Laf. + There's one grape yet,-I am fure, thy father drunk wine. But if thou be'ft not an afs, I am a youth of fourteen. I have known thee already. Hel. I dare not fay, I take you; but I give Me and my fervice, ever whilft I live, Into your guided power: this is the man. [To Bertram. King. Why then, young Bertram, take her, fhe's thy wife. Ber. My wife, my Liege? I fhall beseech your In fuch a bufinefs give me leave to use King. Know'st thou not, Bertram, Ber. Yes, my good Lord, But never hope to know why I should marry her. King. Thou know'ft, fhe has rais'd me from my fickly bed. Ber. But follows it, my Lord, to bring me down Must answer for your railing? I know her well : She had her breeding at my father's charge: A poor phyfician's daughter my wife !-Difdain Rather corrupt me ever! King. 'Tis only title thou difdain'ft in her, the which All that is virtuous, (fave what thou dislik'st, 4 There's one grape yet,] This fpeech the three last editors have perplexed themfeives by dividing between Lafeu and Parolles, without any authority of copics, or any improvement of fenfe. I have restored the old reading, and fhou'd have thought no explanation neceffary, but that Mir. Theobald apparently mifun derstood it. Old Lafeu having, upon the fuppofition that the lady was refufed, reproached the young lords as boys of ice, throwing his eyes on Bertram who remained, cries out, There is one yet into bom his father put good blood, but I have known thee long enough to know thee for an afs. Of Of virtue for the name: but do not fo. 5 From lowest place when virtuous things proceed, 5 Whence from lowest place virtuous things proceed,] This eafy Correction was prescribed by Dr. Thrilly. THEOBALD. good alone, 6 Is good without a name. Vile nefs is fo:] The text is here corrupted into nonfenfe. We fhould read, good alone Is good; and, with a name, vilenefs is fo. i.è. good is good, tho' there be no addition of title; and vilenefs is vilenefs, tho' there be. The Oxford Editor, understanding nothing of this, ftrikes out vilenes and puts in its place, in'tfelf. WARBURTON. The prefent reading is certainly wrong, and, to confefs the truth, I do not think Dr. Warburton's emendation right; yet I have nothing that I can propofe with much confidence. Of all the conjectures that I can make, that which leaft difpleafes me is this: virtue alone, Is good without a name; Helen is fo; The reft follows eafily by this change. 7 She is YOUNG, wife, fair; In thefe, to nature he's imme. diate heir; And had neither riches nor title: To She is GOOD, wife, fair. For And these breed honour: That is honour's scorn, I can create the reft: virtue and fhe, Is her own dow'ry; honour and wealth from me, King. Thou wrong'ft thy felf, if thou should'st strive to chufe. Hel. That you are well reftor'd, my lord, I'm glad : Let the reft go. 9 King. My honour's at the stake; which to defend, For the greatest part of her encomium turned upon her virtue. To omit this therefore in the recapitulation of her qualities, had been against all the rules of good fpeaking. Nor let it be objected that this is requiring an exact nefs in our author which we fhould not expect. For he who could reafon with the force our author doth here (and we ought always to diftinguish between Shakspeare on his guard and in his rambles), and illuftrate that reasoning with fuch beauty of thought and propriety of expreffion, could never make use cf a word which quite destroyed the exactness of his reafoning, the propriety of his thought, and the elegance of his expreffion. WARBURTON. Here is a long note, which I wih had been thorter. Good is I better than young, as it refers to honour. But he is more the immediate heir of nature with refped to youth than goodness. To be immediate heir is to inherit without any intervening transmitter: thus fhe inherits beauty immediately from nature, but honour is tranfmitted by ancestors; youth is received immediately from nature, but goodness may be conceived in part the gift of parents, or the effect of education. The alteration therefore loses on one fide what it gains on the other. 9 My honour's at the Stake; which to defeat I must produce my Power.] The poor King of France is again made a Man of Gotham, by our unmerciful Editors. For he is not to make use of his Authority to defeat, but to defend his Honour. THEOBALD. I muft I must produce my power. Here, take her hand, My love, and her defert; that canst not dream, Shall weigh thee to the beam; that wilt not know, We please to have it grow. Check thy contempt: Do thine own fortunes that obedient right, King. Take her by the hand, And tell her, fhe is thine: to whom I promise A balance more repleat. Ber. I take her hand. King. Good fortune, and the favour of the King Smile upon this contract; whofe ceremony Shall feem expedient on the new-born brief, And be perform'd to-night; the folemn feast Manent Parolles and Lafeu. Laf. Do you hear, Monfieur? a word with you. Laf. Your Lord and Mafter did well to make his recantation. Par. Recantation? - my Lord? my Mafter? Par. A moft harfh one, and not to be understood without bloody fucceeding. My mafter? Laf. Are you companion to the Count Roufillon? man. Laf. To what is Count's man; Count's mafter is of another stile. Par. You are too old, Sir; let it fatisfy you, you are too old. Laf. I must tell thee, Sirrah, I write man; to which title age cannot bring thee. Par. What I dare too well do, I dare not do. Laf. I did think thee, for two ordinaries 3, to be a pretty wife fellow; thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel; it might pafs; yet the scarfs and the ban |