160 Dia. I am, my lord, a wretched Florentine, Derived from the ancient Capulet: My suit, as I do understand, you know, And therefore know how far I may be pitied. Wid. I am her mother, sir, whose age and honour Both suffer under this complaint we bring; And both shall cease, 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 so strange upon your wife? Ber. She's none of mine, my lord. Dia. If you shall marry, You give away this hand, and that is mine; You give away heaven's vows, and those are mine; 171 You give away myself, which is known mine; Laf. [To Bertram] Your reputation comes too short for my daughter; you are no husband for her. Ber. My lord, this is a fond and desperate creature, Whom sometime I have laugh'd with: let your highness 179 Lay a more noble thought upon mine honour Than for to think that I would sink it here. 4 Cease, come to an end, perish. Ask him upon his oath, if he does think He had not my virginity. King.] What say'st thou to her? Ber. She's impudent, my lord, And was a common gamester to the camp. Dia. He does me wrong, my lord; if I were so, He might have bought me at a common price: Do not believe him: O, behold this ring, 191 [Showing it to the King and Countess. Whose high respect and rich validity1 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 't is it: Of six preceding ancestors, that gem, Conferr'd by testament to the sequent issue, Hath it been ow'd and worn. This is his wife; That ring's a thousand proofs. King. Methought you said You saw one here in court could witness it. 200 Dia. I did, my lord, but loth am to produce So bad an instrument: his name 's Parolles. Laf. I saw the man to-day, if man he be. King. Find him, and bring him hither. [Exit Lafeu. Ber. What of him? He's quoted for a most perfidious slave, With all the spots o' the world tax'd and debosh'd,2 Whose nature sickens but to speak a truth. 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 distance, and did angle for me, Madding my eagerness with her restraint, As all impediments in fancy's course Are motives of more fancy; and, in fine, Her own suit, coming with her modern3 grace, Subdu'd me to her rate: she got the ring; 214 Out of a casement. Dia. 229 I have spoke the truth. Ber. My lord, I do confess the ring was hers. King. You boggle' shrewdly, every feather starts you. Re-enter LAFEU with PAROLLES. Ay, my lord. King. Tell me, sirrah,—but tell me true, I charge you, Not fearing the displeasure of your master, Which, on your just proceeding, I'll keep off,By him and by this woman here what know you? Par. So please your majesty, my master hath been an honourable gentleman: tricks he hath had in him, which gentlemen have. King. Come, come, to the purpose: did he love this woman? 242 Par. Yes, so please your majesty. I did go between them, as I said; but more than that, he loved her, for, indeed, he was mad for her, and talked of Satan, and of Limbo, and of Furies, and I know not what: yet I was in that credit with them at that time, that I knew [of their going to bed; and of other motions, as promising her marriage, and] things which would derive me ill will to speak of; therefore I will not speak what I know. King. Thou hast spoken all already, unless thou canst say they are married: but thou art too fine2 in thy evidence; therefore stand aside.— This ring, you say, was yours? 270 Ay, my good lord. King. Where did you buy it? or who gave it you? Dia. It was not given me, nor I did not buy it. King. Who lent it you? Dia. It was not lent me neither. King. Where did you find it, then? Dia. I found it not. King. If it were yours by none of all these Is there no exorcist King. Beguiles the truer office of mine eyes? Is 't real that I see? Hel. Both, both:-0, pardon! Hel. [O my good lord, when I was like this maid, 310 I found you wondrous kind.] There is your ring; And, look you, here's your letter; this it says: "When from my finger you can get this ring, And are by me with child, &c." This is done: Will you be mine, now you are doubly won? Ber. If she, my liege, can make me know this clearly, I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly. 1. DRAMATIS PERSONA. The Dramatis Personæ of this play have been left, either through oversight or through the haste with which the play was written, in a very confused and unsatisfactory condition as far as the naming of them goes. We have at least four important speaking characters who have no names at all, viz. the First and Second Lord, the First Soldier, and the Gentleman attached to the French court who aids Helena in her suit to the king (v. 1.): besides these we have Two Gentlemen belonging to the French army (iii. 2.), and the usual quantity of nameless lords and gentlemen. In the case of the French lords who accompany Bertram to the war, the omission seems the more singular, because from iv. 3. 199-324 we learn that they were two brothers, and that their names were Dumain. In the edition which Kemble prepared for the stage we find no less than five additional Dramatis Personæ named: Dumain, Lewis-First and Second Lords, who take an important part in act iv. scene 3; Jaques and Biron, belonging to the French army, and friends, apparently, of Bertram; and Tourville, a gentleman belonging to the French court, who appears in act v. It would certainly be far more convenient to adopt some names for the First and Second Lord, if not for all these characters; but there is no internal evidence in the play on which we can assign to any of these nameless characters any name except Dumain to the First Lord, |