the influence of the most received star; and though the devil lead the measure,3 such are to be followed: after them, and take a more dilated farewell.

Ber. And I will do so.

Par. Worthy fellows; and like to prove most sinewy sword-men.

Laf. Pardos

[Exeunt BERTRAM and PAROLLES.

Enter LAFEu.

my lord, [Kneeling.] for me and for my tidings.

King. I'll fee thee to stand up.

Laf.

Then here's a man Stands, that has brought his pardon. I would, you Had kneel'd, my lord, to ask me mercy; and That at my bidding, you could so stand up.

"King. I would I had; so I had broke thy pate, And ask'd thee mercy for't.

Laf.

Goodfaith, across:*

But, my good lord, 'tis thus; Will you be cur'd

Of your infirmity?

King.

Laf

No.

O, will you eat yes, but you will,

No grapes, my royal fox?

My noble grapes, an if my royal fox

Could reach them: I have seen a medicine,'
That's able to breathe life into a stone;

to lead the measure or dance of fashion, such is their implicit submission, that even he must be followed. HENLEY.

3

lead the measure,] i. e. the dance.

across:] This word is used when any pass of wit miscarries. While chivalry was in vogue, breaking spears against a quintain was a favourite exercise. He who shivered the greatest number was esteemed the most adroit; but then it was to be performed exactly with the point, for if achieved by a sidestroke, or across, it showed unskilfulness, and disgraced the prac

tiser.

medicine,] is here put for a she-physician.

Quicken a rock, and make you dance canary,
With spritely fire and motion; whose simple touch
Is powerful to araise king Pepin, nay,

To give great Charlemain a pen in his hand,
And write to her a love-line.

If

King.

What her is this?

Laf. Why, doctor she: My lord, there's one arriv'd,

you will see her, now, by my faith and honour, If seriously I may convey my thoughts

In this my light deliverance, I have spoke

8

With one, that, in her sex, her years, profession," Wisdom, and constancy, hath amaz'd me more Than I dare blame my weakness: Will you see he (For that is her demand) and know her business? That done, laugh well at me.

Now, good Lafeu,

King.
Bring in the admiration; that we with thee

May spend our wonder too, or take off thine,
By wond'ring how thou took'st it..

Laf.

And not be all day neither

Nay, I'll fit you,

[Exit LAFEU.

King. Thus he his special nothing ever prologues.

Re-enter LAFEU, with HELENA,

Laf. Nay, come your ways,

King.

This haste hath wings indeed.

Laf. Nay, come your ways;

This is his majesty, say your mind to him:

her years, profession,] By profession is meant her decla, ration of the end and purpose of her coming... 12

Than I dare blame my weakness:] Lafeu's meaning 'appears to me to be this: That the amazement she excited in him was so great, that he could not impute it merely to his own weakness; but to the wonderful qualities of the object that occasioned it." M. MASON,

A traitor you do look like; but such traitors

His majesty seldom fears: I am Cressid's uncle, That dare leave two together: fare you well. [Exit. King. Now, fair one, does your business follow us?

Hel. Ay, my good lord. Gerard de Narbon was My father; in what he did profess, well found.'

King. I knew him.

Hel. The rather will I spare my praises towards him;

Knowing him, is enough. On his bed of death
Many receipts he gave me; chiefly one,
Which, as the dearest issue of his practice,
And of his old experience the only darling,
He bad me store up, as a triple eye,

Safer than mine own two, more dear; I have so:
And, hearing your high majesty is touch'd
With that malignant cause wherein the honour
Of my dear father's gift stands chief in power,
I come to tender it, and my appliance,

With all bound humbleness.

King. We thank you, maiden; But may not be so credulous of cure, When our most learned doctors leave us; and The congregated college have concluded That labouring art can never ransome naturė From her inaidable estate,-I say we must not So stain our judgment, or corrupt our hope, To prostitute our past-cure malady

To empiricks; or to dissever so

Our great self and our credit, to esteem

A senseless help, when help past sense we deem.
Hel. My duty then shall pay me

for my pains: I will no more enforce mine office on you;

9

Cressida.

Cressid's uncle,] I am like Pandarus. See Troilus and

- well found.] i. e. of known, acknowledged, excellence.

Humbly entreating from your royal thoughts
A modest one to bear me back again.

King. I cannot give thee less, to be call'd grateful:

Thou thought'st to help me; and such thanks I

give,

As one near death to those that wish him live:
But, what at full I know, thou know'st no part;
I knowing all my peril, thou no art.

Hel. What I can do, can do no hurt to try,
Since you set up your rest 'gainst remedy:
He that of greatest works is finisher,

Oft does them by the weakest minister:
So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown,
When judges have been babes. Great floods have
flown

From simple sources; and great seas have dried,
When miracles have by the greatest been denied.2
Oft expectation fails, and most oft there
Where most it promises; and oft it hits,
Where hope is coldest, and despair most sits.
King. I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind
maid;

Thy pains, not us'd, must by thyself be paid:
Proffers, not took, reap thanks for their reward.
Hel. Inspired merit so by breath is barr'd:
It is not so with him that all things knows,
As 'tis with us that square our guess by shows:
But most it is presumption in us, when
The help of heaven we count the act of men.
Dear sir, to my endeavours give consent;
Of heaven, not me, make an experiment.
I am not an impostor, that proclaim
Myself against the level of mine aim;3

When miracles have by the greatest been denied.] i. e, disbelieved, or contemned.

3

· • Myself against the level of mine aim ;] i. e. I am not an im

But know I think, and think I know most sure,
My art is not past power, nor you past cure.
King. Art thou so confident? Within what space
Hop'st thou my cure?

Hel.
The greatest grace lending grace,
Ere twice the horses of the sun shall bring
Their fiery torcher his diurnal ring;

Ere twice in murk and occidental damp

Moist Hesperus hath quench'd his sleepy lamp;
Or four and twenty times the pilot's glass
Hath told the thievish minutes how they pass;
What is infirm from
parts shall fly,
your sound
Health shall live free, and sickness freely die.
King. Upon thy certainty and confidence,
What dar'st thou venture?

Hel.

Tax of impudence,A strumpet's boldness, a divulged shame,Traduc'd by odious ballads; my maiden's name " Sear'd otherwise; no worse of worst extended,* With vilest torture let my life be ended.

King. Methinks, in thee some blessed spirit doth speak;

His powerful sound, within an organ weak:
And what impossibility would slay

In common sense, sense saves another way."
Thy life is dear; for all, that life can rate
Worth name of life, in thee hath estimate;

postor that proclaim one thing and design another, that proclaim a cure and aim at a fraud.

4

no worse of worst extended,] i. e. to be be so defamed that nothing severer can be said against those who are most publickly reported to be infamous.

And what impossibility would slay

In common sense, sense saves another way.] i. e. and that which, if I trusted to my reason, I should think impossible, I yet, perceiving thee to be actuated by some blessed spirit, think thee capable of effecting. MALONE.

6 in thee hath estimate;] May be counted among the gifts enjoyed by thee. JOHNSON.