Dia. Will you not, my Lord? Ber. It is an Honour 'longing to our Houfe, Dia, Mine Honour's fuch a ring; Ber. Here, take my ring. My Houfe, my Honour, yea, my Life be thine, Dia. When midnight comes, knock at my chamber window; I'll order take, my Mother fhall not hear. My reafons are moft ftrong, and you fhall know them, [Exit. Dia. For which live long to thank both heaven and me. You may fo in the end. My Mother told me juft how he would woo, Have the like oaths: he had fworn to marry me When his Wife's dead: therefore, I'll lie with him When I am buried (2). Since Frenchmen are so braid, (2) Sce Frenchmen are fo braid, Marry Marry that will, I'll live and die a Maid;] What! becaufe Frenchmen were falfe, the, that was an Italian, would marry nobody. The text is corrupted; and we should read, Marry that will, I'll live and die a maid; SCENE IIL Changes to the French Camp in Florence. [Exit. Enter the two French Lords, and two or three Soldiers. 1 Lord. You have not given him his mother's letter? 2 Lord. I have deliver'd it an hour fince; there is fomething in't that ftings his nature; for, on the reading it, he chang'd almost into another man. Lord. (3) He has much worthy blame laid upon him, for fhaking off fo good a wife, and fo fweet a lady. 2 Lord. Efpecially he hath incurred the everlasting displeasure of the King, who had even tun'd his bounty to fing happiness to him. I will tell you a thing, but you shall let it dwell darkly with you. 1 Lord. When you have spoken it, 'tis dead, and I am the grave of it. 2 Lord. He hath perverted a young Gentlewoman here in Florence, of a moft chafte renown; and this night he fleshes his will in the fpoil of her honour; he hath given her his monumental ring, and thinks himself made in the unchafte compofition. Since Frenchmen are fo braid, Marry 'em that will, I'll live and die a maid; i. e. fince Frenchmen prove fo crooked and perverfe in their man⚫ ners, let who will marry them, I had rather live and die a maid, than venture upon them. This the fays with a view to Helen, who appeared fo fond of her husband, and went thro' so many difficulties to obtain him. WARBURTON. The paffage is very unimportant, and the old reading reasonable enough. Nothing is more common than for girls, on fuch occasions, to say in a pett what they do not think, or to think for a time what they do not finally refolve. (3) 1 Lord.] The later Editors have with great liberality be ftowed lordship upon thefe interlocutors, who, in the original edition, are called, with more propriety, capt. E. and capt. G. It is true that captain E. is in former fcene called Lard E. but the fubordination in which they feem to act, and the timorous manner in which they converfe, determines them to be only captains. Yet as the later readers of Shakespeare have been used to. find them lords, I have not thought it worth while to degrade them in the margin. VOL. IV. L I Lord. 1 Lord. Now God delay our rebellion; as we are ourfelves, what things are we! 2 Lord. Meerly our own traitors; and, as in the common courfe of all treafons, we ftill fee them reveal themselves, 'till they attain to their abhorr'd ends; fo he, that in this action contrives against his own Nobility, (4) in his proper ftream o'erflows himself. 1 Lord. Is it not meant damnable in us to be the trumpeters of our unlawful intents? We fhall not then have his company to night? 2 Lard. Not 'till after midnight; for he is dieted to his hour. 1 Lord. That approaches apace: I would gladly have him fee his company anatomiz'd, that he might take a measure of his own judgment (5), wherein fo curiously he hath fet this counterfeit. 12 Lord. We will not meddle with him 'till he come; for his prefence muft be the whip of the other. I Lord. In the mean time, what hear you of these wars? 2 Lord. I hear there is an overture of Peace.. Lord. Nay, affure you, a Peace concluded: 2 Lord. What will Count Roufillan do then? Will he travel higher, or return again into France? I Lord. I perceive by this demand, you are not altogether of his Council. 2 Lord. Let it be forbid, Sir! fo. fhould I be a great deal of his act. 1 Lord. Sir, his Wife fome two months fince fled from his Houfe; her pretence is a Pilgrimage to St. Jaques le Grand; which holy Undertaking, with moft auftere fanctimony, the accomplished; and there refiding, the tenderness of her nature became as a prey to her grief; in fine, made a groan of her laft breath, and now the fings in heaven. 2 Lord. How is this juftified? (4) In bis proper ftream o'erflows bimfelf.] That is, betrays bis own fecrets in his own talk. The reply thews that this is the meaning. (5) He might take a mea afure of bis own judgment,] This is a very juft and moral reafon. Bertram, by finding how erroneously he has judged, will be lefs confident, and more eafily moved by admonition. I Lord. 1 Lord. The ftronger part of it by her own letters, which makes her ftory true, even to the point of her, death; her. Death itself (which could, not be her office to fay, is come) was faithfully confirm'd by the Rector of the place. 2. Lord. Hath the Count all this intelligence? 1 Lord. Ay, and the particular confirmations, point from point, to the full arming of the verity. 2 Lord, I am heartily forry that he'll be glad of this. 1 Lord. How mightily fometimes we make us comforts of our loffes! 2 Lord. And how mightily fome other times we drown our gain in tears! The great dignity that his valour hath here acquired for him, fhall at home be encounter'd with a fhame as ample. 1 Lord. The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipt them not; and our crimes would defpair, if they were not cherish'd by our virtues. Enter a Servant. How now? Where's your mafter? Serv. He met the Duke in the street, Sir, of whom he hath taken a folemn leave: his Lordfhip will next morning for France. The Duke hath offered him let ters of commendations to the King. 2 Lord. They fhall be no more than needful there, if they were more than they can commend, SCENE IV Ulud Berber Enter Bertram.al 1 Lord. They cannot be too fweet for the King's tartnefs; here's his Lordship now. How now, my Lord, is't not after midnight? Ber. I have to-night difpatch'd fixteen bufineffes; a month's length a-piece, by an abftract of fuccefs; I have congied with the Duke, done my adieu with his neareft; buried a wife, mourn'da for her; writ. to .my lady-mother, I am returning; entertain'd my convoy and, between thefe main parcels of difpatch, effected. L 2 many many nicer needs the laft was the greatest, but that I have not ended yet." 2 Lord. If the business be of any difficulty, and this morning your departure hence, it requires hafte of your Lordship. Ber. I mean, the business is not ended, as fearing to hear of it hereafter. But fhall we have this dialogue between the fool and the foldier? Come (6), bring forth this counterfeit module; h'as deceiv'd me, like a doublemeaning prophefier. 2 Lord. Bring him forth; has fate in the Stocks all night, poor gallant knave. Ber. No matter; his heels have deferved it, in ufurping his fpurs fo long. How does he carry himself? Lord. I have told your Lordship already: the Stocks carry him. But to answer you as you would be underftood, he weeps like a wench that had fhed her milk he hath confefs'd himself to Morgan, whom he fuppofes to be a Friar, from the time of his remembrance to this very inftant difafter of his fetting i'th' Stocks; and what think you, he hath confeft? Ber. Nothing of me, has he? 2 Lord. His confeffion is taken, and it fhall be read to his face; if your Lordship be in't, as, I believe, you are, you must have the patience to hear it. SCENE V. Enter Parolles, with his Interpreter. Ber. A plague upon him, muffled! he can fay nothing of me; hush! hush! 1 Lord. Hoodman comes: Portotaroffa. Inter. He calls for the tortures; what, will you fay without 'em? if Par. I will confefs what I know without conftraint you pinch me like a pasty, I can say no more. Interp. Bofko Chimurcho. 2 Lord. Biblibindo chicurmurco. (6) "bring forth this counterfeit MODULE ;] This epithet is improper to a module, which profeffes to be the counterfeit of another thing. We should read MEDAL. And this the Oxford Editor fol W ARBURTON. lows. Module being the pattern of any thing, may be here used in that fenfe. Bring forth this fellow, who by counterfeit virtue pretended to make himself a pattern. Inter. |