have you played the knave with fortune, that she should scratch you, who of herself is a good lady, and would not have knaves thrive long under her? There's a quart d'ecu for you: Let the justices make you and fortune friends; I am for other busi

ness.

Par. I beseech your honour, to hear me one single word.

Laf. You beg a single penny more: come, you shall ha't; save your word.

Par. My name, my good lord, is Parolles.

Laf. You beg more than one word, then.-Cox' my passion! give me your hand:-How does your drum?

Par. O my good lord, you were the first that found me.

Laf. Was I, in sooth? and I was the first that

Gent.
Not, indeed;
He hence remov'd last night, and with more haste
Than is his use.
Wid.
Lord, how we lose our pains!
Hel. All's well that ends well; yet;
Though time seem so adverse, and means unfit.-lost thee.
I do beseech you, whither is he gone?
Gent. Marry, as I take it, to Rousillon;
Whither I am going.

Hel.
I do beseech you, sir,
Since you are like to see the king before me,
Commend the paper to his gracious hand;
Which, I presume, shall render you no blame,
But rather make you thank your pains for it:
I will come after you, with what good speed
Our means will make us means.
Gent.

This I'll do for you. Hel. And you shall find yourself to be well thank'd,

Par. It lies in you, my lord, to bring me in some grace, for you did bring me out.

Laf. Out upon thee, knave! dost thou put upon me at once both the office of God and the devil? one brings thee in grace, and the other brings thee out. [Trumpets sound.] The king's coming, I know by his trumpets.-Sirrah, inquire further after me; I had talk of you last night: though you are a fool and a knave, you shall eat; go to, follow. Par. I praise God for you.

[Exeunt. SCENE III.-The same. A room in the Coun Enter King, Coun

tess's Palace. Flourish.

tess, Lafeu, Lords, Gentlemen, guards, &c.
King. We lost a jewel of her; and our esteem*
Was made much poorer by it: but your son,
As mad in folly, lack'd the sense to know
Her estimation home."
Count.

'Tis past, my liege

Whate'er falls more.-We must to horse again;Go, go, provide. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-Rousillon. The inner court of the Countess's Palace. Enter Clown and Parolles. Par. Good monsieur Lavatch, give my lord Lafeu this letter: I have ere now, sir, been better known And I beseech your majesty to make it to you, when I have held familiarity with fresher Natural rebellion, done i'the blaze of youth; clothes; but I am now, sir, muddied in fortune's When oil and fire, too strong for reason's force, moat, and smell somewhat strong of her strong O'erbears it, and burns on. displeasure.

Clo. Truly, fortune's displeasure is but sluttish, if it smell so strong as thou speakest of: I will henceforth eat no fish of fortune's buttering. Pr'ythee, allow the wind.

Par. Nay, you need not stop your nose, sir; I spake but by a metaphor.

I

King.

My honour'd lady,
have forgiven and forgotten all;
Though my revenges were high bent upon him,
And watch'd the time to shoot.
Laf.
This I must say,-
But first I beg my pardon,-The young lord
Did to his majesty, his mother, and his lady,
Offence of mighty note; but to himself

Clo. Indeed, sir, if your metaphor stink, I will
stop my nose; or against any man's metaphor.-The greatest wrong of all: he lost a wife,
Pr'ythec, get thee further.

Par. Pray you, sir, deliver me this paper. Clo. Foh, pr'ythee, stand away; A paper from fortune's close-stool to give to a nobleman! Look, here he comes himself.

Enter Lafeu.

Whose beauty did astonish the survey

Of richest eyes; whose words all cars took captive,
Whose dear perfection, hearts that scorn'd to serve,
Humbly call'd mistress.
King.
Praising what is lost,
Makes the remembrance dear.--Well, call him
hither;

Here is a pur of fortune's, sir, or of fortune's cat, We are reconcil'd, and the first view shall kill
(but not a musk-cat,) that has fallen into the un-All repetition:-Let him not ask our pardon;
clean fishpond of her displeasure, and, as he says, The nature of his great offence is dead,
is muddied withal: Pray you, sir, use the carp as And deeper than oblivion do we bury
you may; for he looks like a poor, decayed, inge- The incensing relics of it: let him approach,
nious, foolish, rascally knave. I do pity his dis- A stranger, no offender; and inform him,
tress in my smiles of comfort, and leave him to So 'tis our will he should.
your lordship.

[Exit Clown.

Par. My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.

Laf. And what would you have me to do? 'tis

(1) You need not ask ;-here it is.

(2) Reckoning or estimate.

(3) Completely, in its full extent.

Gent.

I shall, my liege. [Exit Gentleman. King. What says he to your daughter? have you spoke?

and to have nothing, is to have rich eyes and poor hands.'

(5) i. e. The first interview shall put an end to

So in As you like It:-to have 'seen much all recollection of the past.

Laf. All that he is hath reference to your high- Of what should stead her most?

King. Then shall we have a match. I have Howe'er it pleases you to take it so,
The ring was never hers.
Count.

I would relieve her: Had you that craft, to reave her paid to him. He stole from Florence, taking no

Methought, you said,

Grant it me, O king; in you it best lies; otherwise Conferr'd by testament to the sequent issue,
a seducer flourishes, and a poor maid is undone. Hath it been ow'd and worn. This is his wife;
DIANA CAPULET. That ring's a thousand proofs.
Laf. I will buy me a son-in-law in a fair, and you saw one here in court could witness 1.
King.
toll him: for this, I'll none of him.
King. The heavens have thought well on thee,
Lafeu,

To bring forth this discovery.-Seek these suitors:-
Go, speedily, and bring again the count.

[Exeunt Gentleman, and some attendants.
I am afeard, the life of Helen, lady,
Was foully snatch'd.
Count.

Now, justice on the doers!
Enter Bertram, guarded.

King. I wonder, sir, since wives are monsters to
you,

And that you fly them as you swear them lordship,
Yet you desire to marry.-What woman's that?

Re-enter Gentleman, with Widow and Diana.
Dia. I am, my lord, a wretched Florentine,
Derived from the ancient Capulet;
My suit, as I do understand, you know,
And therefore know how far I may be pitied.
Wid. I am her mother, sir, whose age and honour
Both suffer under this complaint we bring,
And both shall cease, without your remedy.
King. Come hither, count. Do you know these

women?

Ber. My lord, I neither can, nor will deny
But that I know them: Do they charge me further?
Dia. Why do you look so strange upon your wife?
Ber. She's none of mine, my lord.
Dia.
If you shall marry,
You give away this hand, and that is mine;
You give away heaven's vows, and those are mine;
You give away myself, which is known mine;
For I by vow am so embodied yours,
That she which marries you, must marry me,
Either both, or none.

Luf. Your reputation [To Bertram.] comes too short for my daughter, you are no husband for her. Ber. My lord, this is a fond and desperate creature,

Whom sometime I have laughed with; let your

highness

Lay a more noble thought upon mine honour,
Than for to think that I would sink it here.

King. Sir, for my thoughts, you have them ill to
friend,

Till your deeds gain them: Fairer prove your honour,

Than in my thought it lies!

Dia.

Good my lord,
Ask him upon his oath, if he does think

He had not my virginity.
King. What say'st thou to her?
Ber.
She's impudent, my lord;
And was a common gamester to the camp.
Dia. He does me wrong, my lord; if I were so,
He might have bought me at a common price:
Do not believe him: O, behold this ring,

Whose high respect, and rich validity,

Did lack a parallel; yet, for all that,
He gave it to a commoner o' the camp,
If I be one.

Count.

He blushes, and 'tis it:

Of six preceding ancestors, that gem

(1) Pay toll for him. (2) Decease, die.
Gamester, when applied to a female, then
(6) Debauched.

meant a common woman.
(4) Value. (5) Noted.

So bad an instrument; his name's Parolles.
Dia. I did, my lord, but loath am to produce
Laf. I saw the man to-day, if man he be.
King. Find him, and bring him hither.
What of him?

Ber.

He's quoted' for a most perfidious slave,
With all the spots o' the world tax'd and debosh'd;"
Whose nature sickens, but to speak a truth:
Am I or that, or this, for what he'll utter,
That will speak any thing?
King.
Ber. I think, she has: certain it is, I lik'd her
And boarded her i' the wanton way of youth:
She knew her distance, and did angle for me,
Madding my eagerness with her restraint,
As all impediments in fancy's" course

She hath that ring of yours.

Are motives of more fancy; and, in fine,
Her insuit coming with her modern grace
Subdued me to her rate: she got the ring,
And I had that, which any inferior might
At market-price have bought.

Dia.

I must be patient;
You, that turn'd off a first so noble wife,
May justly diet me. I pray you yet,
(Since you lack virtue, I will lose a husband,)
Send for your ring, I will return it home,
And give me mine again.
Ber.
I have it not.
King What ring was yours, I pray you?
Dia.
Sir, much like

The same upon your finger.

King. Know you this ring? this ring was his of

late.

Dia. And this was it I gave him, being a-bed.
King. The story then goes false, you threw it him
Out of a casement.
Dia.

I have spoke the truth.
Enter Parolles.

Ber. My lord, I do confess the ring was hers.
King. You boggle shrewdly, every feather starts

you.

you,

Not fearing the displeasure of your master
(Which, on your just proceeding, I'll keep off,)
By him, and by this woman here, what know you?

Par. So please your majesty, my master hath been an honourable gentleman; tricks he hath had in him, which gentlemen have.

King. Come, come, to the purpose: Did he love this woman?

Par. 'Faith, sir, he did love her; But how?
King. How, I pray you?

Par. He did love her, sir, as a gentleman loves

Laf. He's a good drum, my lord, but a naughty | Beguiles the truer office of mine eyes?
Is't real, that I see?
Hel.

orator.

Dia. Do you know, he promised me marriage? No, my good lord; Par. 'Faith, I know more than I'll speak. 'Tis but the shadow of a wife you see, King. But wilt thou not speak all thou know'st ? The name, and not the thing. Par. Yes, so please your majesty; I did go beBer. Both, both; O, pardon! tween them, as I said; but more than that, he loved Hel. O, my good lord, when I was like this maid, her,-for, indeed, he was mad for her, and talked of I found you wondrous kind. There is your ring, Satan, and of limbo, and of furies, and I know not And, look you, here's your letter; This it says, what: yet I was in that credit with them at that When from my finger you can get this ring, time, that I knew of their going to bed and of And are by me with child, &c-This is done : other motions, as promising her marriage, and Will you be mine, now you are doubly won? things that would derive me ill will to speak of, Ber. If she, my liege, can make me know this therefore I will not speak what I know.

Ay, my good lord.

clearly,

I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly.

Hel. If it appear not plain, and prove untrue,
Deadly divorce step between me and you!-
O, my dear mother, do I see you living?

Laf. Mine eyes smell onions, I shall weep anon:

King. Thou hast spoken all already, unless thou canst say they are married: But thou art too fine1 in thy evidence: therefore stand aside.— This ring, you say, was yours? Dia. King. Where did you buy it? or who gave it you?-Good Tom Drum, [To Parolles.] lend me a Dia. It was not given me, nor I did not buy it. handkerchief: So, I thank thee; wait on me home, King. Who lent it you? I'll make sport with thee: Let thy courtesies alone, Dia. It was not lent me neither. they are scurvy ones. King. Where did you find it then? Dia. I found it not. King. If it were yours by none of all these ways, How could you give it him? Dia.

I never gave it him. Laf. This woman's an easy glove, my lord; she goes off and on at pleasure."

King. This ring was mine, I gave it his first wife.
Dia. It might be yours, or hers, for aught I know.
King. Take her away, I do not like her now:
To prison with her: and away with him.-
Unless thou tell'st me where thou hadst this ring,
Thou diest within this hour.
Dia.

King. Take her away.

I'll never tell you.

Dia.
I'll put in bail, my liege.
King. I think thee now some common customer.
Dia. By Jove, if ever I knew man, 'twas you.
King. Wherefore hast thou accus'd him all this
while?

Dia. Because he's guilty, and he is not guilty;
He knows, I am no maid, and he'll swear to't:
I'll swear, I am a maid, and he knows not.
Great king, I am no strumpet, by my life;
I am either maid, or else this old man's wife.

King. Let us from point to point this story know,
To make the even truth in pleasure flow :-
If thou be'st yet a fresh uncropped flower,
[To Diana.
Choose thou thy husband, and I'll pay thy dower;
For I can guess, that, by the honest aid,
Thou kept'st a wife herself, thyself a maid.-
Of that, and all the progress, more and less,
Resolvedly more leisure shall express :
All yet seems well; and if it end so meet,
The bitter past, more welcome is the sweet.
[Flourish.

This play has many delightful scenes, though [Pointing to Lafen, not sufficiently probable; and some happy characKing. She does abuse our ears; to prison with ters, though not new, nor produced by any deep knowledge of human nature. Parolles is a boaster

her.

sir;

Dia. Good mother, fetch my bail.—Stay, royal and a coward, such as has always been the sport [Exit Widow. of the stage, but perhaps never raised more laughThe jeweller, that owes the ring, is sent for, ter or contempt than in the hands of Shakspeare. And he shall surety me. But for this lord, Who hath abus'd me, as he knows himself, Though yet he never harm'd me, here I quit him: He knows himself, my bed he hath defil'd; And at that time he got his wife with child: Dead though she be, she feels her young one kick; So there's my riddle, One, that's dead, is quick: And now behold the meaning.

I cannot reconcile my heart to Bertram; a man noble without generosity, and young without truth; who marries Helen as a coward, and leaves her as a profligate: when she is dead by his unkindness, sneaks home to a second marriage, is accused by a woman whom he has wronged, defends himself by falsehood, and is dismissed to happiness.

The story of Bertram and Diana had been told before of Mariana and Angelo, and, to confess the truth, scarcely merited to be heard a second time. JOHNSON.

(5) i. e. Hear us without interruption, and take our parts, that is, support and defend us.

Scene, sometimes in Padua, and sometimes in Pe- Scene, Athens; and sometimes Ferando's Country truchio's House in the Country.

INDUCTION.

SCENE I-Before an Alehouse on a Heath.
Enter Hostess and Sly.

Sly.

I'LL pheese' you, in faith.

Host. A pair of stocks, you rogue!

Sly. Y'are a baggage; the Slies are no rogues: Look in the chronicles, we came in with Richard Conqueror. Therefore, paucas pallabris;2 let the world slide: Sessa!

Host. You will not pay for the glasses you have burst ?4

Sly. No, not a denier: Go by, says Jeronimy Go to thy cold bed, and warm thee.

House.

Wind horns. Enter a Lord from hunting, with
Huntsmen and Servants.

Lord. Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my
hounds:

Brach' Merriman,-the poor cur is emboss'd,"
And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach.
Saw'st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good
At the hedge corner, in the coldest fault?
I would not lose the dog for twenty pound.
He cried upon it at the merest loss,
1 Hun. Why, Belman is as good as he, my lord;
And twice to-day pick'd out the dullest scent:
Trust me, I take him for the better dog.

Lord. Thou art a fool; if Echo were as fleet,
I would esteem him worth a dozen such.
;-But sup them well, and look unto them all;
To-morrow I intend to hunt again.
1 Hun, I will, my lord,

Host. I know my remedy, I must go fetch the thirdborough. [Exit.

Sly. Third, or fourth, or fifth borough, I'll answer him by law: I'll not budge an inch, boy; let him come, and kindly.

[Lies down on the ground, and falls asleep.
(2) Few words.
(4) Broke.

(1) Beat or knock,
(3) Be quiet.
(5) This line and the scrap of Spanish is used in
burlesque from an old play called Hieronymo, or
the Spanish Tragedy.

Lord. What's here? one dead, or drunk? See, doth he breathe?

2 Hun. He breathes, my lord: Were he not
warm'd with ale,

This were a bed but cold to sleep so soundly.
Lord. O monstrous beast! how like a swine he

lies!

Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image!

(6) An officer whose authority equals a constable.
(7) Bitch.
(8) Strained.