That thou art fo inhuman,-'twill not prove fo
And yet
I know not:-thou didst hate her deadly,
And she is dead; which nothing, but to clofe
Her eyes myself, could win me to believe,
More than to fee this ring.-Take him away.-

[Guards feize BERTRAM.

My fore-paft proofs, howe'er the matter fall,
Shall tax my fears of little vanity,

Having vainly fear'd too little.3-Away with him ;-
We'll fift this matter further.

Ber.

If you fhall prove
This ring was ever hers, you fhall as eafy
Prove that I husbanded her bed in Florence,
Where yet she never was.

[Exit BERTRAM, guarded.

Enter a Gentleman.

King. I am wrapp'd in dismal thinkings.

Gent. Gracious fovereign, Whether I have been to blame, or no, I know not;

Here's a petition from a Florentine,

Who hath, for four or five removes, come short
To tender it herself.4 I undertook it,
Vanquish'd thereto by the fair grace and fpeech
Of the poor fuppliant, who by this, I know,
Is here attending: her bufinefs looks in her
With an importing visage; and she told me
In a fweet verbal brief, it did concern
Your highness with herself.

King. [Reads.]-Upon his many proteftations to marry me, when his wife was dead, I blush to say it, he won me. Norw is the count Roufillon a widower; his vows are forfeited to me, and my honour's paid to him. He fole from Florence, taking no leave, and I follow him to his country for juftice: Grant it me, O king;

3 The proofs which I have already bad are fufficient to show that my fears were not vain and irrational. I have rather been hitherto more easy than I ought, and have unreasonably had too little fear. JOHNSON.

4 Who hath miffed the opportunity of prefenting it in perfon to your majefty, either at Marfeilles, or on the road from thence to Roufillon, in confequence of having been four or five removes behind you.

Removes are journies or poft-ftages. JOHNSON

MALONE,

O king; in you it beft lies; otherwife a feducer flourishes, and a poor maid is undone. DIANA CAPULET. Laf. I will buy me a fon-in-law in a fair, and toll him: for this, I'll none of him."

King. The heavens have thought well on thee Lafeu, To bring forth this difcovery.-Seek these fuitors :— Go, fpeedily, and bring again the count.

I am afeard, the life of Helen, lady,

[Exeunt Gentleman, and fome Attendants.

Now, juftice on the doers!

Was foully fnatch'd,

Count.

Enter BERTRAM, guarded.

King. I wonder, fir, fince wives are monsters to you,
And that you fly them as you fwear them lordship,
Yet you defire to marry.-What woman's that?

Re-enter

Thus the fecond folio. The first omits-bim. Either reading is capable of explanation.

man.

The meaning of the earliest copy feems to be this: I'll buy me a new fon-in-law, &c. and toll the bell for this; i. e. look upon him as a dead -The fecond reading, as Dr. Percy fuggefts, may imply: I'll buy me a fon-in-law as they buy a horse in a fair; toul him, i. e. enter him on the tcul or toll-book, to prove I came honeftly by him, and ascertain my title to him.

The previous mention of a Fair, feems to justify the reading I have adopted from the second folio. STEEVENS.

The paffage fhould be pointed thus:

I will buy me a fon-in-law in a fair, and tell ;

For this, I'll none of him.

That is, I'll buy me a fon-in-law in a fair, and pay toll; as for this, I will have none of him." M. MASON.

The meaning, I think, is, "I will purchase a fon-in-law at a fair, and get rid of this worthlefs fellow, by tolling him out of it." To tell a perfos gut of a fair was a phrafe of the time. MALONE.

This paffage is thus read in the first folio:

I wonder, fir, fir, vives are monsters to you,
And that you fly them, as you fear them lordship,
Yet you defire to marry.

Which may be corrected thus:

I wonder, fir, fince wives are monsters, &c.

The editors have made it-wives are fo monftrous to you, and in the next line-fear to them, instead of—swear them lordship. Though the latter phrafe be a little obfcure, it should not have been turned out of the

Re-enter Gentleman, with Widow, and Diana.
Dia. I am, my lord, a wretched Florentine,
Derived from the ancient Capulet;

My fuit, as I do understand, you know,
And therefore know how far I may be pitied.

Wid. I am her mother, fir, whofe age and honour
Both fuffer under this complaint we bring,

And both fhall ceafe, without your remedy.

King. Come hither, count; Do you know these women?
Ber. My lord, I neither can, nor will deny

But that I know them: Do they charge me further?
Dia. Why do you look fo ftrange upon your wife?
Ber. She's none of mine, my lord.

Dia.

If you fhall marry,
You give away this hand, and that is mine;
You give away heaven's vows, and those are mine;
You give away myfelf, which is known mine;
For I by vow am fo embodied yours,

That she, which marries you, must marry me,
Either both, or none.

Laf. Your reputation, [To BERTRAM.] comes too short for my daughter, you are no hufband for her.

Ber. My lord, this is a fond and defperate creature, Whom fometime I have laugh'd with: let your highness Lay a more noble thought upon mine honour,

Than for to think that I would fink it here.

King. Sir, for my thoughts, you have them ill to friend, Till your deeds gain them: Fairer prove your honour, Than in my thought it lies!

Dia.

Good my lord,

Afk him upon his oath, if he does think

He

text without notice. I fuppofe lordship is put for that protection which the husband in the marriage ceremony promifes to the wife.

As, I believe, here fignifies as foon as.

MALONE.

TYRWHITT.

I read with Mr. Tyrwhitt, whofe emendation I have placed in the text. It may be observed, however, that the fecond folio reads:

I wonder, fir, wives are such monsters to you-

STEEVENS.

7 i. e. decease, die. STEEVENS.

?

He had not my virginity.
King. What fay't thou to her?

Ber.

She's impudent, my lord;
And was a common gamefter to the camp.

Dia. He does me wrong, my lord; if I were fo,
He might have bought me at a common price:
Do not believe him: O, behold this ring,
Whofe high refpect, and rich validity,
Did lack a parallel; yet, for all that,
He gave it to a commoner o'the camp,
If I be one.

Count.

He blushes, and 'tis it :"
Of fix preceding ancestors, that gem

Conferr'd by teftament to the fequent iffue,
Hath it been ow'd, and worn.

That ring's a thousands proofs.

This is his wife;

Methought, you faid,

King.
You faw one here in court could witnefs it.
Dia. I did, my lord, but loth am to produce
So bad an inftrument; his name's Parolles.
Laf. I faw the man to-day, if man he be.
King. Find him, and bring him hither.
Ber.

He's quoted for a moft perfidious flave,3

What of him?

With all the spots o'the world tax'd and 'debofh'd;
Whose nature fickens, but to speak a truth :4

8 Validity means value.

B

"Of what validity and pitch foever." STEEVENS.

Am

9 The old copy has 'tis bit. The emendation was made by Mr. Steevens. In many of our old chronicles I have found bit printed instead of it. Hence probably the mistake here. Mr. Pope reads-and 'tis bis. MALONE.

Or, be blushes, and 'tis fit. HENLEY.

2 The poet has here forgot himself. Diana has faid no fuch thing.
BLACKSTONE.

3 Quoted has the fame fenfe as noted, or obferved. STEEVENS.
Here the modern editors read:

Which nature fickens with :-→→→

a moft licentious corruption of the old reading, in which the punctuation
only wants to be corrected. We should read, as here printed:
Whofe nature fickens, but to speak a truth :

i. e. only to fpeak a truth. TYRWHITT.

& I think it has here a s

Bonger

meaning

Le is

quoted or cited as an example of freedy & batench, boshd occurs in Zeup! A.Z.S.2. 117. Zenth!

Am I or that, or this, for what he'll utter,
That will speak any thing?
King.
She hath that ring of yours.
Ber. I think, she has certain it is, I lik'd her,
And boarded her i'the wanton way of youth:
She knew her diftance, and did angle for me,
Madding my eagernefs with her reftraint,
As all impediments in fancy's courfe

Are motives of more fancy ; and, in fine,
Her infuit coming with her modern grace,
Subdued me to her rate: fhe got the ring;
And I had that, which any inferior might
At market-price have bought.

Dian.

I must be patient';
You, that turn'd off a first so noble wife,
May justly diet me. I pray you yet,
(Since you lack virtue, I will lofe a husband,)
Send for your ring, I will return it home,
And give me mine again.

5 Every thing that obstructs love is an occafion by which love is heightened, And, to conclude, her folicitation concurring with her fashionable appearance, fhe got the ring.

I am not certain that I have attained the true meaning of the word modern, which perhaps, fignifies rather meanly pretty. JOHNSON.

I believe modern means common. The fenfe will then be this-Her fo licitation concurring with her appearance of being common, i. e. with the appearance of her being to be bad as we fay at prefent. Shakspeare ufes the word modern frequently, and always in this fenfe. So, in King Jebn:

fcorns a modern invocation."

Mr. M. Mason fays, that modern grace means, with a tolerable degree of beauty. He questions alfo the infufficiency of the inftances brought in fupport of my explanation, but adduces none in defence of his own.

STEEVENS.

I think with Mr. Steevens, that modern here, as almost every where in Shakspeare, means common, ordinary; but do not fuppofe that Bertram here means to call Diana a common gamester, though he has styled her fo in a former paffage. MALONE.

6 May jufly loath or be weary of me; as people generally are of a regimen or prefcribed diet. Such, I imagine, is the meaning. Mr. Collins thinks, the means, "May jutly make me faft, by depriving me (as Desdemona fays) of the rites for which I love you." MALONE.

Mr. Collins's interpretation is juft. The allufion may be to the ma. nagement of hawks, who were half flarved till they became tractable.

STEEVENS.

Ber