Flourish. Enter KING, with young Lords taking leave for the Florentine war; BERTRAM, PAROLLES, and Attendants.

KING. Farewell, young lorda, these warlike principles
Do not throw from you :-and you, my lord, farewell:-
Share the advice betwixt you; if both gain all,

The gift doth stretch itself as 't is receiv'd,

And is enough for both.

Young lord. Here, and in the passage of the following line which we print "my lord," the original reads lords. The subsequent passage,

"Share the advice betwixt you; if both gain all,❞—

shows that the correction of the plural to the singular, made by Tyrwhitt, was called for. The adoption of the original plural infers that the King is addressing two separate bodies of lords, instead of two individuals.

oth my life besiege. Farewell, young lords;
er I live or die, be you the sons
thy Frenchmen: let higher Italy
'bated, that inherit but the fall
last monarchy) see, that you come
woo honour, but to wed it; when

avest questant shrinks, find what you seek,
me may cry you loud: I say, farewell.
ealth, at your bidding, serve your majesty!
se girls of Italy, take heed of them;
ay our French lack language to deny,
demand; beware of being captives,
you serve.

heroes, my sword and yours are kin. Good sparks and lustrous, a od metals:-You shall find in the regiment of the Spinii one captain with his cicatrice, an emblem of war, here on his sinister cheek; it

plains the epithet higher to have reference to geographical situation-upper Italy, nch lords were about to carry their service. Those 'bated, &c., he interprets as, · depressed by the wars, who have now lost their ancient military fame, and inherit the last monarchy. The construction of the whole sentence in the original (in nthetical punctuation is found) inclines us to think that the King applies the epihe general dignity of Italy, as the nation descended from ancient Rome-the last you the sons of worthy Frenchmen; let higher Italy (the Italian nation or people) me to wed honour; but I except those, as unfit judges of honour, who inherit, not ues, but the humiliation of the Roman decay and fall.

of fashion-the dress-sword as we still call it. The rapier was worn in halls of s in fields of war; in the inaction of which Bertram complains his sword was only

was this

for me.

very sword entrenched it: say to him, I live; and observe his reports

2 LORD. We shall, noble captain.

PAR. Mars dote on you for his novices! [Exeunt Lords.] What will you do? BER. Stay; the king[Seeing him rise. PAR. Use a more spacious ceremony to the noble lords; you have restrained yourself within the list of too cold an adieu; be more expressive to them: for they wear themselves in the cap of the time; there, do muster true gait, eat, speak, and move under the influence of the most received star; and though the devil lead the measure such are to be followed: after them, and take a more dilated farewell.

BER. And I will do so.

PAR. Worthy fellows; and like to prove most sinewy swordsmen.

[Exeunt BERTRAM and PABOLLES.

Enter LAFEU.

LAF. Pardon, my lord [kneeling], for me and for my tidings.
KING. I'll see thee to stand up.

a

LAF. Then here's a man stands that has brought his pardon.

I would you had kneel'd, my lord, to ask me mercy,
And that, at my bidding, you could so stand up7.
KING. I would I had; so I had broke thy pate,
And ask'd thee mercy for 't.

LAF. Good faith, across: But, my good lord, 't is thus ;
Will you be cur'd of your infirmity?

KING. NO.

LAF. O, will you eat no grapes, my royal fox?

Yes, but you will my noble grapes, an if

My royal fox could reach them: I have seen a medicine,

That's able to breathe life into a stone;

Quicken a rock, and make you dance canary,

With spritely fire and motion; whose simple touch

Is powerful to araise king Pepin, nay,

To give Great Charlemain a pen in 's hand

And write to her a love-line.

LAF. Why, doctor she; My lord, there's one arriv'd,
If you will see her:-Now, by my faith and honour,
If seriously I may convey my thoughts

In this my light deliverance, I have spoke

With one, that, in her sex, her years, profession",

⚫ See. So the original. In modern editions, fee. "I'll see thee to stand up" is, I'll notice you when you stand up.

b

Profession-declaration of purpose.

The original has on's. Such elisions are not systematically made in the folio edition; we do not follow them when they occasionally occur. Shakspere himself has laughed e of eliding verse, which he would imply is scarcely necessary, except for very unrs: "You find not the apostrophes, and so miss the accent," says Holofernes, after has read Biron's canzonet.

The congregated college have concluded

That labouring art can never ransom nature
From her inaidable estate,—I say, we must not
So stain our judgment, or corrupt our hope,
To prostitute our past-cure malady

To empirics; or to dissever so

Our great self and our credit, to esteem

A senseless help, when help past sense we deem.
HEL. My duty then shall pay me for my pains:
I will no more enforce mine office on you;
Humbly entreating from your royal thoughts
A modest one, to bear me back again.
KING. I cannot give thee less to be call'd grateful:

Thou thought'st to help me; and such thanks I give,
As one near death to those that wish him live:
But, what at full I know thou know'st no part;
I knowing all my peril, thou no art.

HEL. What I can do can do no hurt to try,
Since you set up your rest 'gainst remedy:
He that of greatest works is finisher
Oft does them by the weakest minister:
So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown,

When judges have been babes. Great floods have flown
From simple sources; and great seas have dried,
When miracles have by the greatest been denied.
Oft expectation fails, and most oft there
Where most it promises; and oft it hits,

Where hope is coldest, and despair most shifts.
KING. I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind maid;
Thy pains, not us'd, must by thyself be paid:
Proffers not took reap thanks for their reward.
HEL. Inspired merit so by breath is barr'd:

.

It is not so with Him that all things knows,

As 't is with us that square our guess by shows:

Shifts. We print these three lines as in the original copy, and the subsequent ancient copies. Pope changed shifts to sits; and, as a rhyme seemed wanting, the correction has always been acquiesced in. Before we change a word we should ask if there is any necessity for change. Should we change shifts to sits, if the surrounding passages were in blank verse? We think not. The apparent necessity for rhyme has alone demanded the change. Expectation, says Helena, oft hits-is rewarded,-where hope is coldest, and where despair most shifts-resorts to expedients, depends upon chances, catches at straws. When Falstaff is "almost out at heels," he says, "I must shift." The shifts of despair often realize the promises of expectation. Why, then, should not the word stand? A rhyme, it is said, is required to hits. Is it so? Have we a rhyme to this line"Oft expectation fails, and most oft there?"

The couplets are dropped; and we have three lines of blank verse. out a corresponding line.

As well that as one line with