King. Make thy demand.

Hel. But will you make it even? [ven!
King. Ay, by my fceptre, and my hopes of hea-
Hel. Then fhalt thou give me, with thy kingly

hand,

What husband in thy power I will command:
Exempted be from me the arrogance

To chufe from forth the royal blood of France;
My low and humble name to propagate
With any branch or image of thy state:
But fuch a one, thy vassal, whom I know
Is free for me to ask, thee to bestow.

King. Here is my hand; the premises obferv'd,
Thy will by my performance shall be ferv'd:
So make the choice of thine own time; for I,
Thy refolv'd patient, on thee still rely.
More should I question thee, and more I must;
Though, more to know, could not be more to trust ;
From whence thou cam'ft, how tended on,-But
reft

Unquestion'd welcome, and undoubted bleft.-
Give me some help here, ho!-If thou proceed
As high as word, my deed shall match thy deed.

Count. Come on, fir; I shall now put you to the height of your breeding.

Clo. I will fhew myself highly fed, and lowly taught: I know my business is but to the court. Count. But to the court! why, what place make you special, when you put off that with fuch contempt? But to the court!

5

Count. It must be an answer of most monftrous fize, that muft fit all demands.

Clo. But a trifle neither, in good faith, if the learned fhould speak truth of it: here it is, and all that belongs to 't: Afk me, if I am a courtier; it fhall do you no harm to learn.

Count. To be young again, if we could:[ will be a fool in queftion, hoping to be the wifer by your anfwer. I pray you, fir, are you a 10 Courtier ?

20

Clo. O Lord, fir,—There's a fimple putting off:-more, more, a hundred of them.

Count. Sir, I am a poor friend of yours, that loves you.

Clo. O lord, fir,- -Thick, thick, spare not me. Count. I think, fir, you can eat none of this homely meat.

Clo. O Lord, fir,-Nay, put me to't, I warrant you.

Count. You were lately whipp'd, fir, as I think.
Clo. O Lord, fir,-Spare not me.

Count. Do you cry, O Lord, fir, at your whipping, and fpare not me? Indeed, your O Lord, fir, is very fequent to your whipping; you would an25fwer very well to a whipping, if you were but bound to't.

30

35

Clo. Truly, madam, if God have lent a man any manners, he may easily put it off at court: he that cannot make a leg, put off's cap, kiss his hand, and say nothing, has neither leg, hands, lip, nor cap; and, indeed, fuch a fellow, to say precifely, were 40 not for the court: but, for me, I have an anfwer will ferve all men.

Count. Marry, that's a bountiful answer, that fits all questions.

Clo. It is like a barber's chair, that fits all but-45 tocks; the pin-buttock, the quatch-buttock, the brawn-buttock, or any buttock.

Count. Will your answer serve fit to all questions? Ch. As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an attorney, as your French crown for your taffaty punk, 50 as Tib's rush for Tom's fore-finger', as a pancake for Shrove-Tuesday, a morris for May-day, as the nail to his hole, the cuckold to his horn, as a scolding quean to a wrangling knave, as the nun's lip to the friar's mouth; nay, as the pudding to his skin. 55 Count. Have you, I say, an answer of such fitnefs for all questions?

Clo. From below your duke, to beneath your constable, it will fit any question.

Clo. I ne'er had worse luck in my life, in myO Lord, fir: I fee, things may ferve long, but not ferve ever.

Count. I play the noble housewife with the time, to entertain it so merrily with a fool.

Clo. O Lord, fir,-Why, there't ferves well again. [this, Count. An end, fir, to your business: Give Helen And urge her to a present answer back : Commend me to my kinfmen, and my fon; This is not much.

Clo. Not much commendation to them.
Count. Not much employment for you: You
understand me?

Clo. Moft fruitfully; I am there before my legs,
Count. Hafte you again.
[Exeunt.

Enter Bertram, Lafeu, and Parolles.

Laf. They fay, miracles are past; and we have our philofophical perfons, to make modern and familiar, things fupernatural and caufelefs. Hence is it, that we make trifles of terrors; enfconcing ourfelves into feeming knowledge, when we should fubmit ourselves to an unknown fear 3.

Par. Why, 'tis the rareft argument of wonder, that hath fhot out in our later times.

Ber. And fo 'tis.

Laf. To be relinquifh'd of the artists,-
Par. So I fay; both of Galen and Paracelfus.
Laf. Of all the learned and authentic fellows,

This alludes to an ancient custom of marrying with a rush ring, as well in other countries as in England; but was scarce ever practifed except by defigning men, for the purpose of corrupting those 2 A ridicule on that foolish expletive of speech, then in young women to whom they pretended love.

vogue at court.

3 Fear here means the object of fear,

Par

Par. Right, fo I say.

Laf. That gave him out incurable,

Par. Why, there 'tis; fo fay I too.
Laf. Not to be help'd,-

Par. Right; as 'twere, a man affur'd of an-
Laf. Uncertain life, and fure death.

Par. Juft, you say well: fo would I have faid. Laf. I may truly fay, it is a novelty to the world. Par. It is indeed: if you will have it in fhewing, you fhall read it in,-What do you call there?— Laf. A fhewing of a heavenly effect in an earthly actor.

Par. That's it I would have faid; the very fame. Laf. Why, your dolphin' is not luftier: 'fore me I speak in respect———

Par. Nay, 'tis ftrange, 'tis very strange, that is the brief and the tedious of it; and he is of a moft facinorous fpirit, that will not acknowledge it to be the

2

Laf. Very hand of heaven.
Par. Ay, fo I fay.

Laf. In a moft weak

20

Par. And debile minifter, great power, great tranfcendence: which should, indeed, give us a farther use to be made, than alone the recovery of 25 the king; as to be

Laf. Generally thankful.

Enter King, Helena, and Attendants.

Par. I would have said it; you say well: Here comes the king.

Laf. Luftick 3, as the Dutchman fays: I'll like a maid the better, while I have a tooth in my head: Why, he's able to lead her a corranto.

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

King. Go, call before me all the lords in court.-
Sit, my preferver, by thy patient's fide;

And with this healthful hand, whose banish'd sense
Thou haft repeal'd, a second time receive
The confirmation of my promis'd gift,

Which but attends thy naming.

Enter feveral Lords.

Fair maid, fend forth thine eye: this youthful parcel

Of noble bachelors stand at my bestowing,

30

Hel. My wifh receive,

Which great Love grant! and fo I take my leave.
Laf. Do all they deny her? An they were fons
of mine, I'd have them whipt; or I would fend
them to the Turk, to make eunuchs of.

Hel. Be not afraid that I your hand should take;
I'll never do you wrong for your own fake :
Blessing upon your vows! and in your bed
Find fairer fortune, if you ever wed!

Laf. These boys are boys of ice, they'll none of her: fure, 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 fon out of my blood. 4 Lord. Fair one, I think not fo.

Laf. There's one grape yet,—I am sure, thy father drunk wine.But if thou be'ft not an 35 afs, I am a youth of fourteen; I have known thee Jalready.

1401

Hel. I dare not fay, I take you; but I give Me, and my service, ever whilft I live, Into your guiding power. This is the man. [To Bertram. King. Why then, young Bertram, take her, the's thy wife. [highness, Ber. My wife, my liege? I fhall befeech your In fuch a business give me leave to use

O'er whom both fovereign power and father's voice 45 The help of mine own eyes.

I have to use: thy frank election make;
Thou haft power to chufe, and they none to forfake.
Hel. To each of you one fair and virtuous miftrefs
Fall, when love please!-marry, to each but one!
Laf. I'd give bay curtal 4, and his furniture,
My mouth no more were broken 5 than these boys',
And writ as little beard.

King. Perufe them well:

Not one of thofe but had a noble father.

Hel. Gentlemen,

Heaven hath, through me,reftor'd the king to health.
All. We understand it, and thank heaven for you.
Hel. I am a fimple maid; and therein wealthiest,
That, I proteft, I fimply am a maid :———
Please it your majesty, I have done already;
The blushes in my cheeks thus whisper me,

50

King. Know'st thou not, Bertram,
What the hath 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

fickly bed.

Ber. But follows it, my lord, to bring me down
Muft answer for your raifing? I know her well;
She had her breeding at my father's charge:

55 A poor physician's daughter my wife !—Disdain
Rather corrupt me ever!
[which

King. 'Tis only title thou difdain'ft in her, the
I can build up. Strange is it, that our bloods,
Of colour, weight, and heat, pour'd all together,
60 Would quite confound diftinction, yet stand off
In differences fo mighty: If the be

By dolphin is meant the dauphin. 2 i. e. wicked. 3 i. e. lufty, chearful, pleasant.
5 Meaning, had loft no more of his teeth.

dock'd horfe.

7 i. e. filence.

i. e. the lowest chance of the dice.

4 A bay Meaning, perhaps, the chlorofis. All

All that is virtuous (fave what thou dislik'st,
A poor physician's daughter), thou dislik'st
of virtue for the name: but do not fo:
From lowest place when virtuous things proceed,
The place is dignify'd by the doer's deed:
Where great addition swells, and virtue none,
It is a dropfied honour: good alone

A balance more replete.

Ber. I take her hand.

287

King. Good fortune, and the favour of the king,
Smile upon this contract; whose ceremony
5 Shall feem expedient on the new-born brief 3,
And be perform'd to-night; the folemn feast,
Shall more attend upon the coming space,
Expecting abfent friends. As thou lov'ft her,
Thy love's to me religious; elfe, does err.
[Exeunt all but Parolles and Lafeu.

10

15

Is good, without a name; vileness is fo:
The property by what it is should go,
Not by the title. She is young, wife, fair;
In these to nature she's immediate heir;
And these breed honour: that is honour's fcorn,
Which challenges itself as honour's born,
And is not like the fire: Honours beft thrive
When rather from our acts we them derive
Than our foregoers: the mere word's a slave,
Debauch'd on every tomb; on every grave,
A lying trophy; and as oft is dumb,
Where duft, and damn'd oblivion, is the tomb
Of honour'd bones indeed. What should be faid? 20
If thou canft like this creature as a maid,
I can create the reft: 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'ft thyself, if thou should'st 25
ftrive to chufe.

Hel. That you are well reftor'd, my lord, I'm [glad; Let the rest go.

King. My honour's at the stake; which to de-
feat ;

Laf. Do you hear, monfieur? a word with you.
Par. Your pleasure, fir?

Laf. Your lord and mafter did well to make his recantation.

Par. Recantation ?

-My lord? my master?
Laf. Ay; Is it not a language I speak?
Par. A most harsh one; and not to be under-
ftood without bloody fucceeding. My mafter?
Laf. Are you companion to the count Roufillon?
Par. To any count; to all counts; to what is

man.

Laf. To what is count's man; count's mafter is of another ftile.

are too old.
Par. You are too old, fir; let it satisfy you, you

Laf. I must tell thee, firrah, I write man; to which title age cannot bring thee.

Par. What I dare too well do, I dare not do.

Laf. I did think thee, for two ordinaries 4, to

30be a pretty wife fellow; thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel; it might pafs: yet the scarfs, and the bannerets, about thee, did manifoldly diffuade me from believing thee a veffel of too great a burden. I have now found thee; when I lofe 35 thee again, care not yet art thou good for nothing but taking up 5; and that thou art scarce worth.

I muft produce my power: Here, take her hand,
Proud fcornful boy, unworthy this good gift;
That doft in vile mifprision shackle up
My love, and her defert; that canst not dream,
We, poizing us in her defective scale,
Shalf weigh thee to the beam; 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 difdain, 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 2, and the careless lapfe
Of youth and ignorance; both my revenge and hate,45
Loofing upon thee in the name of justice,
Without all terms of pity: Speak; thine answer.

Ber. Pardon, my gracious lord; for I fubmit
My fancy to your eyes: When I confider,
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, fo ennobled,
Is, as 'twere, born fo.

King. Take her by the hand,

And tell her, he is thine: to whom I promise
A counterpoize; if not to thy estate,

40

50

Par. Hadft thou not the privilege of antiquity upon thee,

Laf. Do not plunge thyself too far in anger, left thou haften thy trial; which if-Lord have mercy on thee for a hen! So, my good window of lattice, fare thee well; thy cafement I need not open, for I look through thee. Give me thy hand. Par. My lord, you give me most egregious in

dignity.

Laf. Ay, with all my heart; and thou art worthy of it.

Par. I have not, my lord, deferv'd it.

Laf. Yes, good faith, every dram of it; and I will not bate thee a scruple.

Par. Well, I fhall be wifer.

Laf. E'en as foon as thou canft, for thou haft to pull at a fmack o' the contrary. If ever thou be'ft 55 bound in thy scarf, and beaten, thou fhalt find what it is to be proud of thy bondage. I have a defire to. hold my acquaintance with thee, or rather my

The French verb defaire (from whence our defeat) fignifies to free, to difembarrass, as well as to deflrey; and in this fenfe, we apprehend, defeat is here ufed. 2 Alluding to that fpecies of the flaggers,

or the berfes' apoplexy, which makes the animal dash himself with deftructive violence against posts or walls. 3 The brief is the contract of afpoufal, or the licence of the church in which the especial cause shall be affigned. 4 Ordinary here means dinner. 5 To take up means to contradiết, to call to account, as well as to pick off the ground. knowledge;

knowledge; that I may say in the default, he is a man I know.

Par. My lord, you do me most infupportable

vexation.

Laf. I would it were hell-pains for thy fake, and my poor doing eternal: for doing 2, I am paft, as I will by thee, in what motion age will give me leave. [Exit. Par. Well, thou haft a fon fhall take this dif grace off me; fcurvy, old, filthy, fcurvy lord!Well, I must be patient; there is no fettering of authority. I'll beat him, by my life, if I can meet him with any convenience, an he were double and double a lord. I'll have no more pity of his age, than I would have of-I'll beat him, an if I could but meet him again.

Re-enter Lafeu.

5

Which should sustain the bound and high curvet
Of Mars's fiery steed: To other regions!
France is a ftable; we that dwell in 't, jades;
Therefore, to the war!

Ber. It fhall be fo; I'll fend her to my house,
Acquaint my mother with my hate to her,
And wherefore I am fled; write to the king
That which I durft not speak: His present gift
Shall furnish me to those Italian fields,

10 Where noble fellows ftrike: War is no ftrife
To the dark houfe 4, and the detefted wife.

Par. Will this capricio hold in thee, art fure?
Ber. Go with me to my chamber, and advise me.
I'll fend her ftraight away: To-morrow
15I'll to the wars, she to her fingle forrow.

Laf. Sirrah, your lord and master's marry'd, there's news for you; you have a new mistress. Par. I moft unfeignedly befeech your lordship 20 to make fome refervation of your wrongs: Hel is my good lord: whom I ferve above, is my mafter.

Laf. Who? God?

Par. Ay, fir.

Laf. The devil it is, that's thy mafter. Why doft thou garter up thy arms o' this fashion? doft make hofe of thy fleeves? do other fervants fo? Thou wert beft fet thy lower part where thy nofe ftands. By mine honour, if I were but two hours younger, I'd beat thee: methinks, thou art a general offence, and every man fhould beat thee. I think, thou waft created for men to breathe themfelves upon thee.

25

Par. Why, these balls bound; there's noife in
it.'Tis hard;

A young man married, is a man that's marr'd:
Therefore away, and leave her bravely; go:
The king has done you wrong; but, huh! 'tis fo.
[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.
Enter Helena and Clown.

Hel. My mother greets me kindly; Is fhe well? Clo. She is not well; but yet fhe has her health: he's very merry; but yet fhe's not well: but, thanks be given, she's very well, and wants nothing 'the world; but yet fhe is not well.

Hel. If the be very well, what does she ail, that 30fhe's not very well?

Clo. Truly, fhe's very well, indeed, but for two things.

Hel. What two things?

Clo. One, that she's not in heaven, whither God

Par. This is hard and undeferved measure, my 35 fend her quickly! the other, that he's in earth, lord.

Laf. Go to, fir; you were beaten in Italy for picking a kernel out of a pomegranate; you are a vagabond, and no true traveller: you are more faucy with lords, and honourable personages, than 40 the heraldry of your birth and virtue gives you commiffion. You are not worth another word, elfe I'd call you knave. I leave you. Enter Bertram.

[Exit.

Par. Good, very good; it is fo then.-Good, 45 very good; let it be conceal'd a while.

Ber. Undone, and forfeited to cares for ever!
Par. What is the matter, fweet-heart?
Ber. Although before the folemn priest I have
I will not bed her.

Par. What? what, fweet-heart?

[fworn,

Ber. O my Parolles, they have married me :I'll to the Tufcan wars, and never bed her.

Par. France is a dog-hole, and it no more merits The tread of a man's foot: to the wars!

Ber. There's letters from my mother; what the I know not yet. [import is,

Par, Ay, that would be known: To the wars,
my boy, to the wars!

He wears his honour in a box unfeen,
That hugs his kickfy-wickfy 3 here at home;
Spending his manly marrow in her arms,

from whence God fend her quickly!
Enter Parolles.

Par. Blefs you, my fortunate lady!

Hel. I hope, fir, I have your good will to have mine own good fortunes.

Par. You have my prayers to lead them on ; and to keep them on, have them ftill.-O, my knave! how does my old lady?

Clo. So that you had her wrinkles, and I her money, I would fhe did as you say.

Par. Why, I fay nothing.

Clo. Marry, you are the wifer man; for many a man's tongue shakes out his master's undoing: To fay nothing, to do nothing, to know nothing, 50 and to have nothing, is to be a great part of your title; which is within a very little of nothing. Par. Away, thou'rt a knave.

Clo. You fhould have faid, fir, before a knave, thou art a knave; that is, before me, thou art a 55knave; this had been truth, fir.

Par.. Go to, thou art a witty fool, I have found thee.

Clo. Did you find me in yourself, fir? or were you taught to find me? The fearch, fir, was pro6ofitable; and much fool may you find in you, even to the world's pleasure, and the increase of laughter.

1 i. e. at a need. 2 Doing is here ufed obfcenely. 3 Sir T. Hanmer obferves, that kickly-wickly is a anade word in ridicule and disdain of a wife. * Probably meaning a fmoaky house.

Par

[Exit Parolles. 2c

Ber. I have writ my letters, cafketed my trea-50
Given order for our horfes; and to-night, [fure,
When I should take poffeffion of the bride,-
And, ere I do begin,

Laf. A good traveller is something at the latter
end of a dinner; but one that lies three thirds, and 55
ufes a known truth to pass a thousand nothings
with, fhould be once heard and thrice beaten.-
God fave you, captain.

Ber. Is there any unkindness between my lord

I That is, a fpecious appearance of neceffity. 2 Theobald fays, that this odd allufion is not introduced without a view to fatire. It was a foolery practifed at city entertainments, whilst the jester or zany was in vogue, for him to jump into a large deep custard, fet for the purpose, to fet on a quantity of barren fpectators to laugh, as our poet fays in his Hamlet. 3 i. e. wonder. 4 i. e. I own.