maid the better, whilst I have a tooth in my head: Why, he's able to lead her a coranto.

Par, Mort du Vinaigre! Is not this Helen?
Laf. 'Fore God, I think so.

King. Go, call before me all the lords in court.[Exit an Attendant.

Sit, my preserver, by thy patient's side;

And with this healthful hand,, whose banish'd sense Thou hast repeal'd, a second time receive

The confirmation of my promis'd gift,

Which but attends thy naming.

Enter several Lords.

Fair maid, send forth thine eye: this youthful parcel
Of noble bachelors stand at my bestowing,

O'er whom both sovereign power and father's voice9
I have to use: thy frank election make;
Thou hast power to choose, and they none to forsake.
Hel. To each of you one fair and virtuous mistress
Fall, when love please!-marry, to each, but one!1
Laf. I'd give bay Curtal,2 and his furniture,

My mouth no more were broken3 than these boys',
And writ as little beard.

King.

Peruse them well: Not one of those, but had a noble father.

Hel. Gentlemen,

Heaven hath, through me, restor❜d the king to health. All. We understand it, and thank heaven for you. Hel. I am a simple maid; and therein wealthiest, That, I protest, I simply am a maid:

Please it your majesty, I have done already:

• O'er whom both sovereign power and father's voice-] They were his wards as well as his subjects. HENLEY.

1

marry, to each, but one!] i. e. except one.
bay Curtal,] i. e. a bay, docked horse.

3 My mouth no more were broken-] A broken mouth is a mouth which has lost part of its teeth. JOHNSON.

VOL. III.

X

The blushes in my cheeks thus whisper me,
We blush, that thou should'st choose; but, be refus'd,
Let the white death sit on thy cheek for ever;

We'll ne'er come there again.

Make choice; and, see,

King. Who shuns thy love, shuns all his love in me. Hel. Now, Dian, from thy altar do I fly; And to imperial Love, that god most high, Do my sighs stream.-Sir, will you hear my suit? 1 Lord. And grant it.

Hel.

Thanks, sir; all the rest is mute." Laf. I had rather be in this choice, than throw ames-ace" for my life.

Hel. The honour, sir, that flames in your fair eyes, Before I speak, too threateningly replies:

Love make your fortunes twenty times above
Her that so wishes, and her humble love!
2 Lord. No better, if you please.

Hel. My wish receive, Which great love grant! and so I take my leave. Laf. Do all they deny her?" An they were sons of mine, I'd have them whipped; or I would send them to the Turk, to make eunuchs of.

Hel. Be not afraid [To a Lord] that I your hand should take

I'll never do you wrong for your own sake:
Blessing upon your vows! and in your bed
Find fairer fortune, if you ever wed!

4 Let the white death, &c.] The white death is the chlorosis. The pestilence that ravaged England in the reign of Edward III. was called the black death."

6

the rest is mute.] i. e. I have no more to say to you.
ames-ace-] i. e. the lowest chance of the dice.

7 Laf. Do all they deny her?] None of them have yet denied her, or deny her afterwards, but Bertram. The scene must be so regulated that Lafeu and Parolles talk at a distance, where they may see what passes between Helena and the lords, but not hear it, so that they know not by whom the refusal is inade.

JOHNSON.

Laf. These boys are boys of ice, they'll none have her: sure, they are bastards to the English; the French ne'er got them.

Hel. You are too young, too happy, and too good, To make yourself a son out of my

4 Lord. Fair one, I think not so.

blood.

Laf. There's one grape yet, I am sure, thy father drank wine.-But if thou be'st not an ass, I am a youth of fourteen; I have known thee already.

Hel. I dare not say, I take you; [To BERTRAM] but I give

Me, and my service, ever whilst I live,

Into your guiding power.-This is the man.

King. Why then, young Bertram, take her, she's thy wife.

Ber. My wife, my liege? I shall beseech your highness,

In such a business give me leave to use

The help of mine own eyes.

King.

Know'st thou not, Bertram,

What she has done for me?

Ber. Yes, my good lord; But never hope to know why I should marry her. King. Thou know'st, she has rais'd me from my sickly bed.

Ber. But follows it, my lord, to bring me down Must answer for your raising? I know her well; She had her breeding at my father's charge: A poor physician's daughter my wife -Disdain Rather corrupt me ever!

King. 'Tis only title thou disdain'st in her, the which

I can build up. Strange is it, that our bloods,
Of colour, weight, and heat, pour'd all together,

• "Tis only title-] i. e. the want of title.

Would quite confound distinction, yet stand off
In differences so mighty: If she be

All that is virtuous, (save what thou dislik'st,
A poor physician's daughter,) thou dislik'st
Of virtue for the name: but do not so:
From lowest place when virtuous things proceed,
The place is dignified by the doer's deed:
Where great additions swell, and virtue none,
It is a dropsied honour: good alone

Is good, without a name; vileness is so:1
The property by what it is should go,
Not by the title. She is young, wise, fair;
In these to nature she's immediate heir;
And these breed honour: that is honour's scorn,
Which challenges itself as honour's born,2
And is not like the sire: Honours best thrive,
When rather from our acts we them derive
Than our fore-goers: the mere word's a slave,
Debauch'd on every tomb; on every grave,
A lying trophy, and as oft is dumb,

Where dust, and damn'd oblivion, is the tomb
Of honour'd bones indeed. What should be said?
If thou canst like this creature as a maid,

I can create the rest: virtue, and she,

Is her own dower; honour, and wealth, from me. Ber. I cannot love her, nor will strive to do't. King. Thou wrong'st thyself, if thou should'st strive to choose.

Hel. That you are well restor'd, my lord, I am glad; Let the rest go.

9 Where great additions swell,] Additions are the titles and descriptions by which men are distinguished from each other.

•good alone

Is good, without a name; vileness is so:] The meaning is,Good is good, independent on any worldly distinction or title; so vileness is vile, in whatever state it may appear. MALONE.

Honour's born,] is the child of honour. Born is here used, as bairn still is in the North. HENLEY.

King. My honour's at the stake; which to defeat,
I must produce my power: Here, take her hand,
Proud scornful boy, unworthy this good gift;
That dost in vile misprision shackle up

My love, and her desert; that canst not dream,
We, poizing us in her defective scale,

Shall weigh thee to the beam:3 that wilt not know,
It is in us to plant thine honour, where

We please to have it grow: Check thy contempt:
Obey our will, which travails in thy good:
Believe not thy disdain, but presently

Do thine own fortunes that obedient right,
Which both thy duty owes, and our power claims;
Or I will throw thee from my care for ever,
Into the staggers,* and the careless lapse

Of youth and ignorance; both my revenge and hate,

Loosing upon thee in the name of justice,
Without all terms of pity: Speak; thine answer.
Ber. Pardon, my gracious lord; for I submit
My fancy to your eyes: When I consider,
What great creation, and what dole of honour,
Flies where you bid it, I find, that she, which late
Was in my nobler thoughts most base, is now
The praised of the king; who, so ennobled,
Is, as 'twere, born so.

3

King.

Take her by the hand,

that canst not dream,

We, poizing us in her defective scale,

Shall weigh thee to the beam :] That canst not understand, that if you and this maiden should be weighed together, and our royal favours should be thrown into her scale, (which you esteem so light,) we should make that in which you should be placed, to strike the beam. MALONE.

* Into the staggers,] One species of the staggers or the horse's apoplexy, is a raging impatience, which make the animal dash himself with a destructive violence against posts or walls. To this the allusion, I suppose, is made. JOHNSON.