7

lead the measure, such are to be followed: after them, and take a more dilated farewel.

Ber. And I will do so.

Par. Worthy fellows; and like to prove most sinewy sword-men.

[Exeunt. BER. and PAR.

Enter LAFEU.

Laf. Pardon, my lord, [kneeling] for me and for my

tidings.

King. I'll fee thee to stand up.

Then here's a man

Laf.
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.

Goodfaith, across:9

Laf.
But, my good lord, 'tis thus; Will you be cur'd
Of your infirmity?

King.

Laf.

No.

O, will you eat No grapes, my royal fox? yes, but you will,

lowing time for his judgment to determine their congruity. The cap of time being the first image that occurs, true gait, manner of eating, speaking, &c. are the several ornaments which they muster, place, or arrange in time's cap. This is done under the influence of the most received star; that is, the person in the highest repute for setting the fashions:-and though the devil were to lead the measure or dance of fashion, such is their implicit submission, that even he must be followed. Henley.

7

lead the measure,] i. e. the dance. So, in Much Ado about Nothing, Beatrice says: "Tell him there is measure in every thing, and so dance out the answer." Steevens.

8

9

brought] Some modern editions read-bought.

Malone.

across:] This word, as has been already observed, is used when any pass of wit miscarries. Johnson.

While chivalry was in vogue, breaking spears against a quintain was a favourite exercise. He who shivered the greatest number was esteemed the most adroit; but then it was to be performed exactly with the point, for if achieved by a side-stroke, or across, it showed unskilfulness, and disgraced the practiser. Here, therefore, Lafeu reflects on the King's wit, as aukward and ineffectual, and, in the terms of play, good for nothing. H. White.

See As you Like it, Act III, sc. iv, p. 97. Steevens.

Чо

My noble grapes, an if my royal fox
Could reach them:1 I have seen a medicine, 2
That's able to breathe life into a stone;

Quicken a rock, and make you dance canary,3
With spritely fire and motion; whose simple touch
Is powerful to"araise'king Pepin, nay, praise
To give great Charlemain a pen in his hand,
"And"write to her a love-line.

King.

What her is this?

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,
Wisdom, and constancy, hath amaz'd me more
Than I dare blame my weakness: Will you see her,

1

yes, but you will,

My noble grapes, &c.] The words - My noble grapes, seem to Dr. Warburton and Sir T. Hanmer to stand so much in the way, that they have silently omitted them. They may be, indeed, rejected without great loss, but I believe they are Shakspeare's words. You will eat, says Lafeu, no grapes. Yes, but you will eat such noble grapes, as I bring you, if you could reach them. Johnson. medicine,] is here put for a she-physician. Hanmer.

2

3

and make you dance canary,] Mr. Rich. Brome, in his comedy, entitled, The City Wit, or the Woman wears the Breeches, Act IV, sc. i, mentions this among other dances: "As for corantoes, lavoltos, jigs, measures, pavins, brawls, galliards, or canaries; I speak it not swellingly, but I subscribe to no man." Dr. Grey. ·whose simple touch &c.] Thus, Ovid, Amor. III, vii, 41: Illius ad tactum Pylius juvenescere possit, Tithonosque annis fortior esse suis.

4

Steevens.

5 And write] I believe a line preceding this has been lost. Malone.

6

her years, profession,] By profession is meant her declaration of the end and purpose of her coming. Warburton.

7 Than I dare blame my weakness: This is one of Shakspeare's perplexed expressions. "To acknowledge how much she has astonished me, would be to acknowledge a weakness; and this I am unwilling to do." Steevens.

Lafeu's meaning appears to me to be this:-"That the amazement she excited in him was so great, that he could not impute it merely to his own weakness, but to the wonderful qualities of the object that occasioned it." M. Mason.

(For that is her demand) and know her business?
That done, laugh well at me.

King.
Now, good Lafeu,
Bring in the admiration; that we with thee
May spend our wonder too, or take off thine,
By wond'ring how thou took'st it.

Laf.

And not be all day neither.

Nay, I'll fit you,

[Exit LAF.

King. Thus he his special nothing ever prologues.

Re-enter LAFEU, with HELENA.

Laf. Nay, come your ways.
King.

8

This haste hath wings indeed.

Laf. Nay, come your ways;9

This is his majesty, say your mind to him:
A traitor you do look like; but such traitors

His majesty seldom fears: I am Cressid's uncle,1
That dare leave two together; fare you well.

[Exit. King. Now, fair one, does your business follow us? Hel. Ay, my good lord. Gerard de Narbon was

My father; in what he did profess, well found.2

King. I knew. him.

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,3

Safer than mine own two, more dear; I have so:
And, hearing your high majesty is touch'd

9

8 Thus he his special nothing ever prologues.] So, in Othello: "Tis evermore the prologue to his sleep." Steevens. come your ways;] This vulgarism is also put into the mouth of Polonius. See Hamlet, Act I, sc. iii. Steevens. Cressid's uncle,] I am like Pandarus. See Troilus and Cressida. Johnson.

1

2 well found.] i. e. of known acknowledged excellence.

Steevens 3 —— a triple eye,] i. e. a third eye. So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

"The triple pillar of the world, transform'd
"Into a strumpet's fool." Steevens.

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
The congregated college have concluded
That labouring art can never ransome 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 empiricks; 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.5 Great floods have flown

wherein the honour

Of my dear father's gift stands chief in power,] Perhaps we may better read:

wherein the power

Of my dear father's gift stands chief in honour. Johnson.

5 So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown,

When judges have been babes.] The allusion is to St. Matthew's Gospel, xi, 25: "O father, lord of heaven and earth. I thank thee, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes." See also 1 Cor. i, 27: "But GoD hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and GOD hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty." Malone.

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"sits.7" fits. ms.
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:
It is not so with him that all things knows,
As 'tis with us that square our guess by shows:
But most it is presumption in us, when
The help of heaven we count the act of men.
Dear sir, to my endeavours give consent;
Of heaven, not me, make an experiment.
I am not an impostor, that proclaim
Myself against the level of mine aim;

6 When miracles have by the greatest been denied.] I do not see the import or connexion of this line. As the next line stands without a correspondent rhyme, I suspect that something has been lost. Johnson.

I point the passage thus; and then I see no reason to complain of want of connexion:

When judges have been babes. Great floods, &c.

When miracles have by the greatest been denied.

Shakspeare after alluding to the production of water from a rock, and the drying up of the Red Sea, says, that miracles had been denied by the GREATEST; or, in other words, that the ELDERS of ISRAEL (who just before, in reference to another text, were styled judges) had, notwithstanding these miracles, wrought for their own preservation, refused that compliance they ought to have yielded. See the Book of Exodus, particularly ch. xvii, 5, 6, &c. Henley.

So holy writ, &c. alludes to Daniel's judging, when, "a young youth," the two Elders in the story of Susannah. Great floods, i. e. when Moses smote the rock in Horeb, Exod. xvii.

· great seas have dried

When miracles have by the greatest been denied.

Dr. Johnson did not see the import or connexion of this line. It certainly refers to the children of Israel passing the Red Sea, when miracles had been denied, or not hearkened to, by Pharaoh. H White.

7

and despair most sits.] The old copy reads-shifts. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. Malone.

8 Myself against the level of mine aim;] i. e. pretend to greater things than befits the mediocrity of my condition. Warburton.