Laf. You fhall find of the King a husband, Madam; you, Sir, a father. He, that fo generally is at all times good, muft of neceffity hold his virtue to you; whofe worthinefs would stir it up where it wanted, rather than flack it where there is fuch abundance. Count. What hope is there of his Majefty's amendment? Laf. He hath abandon'd his phyficians, Madam, under whose practices he hath perfecuted time with hope and finds no other advantage in the process, but only the lofing of hope by time. Count. This young gentlewoman had a father, (O, that bad! how fad a paffage 'tis!) whofe skill was almost as great as his honefty; had it ftretch'd fo far, it would have made nature immortal, and death fhould have play'd for lack of work. 'Would, for 3 whofe worthiness would fir it up where it wanted, rather than lack it where there is fuch abundance.] An Oppofition of Terms is vifibly defign'd in this fentence; tho' the Oppofition is not fo visible, as the Terms now ftand. Wanted and Abundance are the Oppofites to one another; but how is lack a Contraft to fir up? The Addition of a fingle Letter gives it, and the very Senfe requires it. Read flack it. WARBURTON. This young gentlewoman had a father (O, that had! how fad a PASSAGE 'tis!] Lafeu was fpeaking of the King's defperate Condition: which makes the Countess recall to mind the deceased Gerard de Narbon, who, The thinks, could have cured him: But in ufing the word had, which implied his death, the ftops in the middle of her fentence, and makes a reflection upon it, which, This emendation is ingenious, perhaps preferable to the prefent reading; yet, fince passage may be fairly enough explained, I have left it in the text. Paffage is any thing that pafjes; fo we now fay, a paffage of an authour, and we faid about a century ago, the paffages of a reign. When the Countess mentions Helena's lofs of a father, the recollects her own lofs of a husband, and ftops to obferve how heavily that word had paffes through her mind. the L the King's fake, he were living! I think, it would be the death of the King's disease. Laf. How call'd you the man you speak of, Madam? Count. He was famous, Sir, in his profeffion, and it was his great right to do fo: Gerard de Narbon. Laf. He was excellent, indeed, Madam; the King very lately fpoke of him admiringly, and mourningly: he was skilful enough to have liv'd ftill, if knowledge could have been fet up against mortality.. Ber. What is it, my good lord, the King languishes of? Laf. A fiftula, my lord. Ber. I heard not of it before. Laf. I would it were not notorious. Was this gentlewoman the daughter of Gerard de Narbon? Count. His fole child, my lord, and bequeathed to my overlooking. I have thofe hopes of her good, that her education promifes her; difpofition fhe inherits, which makes fair gifts fairer; for where an unclean 5 where an unclean mind carvies virtuous qualities, there, commendations go with pity; they are Virtues and Traitors too: in her they are the better for THEIR fimpleness; he derives her honeft, and atchieves ber goodness.] This obfcure encomium is made still more obfcure by a flight corruption of the text. Let us explain the paffage as it lies. By virtuous qualities are meant qualities of good breeding and erudition; in the fame fenfe that the Italians fay, qualità virtuofa; and not moral ones. On this account it is, fhe fays, that, in an ill mind thefe virtuous qualities are virtues and traitors too: i. e. the advantages of education enable an ill S mind to go further in wickedness than it could have done without them: But, fays the Countess, in her they are the better for THEIR fimpleness. But fimpleness is the fame with what is called bonefty, immediately after; which cannot be predicated of the quali ties of education. We muft certainly read HER fimpleness, And then the fentence is proper ly concluded. The Countess had faid, that virtuous qualities are the worse for an unclean mind, but concludes that Helen's are the better for her fimpleness, i, e. her clean, pure mind. She then fums up the Character, she had before given in detail, in these T 4 words, clean mind carries virtuous qualities, there commendations go with pity, they are virtues and traitors too; in her they are the better for their fimpleness; she derives her honefty, and atchieves her goodness. Laf. Your commendations, Madam, get from her tears. Count. 'Tis the best brine a maiden can season her praise in. The remembrance of her father never approaches her heart, but the tyranny of her forrows takes all livelihood from her cheek. No more of this, Helena, go to, no more; left it be rather thought you affect a forrow, than to have it. Hel. I do affect a forrow, indeed, but I have it too. Laf. Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead, exceffive grief the enemy to the living. Count. If the living be enemy to the grief, the excels makes it foon mortal. tors too. Ber. words, he derives ber bonefly, Fftimable and useful and achieves her goodnf, i. e. qualities, joined with evil difShe derives her honefly, her fim- pofition, give that evil difpofipleness, her moral Character, from tion power over others, who, by her Father and Ancestors; But, admiring the virtue, are betrayfhe atchieves or wins her good-ed to the malevolence, The nefs, her virtue, or her qualities Tatler, mentioning the sharpers of good breeding and erudition, of his time, obferves, that fome by her own pains and labour. of them are men of fuch elegance and knowledge, that a young man who falis into their way is betrayed as much by his judgment as his passions. WARBURTON. This is likewife a plaufible but unneceffary alteration. Her virtues are the better for their fimplenefs, that is, her excellencies are the better because they are artless and open, without fraud, without defign. The learned commentator has well explained virtues, but has not, I think, reached the force of the word traitors, and therefore has not fhewn the full extent of Shakespeare's mafterly obfervation. Virtues in an unclean mind are virtues and trai 6 If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess makes it foon mor• tal.] This feems very obfcure but the addition of a Negative perfectly difpels all the mift. If the living be not enemy, &c. exceffive grief is an enemy to the living, fays Lafeu: Yes, replies the Countefs; and if the living be not enemy to the grief, [i. e. Rrive to conquer it,] the excess makes Ber. Madam, I defire your holy wishes. Laf. How understand we that? Count. Be thou bleft, Bertram, and fucceed thy father In manners as in fhape! thy blood and virtue 'Tis an unfeafon'd courtier, good my Lord, Laf. He cannot want the beft, That fhall attend his love. Count. Heav'n bless him! Farewel, Bertram. [Exit Countefs, Ber. [To Helena.] The best wishes, that can be forg'd in your thoughts, be fervants to you! Be comfortable to my mother, your mistress, and make much of her. Laf. Farewel, pretty Lady, you must hold the cre dit of your father. [Exeunt Bertram and Lafeu. make it soon mortal. WARBURTON. This emendation I had once admitted into the text, but readmitted the old reading, because I think it capable of an easy explication. Lafiu fays, excef five grief is the enemy of the living: the Counteft replies, If the living be an enemy to grief, the exce's foon makes it mortal: that is, if the living do not indulge grief, grief deftroys itself by its awn excess. By the word mortal I understand that which die, and Dr. Warburton, that which deftroys. I think that my interpretation gives a fentence more acute and more refined. Let the reader judge. That thee may furnish.] That may help thee with more and better qualifications. The bift wibes, &c.] That is, may you be miftrefs of your wifhes, and have power to bring them to effect. SCENE SCENE II. Hel. Oh, were that all!-I think not on my father; And thefe great tears grace his remembrance more, Than those I fhed for him, What was he like? I have forgot him. My imagination Carries no favour in it, but my Bertram's. I am undone there is no living, none, If Bertram be away. It were all one, That I fhould love a bright partic'lar ftar, And think to wed it; he is fo above me : ' In his bright radiance and collateral light Muft I be comforted, not in his sphere. Th' ambition in my love thus plagues itfelf; The hind, that would be mated by the lion, Muft die for love. 'Twas pretty, tho' a plague, To fee him every hour; to fit and draw His arched brows, his hawking eye, his curls,, In our heart's table: heart, too capable Of every line and trick of his fweet favour! But now he's gone, and my idolatrous fancy Muft fanctify his relicks. Who comes here? Enter Parolles. One that goes with him: I love him for his fake, Thick him a great way fool, folely a coward; That they take place, when virtue's steely bones 9 Thefe great tears ] The tears which the King and Countess fhed for him. ́1 In his bright radiance, &c.] I cannot be united with him and move in the fame Sphere, but must be comforted at a distance by the radiance that shoots on all fides from him. 2.Trick of bis fweet favour.] So in King John; he hath a trick of Cœur de Lion's face. Trick feems to be fome peculiarity of look or feature. Look |