From fimple fources; and great feas have dry'd, Thy pains, not us'd, muft by thyself be paid: Hel. The greateft grace lending grace, Hel. Tax of impudence, 4 Myfelf against the level of mine aim ;] i. e. pretend to greater things than befits the mediocrity of my condition. A A ftrumpet's boldnefs, a divulged fha.ne. King. Methinks, in thee fome bleffed Spirit doth fpeak: His power full founds within an organ weak; In common fenfe, fenfe faves another way. 5 Methinks, in thee fome blessed spirit doth Speak His powerful found, within an organ weak;] To speak a found is a barbarism: For to speak fignifies to utter an articulaté found, i. e. a voice. So Shakespear, in Love's Labour Loft, fays with propriety, And when love speaks the voice of all the Gods. To fpeak a found therefore is improper, tho' to utter a found is not; because the word utter may be applied either to an articulate or inarticulate. Befides, the construction is vicious with the two ablatives, in thee, and, within an organ weak. The lines therefore should be thus read and pointed, Methinks, in thee fome blessed spirit doth fpeak: His power full founds within an organ weak. But the Oxford Editor would be only fo far beholden to this emendation, as to enable him to make fenfe of the lines another way, whatever become of the rules of criticifm or ingenuous dealing. It powerful founds within an organ weak. 6 Youth, Beauty, wisdom, courage, all] The verfe wants a foot. VIRTUE, by mifchance, has dropt out of the line. VOL. III. D King, King. Make thy demand. Hel, But will you make it even? King. Ay, by my scepter, 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; King. Here is my hand, the premises obferv'd, More fhould I queftion thee, and more I muft; King. Make thy demand. Hel. But will you make it even! King. Ay, by my feepter and my hopes of help.] The King could have but a very flight hope of help from her, fcarce enough to fwear by: and therefore Helen might fufpect he meant to equivocate with her. Befides, obferve, the greatest part of the fcene is ftrictly in rhyme, and there is no fhadow of reason why -it should be interrupted here. I rather imagine the poet wrote, Dr. Thirlby. Ay, by my feepter, and my hopes of heaven. 8 With any branch or IMAGE of thy flate:] Shakespear unqueftionably wrote IMPAGE, grafting. IMPE a graff, or flip, or fucker: by which the means one of the fons of France. So Caxton calls our Prince Arthur, that noble IMPE of fame. SCENE Count. Changes to Roufillon. Enter Countess and Clown. COME on, Sir; I fhall now put you to the height of your breeding. Clo. I will fhew myfelf highly fed, and lowly taught; I know, my bufinefs is but to the court. Count. But to the court? why, what place make you fpecial, 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 anfwer 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 brawnbuttock, or any buttock. Count. Will your anfwer ferve fit to all questions? Clo. As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an attor ney, as your French crown for your taffaty punk, as Tib's ruth 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 á fcolding quean to a wrangling knave, as the nun's lip to the friar's mouth; nay, as the pudding to his skin. Count. Have you, I fay, an anfwer of fuch fitness for all questions? Clo. From below your duke, to beneath your conftable, it will fit any question. D 2 Counte Count. It must be an answer of most monstrous fize, that muft fit all demands. Clo. But a trifle neither, in good faith, if the learned fhould fpeak truth of it: here it is, and all that belongs to't. Ask me, if I am a courtierit fhall do you no harm to learn. Count. To be young again, if we could: I will be a fool in a queftion, hoping to be the wifer by your anfwer. I pray you, Sir, are you a courtier ? Clo. O lord, Sir there's a fimple putting off: more, more, a hundred of them. Gount. Sir, I am a poor friend of yours, that loves yousov Clo. O lord, Sir-thick, thick, fpare not me. Count. I think, Sir, you can eat none of this homely meat. Clo. O lord, Sir you. nay, put me to't, I warrant Count. You were lately whip'd, Sir, as I think. Clo. O lord, Sir-fpare not me. Count. Do you cry, Olord, Sir, at your whipping, and fpare not me? indeed, your O lord, Sir, is very fequent to your whipping: you would anfwer very well to a whipping, if you were but bound to't. Clo. I ne'er had worfe luck in my life, in my-0 lord, Sir; I fee, things may serve long, but not ferve ever. Count. I play the noble hufwife with the time, to entertain it fo merrily with a fool. Clo. O lord, Sir-why, there't ferves well again. Count. An end, Sir; to your bufinefs: give Helen this, And urge her to a prefent anfwer back. Commend me to my kinfmen, and my fon: - 90 lord, Sir,] A ridicule on that foolish expletive of speech then in vogue at court. Clo. |