I run into this danger; yet who would have fufpected an ambush where I was taken? [Afide. Inter. There is no remedy, Sir, but you muft die; the General fays, you, that have fo traiteroufly difcovered the fecrets of your army, and made fuch peftiferous reports of men very nobly held, can ferve the world for no honeft ufe; therefore you must die. Come, headsman, off with his head. Par. O Lord, Sir, let me live, or let me fee my death. Inter. That fhall you, and take your leave of all your friends. [Unbinding him. So, look about you; you; know you any here? Ber. Good morrow, noble Captain. 2 Lord. God bless you, Captain Parolles. 1 Lord. God fave you, noble Captain. 2 Lord. Captain, what Greeting will you to my Lord Lafeu? I am for France. 1 Lord. Good Captain, will you give me a copy of that fame fonnet you writ to Diana in behalf of the Count Roufillen? if I were not a very coward, I'd compel it of you; but fare you well. [Exeunt. Inter. You are undone, Captain, all but your fcarf; that has a knot on't yet. Par. Who cannot be crufh'd with a Plot? Inter. If you can find out a Country where but women were that had receiv'd fo much fhame, you might begin an impudent Nation. Fare you well, Sir, I am for France too, we shall speak of you there. [Exit. Par. Yet am I thankful. If my heart were great, 'Twould burst at this. Captain I'll be no more, But I will eat and drink, and fleep as foft, As Captain fhall; fimply the thing I am Shall make me live. Who knows himfelf a braggart, Bb 3 Let Let him fear this; for it will come to pafs, } [Exit. SCENE VII. Changes to the Widow's Houfe, at Florence. Enter Helena, Widow, and Diana. TH Hel. HAT you may well perceive I have not wrong'd you, One of the Greateft in the Chriftian world Shall be my Surety; 'fore whofe Thone 'tis needful, Wid. Gentle Madam, You never had a fervant, to whose truft Hel. Nor you, Mistress, Ever a friend, whofe thoughts more truly labour To recompenfe your love: doubt not, but heav'n Hath brought me up to be your Daughter's dower, As it hath fated her to be my motive + my motive] motive for affiftant. 4 WARBURTON. And helper to a husband. But, O strange men! Dia. Let death and honesty Go with your impofitions, I am yours Hel. Yet I pray you: But with the word the time will bring on fummer, When briars fhall have leaves as well as thorns, And be as fweet as fharp: we must away, "Our Waggon is prepar'd, and time revives us 5 When SAUCY trufting of the cozen'd thoughts Defiles the pitchy night;] i. e. makes the perfon guilty of intentional adultery. But trufting a mistake cannot make any one guilty. We should read, and point, the lines thus, · All's thour of it will himself think it unneceffary, when he recollects that faucy may very properly fignify luxurious, and by confequence lafcivious. But with the word, the time will bring on fummer.] With the word, i. e. in an instant When FANCY, trusting of the of time. The Oxford Editor cozen'd thoughts, Defiles the pitchy night. i. e. the fancy, or imagination, that he lay with his mistress, tho' it was, indeed, his Wife, made him incur the guilt of adultery. Night, by the ancients, was reckoned odious, obscene, and abominable. The Poet, allud ing to this, fays, with great beauty, Defiles the pitchy night; i. e. makes the night, more than ordinary, abominable. WARBURTON. This conjecture is truly ingepious; but, I believe, the au reads (but what he means by it I know not) Bear with the word. WARBURTON. The meaning of this obfervation is, that as briars have sweetnef, with their prickles, to fhall thefe troubles be recompenfed with joy. 7 Our waggon is prepar'd, and time revives us ;] The word Revives conveys fo little fente, that it feems very liable to fufpi cion. and time revyes us; i e. looks us in the face, calls upon us to haften. Bb 4 WARB. All's well, that ends well; ftill the Fine's the crown ; Whate'er the course the end is the renown. [Exeunt. SCENE VIII. Changes to Roufillon in France. Enter Countefs, Lafeu, and Clown. Lef. No, no, no, your Son was mif-led with a fnipt taffata fellow there, whofe villainous faffron would have made all the unbak'd and doughy The prefent reading is corrupt, and I am afraid the emendation none of the foundeft. I never remember to have feen the word revye. One may as well leave blunders as make them. Why may we not read for a fhift, without much effort, the time invites us? 8 whofe villainous faffron would have made all the unbak'd and dowy youth of a nation in his colour. Parelles is reprefented as an affected follower of the fashion, and an encourager of his matter to run into all the follies of it; where he says, Uje a more spacious ceremony to the noble Lords they wear themselves in the cap of time and tho' the Devil lead the measure, fuch are to be follow ed. Here fome particularities of fashionable drefs are ridiculed. Snipt-teffata needs no explanation; but villainous foron is more obfcure. This alludes to a fantastic fashion, then much followed, of ufing yellow flarch for their bands and ruffs. So Fletcher, in his Queen of Corinth, youth Has be familiarly Was not exactly frenchified- Carmen and chimney Sweepers are got into the yellow ftarch. This was invented by one Turner, a tire-woman, a court-bawd; and, in all refpects, of so infamous a character, that her invention deferved the name of villainous Saffron. This woman was, afterwards, amongst the mifcreants concerned in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, for which fhe was hanged at Tyburn, and would die in a yellow ruff of her own invention: which made yellow ftarch fo odious, that it immediately went out of fashion. 'Tis this, then, to which ShakeSpeare alludes: but ufing the word Jaffron for yellow, a new idea prefented itself, and he purfues his thought under a quite different allufion Whose vil lainous faffron would have made all the unbaked and dowy youths of a nation in his colour, i. e. of his temper youth of a nation in his colour. Your daughter-inlaw had been alive at this hour; and your fon here at home, more advanc'd by the King than by that redtail'd humble bee I fpeak of. 9 Count. I would, I had not known him! it was the death of the most virtuous Gentlewoman that ever Nature had Praife for creating: if fhe had partaken of my flesh, and coft me the deareft groans of a Mother, I could not have owed her a more rooted love. Laf. 'Twas a good lady, 'twas a good lady. We may pick a thoufand fallets ere we light on fuch another herb. Clo. Indeed, Sir, fhe was the fweet-marjoram of the fallet, or rather the herb of grace. Laf. They are not fallet herbs, you knave, they are nofe herbs. Clo. I am no great Nebuchadnezzar, Sir, I have not much skill in grafs. Laf. Whether doft thou profefs thyself, a knave or a fool? Clo. A fool, Sir, at a woman's fervice; and a knave, at a man's. Laf. Your diftinction? Clo. I would cozen the man of his wife, and do his fervice. Laf. So you were a knave at his fervice, indeed. Clo. And I would give his wife my bauble, Sir, to do her fervice. Laf. I will fubfcribe for thee, thou art both knave and fool. Clo. At your fervice. Here temper and difpofition. 9 I would, I had not known 'him.] This dialogue ferves to connect the incidents of Parolles I must have faffron to colour with the main plan of the play. Clo. |