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That labouring art can never answer nature
From her inaidable eftate,-I say we must not
So ftain our judgment, or corrupt our hope,
To prostitute our past-cure malady

To empericks; or to diffever fo

Our great felf and our credit, to esteem

A fenfelefs help, when help past sense we deem.
Hel. My duty then fhall pay me for my pains
I will no more enforce mine office on you;
Humbly intreating 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'ft to help me; and such thanks I give,
As one near death to thofe that wish him live:
But, what at full I know, thou know'ft no part;
I knowing all my peril, thou no art.

Hel. What I can do, can do no hurt to try,
Since you " fet up your reft '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 fimple fources; and great feas have dry'd,
When miracles have by the greatest been deny'd.

Oft expectation fails, and most oft there

Where most it promises; and oft it hits,

Where hope is coldest, and despair most fits.

4

King. I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind maid;

Thy pains, not us'd, muft by thyfelf be paid:

Proffers, not took, reap thanks for their reward.
Hel. Infpired merit fo by breath is barr'd:

P

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anfwer]-fupply the defects of ransom.

A modeft one,]-fuch an one as I may modeftly hope for on my difmiffion.

"fet up your reft 'gainft remedy :]-conclude yourself to be paft re• miracles]-the power of working them.

covery.

P. breath]-mortals.

It

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It is not fo with him that all things knows,
As 'tis with us that square our guess by shows:
But most it is prefumption in us, when

The help of heaven we count the act of men.
Dear fir, to my endeavours give confent;
Of heaven, not me, make an experiment.

I am not an impoftor, that proclaim
Myself against the level of mine aim;

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

Hel. The greatest grace lending grace;
Ere twice the horses of the fun fhall 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 thievifh minutes how they pafs;
What is infirm from your found parts shall fly,
Health fhall live free, and fickness freely die.
King. Upon thy certainty and confidence,
What dar'ft thou venture?

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Hel. Tax of impudence,

A ftrumpet's boldness, a divulged shame,
Traduc'd by odious ballads my maiden's name;
Sear'd otherwife; the worst of worst, extended
With vileft torture, let my life be ended.

that proclaim myself against the level of mine aim ;]—that pretend to what I have not a reasonable hope of accomplishing.

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paft power,]-ineffectual.

murk]-darkness.

Tax of impudence,]-I would bear the tax &c.-let my maiden reputation become the subject of filthy ballads; let it be mangled by any other means; and (what is the worst of worst, the confummation of misery) my body being extended on the rack by the most cruel torture, let my life pay the forfeit of my prefumption.

King. Methinks, in thee fome bleffed fpirit doth speak;

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And what impoffibility would flay

In common fenfe, fenfe faves another way.
Thy life is dear; for all, that life can rate
Worth name of life," in thee hath estimate;
Youth, beauty, wisdom, courage, virtue, all
That happiness in prime, can happy call :
Thou this to hazard, needs must intimate
Skill infinite, or monftrous defperate.
Sweet practifer, thy phyfick I will try;
That minifters thine own death, if I die.
Hel. If I break time, or flinch in property
Of what I spoke, unpitied let me die;
And well deferv'd: Not helping, death's
my fee;
But, if I help, what do you promise me?
King. Make thy demand.

Hel. But will you make it even?

King. Ay, by my fcepter, and my hopes of heaven. 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 vaffal, whom I know
Is free for me to ask, thee to bestow.

King. Here is my hand; the premises obferv'd,

"His powerful found, within]—is heard, iffuing from.

in thee bath estimate ;]-may be ranked among thy gifts.

* in prime,]-in its perfection-and prime.

Y flinch in property of what I spoke,]-make not my profeffions good. 2 make it even ?]-answer it.

2 branch, or image of thy ftate:]-relative or reprefentative of thine, member of thy state.

Thy

Thy will by my performance shall be serv'd:
So make the choice of thine own time; for I,
Thy refolv'd patient, on thee ftill rely.

More should I queftion 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
Unqueftion'd welcome, and undoubted bleft.-
Give me fome help here, ho!-If thou proceed
As high as word, my deed fhall match thy deed. [Exeunt,

SCENE II.

Roufillon.

Enter Countess and Clown.

Count. Come on, fir; I fhall 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!

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

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

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

Count.

Count. Will your answer serve fit to all questions? Clo. As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an attorney, as your French crown for your taffaty punk, as Tib's 'rush for Tom's fore-finger, as a pancake for Shrovetuesday, a morris for May-day, as the nail to his hole, the cuckold to his horn, as a fcolding quean to a wrangling knave, as the nun's lip to the friar's mouth; nay, as the pudding to his skin.

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Count. Have you, I fay, an answer of fuch fitnefs for all questions?

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

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

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

Count. To be young again, if we could:-I will be a fool in question, hoping to be the wifer by your answer. pray you, fir, are you a courtier ?

I

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, fpare 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.

rub]-rush-ring-a ring was formerly prefented by the woman to the man, in return for that received from him, at a wedding. "Strengthen'd by enterchangement of your rings. TWELFTH NIGHT, Act V, Sc. 1. Prieft.

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fkin.]-paunch.

To be young again]-This trifling makes me feem fo.
O Lord, fir,]-A ridicule on that profane expletive.

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Count.

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