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Flourish. Enter KING, with young Lords taking leave for the Florentine war; BERTRAM, PAROLLES, and Attendants.

KING. Farewell, young lorda, these warlike principles
Do not throw from you:-
:-and you, my lord, farewell :-
Share the advice betwixt you; if both gain all,

The gift doth stretch itself as 't is receiv'd,

And is enough for both.

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Young lord. Here, and in the passage of the following line which we print "my lord," the original reads lords. The subsequent passage,

"Share the advice betwixt you; if both gain all,"

shows that the correction of the plural to the singular, made by Tyrwhitt, was called for. The adoption of the original plural infers that the King is addressing two separate bodies of lords, instead of two individuals.

F

That doth my life besiege. Farewell, young lords;
Whether I live or die, be you the sons
Of worthy Frenchmen: let higher Italy
(Those 'bated, that inherit but the fall
Of the last monarchy) see, that you come
Not to woo honour, but to wed it; when

The bravest questant shrinks, find what you seek,
That fame may cry you loud: I say, farewell.
2 LORD. Health, at your bidding, serve your majesty!
KING. Those girls of Italy, take heed of them;
They say our French lack language to deny,
If they demand; beware of being captives,
Before

Вотн.

you serve.

Our hearts receive your warnings. KING. Farewell.—Come hither to me.

[The KING retires to a couch.

1 LORD. O my sweet lord, that you will stay behind us! PAR. 'Tis not his fault; the spark—

2 LORD.

O, 'tis brave wars!

PAR. Most admirable; I have seen those wars.

BER. I am commanded here, and kept a coil with,

"Too young," and "the next year," and "'t is too early." PAR. An thy mind stand to 't, boy, steal away bravely. BER. I shall stay here the forehorse to a smock,

Creaking my shoes on the plain masonry,

Till honour be bought up, and no sword worn But one to dance with ! By heaven, I'll steal away. 1 LORD. There 's honour in the theft.

PAR.

Commit it, count.

2 LORD. I am your accessary; and so farewell.

BER. I grow to you, and our parting is a tortured body.

1 LORD. Farewell, captain.

2 LORD. Sweet monsieur Parolles!

PAR. Noble heroes, my sword and yours are kin. Good sparks and lustrous, a word, good metals:-You shall find in the regiment of the Spinii one captain Spurio, with his cicatrice, an emblem of war, here on his sinister cheek; it

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Johnson explains the epithet higher to have reference to geographical situation-upper Italy, where the French lords were about to carry their service. Those 'bated, &c., he interprets as, those abated or depressed by the wars, who have now lost their ancient military fame, and inherit but the fall of the last monarchy. The construction of the whole sentence in the original (in which the parenthetical punctuation is found) inclines us to think that the King applies the epithet higher to the general dignity of Italy, as the nation descended from ancient Rome-the last monarchy. Be you the sons of worthy Frenchmen; let higher Italy (the Italian nation or people) see that you come to wed honour; but I except those, as unfit judges of honour, who inherit, not the Roman virtues, but the humiliation of the Roman decay and fall.

The sword of fashion-the dress-sword as we still call it. The rapier was worn in halls of peace as well as in fields of war; in the inaction of which Bertram complains his sword was only 46 one to dance with."

was this

for me.

very sword entrenched it: say to him, I live; and observe his reports

2 LORD. We shall, noble captain.

PAR. Mars dote on you for his novices! [Exeunt Lords.] What will you do? BER. Stay; the king[Seeing him rise. PAR. Use a more spacious ceremony to the noble lords; you have restrained yourself within the list of too cold an adieu; be more expressive to them: for they wear themselves in the cap of the time; there, do muster true gait, eat, speak, and move under the influence of the most received star; and though the devil lead the measure such are to be followed: after them, and take a more dilated farewell.

BER. And I will do so.

PAR. Worthy fellows; and like to prove most sinewy swordsmen.

[Exeunt BERTRAM and PAROLLES.

Enter LAFEU.

LAF. Pardon, my lord [kneeling], for me and for my tidings.
KING. I'll see thee to stand up.

LAF. Then here's a man stands that has brought his pardon.
I would you had kneel'd, my lord, to ask me mercy,
And that, at my bidding, you could so stand up'.
KING. I would I had; so I had broke thy pate,
And ask'd thee mercy for 't.

LAF. Good faith, across: But, my good lord, 't is thus ;
Will you be cur'd of your infirmity?

KING. NO.

LAF. O, will you eat no grapes, my royal fox?
Yes, but you will my noble grapes, an if

My royal fox could reach them: I have seen a medicine,
That's able to breathe life into a stone;

Quicken a rock, and make you dance canary,

With spritely fire and motion; whose simple touch
Is powerful to araise king Pepin, nay,

To give Great Charlemain a pen in 's hand

And write to her a love-line.

What her is this?

KING.
LAF. Why, doctor she; My lord, there's one arriv'd,
If you will see her:-Now, by my faith and honour,
If seriously I may convey my thoughts

In this my light deliverance, I have spoke

With one, that, in her sex, her years, profession",

See. So the original. In modern editions, fee. "I'll see thee to stand up" is, I'll notice you when you stand up.

b

Profession-declaration of purpose.

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HEL. The rather will I spare my praises towards him;
Knowing him is enough. On his bed of death
Many receipts he gave me; chiefly one,
Which, as the dearest issue of his practice,
And of his old experience the only darling,
He bad me store up, as a triple eye,

Safer than mine own two, more dear; I have so:
And, hearing your high majesty is touch'd
With that malignant cause wherein the honour
Of my dear father's gift stands chief in power,
I come to tender it, and my appliance,

With all bound humbleness.

KING.

We thank you,

maiden;

But may not be so credulous of cure,

When our most learned doctors leave us; and

[Exit.

On his. The original has on's. Such elisions are not systematically made in the folio edition; and therefore we do not follow them when they occasionally occur. Shakspere himself has laughed at the practice of eliding verse, which he would imply is scarcely necessary, except for very unrhythmical ears: "You find not the apostrophes, and so miss the accent," says Holofernes, after Sir Nathaniel has read Biron's canzonet.

The congregated college have concluded

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

To empirics; or to dissever so

Our great self and our credit, to esteem

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

HEL. What I can do can do no hurt to try,
Since you set up your rest '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 simple sources; and great seas have dried,

When miracles have by the greatest been denied.

Oft expectation fails, and most oft there
Where most it promises; and oft it hits,
Where hope is coldest, and despair most shifts.
KING. I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind maid;
Thy pains, not us'd, must by thyself be paid:
Proffers not took reap thanks for their reward.
HEL. Inspired merit so by breath is barr'd:

A

It is not so with Him that all things knows,

As 't is with us that square our guess by shows:

Shifts. We print these three lines as in the original copy, and the subsequent ancient copies. Pope changed shifts to sits; and, as a rhyme seemed wanting, the correction has always been acquiesced in. Before we change a word we should ask if there is any necessity for change. Should we change shifts to sits, if the surrounding passages were in blank verse? We think not. The apparent necessity for rhyme has alone demanded the change. Expectation, says Helena, oft hits-is rewarded,-where hope is coldest, and where despair most shifts-resorts to expedients, depends upon chances, catches at straws. When Falstaff is "almost out at heels," he says, “I must shift." The shifts of despair often realize the promises of expectation. Why, then, should not the word stand? A rhyme, it is said, is required to hits. Is it so? Have we a rhyme to

this line

"Oft expectation fails, and most oft there?"

The couplets are dropped; and we have three lines of blank verse. As well that as one line without a corresponding line.

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