the justices make you and fortune friends; I am for other business. Par. I beseech your honour, to hear me one single word. Laf. You beg a single penny more: come, you shall ba't save your word. Par. My name, my good lord, is Parolles. Laf. You beg more than one word then. Cox' my passion! give me your hand :-How does your drum? Par. O my good lord, you were the first that found me. Laf. Was I, in sooth? and I was the first that lost thee. Par. It lies in you, my lord, to bring me in some grace, for you did bring me out. Laf. Out upon thee, knave ! dost thou put upon me at once both the office of God and the devil? one brings thee in grace, and the other brings thee out. [Trumpets sound.] The king's coming, i know by bis trumpets.-Sirrah, inquire further after me; I had talk of you last night: though you are a fool and a kuave, you shall eat; go tu, follow. Par. I praise God for you. Flourish. Enter KING, COUNTESS, LAFEU, teem + Was made inuch poorer by it: but your son, Count. 'Tis past, my liege: And I beseech your majesty to make it King. My honour'd lady, I have forgiven and forgotten all; Though my revenges were high bent upon him, And watch'd the time to shoot. Laf. This I must say,——— But first I beg my pardon,-The young lord Of richest eyes; whose words all ears took captive; Whose dear perfection, hearts that scorn'd to For thou may'st see a sun-shine and a bail Ber. My high-repented blames,⚫ King. All is whole; Not one word more of the consumed time. Ber. Admiringly, my liege: at first I stuck my choice upon her, ere my heart Since I have lost, bave lov'd, was in mine eye That thou didst love her, strikes some scores away From the great compt: But love, that comes too late, Like a remorseful pardon slowly carried, faults Make trivial price of serious things we have, Send forth your amorous token for fair Maudlin : Count. Which better than the first, O dear eye, While I was speaking, oft was fasten'd to't.- I would relieve her: Had you that craft, to reave her Of what should stead her most? Ber. My gracious sovereign, Howe'er it pleases you to take it so, The ring was never ber's. Count. Son, on my life, I have seen her wear it; and she reckou'd it Laf. I am sure, I saw her wear it. Ber. You are deceiv'd, my lord, she never saw it : In Florence was it from a casement thrown me, Wrapp'd in a paper, which contain'd the name Of her that threw it: noble she was, and thought I stood engag'd: † but when I had subscrib'd Faults repented of to the utmost. In the sense of unengaged. And yet I know not :-thou didst hate deadly, her And she is dead; which nothing, but to close We'll sift this matter further. Ber. If you shall prove This ring was ever her's, you shall as easy (Exit BERTRAM, guarded. Enter a GENTLEMAN. King. I am wrapp'd in dismal thinkings. Whether I have been to blame, or no, I know not; Here's a petition from a Florentine, Who hath, for four or five removes, come short King. [Reads.] Upon his many protestations to marry me, when his wife was dead, I blush to say it, he won me. Now is the count Rousillon a widower; his vows are forfeited He to me, and my honour's paid to him. stole from Florence, taking no leave, and I follow him to his country for justice: Grant it me, O king; in you it best lies: otherwise a seducer flourishes, and a poor maid is undone. DIANA CAPULET. Laf. I will buy me a son-in-law in a fair, and toll him for this, I'll none of him. King. The heavens bave thought well on thee, To bring forth this discovery.-Seek these sui fors : Go, speedily, and bring again the count. [Exeunt GENTLEMAN, and some attend Count. Now, justice on the doers! Enter BERTRAM, guarded. King. I wonder, Sir, since wives are monsters to you, And that you fly them as you swear them lordship, Yet you desire to marry.-What woman's that? Re-enter GENTLEMAN, with WIDOW, and DIANA. Dia. I am, my lord, a wretched Florentine, Both suffer under this complaint we bring, Ber. My lord, I neither can nor will deny But that I know them: Do they charge me further? Dia. Why do you look so strange upon your wife ? Ber. She's none of mine, my lord. You give away this hand, and that is mine; mine; You give away myself, which is known mine; Laf. Your reputation [To BERTRAM.] comes too short for my daughter, you are no husband for her. Ber. My lord, this is a fond and desperate creature, Whom sometime I have laugh'd with: let your highness Lay a more noble thought upon mine honour, Than for to think that i would sink it here. King. Sir, for my thoughts, you have them ill to friend, Till your deeds gain them: Fairer prove your honour, Than in my thought it lies! Dia. Good my lord, Ask him upon his oath, if he does think King. What say'st thou to her? Ber. She's impudent, my lord; And was a common gamester to the camp. + Dia. He does me wrong, my lord; if I were 80, He might have bought me at a common price. Count. He blushes, and 'tis it: King. Methought, you said, So bad an instrument! his name's Parolles. He's quoted for a most perfidious slave, bosh'd; Whose nature sickens, but to speak a truth: Am I or that, or this, for what he'll utter, That will speak any thing? • Decease, die. + Gamester when applied to a female, then meant a common woman. * Value. Noted. Debauched. King. She bath that ring of your's. Ber. I think, she has certain it is, I lik'd her, And boarded her i'the wanton way of youth: Dia. I must be patient; You, that turn'd off a first so noble wife, (Since you lack virtue, I will lose a husband,) charge you, Not fearing the displeasure of your master, (Which, on your just proceeding, I'll keep off,) By him, and by this woman here, what know you? Par. So please your majesty, my master hath been an honourable gentleman; tricks he hath had in him, which gentlemen have. King. Come, come, to the purpose: Did he love this woman? Par. 'Faith, Sir, he did love her; But how? King. How, pray you? Par. He did love her, Sir, as a gentleman loves a woman. King. How is that? Par. He loved her, Sir, and loved her not. King. As thou art a knave, and no knave :What an equivocal companion is this! Par. I am a poor man, and at your majesty's command. Laf. He's a good drum, my lord, but a naughty Par. Yes, so please your majesty I did go between them, as I said; but more than that, he loved her, for, indeed, he was mad for her, and talked of Satan, and of limbo, and of furies, and I know not what: yet I was in that credit with them at that time, and I knew of their going to bed; and of other motions, as promising ber marriage, and things that would derive me ill will to speak of, therefore I will not speak what I know. King. Thou hast spoken all already, unless thou canst say they are married: But thou art too fine in thy evidence: therefore staud aside.This ring, you say, was your's? Dia. Ay, my good lord. King. Where did you buy it; or who gave it you? Dia. It was not given me, nor I did not buy it. King. Who lent it you? Dia. It was not lent me neither. King. If it were your's by none of all these ways, How could you give it him? Dia. I never gave it him. Laf. This woman's an easy glove, my lord; she goes off and on at pleasure. King. This ring was mine, I gave it his first wife. Dia. It might be your's, or her's, for aught I know. : King. Take her away, I do not like her now; To prison with her and away with him.Unless thou tell'st me where thou had'st this ring, Thon diest within this hour. Dia. I'll never tell you. King. Take her away. Dia. I'll put in bail, my liege. King. I think thee now some common custo. mer.. Dia. By Jove, if ever I knew man, 'twas you. King. Wherefore bast thou accus'd him all this while ? Dia. Because he's guilty, and he is not guilty; He knows I am no maid, and he'll swear to't: I'll swear I am a maid, and he knows not. Great king, I am no strumpet, by my life; I am either maid, or else this old man's wife. [Pointing to LAPKU. King. She does abuse our ears; to prison with her. Dia. Good mother, fetch my bail.-Stay, royal Sir; [Exit WIDOW. The jeweller, that owes + the ring, is sent for, And he shall surety me. But for this lord, Who hath abus'd ine, as he knows himself, Though yet he never harm'd me, here I quit bim: He knows himself, my bed he hath defil'd ; kick; So there's my riddle, One, that's dead, is quick : Re-enter WIDOW, with HELENA. Hel. No, my good lord; 'Tis but the shadow of a wife you see, The name and not the thing. Ber. Both, both; O pardon! Hel. O my good lord, when I was like this maid, found you wond'rous kind. There is your I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly. Laf. Mine eyes smell onions, I shall weep anon:-Good Tom Drum, [70 PAROLLES.] lend me a bandkerchief: So, I thank thee: wait on To make the even truth in pleasure flow :If thou be'st yet a fresh uncropped flower, [To DIANA. Advancing. All is well ended, if this suit be won, That you express content; which we will pay, With strife to please you, day exceeding day: Choose thon thy husband, and I'll pay thy Ours be your patience then, and yours our dower; For I can guess, that, by thy honest aid, parts; Your gentle hands lend us, and take our hearts. [Exeunt. 1. e. Hear us without interruption, and take our Farts, support and defend us. THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE. THE opinions of commentators are divided upon this play. Hanmer supposes that some particular speeches ars Shakspeare's: Upton, that he had no hand in its production: Theobald considers it one of his worst pieces: Pope decides that the style is more natural and unaffected than our poet's usually was: and Johnson declares that both in the serious and ludicrous scenes, the language and sentiments are Shakspeare's; and that few of his plays have more lines or passages, which, singly considered, are eminently beautiful. One thing, however, appears certain---that this drama was one of his earliest efforts; that it was not very favourably received; and that, being seldom exhibited, it escaped the corruptions and interpolations, to which his more popular performances were subjected. The incidents of the play have not been assigned to any definite source; though it is not improbable that The Arcadia, and the common romances so much in vogue at that period, might have suggested some of them. Dr. Johnson says, that it evinces "a strange mixture of knowledge and ignorance, of care and negligence ;" and that "the versification is often excellent---the allusions, learned and just." SCENE-sometimes in Verona, sometimes in Milan, and on the Frontiers of Mantua. |