There shall your master have a thousand loves3, A phoenix, captain, and an enemy, That blinking Cupid gossips. Now shall he- Hel. That I wish well.-Tis pity Par. What's pity? Hel. That wishing well had not a body in't, Might with effects of them follow our friends, Enter a Page. Page. Monsieur Parolles, my lord calls for you. [Exit Page. Par. Little Helen, farewell: if I can remember thee, I will think of thee at court. Hel. Monsieur Parolles, you were born under a charitable star. Par. Under Mars, I. 66 notes have been written. Parolles has been describing an old virginity," and has called it "a withered pear;" on which Helena observes, "Not my virginity yet ;" i. e. my virginity is not a withered pear yet. 3 There shall your master have a thousand loves,] It is not easy to decide to what the adverb "there" applies: whether to Helena's virginity, as Steevens conjectured, or to the French court, whither Bertram had gone. The last seems the more probable; but the whole speech is abrupt and obscure, and possibly, as Sir Thomas Hanmer contended, something has been lost, such as the words, "You're for the court," which would have rendered it more intelligible. Warburton thought that great part of the speech was "the nonsense of some foolish conceited player." There is no pretence for this notion. Hel. I especially think, under Mars. Par. Why under Mars? Hel. The wars have so kept you under, that you must needs be born under Mars. Par. When he was predominant. Hel. When he was retrograde, I think, rather. Hel. You go so much backward, when you fight. Hel. So is running away, when fear proposes the safety but the composition that your valour and fear makes in you is a virtue of a good wing, and I like the wear well. Par. I am so full of businesses, I cannot answer thee acutely. I will return perfect courtier; in the which my instruction shall serve to naturalize thee, so thou wilt be capable of a courtier's counsel, and understand what advice shall thrust upon thee; else thou diest in thine unthankfulness, and thine ignorance makes thee away: farewell. When thou hast leisure, say thy prayers; when thou hast none, remember thy friends. Get thee a good husband, and use him as he uses thee: so farewell. [Exit. Hel. Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky Gives us free scope; only, doth backward pull Our slow designs, when we ourselves are dull. What power is it which mounts my love so high; That makes me see, and cannot feed mine eye? The mightiest space in fortune nature brings To join like likes, and kiss like native things. Impossible be strange attempts to those That weigh their pains in sense; and do suppose, What hath been cannot be. Who ever strove To show her merit, that did miss her love? The king's disease-my project may deceive me. But my intents are fix'd, and will not leave me. [Exit. SCENE II. Paris. A Room in the KING'S Palace. Flourish of cornets. Enter the KING of France, with letters; Lords and others attending. King. The Florentines and Senoys' are by th' ears; Have fought with equal fortune, and continue King. Nay, 'tis most credible: we here receive it 1 Lord. His love and wisdom, Approv'd so to your majesty, may plead King. He hath arm'd our answer, And Florence is denied before he comes: 2 Lord. It may well serve A nursery to our gentry, who are sick For breathing and exploit. King. What's he comes here? Enter BERTRAM, LAFEU, and PAROLLES. 1 Lord. It is the count Rousillon, my good lord, Young Bertram. 4 The Florentines and SENOYS-] The Senoys are the inhabitants of the Republic of Sienna, so called by Painter in his novel. 5 1 Lord.] In the old copies, the lords are distinguished as "1 Lord G," and "2 Lord E," being perhaps the initials of the players who filled these small parts. King. Youth, thou bear'st thy father's face; Frank nature, rather curious than in haste, Ber. My thanks and duty are your majesty's. And bow'd his eminent top to their low ranks, In their poor praise he humbled. Such a man Might be a copy to these younger times, Which, follow'd well, would demonstrate them now Ber. His good remembrance, sir, Lies richer in your thoughts, than on his tomb: As in your royal speech. 6 So in approof lives not his epitaph,] "Approof" is approbation; (see p. 177;) and the meaning seems to be, that the approbation of Bertram's father is not recorded in his epitaph with so much effect as in the King's speech. On p. 251 "approof" seems used for proof. King. 'Would I were with him! He would always say, (Methinks, I hear him now; his plausive words To grow there, and to bear,)-"Let me not live," On the catastrophe and heel of pastime, Since I nor wax, nor honey, can bring home, To give some labourers room. 2 Lord. You are lov'd, sir; They, that least lend it you, shall lack you first. King. I fill a place, I know't.-How long is't, count, Since the physician at your father's died? He was much fam'd. Ber. Some six months since, my lord. King. If he were living, I would try him yet:— With several applications: nature and sickness My son's no dearer. Ber. Welcome, count; 7 Mere FATHERS of their garments ;] Tyrwhitt would read feathers for "fathers;" but the sense of the old reading is very obvious: the judgments of such persons are only employed in begetting new modes of dressing their persons. |