contrives against his own nobility, in his proper stream o'erflows himself.

Fr. Gent. Is it not most damnable in us, to be trumpeters of our unlawful intents ? We shall not then have his company to-night.

Fr. Env. Not till after midnight, for he is dieted to his hour.

Fr. Gent. That approaches apace: I would gladly have him see his companion anatomized', that he might take a measure of his own judgments, wherein so curiously he had set this counterfeit.

Fr. Env. We will not meddle with him till he come, for his presence must be the whip of the other.

you

Fr. Gent. In the mean time, what hear of these wars? Fr. Env. I hear there is an overture of peace.

Fr. Gent. Nay, I assure you, a peace concluded.

Fr. Env. What will count Rousillon do then? will he travel higher, or return again into France?

Fr. Gent. I perceive by this demand you are not altogether of his council.

Fr. Env. Let it be forbid, sir; so should I be a great deal of his act.

Fr. Gent. Sir, his wife some two months since fled from his house her pretence is a pilgrimage to Saint Jaques le Grand, which holy undertaking with most austere sanctimony she accomplished; and, there residing, the tenderness of her nature became as a prey to her grief; in fine, made a groan of her last breath, and now she sings in heaven.

Fr. Env. How is this justified?

Fr. Gent. The stranger part of it by her own letters2; which make her story true, even to the point of her death: her death itself, which could not be her office to say, is come, and faithfully confirmed by the rector of the place.

1

his COMPANION anatomized,] So the corr. fo. 1632, for company of the folio, 1623. On p. 194 we have had the opposite misprint, viz. companions for "companies." The change is hardly necessary, because we can understand that company here means "companion;" but we think there can be little doubt as to which the poet wrote.

2 The STRANGER part of it by her own letters;] It is "the stronger part of it" in the early folios, but most properly amended to "stranger" in the corr. fo. 1632. Farther on in this speech is self is amended to "itself," and was to " and," with equal fitness. Mr. Singer tells us that one misprint is selfe for "itself;" and we only notice it in order to state that some copies of the folio, 1623, have "itselfe," and not is selfe, nor merely selfe. These small variations deserve distinct notice, when endeavouring to settle the text of Shakespeare.

Fr. Env. Hath the count all this intelligence?

Fr. Gent. Ay, and the particular confirmations, point from point, to the full arming of the verity.

Fr. Env. I am heartily sorry that he'll be glad of this. Fr. Gent. How mightily, sometimes, we make us comforts of our losses.

Fr. Env. And how mightily, some other times, we drown our gain in tears. The great dignity, that his valour hath here acquired for him, shall at home be encountered with a shame as ample.

Fr. Gent. The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair, if they were not cherished by our virtues.

Enter a Servant.

How now? where's your master ?

Serv. He met the duke in the street, sir, of whom he hath taken a solemn leave his lordship will next morning for France. The duke hath offered him letters of commendations to the king.

Fr. Env. They shall be no more than needful there, if they were more than they can commend.

Enter BERTRAM.

Fr. Gent. They cannot be too sweet for the king's tartness. Here's his lordship now.-How, now, my lord! is't not after midnight?

Ber. I have to-night despatched sixteen businesses, a month's length a-piece, by an abstract of success: I have congé'd with the duke, done my adieu with his nearest, buried a wife, mourned for her, writ to my lady mother I am returning, entertained my convoy; and between these main parcels of despatch effected many nicer needs: the last was the greatest, but that I have not ended yet.

Fr. Env. If the business be of any difficulty, and this morning your departure hence, it requires haste of your lordship.

Ber. I mean the business is not ended, as fearing to hear of it hereafter. But shall we have this dialogue between the fool and the soldier? Come, bring forth this counterfeit

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dialogue between the fool and the soldier?] Some popular production of this kind probably then existed. It is a species of performance of which John

model he has deceived me, like a double-meaning prophesier.

Fr. Env. Bring him forth. [Exeunt Soldiers.] He has sat i' the stocks all night, poor gallant knave.

Ber. No matter; his heels have deserved it, in usurping his spurs so long. How does he carry himself?

Fr. Env. I have told your lordship already; the stocks carry him. But, to answer you as you would be understood, he weeps, like a wench that had shed her milk. He hath confessed himself to Morgan, whom he supposes to be a friar, from the time of his remembrance, to this very instant disaster of his setting i' the stocks, and what think you he hath confessed?

Ber. Nothing of me, has he?

Fr. Env. His confession is taken, and it shall be read to his face if your lordship be in't, as I believe you are, you must have the patience to hear it.

Re-enter Soldiers, with PAROLLES.

Ber. A plague upon him! muffled? He can say nothing of me hush! hush!

Fr. Gent. Hoodman comes !-Portotartarossa.

1 Sold. He calls for the tortures: what will you say without 'em?

Par. I will confess what I know without constraint: if ye pinch me like a pasty, I can say no more.

1 Sold. Bosko chimurcho.

Fr. Gent. Boblibindo chicurmurco.

1 Sold. You are a merciful general.—Our general bids you answer to what I shall ask you out of a note.

Par. And truly, as I hope to live.

1 Sold. "First, demand of him how many horse the duke is strong." What say you to that?

Heywood seems to have been the inventor in the reign of Henry VIII. See “Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage,” vol. ii. pp. 393 and 396.

Come, bring forth this counterfeit MODEL:] Here we decline the emendation of the corr. fo. 1632, which alters "module," as it is spelt in the old editions, to medal. Bertram does not call Parolles a counterfeit medal or mock coin, but a "counterfeit model" of a man or soldier. "Model" was formerly often written module, but the first is from the Fr. modelle, and the last from the Lat. modulus. Module is now out of use, and Richardson, in his Dict., produces no instance of its employment; indeed he does not insert the word as a substantive, but it is found in Todd's "Johnson" with two quotations, neither of them, however, later than 1685.

Par. Five or six thousand; but very weak and unserviceable the troops are all scattered, and the commanders very poor rogues, upon my reputation and credit, and as I hope to live.

1 Sold. Shall I set down your answer so?

Par. Do: I'll take the sacrament on't, how and which way you will.

Ber. All's one to him. What a past-saving slave is this! Fr. Gent. Y are deceived, my lord: this is monsieur Parolles, the gallant militarist, (that was his own phrase) that had the whole theorick of war in the knot of his scarf, and the practice in the chape of his dagger'.

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Fr. Env. I will never trust a man again for keeping his sword clean; nor believe he can have every thing in him by wearing his apparel neatly.

1 Sold. Well, that's set down.

Par. Five or six thousand horse, I said,-I will say true,or thereabouts, set down,-for I'll speak truth.

Fr. Gent. He's very near the truth in this.

Ber. But I con him no thanks for't, in the nature he delivers it.

Par. Poor rogues, I pray you, say.

1 Sold. Well, that's set down.

Par. I humbly thank you, sir. A truth's a truth: the rogues are marvellous poor.

1 Sold. "Demand of him, of what strength they are a-foot." What say you to that?

Par. By my troth, sir, if I were to live this present hour", I will tell true. Let me see: Spurio a hundred and fifty, Sebastian so many, Corambus so many, Jaques so many;

5 All's one to him.] In the old copies, these words are given by mistake to Parolles. In the corr. fo. 1632 they are assigned to the Interpreter, but, as the point is doubtful, we have not altered the ordinary arrangement.

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that had the whole THEORICK] i. e. Theory. In 1597 was published "Theorique and Practise of Warre, written to Don Philip Prince of Castil, by Don Bernardino de Mendoza. Translated out of the Castilian Tonge in Englishe, by Sir Edward Hoby, Knight," 4to.

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the CHAPE of his dagger.] We have already had a "chapeless" sword mentioned in "The Taming of the Shrew," A. iii. sc. 2, p. 487. The "chape" of a dagger would seem to have been the hook by which it was suspended.

8

- I CON him no thanks for't,] To con thanks (says Steevens) answers the French savoir gré: to con is to know. The expression is idiomatic, and occurs frequently in old writers.

9- if I were to live this present hour,] We are to recollect that Parolles is speaking under the fear of instant death.

Guiltian, Cosmo, Lodowick, and Gratii, two hundred fifty each; mine own company, Chitopher, Vaumond, Bentii, two hundred fifty each: so that the muster-file, rotten and sound, upon my life, amounts not to fifteen thousand poll; half of the which dare not shake the snow from off their cassocks', lest they shake themselves to pieces.

Ber. What shall be done to him?

Fr. Gent. Nothing, but let him have thanks.-Demand of him my condition, and what credit I have with the duke. 1 Sold. Well, that's set down. "You shall demand of him, whether one captain Dumaine be i' the camp, a Frenchman; what his reputation is with the duke, what his valour, honesty, and expertness in wars; or whether he thinks it were not possible with well-weighing sums of gold to corrupt him to a revolt." What say you to this? what do you know of it ?

Par. I beseech you, let me answer to the particular of the intergatories: demand them singly.

1 Sold. Do you know this captain Dumaine?

Par. I know him: he was a botcher's 'prentice in Paris, from whence he was whipped for getting the sheriff's fool with child; a dumb innocent, that could not say him, nay'. [Dumaine lifts up his hand in anger. Ber. Nay, by your leave, hold your hands; though, I know, his brains are forfeit to the next tile that falls.

1 Sold. Well, is this captain in the duke of Florence's camp?

Par. Upon my knowledge he is, and lousy.

Fr. Gent. Nay, look not so upon me; we shall hear of lordship anon.

your

1 Sold. What is his reputation with the duke? Par. The duke knows him for no other but a poor officer of mine, and writ to me this other day to turn him out o' the band: I think, I have his letter in my pocket.

1 Sold. Marry, we'll search.

Par. In good sadness, I do not know: either it is there, or it is upon a file, with the duke's other letters, in my tent.

1 off their CASSOCKS,] Cassock, according to Steevens, here signifies “a horseman's loose coat;" but Parolles is speaking of foot-soldiers, who must likewise have worn it. Steevens has shown by various quotations, that the word was also used for a part of the dress of shepherds, and even of ladies.

2 — a dumb INNOCENT, that could not say him, nay.] An idiot or natural fool, (distinguished from the jocose, professed domestic fool, in many writers, by the term “innocent,") assigned to the care and custody of the sheriff.