There shall your master have a thousand loves3,
A mother, and a mistress, and a friend,

A phoenix, captain, and an enemy,
A guide, a goddess, and a sovereign,
A counsellor, a traitress, and a dear;
His humble ambition, proud humility,
His jarring concord, and his discord dulcet,
His faith, his sweet disaster; with a world
Of pretty, fond, adoptious christendoms,
That blinking Cupid gossips. Now shall he-
I know not what he shall:-God send him well!—
The court's a learning-place ;-and he is one-
Par. What one, i'faith?

Hel. That I wish well.-'Tis pity—

Par. What's pity?

Hel. That wishing well had not a body in't,
Which might be felt; that we, the poorer born,
Whose baser stars do shut us up in wishes,

Might with effects of them follow our friends,
And show what we alone must think; which never
Returns us thanks.

Enter a Page.

Page. Monsieur Parolles, my lord calls for you.

[Exit Page. Par. Little Helen, farewell: if I can remember thee,

I will think of thee at court.

Hel. Monsieur Parolles, you were born under a charitable star.

Par. Under Mars, I.

notes have been written. Parolles has been describing an old virginity," and has called it "a withered pear;" on which Helena observes," Not my virginity yet;" i. e. my virginity is not a withered pear yet.

3 There shall your master have a thousand loves,] It is not easy to decide to what the adverb "there" applies whether to Helena's virginity, as Steevens conjectured, or to the French court, whither Bertram had gone. The last seems the more probable; but the whole speech is abrupt and obscure, and possibly, as Sir Thomas Hanmer contended, something has been lost, such as the words, "You're for the court," which would have rendered it more intelligible. Warburton thought that great part of the speech was "the nonsense of some foolish conceited player." There is no pretence for this notion.

Hel. I especially think, under Mars.

Par. Why under Mars?

Hel. The wars have so kept you under, that you must needs be born under Mars.

Par. When he was predominant.

Hel. When he was retrograde, I think, rather.
Par. Why think you so?

Hel. You go so much backward, when you fight.
Par. That's for advantage.

Hel. So is running away, when fear proposes the safety but the composition that your valour and fear makes in you is a virtue of a good wing, and I like the wear well.

Par. I am so full of businesses, I cannot answer thee acutely. I will return perfect courtier; in the which my instruction shall serve to naturalize thee, so thou wilt be capable of a courtier's counsel, and understand what advice shall thrust upon thee; else thou diest in thine unthankfulness, and thine ignorance makes thee away: farewell. When thou hast leisure, say thy prayers; when thou hast none, remember thy friends. Get thee a good husband, and use him as he uses thee: so farewell.

[Exit.

Hel. Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky Gives us free scope; only, doth backward pull Our slow designs, when we ourselves are dull. What power is it which mounts my love so high; That makes me see, and cannot feed mine eye? The mightiest space in fortune nature brings To join like likes, and kiss like native things. Impossible be strange attempts to those That weigh their pains in sense; and do suppose, What hath been cannot be. Who ever strove To show her merit, that did miss her love? The king's disease-my project may deceive me. But my intents are fix'd, and will not leave me. [Exit.

SCENE II.

Paris. A Room in the KING'S Palace.

Flourish of cornets. Enter the KING of France, with letters; Lords and others attending.

King. The Florentines and Senoys' are by th' ears; Have fought with equal fortune, and continue

A braving war.

1 Lord 5.

So 'tis reported, sir.

King. Nay, 'tis most credible: we here receive it
A certainty, vouch'd from our cousin Austria,
With caution, that the Florentine will move us
For speedy aid; wherein our dearest friend
Prejudicates the business, and would seem
To have us make denial.

1 Lord.

His love and wisdom,

Approv'd so to your majesty, may plead
For amplest credence.
King.

He hath arm'd our answer,

And Florence is denied before he comes:
Yet, for our gentlemen, that mean to see
The Tuscan service, freely have they leave
To stand on either part.

2 Lord.

It may well serve
A nursery to our gentry, who are sick
For breathing and exploit.

King.

What's he comes here?

Enter BERTRAM, LAFEU, and PAROLLES.

1 Lord. It is the count Rousillon, my good lord,

Young Bertram.

The Florentines and SENOYs-] The Senoys are the inhabitants of the Republic of Sienna, so called by Painter in his novel.

5 1 Lord.] In the old copies, the lords are distinguished as "1 Lord G,” and "2 Lord E," being perhaps the initials of the players who filled these small parts.

King. Youth, thou bear'st thy father's face; Frank nature, rather curious than in haste, Hath well compos'd thee. Thy father's moral parts May'st thou inherit too! Welcome to Paris.

Ber. My thanks and duty are your majesty's.
King. I would I had that corporal soundness now,
As when thy father, and myself, in friendship
First tried our soldiership. He did look far
Into the service of the time, and was
Discipled of the bravest : he lasted long;
But on us both did haggish age steal on,
And wore us out of act. It much repairs me
To talk of your good father. In his youth
He had the wit, which I can well observe
To-day in our young lords; but they may jest,
Till their own scorn return to them unnoted,
Ere they can hide their levity in honour:
So like a courtier, contempt nor bitterness
Were in his pride, or sharpness; if they were,
His equal had awak'd them; and his honour,
Clock to itself, knew the true minute when
Exception bid him speak, and at this time.
His tongue obey'd his hand: who were below him
He us'd as creatures of another place,

And bow'd his eminent top to their low ranks,
Making them proud of his humility,

In their poor praise he humbled. Such a man

Might be a copy to these younger times,

Which, follow'd well, would demonstrate them now
But goers backward.

Ber.

His good remembrance, sir,

Lies richer in your thoughts, than on his tomb:
So in approof lives not his epitaph",

As in your royal speech.

6 So in approof lives not his epitaph,] "Approof" is approbation; (see p. 177;) and the meaning seems to be, that the approbation of Bertram's father is not recorded in his epitaph with so much effect as in the King's speech. On p. 251 "approof" seems used for proof.

King. 'Would I were with him!

say,

He would always

(Methinks, I hear him now; his plausive words
He scatter'd not in ears, but grafted them,

To grow there, and to bear,)—" Let me not live,”-
This his good melancholy oft began,

On the catastrophe and heel of pastime,
When it was out, "let me not live," quoth he,
"After my flame lacks oil, to be the snuff

Of younger spirits, whose apprehensive senses
All but new things disdain; whose judgments are
Mere fathers of their garments"; whose constancies
Expire before their fashions."-This he wish'd:
I, after him, do after him wish too,

Since I nor wax, nor honey, can bring home,
I quickly were dissolved from my hive,

To give some labourers room.

2 Lord.

You are lov'd, sir;

They, that least lend it you, shall lack you first.

King. I fill a place, I know't.-How long is't,

count,

Since the physician at your father's died?

He was much fam'd.

Ber.

Some six months since, my lord.

King. If he were living, I would try him yet:—
Lend me an arm :-the rest have worn me out

With several applications: nature and sickness
Debate it at their leisure.

My son's no dearer.

Ber.

Welcome, count;

7 Mere FATHERS of their garments ;] Tyrwhitt would read feathers for "fathers;" but the sense of the old reading is very obvious: the judgments of such persons are only employed in begetting new modes of dressing their

persons.