“The” Dramatic Works of Shakspeare [sic].

SCENE V. Another Room in the same.

Enter LAFEU and BERTRAM.

Laf. But, I hope your lordship thinks not him a soldier.

Ber. Yes, my lord, and of very valiant approof.

Laf. You have it from his own deliverance. Ber. And by other warranted testimony. Laf. Then my dial goes not true; I took this lark for a bunting.

Ber. I do assure you, my lord, he is very great in knowledge, and accordingly valiant. Laf. I have then sinned against his experience, and transgressed against his valor; and my state that way is dangerous, since I cannot yet find in my heart to repent. Here he comes; I pray you, make us friends, I will pursue the amity.

Enter PAROLLES.

Par. These things shall be done, sir.
[To BERTRAM.
Laf. Pray you, sir, who's his tailor?
Par. Sir?

Laf. O, I know him well: Ay, sir; he, sir,
is a good workman, a very good tailor.
Ber. Is she gone to the king? [Aside to PAR.
Par. She is.

Ber. Will she away to-night?
Par. As you'll have her.

Ber. I have writ my letters, casketed my treasure,

Given order for our horses; and to-night, When I should take possession of the bride,And, ere I do begin,

Laf. A good traveller is something at the latter end of a dinner; but one that lies threethirds, and uses a known truth to pass a thousand nothings with, should be once heard, and thrice beaten.-God save you, captain.

Ber. Is there any unkindness between my lord and you, monsieur?

Par. I know not how I have deserved to run into my lord's displeasure.

Laf. You have made shift to run into't, boots and spurs and all, like him that leaped into the custard; and out of it you'll run again, rather than suffer question for your residence.

Ber. It may be, you have mistaken him, my lord,

Laf. And shall do so ever, though I took him at his prayers. Fare you well, my lord; and believe this of me, There can be no kernel in this light nut; the soul of this man is his clothes: trust him not in matter of heavy con. sequence; I have kept of them tame, and know their natures.-Farewell, monsieur: I have spoken better of you than you have or will deserve at my hand; but we must do good against evil. [Exit.

Par. An idle lord, I swear.

Spoke with the king, and have procured his leave

For present parting; only, he desires
Some private speech with you.

Ber.

I shall obey his will.
You must not marvel, Helen, at my course,
Which holds not color with the time, nor does
The ministration and required office
On my particular: prepared I was not
For such a business; therefore am I found
So much unsettled: This drives me to entreat
you,

That presently you take your way for home;
And rather muse, than ask, why I entreat you:
For my respects are better than they seem;
And my appointments have in them a need,
Greater than shows itself at the first view,
To you that know them not. This to my
mother.
[Giving a letter.
'Twill be two days ere I shall see you; so
I leave you to your wisdom.
Hel.
Sir, I can nothing say,
But that I am your most obedient servant.
Ber. Come, come, no more of that.
Hel.
And ever shall
With true observance seek to eke out that,
Wherein toward me my homely stars have fail'd
To equal my great fortune..
Ber.
Let that go:
My haste is very great: Farewell; hie home.
Hel. Pray, sir, your pardon.
Ber.
Well, what would you say'
Hel. I am not worthy of the wealth I owe;
Nor dare I say, 'tis mine; and yet it is;
But, like a timorous thief, most fain would steal
What law does vouch mine own.

Ber.
What would you have?
Hel. Something; and scarce so much:-no-
thing, indeed.-

I would not tell you what I would: my lord'faith, yes;

Strangers, and foes, do sunder, and not kiss. Ber. I pray you, stay not, but in haste to horse.

Hel. I shall not break your bidding, good my lord.

Florish. Enter the Duke of Florence, attended; two French Lords, and others.

Duke. So that, from point to point, now
have you heard

The fundamental reasons of this war;
Whose great decision hath much blood let forth,
And more thirsts after.

1 Lord.

Holy seems the quarrel
Upon your grace's part; black and fearful
On the opposer.

Duke. Therefore we marvel much, our cou-
sin France

Would, in so just a business, shut his bosom
Against our borrowing prayers.
2 Lord.
Good my lord,
The reasons of our state I cannot yield,
But like a common and an outward man,
That the great figure of a council frames
By self-unable motion: therefore dare not
Say what I think of it; since I have found
Myself in my uncertain grounds to fail
As often as I guess'd.

Duke.

Be it his pleasure.

2 Lord. But I am sure, the younger of our

SCENE II. Rousillon. A Room in the
Countess's Palace.

Enter COUNTESS and CLOWN.
Count. It hath happened all as I would have
had it, save, that he comes not along with her.
Clo. By my troth, I take my young lord to
be a very melancholy man.

Count. By what observance, I pray you? Clo. Why, he will look upon his boat, and sing; mend the ruff, and sing; ask questions, and sing; pick his teeth, and sing; I know a man that had this trick of melancholy, sold a goodly manor for a song.

Count. Let me see what he writes, and when he means to come. [Opening a letter. Clo. I have no mind to Isbel, since I was at court: our old ling and our Isbels o' the country are nothing like your old ling and your Isbels o' the court: the brains of my Cupid's knocked out; and I begin to love, as an old man loves money, with no stomach.

Count. What have we here?
Clo. E'en that you have there.

[Exit.

Count. [Reads.] I have sent you a daughterin-law: she hath recovered the king, and undone me. I have wedded her, not bedded her; and sworn to make the not eternal. You shall hear, I am run away; know it, before the report come. If there be breadth enough in the world, I will hold a long distance. My duty to you. Your unfortunate son,

BERTRAM.

This is not well, rash and unbridled boy,
To fly the favors of so good a king;
To pluck his indignation on thy head,
By the misprizing of a maid too virtuous
For the contempt of empire..

Re-enter CLOWN,

Clo. O madam, yonder is heavy news within, between two soldiers and my young lady. Count. What is the matter?

Clo. Nay, there is some comfort in the news, some comfort; your son will not be killed so soon as I thought he would.

Count. Why should he be kill'd?

Clo. So say I, madam, if he run away, as I hear he does: the danger is in standing to't; that's the loss of men, though it be the getting of children. Here they come, will tell you more: for my part, I only hear, your son was [Exit CLOWN. Enter HELENA, and two Gentlemen. 1 Gent. Save you, good madam. Hel. Madam, my lord is gone, for ever gone. 2 Gent. Do not say so.

run away.

Count. Think upon patience.-Pray you,
gentlemen,

I have felt so many quirks of joy, and grief,
That the first face of neither, on the start,
Can woman me unto't:-Where is my son, I
pray you?

2 Gent. Madam, he's gone to serve the duke
of Florence:

We met him thitherward; from thence we
came, y

And, after some despatch in hand at court,
Thither we bend again.. fors

Hel. Look on his letter, madam; here's my

2 Gent. Such is his noble purpose: and, believe't,

The duke will lay upon him all the honor
That good convenience claims.
Count.

Return you thither? 1 Gent. Ay, madam, with the swiftest wing of speed.

Hel. [Reads.] Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France.

'Tis bitter!ind

Count. Find you that there?
Hel.

Ay, madam. 1 Gent. 'Tis but the boldness of his hand, haply, which

His heart was not consenting to.

Count. Nothing in France, until he have no
wife!

There's nothing here, that is too good for him,
But only she; and she deserves a lord,
That twenty such rude boys might tend upon,
And call her hourly, mistress. Who was with
him?

1 Gent. A servant only, and a gentleman
Which I have some time known.
Count.

Parolles, was't not?
1 Gent. Ay, my good lady, he.
Count. A very tainted fellow, and full of
wickedness.

My son corrupts a well-derived nature
With his inducement.

1 Gent.
Indeed, good lady,
The fellow has a deal of that, too much,
Which holds him much to have.

Count. You are welcome, gentlemen.

I will entreat you, when you see my son,
To tell him, that his sword can never win
The honor that he loses: more I'll entreat you
Written to bear along.

2 Gent.

We serve you, madam, In that and all your worthiest affairs. Count. Not so, but as we change our courtesies.

Will you draw near?

[Exeunt COUNTESS & Gentlemen.

Hel. Till I have no wife, I have nothing

in France.

Nothing in France, until he has no wife!
Thou shalt have none,Rousillon, none in France,
Then hast thou all again. Poor lord! is't I
That chase thee from thy country, and expose
Those tender limbs of thine to the event
Of the none-sparing war? and is it I
That drive thee from the sportive court, where
thou

Wast shot at with fair eyes, to be the mark
Of smoky muskets? O you leaden messengers,

That ride upon the violent speed of fire,
Fly with false aim; move the still-piercing air,
That sings with piercing, do not touch my lord!
Whoever shoots at him, I set 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 so effected: better 'twere,
I met the ravin lion when he roar'd
With sharp constraint of hunger; better 'twere
That all the miseries, which nature owes,
Were mine at once: No, come thou home,.
Rousillon,

Whence honor but of danger wins a scar,
As oft it loses 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 paradise did fan the house,
And angels officed all: I will be gone;
That pitiful rumour may report my flight,
To consolate thine ear. Come, night; end, day!
For, with the dark, poor thief, I'll steal away..
[Exit.

SCENE III. Florence. Before the Duke's
Palace.

Florish. Enter the Duke of Florence, BERTRAM, Lords, Officers, Soldiers, and others.

Duke. The general of our horse thou art; and we,

Great in our hope, lay our best love and credence,

Upon thy promising fortune.

Ber.

Sir, it is A charge too heavy for my strength; but yet! We'll strive to bear it for your worthy sake, To the extreme edge of hazard. Duke.

Then go thou forth;: And fortune play upon thy prosperous helm,, As thy auspicious mistress!

Ber.

This very day,

Great Mars, I put myself into thy file:
Make me but like my thoughts; and I shall.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Count.

What angel shall

Bless this unworthy husband? he cannot thrive,
Unless her prayers, whom heaven delights to
hear,

And loves to grant, reprieve him from the wrath
Of greatest justice.-Write, write, Rinaldo,
To this unworthy husband of his wife;
Jet every word weigh heavy of her worth,
That he does weigh too light: my greatest grief,
Though little he do feel it, set down sharply.
Despatch the most convenient messenger:-
When, haply, he shall hear that she is gone,
He will return; and hope I may, that she,
Hearing so much, will speed her foot again,
Led hither by pure love: which of them both
Is dearest to me, I have no skill in sense
To make distinction: Provide this messen-
ger:-

My heart is heavy, and mine age is weak;
Grief would have tears, and sorrow bids me
speak.
[Exeunt.

SCENE V. Without the Walls of Florence.
A tucket afar off. Enter an old Widow of
Florence, DIANA, VIOLENTA, MARIANA,
and other Citizens.

Wid. Nay, come; for if they do approach the city, we shall lose all the sight.

Dia. They say, the French count has done most honorable service.

Wid. It is reported that he has taken their greatest commander; and that with his own hand he slew the duke's brother. We have lost our labor; they are gone a contrary way: hark! you may know by their trumpets.

Mar. Come, let's return again, and suffice ourselves with the report of it. Well, Diana, take heed of this French earl: the honor of a maid is her name; and no legacy is so rich as honesty.

Wid. I have told my neighbour, how you have been solicited by a gentleman his companion. A Mar. I know that knave; hang him! one Parolles: a filthy officer he is in those sugges

tions for the young earl. Beware of them, Diana; their promises, enticements, coaths, tokens, and all these engines of lust, are not the things they go under: many a maid hath been seduced by them; and the misery is, example, that so terrible shows in the wreck of maidenhood, cannot for all that dissuade succession, but that they are limed with the twigs that threaten them. I hope, I need not to advise you further; but, I hope, your own grace will keep you where you are, though there were no further danger known, but the modesty which is so lost.

Dia. You shall not need to fear me.

Enter HELENA, in the dress of a Pilgrim. Wid. I hope so. Look, here comes a pilgrim: I know she will lie at my house: thither they send one another: I'll question her.God save you, pilgrim! Whither are you bound? Goold goog word bus!

Hel. To Saint Jaques le grand.

Where do the palmers lodge, I do beseech you?
Wid. At the Saint Francis here, beside the

Wid. You came, I think, from France?
I did so.
Hel.
Wid. Here you shall see a countryman of
yours,

That has done worthy service.

Hel.
His name, I pray you.
Dia. The count Rousillon; Know you such

a one?

Hel. But by the ear, that hears most nobly of him:

Wid.

He does, indeed;

And brokes with all that can in such a suit Corrupt the tender honor of a maid:

1 Lord. Believe it, my lord, in mine own direct knowledge, without any malice; but to speak of him as my kinsman, he's a most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise-breaker, the owner of no one. good quality worthy your lordship's entertainment.

2 Lord. It were fit you knew him; lest, reposing too far in his virtue, which he hath not, But she is arm'd for him, and keeps her guard he might, at some great and trusty business, in

In honestest defence.

a main danger, fail you.

Ber. I would, I knew in what particular action to try him.

2 Lord. None better than to let him fetch off. his drum, which you hear him so confidently undertake to do.

1 Lord. I, with a troop of Florentines, will suddenly surprise him; such I will have, whom, I am sure, he knows not from the enemy: we will bind and hoodwink him so, that he shall suppose no other but that he is carried into the leaguer of the adversaries, when we bring him to our tents: Be but your lordship present at his examination; if he do not, for the promise of his life, and in the highest compulsion of base fear, offer to betray you, and deliver all the intelligence in his power against you, and that with the divine forfeit of his soul upon oath, never trust my judgment in any thing.

2 Lord. O, for the love of laughter, let him fetch his drum; he says, he has a stratagem for't: when your lordship sees the bottom of his success in't, and to what metal this coun

Mar. He's shrewdly vexed at something: terfeit lump of ore will be melted, if you give Look, he has spied us.

Wid. Marry, hang you!

Mar. And your courtesy, for a ring-carrier ! [Exeunt BERTRAM, PAROLLES, Officers, and Soldiers.

Wid. The troop is past: Come, pilgrim, I

will bring you

Where you shall host: of enjoin'd penitents There's four or five, to great Saint Jaques bound,

Already at my house.
Hel.
I humbly thank you:
Please it this matron, and this gentle maid,
To eat with us to-night, the charge, and thanking,
Shall be for me; and, to requite you further,
I will bestow some precepts on this virgin,
Worthy the note.
Both.

We'll take your offer kindly.
[Exeunt.

SCENE VI. Camp before Florence. Enter BERTRAM, and the two French Lords.

1 Lord. Nay, good my lord, put him to't: let him have his way.

him not John Drum's entertainment, your inclining cannot be removed. Here he comes. Enter PAROLLES.

1 Lord. O, for the love of laughter, hinder not the humor of his design; let him fetch off his drum in any hand.

Ber. How now, monsieur? this drum stickssorely in your disposition.

2 Lord. A pox on't, let it go; 'tis but a drum.

Par. But a drum! Is't but a drum? A drum so lost! There was an excellent command! to charge in with our horse upou our own wings, and to rend our own soldiers.

2 Lord. That was not to be blamed in the command of the service; it was a disaster of war that Cæsar himself could not have prevented, if he had been there to command.

Ber. Well, we cannot greatly condemn our success; some dishonor we had in the loss of that drum; but it is not to be recovered. Par. It might have been recovered. Ber. It might, but it is not now. yondoshad Par. It is to be recovered: but that the merit of service is seldom attributed to the true and

« Zurück Weiter »

Books