PERSONS represented.* King of France. Duke of Florence. Bertram, Count of Rousillon. Lafeu, an old Lord. Parolles, a follower of Bertram. Several young French Lords, that ferve with Bertram in the Florentine war. Steward, Servants to Clown, A Page. the Countess of Roufillon. Countess of Rousillon, mother to Bertram. Helena, a gentlewoman protected by the Countess. An old widow of Florence. Diana, daughter to the widow. Violenta, Neighbours and friends Mariana, to the widow. Lords, attending on the King; Officers, Soldiers, &c. French and Florentine. SCENE, partly in France, and partly in Tuscany. * The persons were first enumerated by Mr. Rowe. 3 Lafen,] We should read-Lefen. STEEVENS. 4 Parolles,] I suppose we should write this name-Paroles, i, e. a creature made up of empty words. STEEVENS, 5 Violenta only enters once, and then she neither speaks, nor is fpoken to. This name appears to be borrowed from an old metrical history, entitled Didaco and Violenta, 1576. STEEVENS, Enter BERTRAM, the Countess of Rousillon, HELENA, and LaFeu, in mourning. COUNT. In delivering my son from me, I bury a fecond husband. BER. And I, in going, madam, weep o'er my father's death anew: but I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward, evermore in subjection. 2 - in ward, Under his particular care, as my guardian, till I come to age. It is now almost forgotten in England, that the heirs of great fortunes were the King's wards. Whether the same practice prevailed in France, it is of no great use to enquire, for Shakspeare gives to all nations the manners of England. JOHNSON. Howell's fifteenth letter acquaints us that the province of Normandy was subject to wardships, and no other part of France befides; but the fuppofition of the contrary furnished St Shakspeare with a reason why the King compelled Roufillon to marry Helen. TOLLET. PERSONS represented.* King of France. Duke of Florence. Bertram, Count of Rousillon. Lafeu, an old Lord. Parolles, a follower of Bertram. Several young French Lords, that ferve with Bertram in the Florentine war. Steward, Servants to the Countess of Clown, A Page. Rousillon, Countess of Rousillon, mother to Bertram. Helena, a gentlewoman protected by the Countess. An old widow of Florence. Diana, daughter to the widow. Violenta, Neighbours and friends Mariana, to the widow. Lords, attending on the King; Officers, Soldiers, &c. French and Florentine. SCENE, partly in France, and partly in Tuscany. 2 The persons were first enumerated by Mr. Rowe. 3 Lafen,] We should read-Lefen. STEEVENS. 4 Parolles,] I suppose we should write this name-Paroles, i, e. a creature made up of empty words. STEEVENS, $ Violenta only enters once, and then she neither speaks, nor is spoken to. This name appears to be borrowed from an old metrical history, entitled Didaco and Violenta, 1576. STEEVENS, Enter BERTRAM, the Countess of Rousillon, HELENA, and LaFeu, in mourning. COUNT. In delivering my son from me, I bury a second husband. BER. And I, in going, madam, weep o'er my father's death anew: but I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward, evermore in subjection. 2 in ward,] Under his particular care, as my guardian, till I come to age. It is now almost forgotten in England, that the heirs of great fortunes were the King's wards. Whether the same practice prevailed in France, it is of no great use to enquire, for Shakspeare gives to all nations the manners of England. JOHNSON. Howell's fifteenth letter acquaints us that the province of Normandy was subject to wardships, and no other part of France befides; but the fuppofition of the contrary furnished Shakspeare with a reason why the King compelled Roufillon to marry Helen. TOLLET. LAF. You shall find of the king a husband, madam;-you, fir, a father: He that so generally is at all times good, must of neceffity hold his virtue to you; whose worthiness would stir it up where it wanted, rather than lack it where there is such abundance. COUNT. What hope is there of his majesty's amendment? LAF. He hath abandon'd his physicians, madam; under whose practices he hath perfecuted time with hope; and finds no other advantage in the process, but only the lofing of hope by time. COUNT. This young gentlewoman had a father, (O, that had! how fad a passage 'tis ! 3) whose skill The prerogative of a wardship is a branch of the feudal law, and may as well be supposed to be incorporated with the constitution of France, as it was with that of England, till the reign of Charles II. SIR J. HAWKINS. 3 O, that had! how fad a passage 'tis!] Imitated from the Heautontimorumenos of Terence, (then translated,) where Mene. demus says: " - Filium unicum adolefcentulum "Nunc habeam necne incertum est." BLACKSTONE. So, in Spenser's Shepheard's Calender: " Shee, while she was, (that was a woeful word to saine,) " For beauties praise and pleasaunce had no peere." Again, in Wily Beguil'd, 1606: "She is not mine, I have no daughter now; "That I should fay I had, thence comes my grief." MALONE. Passage is any thing that passes. So we now say, a passage of an author, and we faid about a century ago, the passages of a reign. When the countess mentions Helena's loss of a father, she recollects her own loss of a husband, and stops to observe how heavily that word had passes through her mind. JOHNSON. Thus Shakspeare himself. See The Comedy of Errors, Act III. fc. i: "Now in the stirring passage of the day." |