Not, indeed; He hence remov'd last night, and with more haste Than is his use. Wid. 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 Lord, how we lose our pains! Hel. 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 tess's Palace. Flourish. Enter King, Coun 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 'Tis past, my liege Her estimation home.3 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. King. 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. My honour'd lady, Clo. Indeed, sir, if your metaphor stink, I will 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 ears took captive, Here is a pur of fortune's, sir, or of fortune's cat, We are reconcil'd, and the first view shall kill [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 (4) 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? ness. Ber. My gracious sovereign, King. Then shall we have a match. I have Howe'er it pleases you to take it so, letters sent me, That set him high in fame. My high-repented blames, Dear sovereign, pardon to me. All is whole; Ber. Admiringly, my liege: at first I stuck my choice upon her, ere my heart King. Well excus'd: Count. Which better than the first, O dear Or, ere they meet, in me, O nature, cease! Laf. Come on, my son, in whom my house's name Ber. Hers it was not. King. Now, pray you, let me see it; for mine eye, While I was speaking, oft was fastened to't.- Son, on my life, Laf. King. ment You got it from her: she call'd the saints to surety, (Where you have never come,) or sent it us Ber. honour; And mak'st conjectural fears to come into me, Ber. This ring was ever hers, you shall as easy King. I am wrapp'd in dismal thinkings. King. [Reads.] Upon his many protestations to marry me, when his wife was dead, I blush to say it, he won me. Now is the count Rousillon a widower; his vows are forfeited to me, and my honour's I would relieve her: Had you that craft, to rcave her paid to him. He stole from Florence, taking no leave, and I follow him to his country for justice: (5) i. e. That you have the proper consciousness of your own actions. (6) Post-stages. Methought, you said, Grant it me, O king; in you it best lies; otherwise Conferr'd by testament to the sequent issue, To bring forth this discovery.-Seek these suitors:- [Exeunt Gentleman, and some attendants. Now, justice on the doers! King. I wonder, sir, since wives are monsters to you, And that you fly them as you swear them lordship, Re-enter Gentleman, with Widow and Diana. women? Ber. My lord, I neither can, nor will deny Laf. 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, King. Sir, for my thoughts, you have them ill to Till your deeds gain them: Fairer prove your honour, Than in my thought it lies! Dia. Good my lord, He had not my virginity. Did lack a parallel; yet, for all that, Count. He blushes, and 'tis it: Of six preceding ancestors, that gem (1) Pay toll for him. (2) Decease, die. meant a common woman. (4) Value. (5) Noted. (6) Debauched. You saw one here in court could witness it. Dia. She hath that ring of yours. I must be patient; You, that turn'd off a first so noble wife, Ber. I have it not. 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. I have spoke the truth. Ber. My lord, I do confess the ring was hers. Is this the man you speak of? King. Tell me, sirrah, but tell me true, I charge you, Not fearing the displeasure of your master 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? 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? orator. No, my good lord; Dia. Do you know, he promised me marriage? Par. 'Faith, I know more than I'll speak. King. But wilt thou not speak all thou know'st ? Both, both; 0, pardon! Par. Yes, so please your majesty; I did go beHel. O, my good lord, when I was like this maid, tween them, as I said; but more than that, he loved 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? Ber. If she, my liege, can make me know this things that would derive me ill will to speak of, therefore I will not speak what I know. clearly, I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly. Hel. If it appear not plain, and prove untrue, King. Thou hast spoken all already, unless thou King. Let us from point to point this story know, Dia. 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. I'll never tell you. King. Take her away. Dia. Because he's guilty, and he is not guilty; her. Advancing. [Flourish. This play has many delightful scenes, though [Pointing to Lafeu. 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 Dia. Good mother, fetch my bail.-Stay, royal and a coward, such as has always been the sport sir; [Exit Widow. of the stage, but perhaps never raised more laughter or contempt than in the hands of Shakspeare. The jeweller, that owes the ring, is sent for, 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. House. INDUCTION. SCENE L-Before an Alehouse on a Heath. 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. Wind horns. Enter a Lord from hunting, with Lord. Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my Brach' Merriman, the poor cur is emboss'd,' Lord. Thou art a fool; if Echo were as fleet, ;-But sup them well, and look unto them all; 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. (1) Beat or knock. Lord. What's here? one dead, or drunk? See, doth he breathe? 2 Hun. He breathes, my lord: Were he not This were a bed but cold to sleep so soundly, lies! Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image! (6) An officer whose authority equals a constable. |