I run into this danger; yet who would have fufpected an ambush where I was taken? [Afide. Inter. There is no remedy, Sir, but you must die; the General fays, you, that have so traiterously discovered the fecrets of your army, and made fuch peftiferous reports of men very nobly held, can ferve the world for no honeft ufe; therefore you muft die. Come, headfman, off with his head. Par. O Lord, Sir, let me live, or let me fee my death.. Inter. That fhall you, and take your leave of all your friends. [Unbinding him. So, look about you; know you any here? Ber. Good morrow, noble Captain. 2 Lord. God bless you, Captain Parolles. 2 Lerd. Captain, what Greeting will you to my Lord Lafeu? I am for France. 1 Lord. Good Captain, will you give me a copy of that fame Sonnet you writ to Diana in behalf of the Count Roufillon? if I were not a very coward, I'd compel it of you; but fare you well. [Exeunt. Inter. You are undone, Captain, all but your scarf; that has a knot on't yet. Par. Who cannot be crufh'd with a Plot? Inter. If you can find out a Country where but women were that had receiv'd fo much fhame, you might begin an impudent Nation. Fare you well, Sir, I am for France too, we shall speak of you there. [Exit... Par. Yet am I thankful. If my heart were great, 'Twould burft at this. Captain I'll be no more, But I will eat and drink, and fleep as foft, As Captain fhall; fimply the thing I am Shall make me live. Who knows himself a braggart, Bb 3 Let Let him fear this; for it will come to pass,. Hel. SCENE Vii. Changes to the Widow's Houfe, at Florence. Enter Helena, Widow and Diana. TH } [Exit. HAT you may well perceive I have not wrong'd you, One of the Greatest in the chriftian world Shall be my Surety; 'fore whofe Throne 'tis needful, Time was, I did him a defired office My husband hies him home; where, heaven aiding, Wid, Gentle Madam, You never had a fervant, to whose trust Your bufinefs was more welcome. Hel. Nor you, Mistress, Ever a friend, whofe thoughts more truly labour ✦ my motive] motive for affiftant. WARBURTON. And helper to a husband. But, Oftrange men! Dia. Let death and honefty Go with your impofitions, I am yours Hel. Yet I pray you: "But with the word the time will bring on fummer, ? Our Waggon is prepar'd, and time revives us ; 5 When SAUCY trufing of the cozen'd thoughts Defiles the pitchy night;] i. e. makes the perfon guilty of intentional adultery. But trusting a miftake cannot make any one guilty. We should read, and point, the lines thus, When FANCY, trusting of the cozen'd thoughts, Defiles the pitchy night. i. e. the fancy, or imagination, that he lay with his mistress, tho' it was, indeed, his Wife, made him incur the guilt of adultery. Night, by the ancients, was reckoned odious, obfcene, and abominable. The Poet, alluding to this, fays, with great beauty, Defiles the pitchy night, i. e. makes the night, more than ordinary, abominable. WARBURTON. This conjecture is truly ingenious, but, I believe, the au All's thour of it will himself think it unneceffary, when he recollects that faucy may very properly fig nify luxurious, and by confequence lafcivious. 6 But with the word, the time will bring on fummer,] With the word, i. e. in an inftant of time. The Oxford Edi tor reads (but what he means by it I know not) Bear with the word. WARBURTON. The meaning of this obfervation is, that as briars have sweetnefs with their prickles, fo fhall thefe troubles be recompenfed with joy. 7 Our waggon is prepar'd, and time revives us ;] The word Revives conveys fo little fenfe, that it seems very liable to fufpi cion. -and time revyes us; i. e. looks us in the face, calls upon us to haften WARB. Bb 4 This All's well, that ends well; ftill the Fine's the crown ; Whate'er the course, the end is the renown. [Exeunt. Laf. SCENE VIII. Changes to Roufillon in France. Enter Countefs, Lafeu, and Clown! N 8 O, no, no, your Son was mis-led with a fnipt taffata fellow there, whofe villainous faffron would have made all the unbak'd and doughy The prefent reading is corrupt, and I am afraid the emendition none of the foundest. I never remember to have seen the word revye. One may as well leave blunders as make them. Why may we not read for a fhift, without much effort, the time invites us? 8 whofe villainou Saffron would have made all the unbak'd and dowy youth of a nation in his colour.] Parolles is represented as an affected follower of the fashion, and an encourager of his mafter to run into all the follies of it; where he fays, Ufe a more fpacious ceremony to the noble Lords they wear themselves in the cap of time and tho' the Devil lead the menfure, fuch are to be follow ed. Here fome particularities of fashionable dress are ridiculed. Snipt-tafata needs no explanation; but villainous faffron is more obfcure. This alludes to a fantastic fashion, then much followed, of ufing yellow ftarch for their bands and ruffs. So Fletcher, in his Queen of Corinth, youth Has he familiarly Diflik'd your yellow ftarch; or faid your doublet Was not exactly frenchifiedAnd Johnson's Devil's an Afs. Carmen and chimny-weepers are got into the yellow ftarch. This was invented by one Turner, a tire-woman, a court-bawd; and, in all refpects, of fo infamous a character, that her invention deferved the name of villainous faffron. This woman was, afterwards, amongst the mifcreants concerned in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, for which fhe was hanged at Tyburn, and would die in a yellow ruff of her own invention: which made yellow ftarch fo odious, that it immediately went out of fashion. 'Tis this, then, to which Shakefear alludes: but ufing the word Saffron for yellow, a new idea. prefented itfelf, and he purfues his thought under a quite different allufion -Whofe vil la nous foffeen would have made all the unbaked and dowy youths of a nation in his colour, i. e. of his temper youth of a nation in his colour. Your daughter-inlaw had been alive at this hour; and your fon here at home, more advanc'd by the King than by that redtail'd humble bee I fpeak of. Count. I would, I had not known him! it was the death of the moft virtuous Gentlewoman that ever Nature had Praise for creating; if she had partaken of my flesh, and coft me the deareft groans of a Mother, I could not have owed her a more rooted love. Laf. 'Twas a good lady, 'twas a good lady, We may pick a thoufand fallets ere we light on fuch another herb. Clo. Indeed, Sir, fhe was the fweet-marjoram of the fallet, or rather the herb of grace. Laf. They are not fallet herbs, you knave, they are nofe-herbs. Clo. I am no great Nebuchadnezzar, Sir, I have not much skill in grafs. Laf. Whether doft thou profess thyself, a knave or a fool? Clo. A fool, Sir, at a woman's fervice; and a knavé, at a man's. Laf. Your diftinction? Clo. I would cozen the man of his wife, and do his fervice. Laf. So you were a knave at his fervice, indeed. Clo. And I would give his wife my bauble, Sir, to do her fervice. Laf. I will fubfcribe for thee, thou art both knave and fool. |