Ite-enter LAFEU, with HELENA. Laf. Nay, come your ways. This haste hath wings indeed. That dare leave two together; fare you well. King. Our great self and our credit, to esteem From simple sources; and great seas have Where most it promises: and oft it hits, Thy pains, not used, must by thyself be paid: Hel. Inspired merit so by breath is barr'd: sure, My art is not past power, nor you past cure. Or four and twenty times the pilot's glass Hel. Tax of impudence,- name King. Methinks, in thee some blessed spi rit doth speak; Hel. If I break time, or flinch in property Hel. But will you make it even? King. Ay, by my sceptre, and my hopes of heaven. [hand, Hel. Then shalt thou give me, with thy kingly What husband in thy power I will command: A third eye. § An allui. e., When Moses smote the rock in Horeb. This must refer to the children of Israel passing the Red Sea, when miracles had been denied by Pharaoh. ** i. e., Pretend to greater things than befits the mediocrity of my condition. tt The evening star. i. e., May be counted among the gifts enjoyed by thee. I am lile Pandarus. + Of acknowledged excellence. sion to Daniel judging the two Elders. The spring or morning of life. Exempted be from me the arrogance My low and humble name to propagate Count. To be young again, if we could: I of will be a fool in question, hoping to be the wiser by your answer. I pray you, sir, are you a courtier? King. Here is my hand; the premises observed, Thy will by my performance shall be served; So make the choice of thy own time; for I, Thy resolved patient, on thee still rely. More should I question thee, and more I must; Though, more to know, could not be more to trust; [But rest From whence thou cam'st, how tended on,Unquestion'd welcome, and undoubted blest.Give me some help here, ho!-If thou proceed [deed. As high as word, my deed shall match thy [Flourish. Eteunt. SCENE II. Rousillon. A Room in the Countess's Palace. Enter Countess and Clown. Count. Come on, sir; I shall now put you to the height of your breeding. Clo. I will show myself highly fed, and lowly taught: I know my business is but to the court. Count. To the court! why, what place make you special, when you put off that with such contempt? But to the court! Clo. Truly, madam, if God have lent a man any manners, he may easily put it off at court: he that cannot make a leg, put off's cap, kiss his hand, and say nothing, has neither leg, hands, lip, nor cap; and, indeed, such a fellow, to say precisely, were not for the court: but, for me, I have an answer will serve all men. Count. Marry, that's a bountiful answer, that fits all questions. Clo. It is like a barber's chair, that fits all buttocks; the pin-buttock, the quatch-buttock, the brawn buttock, or any buttock. Count. Will your answer serve fit to all questions? Clo. As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an attorney, as your French crown for your taffata punk, as Tib's rush 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 a scolding 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 say, an answer of such fitness for all questions? Clo. From below your duke, to beneath your constable, it will fit any question. Count. It must be an answer of most monstrous size, that must fit all demands. Clo. But a trifle neither, in good faith, if the learned should speak truth of it: here it is, and all that belongs to't: Ask me, if I am a courtier; it shall do you no harm to learn. Clo. O Lord, sir,- -There's a simple put ting off;-more, more, a hundred of them. Count. Sir, I am a poor friend of yours, that loves you. Clo. O Lord, sir,-Thick, thick, spare not me. Count. I think, sir, you can eat none of this homely meat. Clo. O Lord, sir,-Nay, put me to't, I warrant you. Count. You were lately whipped, sir, as I think. Clo. O Lord, sir,-Spare not me. Count. Do you cry, O Lord, sir, at your whipping, and spare not me? Indeed, your O Lord, sir, is very sequent to your whip ping; you would answer very well to a whipping, if you were but bound to't. Clo. I ne'er had worse luck in my life, in my-O Lord, sir: 1 see, things may serve long, but not serve ever. Count. I play the noble housewife with the time, to entertain it so merrily with a fool. Clo. O Lord, sir,-Why, ther't serves well again. Count. An end, sir, to your business: Give And urge her to a present answer back : Clo. Not much commendation to them. Count. Not much employment for you: You understand me? Clo. Most fruitfully; I am there before my legs. Count. Haste you again. [Exeunt severally. SCENE III. Paris. A Room in the King's Palace. Enter BERTRAM, LAFEU, and PAROLLES. Laf. They say, miracles are past; and we have our philosophical persons, to make modernt and familiar things, supernatural and causeless. Hence is it, that we make trifles of terrors; ensconcing ourselves into seeming knowledge, when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear ‡. Par. Why, 'tis the rarest argument of wonder, that hath shot out in our latter times. Ber. And so 'tis. Laf. To be relinquished of the artists,Pur. So I say; both of Galen and Paracelsus. Laf. Of all the learned and authentic fellows, Par. Right, so I say. Laf. That gave him out incurable,- Pur. Right: as 'twere, a man assured of an- Fear means here the object of fear. Par. It is, indeed: if you will have it in showing, you shall read it in, What do you call there ?Laf. A showing of a heavenly effect in an earthly actor. Par. That's it I would have said; the very same. Laf. Why, your dolphin* is not lustier: 'fore me I speak in respect Par. Nay, 'tis strange, 'tis very strange, that is the brief and the tedious of it; and he is of a most facinorous † spirit, that will not acknowledge it to be the Laf. Very hand of heaven. Laf. In a most weak Par. And debile minister, great power, great transcendence: which should, indeed, give us a further use to be made, than alone the recovery of the king, as to be Laf. Generally thankful. Enter King, HELENA, and Attendants. Par. I would have said it; you say well Here comes the king. Laf. Lustick, as the Dutchman says: I'll like a maid the better, whilst I have a tooth in my head: Why, he's able to lead her a ccranto. Par. Mort du Vinaigre! Is not this Helen? Laf. 'Fore God, I think so. King. Go, call before me all the lords in court.[Exit an Attendant. Sit, my preserver, by thy patient's side; And with this healthfu! hand, whose banish'd sense Thou hast repeal'd, a second time receive Enter several Lords.: Fair maid, send forth thine eye this youthful parcel Of noble bachelors stand at my bestowing, I have to use thy frank election make; Laf. I'd give bay Curtal¶, and his furniture, The dauphin. † Wicked. The blushes in my cheeks thus whisper me, Let the white death sit on thy cheek for ever; Hel. Thanks, sir; all the rest is mute **. Laf. I had rather be in this choice, than throw ames ace tt for my life. Hel. The honour, sir, that flames in your Before I speak, too threateningly replies: Hel. Hel. Be not afraid [To a Lord] that I your hand should take; I'll never do you wrong for your own sake: Laf. These boys are boys of ice, they'll none have her; sure, they are bastards to the English; the French ne'er got them. Hel. You are too young, too happy, and To make yourself a son out of my blood. Hel. I dare not say, I take you; [To BER Me, and my service, ever whilst I live, Know'st thou not, Bertram, Yes, my good lord; Must answer for your raising? I know her King. 'Tis only title ‡‡thou disdain'st in her, Lustigh is the Dutch word for lusty, cheerful. They were wards as well as subjects. Except one, meaning Bertram. A docked horse. ** i. e., I have no more to say to you." : tt The lowest chance of the dice. i.e., The want of title. I can build up. Strange is it, that our bloods, All that is virtuous, (save what thou dislikest, Where dust, and damn'd oblivion, is the tomb shouldst strive to choose. [I am glad; Proud scornful boy, unworthy this good gift; My love, and her desert; that canst not dream, Or 1 will throw thee from my care for ever, Was in my nobler thoughts most base, is now Ber. • Titles. I take her hand. King, Good fortune, and the favour of the Smile upon this contract; whose ceremony [Exeunt King, BER. HEL. Lords, and Attendants. Laf.Do you hear,monsieur? a word with you. Par. Your pleasure, sir? Laf. Your lord and master did well to make his recantation. Par. Recantation?-My lord? my master? Laf. Ay; Is it not a language, I speak? Par. A most harsh one; and not to be understood without bloody succeeding. My master? Laf. Are you companion to the count Rousillon ? Par. To any count; to all counts; to what is man. Laf. To what is count's man; count's master is of another style. Par. You are too old, sir; let it satisfy you, you are too old. Laf. I must tell thee, sirrah, I write man; to which title age cannot bring thee. Par. What I dare too well do, I dare not do. Laf. I did think thee, for two ordinaries ‡, to be a pretty wise fellow; thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel; it might pass: yet the scarfs, and the bannerets, about thee, did manifoldly dissuade me from believing thee a vessel of too great a burden. I have now found thee; when I lose thee again, I care not yet art thou good for nothing but taking up; and that thou art scarce worth. Par. Hadst thou not the privilege of antiquity upon thee,- Laf. Do not plunge thyself too far in anger, lest thou hasten thy trial;-which if-Lord have mercy on thee for a hen! So, my good window of lattice, fare thee well; thy casement I need not open, for I look through thee. Give me thy hand. Par. My lord, you give me most egregious indignity. Laf. Ay, with all my heart; and thou art worthy of it. Par. I have not, my lord, deserved it. Par. Well, I shall be wiser. Laf. E'en as soon as thou canst, for thou hast to pull at a smack o'the contrary. If ever thou be'st bound in thy scarf, and beaten, thou shalt find what it is to be proud of thy bondage. I have a desire to hold my acquaintance with thee, or rather my knowledge; that I may say, in the default §, he is a man I know. Par. My lord, you do me most insupportable vexation. + Good is good independent of any worldly distinction, and so is vileness vile. ` i.e., While I sate twice with thee at dinner. At a need, Laf. I would it were hell-pains for thy sake, and my poor doing eternal: for doing I am past; as I will by thee, in what motion age will give me leave. [Exit. Pur. Well, thou hast a son shall take this disgrace off me; scurvy, old, filthy, scurvy lord!-Well, I must be patient; there is no fettering of authority. I'll beat him, by my life, if I can meet him with any convenience, an he were double and double a lord. I'll have no more pity of his age, than I would have of I'll beat him, an if I could but meet bim again. Re-enter LAFEU. Laf. Sirrah, your lord and master's married, there's news for you; you have a new mistress. Par. I most unfeignedly beseech your lord. ship to make some reservation of your wrongs: He is my good lord: whom I serve above, is my master. Laf. Who? God? Laf. The devil it is, that's thy master. Why dost thou garter up thy arms o' this fashion? dost make hose of thy sleeves? do other servants so? Thou wert best set thy lower part where thy nose stands. By mine honour, if I were but two hours younger, I'd beat thee: methinks, thou art a general offence, and every man should beat thee. I think, thou wast created for men to breathe themselves upon thee. Par. This is hard and undeserved measure, my lord. Laf. Go to, sir; you were beaten in Italy for picking a kernel out of a pomegranate; you are a vagabond, and no true traveller: you are more saucy with lords, and honourable personages, than the heraldry of your birth and virtue gives you commission. You are not worth another word, else I'd call you knave. I leave you. [Exit. Enter BERTRAM. France is a stable; we that dwell in't, jades; Ber. It shall be so; I'll send her to my [me. A young man, married, is a man that's marr'd: 'tis so. SCENE IV. The same. Another Room in the same. Enter HELENA and Clown. Hel. My mother greets me kindly: Is she well? Clo. She is not well; but yet she has her health: she's very merry; but yet she is not well: but thanks be given, she's very well, and wants nothing i'the world; but yet she is not well. Hel. If she be very well, what does she ail, that she's not very well? Clo. Truly, she's very well, indeed, but for two things. Hel. What two things? Clo. One, that she's not in heaven, whither God send her quickly! the other, that she's in earth, from whence God send her quickly! Enter PAROLLES. Par. Bless you, my fortunate lady! Hel. I hope, sir, I have your good will to have mine own good fortunes. knave! How does my old lady? Clo. So that you had her wrinkles, and I her money, I would she did as you say. Par. Why, I say nothing. Par. Good, very good; it is so then.- Par. You had my prayers to lead them on: Good, very good; let it be concealed a while.and to keep them on, have them still.-O, my Ber. Undone, and forfeited to cares for ever! Par. What is the matter, sweet heart? Ber. Although before the solemn priest I I will not bed her. [have sworn, Par. What? what, sweet heart? [me:Ber. O my Parolles, they have married I'll to the Tuscan wars, and never bed her. Par. France is a dog-hole, and it no more merits The tread of a man's foot: to the wars! • Exercise. Clo. Marry, you are the wiser man; for many a man's tongue shakes out his master's undoing: To say nothing, to do nothing, to know nothing, and to have nothing, is to be a great part of your title; which is within a very little of nothing. Par. Away, thou'rt a knave. Clo. You should have said, sir, before a knave thou art a knave; that is, before me thou art a knave: this had been truth, sir. Pur. Go to, thou art a witty fool, I have found thee. Clos Did you find me in yourself, sir? or were you taught to find me? The search, sir, was profitable; and much fool may you fird ↑ The house made gloomy by discontent. |