The state of your affection; for your paffions Have to the full appeach'd. Hel. Then, I confefs, Here on my knee, before high heav'ns and you, My friends were poor, but honeft; fo's my love; That he is lov'd of me; I follow him not Nor would I have him, 'till I do deserve him; The fun that looks upon his worshipper, But knows of him no more. My deareft Madam; Το Count. Had you not lately an intent, speak truly, go to Paris? Hel. Madam, I had. Count. Wherefore? tell true. Captious and intenille fieve.] The word captious I never found in this fenfe; yet I cannot tell what to fubftitate, unless carious for rotten, which yet is a word more likely to have been miftaken by the copyers than used by the authour. Hel. Hel. I will tell truth; by Grace itself, I swear. You know, my father left me fome prefcriptions Of rare and prov'd effects; fuch as his reading And manifeft experience had collected For general fov'reignty; and that he will'd me, To cure the defperate languishings, whereof Count. This was your motive for Paris, was it, fpeak? Hel. My lord your fon made me to think of this; Elfe Paris, and the medicine, and the King, Had from the converfation of my thoughts, Haply, been absent then. If Count. But think you, Helen, you should tender your fuppofed aid, He would receive it? he and his phyficians Are of a mind; he, that they cannot help him: Hel. There's fomething hints More than my father's fkill (which was the great'st Of his Profeffion) that his good receipt Shall for my legacy be fanctified 9 Notes, whofe faculties in clufive.] Receipts in which greater virtues were inclosed than appeared to obfervation. There's fomething IN'T More than my father's skill that his good receipt, &c,] Here is an inference [that] without any thing preceding, to which it refers, which makes the fentence vicious, and fhews that we should read, There's fomething HINTS More than my father's skill, that his good receipt – i.e. I have a fecret premonition or prefage. WARBURTON. By th' luckiest stars in heav'n; and, would your ho nour But give me leave to try fuccefs, I'd venture Count. Doft thou believ't? Hel. Ay, Madam, knowingly. Count. Why, Helen, thou fhalt have my leave and love: Means and attendants; and my loving greetings [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I. The Court of France. Enter the King, with divers young Lords taking leave for the Florentine war. F Bertram and Parolles. Flourish Cornets. KING. Arewel, young Lords. Thefe warlike principles Do not throw from you. You, my Lords, farewel; 2 In all the latter copies these lines flood thus: Farewel, young Lords; thefe Share The gift doth ftretch itself as 'tis receiv'd.] The third line in that ftate was unintelligible. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads thus: Farewel young Lord, these warlike principles D. Share the advice betwixt you; if both gain all, 1 Lord. 'Tis our hope, Sir, After well-enter'd foldiers, to return King. No, no, it cannot be; and yet my Will not confefs, it owns the malady heart That doth my life befiege; farewel, young Lords: Of the loft Monarchy ;) fee, &c.] This is obfcure. Italy, at the time of this fcene, was under three very different tenures. The. emperor, as fucceffot of the Roman emperors, had one part; the pope, by a pretended donation from Conftantine, another; and the third was compofed of free ftates. Now by the laft inonarchy is meant the Roman, the laft of the four general monarchies. Upon the fall of this monarchy, in the fcramble, feveral cities fet up for themselves, and became free ftates: now these VOL. III. Thofe might be faid properly to inherit the fall of the monarchy. This being premifed, let us now confider fenfe. The king fays, higher Italy; giving it the rank of preference to France; but he corrects himself and says, I except thofe from that precedency, who only inherit the fall of the laft monarchy; as all the little petty ftates; for inftance, Florence to whom these voluntiers were going. As if he had faid, I give the place of honour to the emperor and the pope, but not to the free ftates. Thofe 'bated, that inherit but the Fall The brave St. Queftant fhrinks, find what you feek, 2 Lord. Health at your bidding ferve your Majesty ! King. Thofe girls of Italy, -- take heed of them;, They lay, cur French lack language to deny, If they demand. Beware of being captives, Before you ferve. Both. Our hearts receive your warnings. King. Farewel. Come hither to me. [To Bertram. [Exit. 1 Lord. Oh, my fweet Lord, that you will stay behind us! Par. 'Tis not his fault; the fpark Italy, their chief town being Ariminum, now called Rimini, upon the Adriatick HANMER. Sir T. Hanmer reads, Thefe baftards that inherit, &c. with this note. Reflecting upon the abject and degenerate condition of the Cities and States which arofe out of the ruins of the Roman Empire, the laft of the four great Monarchies of the World. HANMER. Dr. Warburton's obfervation is learned, but rather too fubile; Sir Tho. Hammer's alteration is merely arbitrary. The paffage is confcffedly obfcure, and therefore I may offer another explanation. I am of opinion that the epithet higher is to be underflood of fituation rather than of dignity. The fenfe may then be this, Let upper Italy, where you are to exercile your valour, jee that you come to gain konur, to the abatement, that is, to the 4 disgrace and depression of these that have now loft their ancient military fame, and inherit but the fall of the last monarchy. To abate is used by Shakespeare in the original fenfe of abatre, to deprefs, to fink, to deject, to fuldue. So in Coriolanus, 'till ignorance deliver you, As most abated captives to feme nation That xon you without blows. And bated is ufed in a kindred fenfe in the Jew of Venice, in a bondman's kiy With bated breath and whif p'ring humbleness. The word has fill the fame meaning in the language of the law. 4 tives, Beware of being cap Before you ferve. ] The word ferve is equivocal; the fenfe is, Be not captives before you ferve in the war. Be not captives before you are foldiers. 2 Lord. |