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To confolate thine ear. Come, night; end, day!

For with the dark, poor thief, I'll steal away. [Exit,

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Changes to the Duke's Court in Florence.

Flourish. Enter the Duke of Florence, Bertram, Drum and Trumpets, Soldiers, Parolles.

Duke.

HE General of our Horse thou art, and

THE

we,

Great in our hope, lay our beft love and credence
Upon thy promifing fortune.

Ber. Sir, it is

A charge too heavy for my ftrength; but yet
We'll ftrive to bear it for your worthy fake,
To th' extream edge of hazard.

Duke. Then go forth,

And fortune play upon thy profp'rous helm,
As thy aufpicious mistress!

Ber. This very day,

Great Mars, I put myself into thy file;

Make me but like my thoughts, and I fhall prove

A lover of thy drum; hater of love.

LExeunt.

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Count,

Changes to Roufillon in France.

Enter Countefs and Steward.

Las! and would you take the letter of her?

A of bes

Might you not know, fhe would do, as

The has done,

By fending me a letter? Read it again.

LET

I am

LETTER.

*St. Jaques' pilgrim, thither gone;
Ambitious love bath fo in me offended,
That bare-foot plod I the cold ground upon,
With fainted vow my faults to have amended.
Write, write, that from the bloody course of war
My dearest mafter, your dear fon, may bie;
Blefs him at home in peace, whilft 1 from far
His name with zealous fervour fandlify.
His taken labours bid him me forgive;

I, bis defpightful † Juno, fent him forth
From courtly friends, with camping foes to live;
Where death and danger dog the heels of worth.
He is too good and fair for death and me,
Whom I myself embrace, to fet him free.

Ah, what sharp ftings are in her mildest words?
Rynaldo, you did never lack advice 3 fo much,.
As letting her pass fo; had 1 spoke with her,
I could have well diverted her intents,
Which thus fhe hath prevented.

Stew. Pardon, Madam,

If I had given you this at over-night

She might have been o'er-ta'en; and yet fhe writes,
Purfuit would be but vain.

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 juftice. Write, write, Rynaldo,
To this unworthy husband of his wife;

-St. Jaques' pilgrim,-] I do not remember any place famous for pilgrimages confecrated in Italy to St. James, but it is common to vifit St. James of Compeftella, in Spain. Another aint might easily have been

found, Florence being somewhat out of the road from Roufillon to Compostella.

Juno,] Alluding to the ftory of Hercules.

3 Advice, is difcretion or

thought.

Let every word weigh heavy of her worth,
That he does weigh too light: my greatest grief,
Tho' little he do feel it, fet down fharply.
Difpatch the most convenient meffenger;
When, haply, he shall hear that she is gone,
He will return, and hope I may, that fhe,
Hearing fo much, will speed her foot again,
Led hither by pure love. Which of them both
Is dearest to me, I've no fkill in fenfe

To make diftinction; provide this meffenger;
My heart is heavy, and mine age is weak;
Grief would have tears, and forrow bids me fpeak.

SCENE VII.

[Exeunt.

Changes to a publick Place in Florence.
A Tucket afar off.

Enter an old Widow of Florence, Diana, Violenta, and
Mariana, with other Citizens.

Wid. city, we shall lofe all the fight.
NA

AY, come. For if they do approach the

Dia. They fay, the French Count has done moft honourable fervice.

Wid. It is reported, that he has ta'en their greatest commander; and that with his own hand he flew the Duke's brother. We have loft our labour, they are gone a contrary way: hark, you may know by their trumpets.

Mar. Come, let's return again, and fuffice ourselves with the report of it. Well, Diana, take heed of this French Earl; the honour of a maid is her name, and no legacy is fo rich as honesty.

Wid. I have told my neighbour, how you have been folicited by a gentleman his companion.

Mar, I know that knave, (hang him!) one Pa rolles; a filthy officer he is in thofe fuggeftions for the young Earl, beware of them, Diana; their promifes,

entice

4

enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines of luft, are not the things they go under; many a maid hath been feduced by them; and the mifery is, example, that fo terrible fhews in the wreck of maidenhood, cannot for all that diffuade fucceflion, 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, tho' there were no further danger known, but the modefty

which is fo loft.

Dia. You fhall not need to fear me.

Enter Helena, difguis'd like a Pilgrim.

Wid. I hope fo..

Look, here comes a pilgrim; I know, fhe will lie at my houfe; thither they fend one another; I'll queftion her: God. fave you, pilgrim! whither are you bound? Hel. To St. Jaques le Grand. mers lodge, I do befeech you? Wid. At the St. Francis, befide Hel. Is this the way? Wid. Ay, marry, is't.

way.

are not the things they go under; ] Mr. Theobald explains thefe words by, They are not really fo true and fincere as in appearance they seem to be.

He found fomething like this fenfe would fit the paffage, but whether the words would fit the fenfe he feems not to have confidered. The truth is, the negative particle fhould be ftruck out, and the words read thus, are the things they go under; i. e. they make ufe of oaths, promifes, c. to facilitate their defign upon

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Where do the pal

the port.

[A march afar off. Hark you, they come this

cilitate an approach or attack; and the Scene, which is a befieged city, and the perfons spoken of who are foldiers, make the phrafe very proper and natural. The Oxford Editor has adopted this correction, tho' in his usual way, with a but; and reads, are but the things they go under.

WARBURTON.

I think Theobald's interpretation right; to go under the name of any thing is a known expreffion. The meaning is, they are not the things for which their names would make them pass.

If

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you will tarry, holy pilgrim, but 'till the troops
come by,

I will conduct you where you fhall be lodg'd;
The rather, for, I think, I know your hostess
As ample as myself.

Hel. Is it yourself?

Wid. If you fhall please so, pilgrim:

Hel. I thank you, and will ftay upon your leifure.
Wid. You came, I think, from France.

Hel. I did fo.

Wid. Here you fhall fee a countryman of yours,
That has done worthy fervice.

Hel. His name, I pray you?

Dia. The Count Roufillon: know you fuch a one? Hel. But by the ear, that hears most nobly of him; His face I know not.

Dia. Whatfoe'er he is,

He's bravely taken here. He ftole from France,
As 'tis reported; for the King had married him
Againft his liking. Think you, it is fo?

Hel. Ay, furely, meer the truth; I know his lady.
Dia. There is a gentleman, that ferves the Count,
Reports but coarfely of her.

Hel, What's his name?

Dia. Monfieur Parolles.

Hel. Oh, I believe with him,

In argument of praife, or to the worth

Of the great Count himfelf, fhe is too mean
To have her name repeated; all her deferving
Is a referved honesty, and that

I have not heard examin'd. s

Dia. Alas, poor lady!

'Tis a hard bondage, to become the wife

Of a detefling lord.

Wid. Ah! right; good creature! wherefoe'er she is

5 examined. That is, question'd, doubted.

Her

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