Hel. Madam, my lord is gone; for ever gone.
Fr. Gen. Do not say so.

Count. Think upon patience.-'Pray you, gentle

men,

I have felt so many quirks of joy and grief,

That the first face of neither, on the start,

Can woman me1o unto't:—where is my son, I pray you?
Fr. Gen. Madam, he's gone to serve the duke of
Florence:

We met him thitherward; for thence we came",
And, after some despatch in hand at court,

Thither we bend again.

Hel. Look on his letter, madam: here's my passport.

[Reads.] "When thou canst get the ring upon my finger', which never shall come off, and show me a child begotten of thy body, that I am father to, then call me husband: but in such a then I write a never."

This is a dreadful sentence.

Count. Brought you this letter, gentlemen?

Fr. Env.

Ay, madam;

And, for the contents' sake, are sorry for our pains.

Count. I pr'ythee, lady, have a better cheer;

If thou engrossest all the griefs are thine,
Thou robb'st me of a moiety. He was my son,
But I do wash his name out of my blood,

And thou art all my child.-Towards Florence is he?
Fr. Gen. Ay, madam.

Count.

And to be a soldier?

10 Can WOMAN me- -] i. e. "Affect me," says Steevens, "as my sex are usually affected."

11 FOR thence we came,] Malone and other modern editors read, "from thence we came," in opposition to all the folios.

1 When thou canst get the ring UPON my finger,] The meaning is, "When thou canst get possession of the ring now upon my finger." Painter's words are, "when she shall have this ring (meaning a ring which he wore) upon her finger."

Fr. Gen. Such is his noble purpose; and, believe't, The duke will lay upon him all the honour

That good convenience claims.

Count.

Return you thither?

Fr. Env. Ay, madam, with the swiftest wing of speed.

Hel. [Reads.] "Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France."

"Tis bitter.

Count. Find you that there?

Hel.

Ay, madam.

Fr. Env. "Tis but the boldness of his hand, haply,
Which his heart was not consenting to.

Count. Nothing in France, until he have no wife!
There's nothing here that is too good for him,
But only she; and she deserves a lord,
That twenty such rude boys might tend upon,
And call her hourly mistress. Who was with him?
Fr. Env. A servant only, and a gentleman
Which I have some time known.

Count.

Parolles, was it not?

Fr. Env. Ay, my good lady, he.

Count. A very tainted fellow, and full of wicked

ness.

My son corrupts a well-derived nature

With his inducement.

Fr. Env.

Indeed, good lady,

The fellow has a deal of that too much,
Which holds him much to have2.

Count. Y' are welcome, gentlemen.

I will entreat you, when you see my son,
To tell him, that his sword can never win

2 Which holds him much to have.] The meaning is obscure; but it seems to be, that Parolles has a great deal too much of that which it imports him to have much of, in order to keep up appearances-impudence. Heath thought the meaning was, that Parolles had "a deal too much of that which alone can hold or judge that he has much in him, i. e. folly and ignorance.”

The honour that he loses: more I'll entreat you

Written to bear along.

Fr. Gen.

We serve you, madam,

In that and all your worthiest affairs.

Count. Not so, but as we change our courtesies. Will you draw near?

[Exeunt COUNTESS and French Gentlemen. Hel. "Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France."

Nothing in France, until he has no wife!

Thou shalt have none, Rousillon, none in France;
Then hast thou all again. Poor lord! is't I
That chase thee from thy country, and expose
Those tender limbs of thine to the event

Of the none-sparing war? and is it I

That drive thee from the sportive court, where thou
Wast shot at with fair eyes, to be the mark
Of smoky muskets? O! you leaden messengers,
That ride upon the violent speed of fire,

Fly with false aim; move the still-peering air,
That sings with piercing3, do not touch my lord!
Whoever shoots at him, I set him there;
Whoever charges on his forward breast,
I am the caitiff that do hold him to it;
And, though I kill him not, I am the cause
His death was so effected. Better 'twere,

I met the ravin lion when he roar'd

With sharp constraint of hunger; better 'twere

That all the miseries which nature owes

Were mine at once. No, come thou home, Rousillon, Whence honour but of danger wins a scar,

3 Fly with false aim; move the STILL-PEERING air,

That sings with piercing,] We have left this passage as it stands in the first folio, being satisfied with none of the improvements offered by the commentators, nor with any conjectures of our own. "Still-peering" will admit of a meaning quite as well as still piecing, which Malone substituted. The oldest copy misprints fings for "sings ;" and this obvious error was rendered worse by the printer of the second folio, who made it stings.

As oft it loses all: I will be gone.

My being here it is that holds thee hence:
Shall I stay here to do't? no, no, although
The air of paradise did fan the house,
And angels offic'd all: I will be gone,
That pitiful rumour may report my flight,
To consolate thine ear. Come, night; end, day;
For with the dark poor thief, I'll steal away.

[Exit.

SCENE III.

Florence. Before the DUKE'S Palace.

Flourish. Enter the DUKE of Florence, Bertram, PAROLLES, Lords, Officers, Soldiers, and others. Duke. The general of our horse thou art; and we, Great in our hope, lay our best love and credence Upon thy promising fortune.

A charge too heavy for my strength; but yet
We'll strive to bear it for your worthy sake,
To th' extreme edge of hazard3.

Duke.

Then go thou forth,

And fortune play upon thy prosperous helm,
As thy auspicious mistress!

Ber.

This very day,

Great Mars, I put myself into thy file:

Make me but like my thoughts, and I shall prove
A lover of thy drum, hater of love.

[Exeunt.

4 Parolles,] Why the modern editors omit Parolles in this scene is not explained. It is true that he says nothing, but he was the constant companion of Bertram, and his name is found in the stage-direction of all the old copies.

5 To th' extreme edge of hazard.] Steevens pointed out the following passage in Milton's "Paradise Regained," book i. where a similar expression occurs:— "You see our danger on the utmost edge

Of hazard."

Milton, we see, changed "extreme" (which perhaps sounded ill to his ears with the accent on the first syllable) to

66

utmost."

SCENE IV.

Rousillon. A Room in the COUNTESS's Palace.

Enter COUNTESS, and her Steward.

Count. Alas! and would you take the letter of her? Might you not know, she would do as she has done, By sending me a letter? Read it again.

Stew. [Reads.] "I am Saint Jaques' pilgrim, thither gone.

Ambitious love hath so in me offended,

That bare-foot plod I the cold ground upon,
With sainted vow' my faults to have amended.
Write, write, that, from the bloody course of war,
My dearest master, your dear son, may hie:
Bless him at home in peace, whilst I from far
His name with zealous fervour sanctify.

His taken labours bid him me forgive:
I, his despiteful Juno, sent him forth

From courtly friends, with camping foes to live,
Where death and danger dog the heels of worth:

He is too good and fair for death and me,

Whom I myself embrace, to set him free."

Count. Ah, what sharp stings are in her mildest words!

Rinaldo, you did never lack advice so much,

As letting her pass so: had I spoke with her,
I could have well diverted her intents,

Which thus she hath prevented.

Stew.

Pardon me, madam :

If I had given you this at over-night,

I am St. Jaques' pilgrim, thither gone.] Johnson remarks that the shrine of St. Jaques of Compostella was rather out of the road from Rousillon to Florence; and Reed conjectures that Helena alluded to St. Jaques at Orleans ; but she might mention St. Jaques to mislead the countess as to her route, if indeed Shakespeare considered the relative geographical position of the several places at all important.

7 With SAINTED VOW-] In Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, "sainted" is misprinted fainted.