Öf virtue for the name: but do not fo.

5 From lowest place when virtuous things proceed,
The place is dignify'd by th' doer's deed.
Where great addition fwells, and virtue none,
It is a dropfied honour'; good alone
Is good, without a name vileness is so :
The property by what it is fhould go,
Not by the title. She is young, wife, fair ';
In these, to nature fhe's immediate heir

5 Whence from lowest place virtuous things proceed,] This eafy Correction was prescribed by Dr. Thrilby. THEOBALD. good alone,

6

i. e. good is good, tho' there be no addition of title; and vilenefs is vileness, 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 least displeases me is this: virtue alone,

Is good without a name; Helen

is fo; The rest follows eafily by this change.

1

She is YOUNG, wife, fair; In thefe, to nature she's immediate heir;

;

And

had neither riches nor title: To this the King replies, fhe's the immediate heir of nature, from whom the inherits youth, wif, dom, and beauty. The thought is fine. For by the immediate heir to nature, we must understand one who inherits wifdom and beauty in a fupreme degree. From hence it appears that young is a faulty reading, for that does not, like wisdom and beauty, admit of different degrees of excellence; therefore she could not, with regard to that, be faid to be the immediate heir of nature; for in that he was only joint-heir with all the reft of her species. Befides, tho' wisdom and beauty may breed honour, yet youth cannot be faid to do fo.

On the contrary,

it is age which has this advantage. It seems probable that fome foolish player, when he transcribed this part, not apprehending the thought, and wondring to find youth not reckoned amongst the good qualities of a woman when fhe was propofed to a lord, and not confidering that it was comprifed in the word fair, foisted in young, to the exclufion of a word much more to the purpose. For I make no question but Shakespeare wrote,

She is GOOD, wife, fair. Y 2

For

And these breed honour: That is honour's fcorn,
Which challenges itself as honour's born,
And is not like the fire. Honours beft thrive,
When rather from our acts we them derive
Than our fore-goers: the mere word's a flave
Debaucht on every tomb, on every grave;
A lying trophy ; and as oft is dumb,
Where duft and damn'd oblivion is the tomb
Of honour'd bones, indeed. What fhould be faid?
If thou can't like this creature as a maid,

I can create the reft: virtue and fhe,

Is her own dow'ry; honour and wealth from me,
Ber. I cannot love her, nor will ftrive to do't.
King. Thou wrong'ft thyfelf, if thou should'ft ftrive
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 Shakespeare on his guard and in his rambles), and illuftrate that reasoning with fuch beauty of thought and propriety of expreffion, could never make ufe of 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 wifh had been fhorter. Good is

I

better than young, as it refers to honour. But fhe is more the immediate heir of nature with refpect to youth than goodness. To be immediate heir is to inherit without any intervening tranfmitter: thus fhe inherits beauty immediately from nature, but hónour 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 lofes 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 muft produce my power. Here, take her hand,
Proud fcornful boy, unworthy this good gift!
That doft in vile mifprifion fhackle up-

My love, and her defert; that canft not dream,
We, poizing us in her defective scale,

Shall weigh thee to the beam; that wilt not know,
It is in us to plant thine honour, where

We please to have it grow. Check thy contempt:
Obey our will, which travels in thy good;
Believe not thy disdain, but prefently
Do thine own fortunes that obedient right,
Which both thy duty owes, and our power claims;
Or I will throw thee from my care for ever
Into the staggers', and the careless lapse
Of youth and ignorance; my revenge and hate
Loofing upon thee in the name of justice,
Without all terms of pity. Speak, thine anfwer.

Ber. Pardon, my gracious Lord; for I fubmit
My fancy to your eyes. When I confider,
What great creation, and what dole of honour
Flies where you bid; I find that fhe, which late
Was in my nobler thoughts moft bafe, is now
The praised of the King; * who, fo enobled,
Is, as 'twere, born fo.

King. Take her by the hand,

And tell her, fhe is thine: to whom I promife
A counterpoize; if not in thy estate,

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

And be perform'd to-night; the folemn feaft
Shall more attend upon the coming space,
Expecting abfent friends. As thou lov'st her,
Thy love's to me religious; elfe does err.

[Exeunt.

Laf. Do you hear, Monfieur? a word with you.
Par. Your pleasure, Sir?

Laf. Your Lord and Mafter did well to make his

recantation.

Par. Recantation?

my Lord? my Mafter? Laf. Ay, is it not a language I fpeak?

Par. A moft harsh one, and not to be understood without bloody fucceeding. My master?

Laf. Are you companion to the Count Roufillon?
Par. To any Count; to all Counts; to what is

man.

Laf. To what is Count's man; Count's mafter is of another ftile.

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

背

table.

1

nerets

།

nerets about thee did manifoldly diffuade me from believing thee a veffel of too great a burthen. I havé now found thee; when I lose thee again, I care not: yet art thou good for nothing but taking up, and that thou'rt fcarce worth.

Par. Hadft thou not the privilege of antiquity upon thee

Laf. Do not plunge thyfelf too far in anger, left thou haften thy trial; which if,--Lord have mercy on thee for a hen! fo, my good window of lattice, fare thee well; thy cafement I need not open, I look thro' thee. Give me thy hand.

Par. My Lord, you give me most egregious indignity.

Laf. Ay, with all my heart, and thou art worthy of it.

Par. I have not, my Lord, deferv'd it.

Laf. Yes, good faith, ev'ry dram of it; and I will not 'bate thee a fcruple.

Par. Well, I shall be wifer

Laf. Ev'n as foon as thou canft, for thou haft to pull at a fmack o'th' contrary. If ever thou be’st bound in thy fcarf and beaten, thou fhalt find what it is to be proud of thy bondage. I have a defire to hold my acquaintance with thee, or rather my knowledge, that I may say in the default, he is a man I know.

Par. My Lord, you do me moft infupportable vexation.

Laf. I would, it were hell-pains for thy fake, and my poor doing eternal: for doing, I am paft; as I will by thee, in what motion age will give me [Exit.

leave.