To confolate thine ear. Come, night; end, day! For with the dark, poor thief, I'll fteal away. [Exit.

SCENE V.

Changes to the Duke's Court at Florence.

Flourish. Enter the Duke of Florence, Bertram, Drum and Trumpets, Soldiers, Parolles.

Duke.

T

HE General of our Horfe thou art, and

we,

Great in our hope, lay our best love and credence
Upon thy promifing fortune.

Ber. Sir, it is

A charge too heavy for my ftrength; but yet
We'll ftrive to bear it for your worthy fake,
To th' extream edge of hazard.

Duke. Then go forth,

And fortune play upon thy profp'rous helm,
As thy aufpicious mistress!

Ber. This very day,

Great Mars, I put myself into thy file;

Make me but like my thoughts, and I fhall prove

A lover of thy drum; hater of love.

Count.

A

Enter Countefs and Steward.

[Exeunt.

Las! and would you take the letter of her; Might you not know, fhe would do, as fhe has done,

By fending me a letter? Read it again.

LET

*

LETTER.

I am St. Jaques' pilgrim, thither gone;
Ambitious love bath fo in me offended,
That bare foot plod I the cold ground upon,
With fainted vow my faults to have amended.
Write, write, that from the bloody curse of war
My dearest mafter, your dear fon, may hie;
Blefs him at home in peace, whilst I from far
His name with zealous fervour fanctify.
His taken labours bid him me forgive;

I, bis defpightful + Juno, fent him forth
From courtly friends, with camping foes to live;
Where death and danger dog the heels of worth.
He is too good and fair for death and me,
Whom I myself embrace, to fet him free.

Ah, what sharp ftings are in her mildest words?
3
Rynaldo, you did never lack advice fo much,
As letting her pafs fo; had I spoke with her,
I could have well diverted her intents,
Which thus fhe hath prevented.

Stew. Pardon, Madam,

If I had given you this at over-night

She might have been o'er ta'en; and yet fhe writes, Purfuit would be but vain.

Count. What angel fhall

Bless this unworthy husband? he cannot thrive,
Unless her prayers, whom heaven delights to hear,
And loves to grant, reprieve him from the wrath
Of greatest juftice. Write, write, Rynaldo,
To this unworthy husband of his wife;

St Jaques' pilgrim,-] I do not remember any place famous for pilgrimages confecrated in Italy to St. James, but it is common to vifit St. James of Compoftelia, in Spain. Another Saint might easily have been

Z 4

found, Florence being fomewhat out of the road from Roufillon to Compoftella.

Juno,] Alluding to the ftory of Hercules.

3

Advice, is difcretion cr

thought.

Let

Let every word weigh heavy of her worth,
That he does weigh too light: my greatest grief,
Tho' little he do feel it, fet down fharply.
Dispatch the most convenient meffenger;
When, haply, he shall hear that she is gone,
He will return, and hope I may, that she,
Hearing fo much, will fpeed her foot again,
Led hither by pure love. Which of them both
Is dearest to me, I've no skill in sense

To make diftinétion; provide this meffenger;
My heart is heavy, and mine age is weak;
Grief would have tears, and forrow bids me fpeak.

[Exeunt.

Changes to a publick
publick Place in Florence.
A Tucket afer off.

Enter an old Widow of Florence, Diana, Violenta, and
Mariana, with other Citizens.

NA

Wid.TAY, come. For if they do approach the city, we fhall lofe all the fight.

Dia. They fay, the French Count has done moft honourable fervice.

Wid. It is reported, that he has ta'en their greatest commander; and that with his own hand he flew the Duke's brother. We have loft our labour, they are gone a contrary way: hark, you may know by their trumpets.

Mar. Come, let's return again, and fuffice ourfelves with the report of it. Well, Diana, take heed of this French Earl; the honour of a maid is her name, and no legacy is fo rich as honefty.

Wid. I have told my neighbour, how you have been folicited by a gentleman his companion.

Mar. I know that knave, (hang him!) one Parolles; a filthy officer he is in those fuggeftions for the young Earl, beware of them, Diana; their promises,

entice

enticements, oaths, tokens, and all thefe engines of luft, are not the things they go under; many a maid hath been feduced by them; and the mifery is, example, that fo terrible fhews in the wreck of maidenhood, cannot for all that diffuade fucceffion, but that they are limed with the twigs that threaten them. I hope, I need not to advise you further; but, I hope, your own grace will keep you where you are, though there were no further danger known, but the modesty which is fo loft.

Dia. You fhall not need to fear me.

Enter Helena, difguifed like a Pilgrim.

Wid. I hope fo.-Look, here comes a pilgrim; I know, fhe will lie at my houfe; thither they fend one another; I'll queftion her; God fave you, pilgrim! whither are you bound?

Hel. To St. Jaques le Grand. mers lodge, I do beseech you?

Where do the pal

Wid. At the St. Francis, befide the port.

Hel. Is this the way?
Wid. Ay, marry, is't.

way.

4 are not the things they go under; Mr. Theobald explains thefe words by, They are not really fo true and fincere as in appearance thy feem to be. He found fomething like this fenfe would fit the paffage, but whether the words would fit the fenfe he feems not to have confidered. The truth is, the negative particle fhould be ftruck out, and the words read thus, are the things they go under; i. e. they make use of oaths, promifes, E to facilitate their defign upon us. The allufion is to the military ufe of cover'd ways, to fa

[A march afar off. Hark you, they come this

cilitate an approach or attack; and the Scene, which is a befieged city, and the perfons spoken of, who are foldiers, make the phrafe very proper and natural. The Oxford Editor has adopted this correction, tho' in his ufual way, with a but ; and reads, are but the things they go under. WARBURTON.

I think Theobald's interpreta tion right; to go under the name of any thing is a known expreffion. The meaning is, they are not the things for which their names would make them pafs.

If

If you will tarry, holy pilgrim, but 'till the troops come by,

I will conduct you where you fhall be lodg'd;
The rather, for, I think, I know your hostess
As ample as myfelf.

Hel. Is it yourfelf?

Wid. If you fhall please fo, pilgrim.

Hel. I thank you, and will ftay upon your leisure. Wid. You came, I think, from France.

Hel. I did fo.

Wid. Here you fhall fee a countryman of yours, That has done worthy fervice.

Hel. His name, I pray you ?

Dia. The Count Roufillon: know you fuch a one? Hel. But by the ear, that hears moft nobly of him; His face I know not.

Dia. Whatfoe'er he is.

He's bravely taken here. He ftole from France,
As 'tis reported; for the King had married him
Against his liking. Think you, it is fo?

Hel, Ay, furely, meer the truth; I know his lady. Dia. There is a gentleman, that ferves the Count, Reports but coarfely of her.

Hel. What's his name?

Dia. Monfieur Parolles.

Hel. Oh, I believe with him,

In argument of praife, or to the worth

Of the great Count himfelf, fhe is too mean.
To have her name repeated, all her deferving
Is a referved honefty, and that

I have not heard examin'd s.

Dia. Alas, poor lady!

'Tis a hard bondage, to become the wife

Of a detefting lord.

Wid. Ah! right; good creature! wherefoe'er fhe is,

5-examined] That is, queftion'd, doubted.

Her