Count. An end, fir, to your bufinefs: Give Helen

this,

And urge her to a prefent answer back:

Commend me to my kinfmen, and my fon;
This is not much.

Clo. Not much commendation to them.

Count. Not much employment for you: You understand me?

Clo. Moft fruitfully; I am there before my legs. Count. Hafte you again.

SCENE III.

The Court of France.

Enter Bertram, Lafen, and Parolles.

[Exeunt.

Laf. They fay, miracles are paft; and we have our philofophical perfons, to make modern and familiar, things fupernatural and caufelefs. Hence is it, that we make trifles of terrors; enfconcing ourfelves into feeming knowledge, when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear 4.

Par. Why, 'tis the rareft argument of wonder, that hath fhot out in our later times.

Ber. And fo 'tis.

Laf. To be relinquifh'd of the artists,

Par. So I fay; both of Galen and Paracelfus 5.

Laf.

✦ -unknown fear.] Fear is here the object of fear. JOHNSON. 5 Par. So I fay, both of Galen and Paracelfus.

Laf. Of all the learned and authentick fellows,-] Shakespeare, as I have often obferved, never throws out his words at random. Paracelfus, though no better than an ignorant and knavifh enthufiaft, was at this time in fuch vogue, even amongst the learned, that he had almost juftled Galen and the ancients out of credit. On this account learned is applied to Galen; and authentick or fashionable to Paracelfus. Sancy, in his Confeffion Catholi que, p. 301. Ed. Col. 1720, is made to lay: "Je trouve la Riviere

E 3

premier

Laf. Of all the learned and authentic fellows,
Par. Right, fo I fay.

Laf. That gave him out incurable,

Par. Why, there 'tis; fo fay I too.
Laf. Not to be help'd,-

Par. Right; as 'twere, a man affur'd of an-
Laf. Uncertain life, and fure death.

Par. Juft, you fay well; fo would I have faid.. Laf. I may truly fay, it is a novelty to the world. Par. It is, indeed: if you will have it in fhewing 7, you fhall read it in,-What do you call there?— Laf. A fhewing of a heavenly effect in an earthly actors.

Par. That's it I would have faid; the very fame. Laf. Why, your dolphin is not luftier: 'fore me I fpeak in refpect

premier medecin, de meilleure humeur que ces gens la. Ileft bon Galenifte, & tres bon Paracelfifte. Il dit que la doctrine de Galien eft bonorable, & non mefprifable pour la pathologie, & profitable pour les boutiques. L'autre, pourveu que ce foit de vrais preceptes de Paracelfe, eft bonne à fuivre pour la verité, pour la fubtilité, pour l'efpargne; en fomme pour la Therapeutique." WARBURTON.

As the whole merriment of this fcene confifts in the pretenfions of Parolles to knowledge and fentiments which he has not, I believe here are two paffages in which the words and fenfe are be ftowed upon him by the copies, which the author gave to Lafeu. I read this paffage thus:

Laf. To be relinquished of the artifts

Par. So I fay,

Laf. Both of Galen and Paracelfus, of all the learned and authen tick fellows

4

Par. Right, fo I fay. JOHNSON.

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authentick fellows,-] The phrafe of the diploma is, authenticè licentiatus. MUSGRAye.

Par. It is indeed: if you will have it in Shewing, &c.] We should read, I think: "It is, indeed, if you will have it a fhewing-you fhall read it in what do you call there"

TYRWHITT.

The title of fome pamph

By dolphin, is meant the the crown of France. His STEEVENS.

Par.

Par. Nay, 'tis frange, 'tis very strange, that is the brief and the tedious of it; and he is of a most facinorous fpirit', that will not acknowledgeit to be theLaf. Very hand of heaven. Par. Ay, fo I say.

Laf. In a moft weak

2

Par. And debile minifter, great power, great tranfcendence: which fhould, indeed, give us a farther afe to be made, than alone the recovery of the king; as to be

Laf. Generally thankful.

Enter King, Helena, and attendants.

Par. I would have faid it; you fay well: Here comes the king.

facinorous fpirit- This word is ufed in Heywood's English Traveller, 1633:

"And magnified for high facinorous deeds.”

Facinorous is wicked. The old copy fpells the word facinerious; but as Parolles is not defigned for a verbal blunderer, I have adhered to the common fpelling. STEEVENS.

2 which fhould, indeed, give us a farther ufe to be made, &c.] Between the words us and a farther, there feems to have been two or three words dropt, which appear to have been to this purposeShould, indeed, give us notice, that there is of this,] a farther ufe to be made fo that the paflage fhould be read with asterisks for the future. WARBURTON.

I cannot fee that there is any hiatus, or other irregularity of language than fuch as is very common in thefe plays. I believe Parolles has again ufurped words and fenfe to which he has no right; and I read this paffage thus:

Laf. In a moft weak and debile minifter, great power, great tranfendence; which should, indeed, give us a farther use to be made than the mere recovery of the king.

Par. As to be

Laf. Generally thankful. JOHNSON.

When the parts are written out for players, the names of the characters which they are to represent are never fet down; but only the last words of the preceding fpeech which belongs to their partner in the scene. If the plays of Shakespeare were printed (as there is good reafon to fufpect) from thefe piece-meal tranfcripts, how eafily may the mistake be accounted for, which Dr. Johnson has judiciously strove to remedy? STEEVENS.

Laf. Luftick, as the Dutchman fays: I'll like a maid the better, while I have a tooth in my head: Why, he's able to lead her a corranto."

Par. Mort du Vinaigre! Is not this Helen?
Laf. 'Fore God, I think fo.

King. Go, call before me all the lords in court. Sit, my preferver, by thy patient's fide;

And with this healthful hand, whose banish'd sense
Thou haft repeal'd, a fecond time receive

The confirmation of my promis'd gift,
Which but attends thy naming.

Enter feveral Lords.

Fair maid, fend forth thine eye: this youthful parcel
Of noble bachelors ftand at my bestowing,
O'er whom both sovereign power and father's voice
I have to use thy frank election make;

Thou haft power to chufe, and they none to forfake.
Hel. To each of you one fair and virtuous mistress
Fall, when love please!-marry, to each but one!
Laf. I'd give bay curtals, and his furniture,
My mouth no more were broken than these boys',
And writ 'as little beard.

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3 Luftick, as the Dutchman Jays:] Luftigh is the Dutch word for lufty, chearful, pleafant. It is ufed in Hans Beer-pot's Invifible Comedy, 1618

can walk a mile or two

"As luftique as a boor".

Again, in the Witches of Lancashire, by Heywood and Broome, 1634:

4

What all luftick, all frolickfome!" STEEVENS.

marry, to each but one!] I cannot understand this paffage in any other fenfe, than as a ludicrous exclamation, in confequence of Helena's with of one fair and virtuous mistress to each of the lords. If that be fo, it cannot belong to Helena;, and might properly enough, be given to Parolles. TYRWHITT.

bay curtal] i. e. a bay, dock'd horfe. STEEVENS, 6 My mouth no more were broken-]

A broken mouth is a mouth which has loft part of its teeth.

JOHNSON.

King. Perufe them well:

Not one of those, but had a noble father.

Hel. Gentlemen,

Heaven hath, through me, reftor'd the king to health.
All. We understand it, and thank heaven for you.
Hel. I am a fimple maid; and therein wealthiest,
That, I proteft, I fimply am a maid:

Please it your majefty, I have done already :
The blushes in my cheeks thus whifper me,
We blush, that thou should ft chufe, but be refus'd;
Let the white death fit on thy cheek for ever"
We'll ne'er 'come there again.

King. Make choice; and, fee,

Who fhuns thy love, fhuns all his love in me.
Hel. Now, Dián, from thy altar do I fly;
And to imperial love, that god most high,
Do my fighs ftream.-Sir, will you hear my fuit?
I Lord. And grant it."

Hel. Thanks, fir; all the reft is mute *.

Laf. I had rather be in this choice, than throw ames-ace for my life.

Hel. The honour, fir, that flames in your fair Before I fpeak, too threatningly replies:

7 Let the white death fit on thy cheek for ever,]

eyes,

Shakespeare, I think, wrote dearth; i. e. want of blood, or more figuratively barrenness, want of fruit or iffue. Warburton. The white death is the chlorofis. JOHNSON.

And to imperial Love,] The old editions read impartial, which is right. Love who has no regard to difference of condition, but yokes together high and low, which was her cafe.

WARBURTON.

There is no edition of this play older than that of 1623, the next is that of 1632, of which both read imperial; the fecond reads imperial Jove. JOHNSON.

all the rest is mute.] i.e. I have no more to say to you. So Hamlet: "the reft is filence." STEEVENS.

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Eames-ace—] i. e. the lowest chance of the dice. So, in the Ordinary, by Cartwright: "may I at my last stake, &c, throw ames-ace thrice together." STEEVENS.