3 When thou canst get the ring upon my finger, which never fhall come off, and fhew me a child begotten of thy body, that I am father to, then call me husband: but in fuch a Then I write a Never.

This is a dreadful fentence.

Count. Brought you this letter, gentlemen?
1 Gen. Ay, madam;

-And, for the contents' fake, are forry for our pains.
Count. I pr'ythee, lady, have a better cheer;
If thou engroffeft, all the griefs are thine,
Thou robb'ft me of a moiety: He was my fon;
But I do wafh his name out of my blood,

And thou art all my child.-Towards Florence is he 2 Gen. Ay, madam.

Count. And to be a foldier?

2 Gen. Such is his noble purpofe: and, believe't, The duke will lay upon him all the honour That good convenience claims.

Count. Return you thither?

1 Gen. Ay, madam, with the swifteft wing of speed. Hel. 'Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France. "Tis bitter. [Reading.

Count. Find you that there?

Hel. Ay, madam.

1 Gen. "Tis but the boldness of his hand, haply, which

His heart was not confenting to.

Count. Nothing in France, until he have no wife ! There's nothing here, that is too good for him, But only fhe; and fhe deserves a lord,

3. When thou can't get the ring upon my finger,] i. e. When thou canft get the ring, which is on my finger, into thy poffeffion. The Oxford editor, who took it the other way, to fignify, when thou canst get it on upon my finger, very fagacioufly alters it to, When thou canst get the ring from my finger. WARBURTON.

I think Dr. Warburton's explanation fufficient, but I once read it thus: When thou canft get the ring upon thy finger, which never hall come off mine. JOHNSON.

That

That twenty fuch rude boys might tend upon,
And call her hourly, miftrefs. Who was with him?
i Gen. A fervant only, and a gentleman
Which I have fome time,known.
Count. Parolles, was't not?:

1 Gen. Ay, my good lady, he.

Count. Avery tainted fellow, and full of wickedness; My fon corrupts a well-derived nature With his inducement.

I Gen. Indeed, good lady,

The fellow has a deal of that, too much,
Which holds him much to have 4.

Count. You are welcome gentlemen.
I will intreat you, when you fee my fon,
To tell him, that his fword can never win
The honour that he lofes : more I'll intreat
Written to bear along.

2 Gen. We ferve you, madam,

In that and all your worthieft affairs.

you

Count: 5 Not fo, but as we change our courtefies. Will you draw near? [Exeunt Countess and gentlemen. Hel. 'Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France. Nothing in France, until he has no wife!

Thou shalt have none, Roufillon, none in France,
Then haft thou all again. Poor lord! is't I
That chafe thee from thy country, and expofe

That is, his vices ftand him in ftead. Helen had before delivered this thought in all the beauty of expreffion.

I know him a notorious liar;

Think him a great way fool, folely a coward;
Yet thefe fixt evils fit fo fit in him,

That they take place, while virtue's freely bones
Look bleak in the cold wind-

But the Oxford editor reads:

Which 'boves him not much to have. WARBURTON,

5 Not fo, &c.] The gentlemen declare that they are fervants to the Countefs; the replies, No otherwife than as the returns the fame offices of civility. JOHNSON.

Thofe

Thofe tender limbs of thine to the event

Of the none-fparing war? and is it I

That drive thee from the fportive court, where thou
Waft shot at with fair eyes, to be the mark
Of smoky mufkets? O you leaden meffengers,
That ride upon the violent speed of fire,
Fly with falfe aim; move the ftill-piecing air,
That fings with piercing, do not touch my lord!
Whoever fhoots at him, I fet him there;
Whoever charges on his forward breast,
I am the caitiff, that do hold him to it;
And, though I kill him not, I am the cause
His death was fo effected: better 'twere,
I met the ravin lion when he roar'd

With sharp constraint of hunger; better 'twere,
That all the miferies, which nature owes,

Were mine at once: No, come thou home, Roufillon,
Whence honour but of danger wins a scar;
As oft it lofes all; I will be gone :

My being here it is, that holds thee hence;
Shall I stay here to do't? no, no, although
The air of paradife did fan the house,
And angels offic'd all: I will be gone;

-move the ftill-piercing air,

That fings with piercing,]

The words are here oddly fhuffled into nonfenfe. We fhould read:

-pierce the ftill-moving air,

That fings with piercing,

i. e. pierce the air, which is in perpetual motion, and suffers no injury by piercing. WARBURTON.

The old copy reads-the ftill-peering air.

Perhaps we might better read:

the ftill-piecing air.

i. e. the air that clofes immediately. This has been propofed already, but I forget by whom. STEEVENS.

I have no doubt that ftill-piecing was Shakefpeare's word. But the paffage is not yet quite found. We should read, I believe

rove the fill-piecing air.

i. e. fly at random through. The allufion is to shooting at rovers in archery, which was fhooting without any particular aim.

TYRWHITT.

That

That pitiful rumour may report my flight,

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

Flourish.

The Duke's court in Florence.

Enter the Duke of Florence, Bertram, drum and trumpets, foldiers, &c.

Duke. The 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 the extream edge of hazard".

Duke. Then go forth;

And fortune play upon thy profperous 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.

SCENE IV.

Roufillon in France.

Enter Countefs and Steward.

[Exeunt

Count. Alas! 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.

7 To the extream edge of hazard.]

Milton has borrowed this expreffion Par. Reg. B. i:

"You fce our danger on the utmoft edge

"Of hazard." STEEVENS.

VOL. IV,

1

8

Stew. I am St. Jaques' pilgrim, thither gone;
Ambitious love hath 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 course of war,
My dearest mafter, your dear fon may hye;
Blefs him at home in peace, whilst I from far,

1

His name with zealous fervour fanctify:

His taken labours bid him me forgive;

I, bis defpightful Funo, 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 mildeft words!-
Rinaldo, you did never lack advice fo much,
As letting her pass fo; had I spoke with her,
I could have well diverted her intents,

Which thus fhe hath prevented.

Stew. Pardon me, madam:

If I had given you this at over-night,

She might have been o'er-ta'en; and yet the 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

8 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 Compoftella, in Spain. Another faint might eafily have been found, Florence being fomewhat out of the road from Roufillon to Compoftella. JOHNSON.

-Juno,-] Alluding to the story of Hercules. JOHNSON. -lack advice fo much,] Advice, is difcretion or thought.

JOHNSON.

Of