(For that is her demand) and know her business? That done, laugh well at me. King. Now, good Lafeu, 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. This haste hath wings indeed. Laf. Nay, come your ways;9 This is his majesty, say your mind to him: His majesty seldom fears: I am Cressid's uncle,1 [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, Safer than mine own two, more dear; I have so: 8 Thus he his special nothing ever prologues.] So, in Othello: "Tis evermore the prologue to his sleep." Steevens. 9 come your ways;] This vulgarism is also put into the mouth of Polonius. See Hamlet, Act I, sc. iii. Steevens. 1 - Cressid's uncle,] I am like Pandarus. See Troilus and Cressida. Johnson. 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. With that malignant cause wherein the honour With all bound humbleness. King. We thank you, maiden; But may not be so credulous of cure,- That labouring art can never ransome nature To empiricks; or to dissever so Our great self and our credit, to esteem A senseless help, when help past sense we deem. King. I cannot give thee less, to be call'd grateful: Hel. What I can do, can do no hurt to try, When judges have been babes.5 Great floods have flown 4 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, 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;8 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. 7 H. White. and despair most sits.] The old copy reads-shifts. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. Malone. 8 Muself against the level of mine aim;] i. e. pretend to greater things than befits the mediocrity of my condition. Warburton. But know I think, and think I know most sure, Hel. The greatest grace lending grace, Ere twice the horses of the sun shall bring Their fiery torcher his diurnal ring; Ere twice in murk and occidental damp Moist Hesperus hath quench'd his sleepy lamp;1 Hel. Tax of impudence, A strumpet's boldness, a divulged shame,— I rather think that she means to say,-I am not an impostor that proclaim one thing and design another, that proclaim à cure and aim at a fraud; I think what I speak. Johnson. 9 The greatest grace lending grace,] I should have thought the repetition of grace to have been superfluous, if the grace of grace had not occurred in the speech with which the tragedy of Macbeth concludes. Steevens. The former grace in this passage, and the latter in Macbeth, evidently signify divine grace. Henley. 1 his sleepy lamp;] Old copy-her sleepy lamp. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone. 2 a divulged shame, Traduc'd by odious ballads; my maiden's name Sear'd otherwise; no worse of worst extended, With vilest torture let my life be ended] I would bear (says she) the tax of impudence, which is the denotement of a strumpet; would endure a shame resulting from my failure in what I have undertaken, and thence become the subject of odious ballads; let my maiden reputation be otherwise branded; and, no worse of worst extended, i. e. provided nothing worse is offered to me, (meaning violation) let my life be ended with the worst of tortures. The poet, for the sake of rhyme, has obscured the sense of the passage. The worst that can befal a woman, being extended to me, seems to be the meaning of the last line. Steevens. 3 King. Methinks, in thee some blessed spirit doth speak; In common sense, sense saves another way. Tax of impudence, that is, to be charged with having the boldness of a strumpet::-a divulged shame, i. e. to be traduced by odious ballads: my maiden's name seared otherwise; i. e. to be stigmatized as a prostitute:-no worse of worst extended; i. e. to be so defamed that nothing severer can be said against those who are most publickly reported to be infamous. Shakspeare has used the word sear and extended in The Winter's Tale, both in the same sense as above: 66 for calumny will sear And "The report of her is extended more than can be thought.” Henley. The old copy reads, not no, but ne, probably an error for nay, or the. I would wish to read and point the latter part of the passage thus: — my maiden's name Sear'd otherwise; nay, worst of worst, extended i. e. Let me be otherwise branded;--and (what is the worst of worst the consummation of misery) my body being extended on the rack by the most cruel torture, let my life pay the forfeit of my presumption. So, in Daniel's Cleopatra, 1594: 66 the worst of worst of ills." No was introduced by the editor of the second folio. "If she be fat, then she is swollen, sav, "If browne, then tawny as the Africk Moore; "If courtly, wanton, worst of worst before." Malone. 3 Methinks, in thee some blessed spirit doth speak; His powerful sound, within an organ weak:] The verb, doth speak, in the first line, should be understood to be repeated in the construction of the second, thus: His powerful sound speaks within a weak organ. Heath. This, in my opinion, is a very just and happy explanation. 4 And what impossibility would slay Steevens. In common sense, sense saves another way.] i. e. and that which, if I trusted to my reason, I should think impossible, I yet, perceiving thee to be actuated by some blessed spirit, think thee capable of effecting. Malone. |