ACT IV. SCENE I-Without the Florentine Camp. Enter French Envoy, with five or six soldiers in ambush. Fr. Env. He can come no other way but by this hedge corner. When you sally upon him, speak what terrible language you will: though you understand it not yourselves, no matter; for we must not seem to understand him, unless some one among us, whom we must produce for an interpreter. 1 Sold. Good captain, let me be the interpreter. Fr. Env. Art not acquainted with him? knows he not thy voice? 1 Sold. No, sir, I warrant you. Fr. Env. [Aside.] You shall hear one anon. [Alarum within. 1 Sold. Boskos thromuldo boskos. I will discover that which shall undo Fr. Env. But what linsy-woolsy hast thou to speak The Florentine. to us again? 1 Sold. Even such as you speak to me. Fr. Env. He must think us some band of strangers i' the adversary's entertainment. Now, he hath a smack of all neighbouring languages; therefore, we must every one be a man of his own fancy, not to know what we speak one to another; so we seem to know is to go straight to our purpose: chough's language, gabble enough, and good enough. As for As for you, interpreter, you must seem very politic. But couch, ho! here he comes, to beguile two hours in a sleep, and then to return and swear the lies he forges. [They stand back.1 Enter PAROLLES. Par. Ten o'clock: within these three hours 't will be time enough to go home. What shall I say I have done? It must be a very plausive invention that carries it. They begin to smoke me, and disgraces have of late knocked too often at my door. I find, my tongue is too foolhardy; but my heart hath the fear of Mars before it, and of his creatures, not daring the reports of my tongue. Fr. Env. [Aside.] This is the first truth that e'er thine own tongue was guilty of. 1 Sold. Boskos vauvado :· I understand thee, and can speak thy tongue.- Betake thee to thy faith, for seventeen poniards O! pray, pray, pray.— Oscorbidulchos volivorcho. Par. If I do not, damn me. Acordo linta. Come on; thou art granted space. [Exit with PAROLLES guarded. Fr. Env. Go, tell the count Rousillon, and my brother, Par. What the devil should move me to undertake the recovery of this drum, being not ignorant of the We have caught the woodcock, and will keep him impossibility, and knowing I had no such purpose? I muffled, must give myself some hurts, and say, I got them in Till we do hear from them. 2 Sold. Fr. Env. [Aside.] Is it possible, he should know what he is, and be that he is? Par. I would the cutting of my garments would serve the turn; or the breaking of my Spanish sword. Fr. Env. [Aside.] We cannot afford you so. Par. Or the baring of my beard; and to say, it was in stratagem. Fr. Env. [Aside.] 'T would not do. Par. Or to drown my clothes, and say I was stripped. Par. Though I swore I leaped from the window of the citadel Fr. Env. [Aside.] How deep? Par. Thirty fathom. Fr. Env. [Aside.] Three great oaths would scarce make that be believed. So I will, sir. SCENE II.-Florence. A Room in the Widow's Enter BERTRAM and DIANA. Titled goddess, .2 So should you be. But take the highest to witness: then, pray you, tell me, for shaking off so good a wife, and so sweet a lady. I lov'd you dearly, would you believe my oaths, Ber. Change it, change it. Dia. I see, that men make hopes in such a suit1 When you have conquer'd my yet maiden bed, [Exit. Dia. For which live long to thank both heaven and me! Fr. Env. Especially he hath incurred the everlasting displeasure of the king, who had even tuned his bounty to sing happiness to him. I will tell you a thing, but you shall let it dwell darkly within you. Fr. Gent. When you have spoken it, 't is dead, and I am the grave of it. Fr. Env. He hath perverted a young gentlewoman, here in Florence, of a most chaste renown, and this night he fleshes his will in the spoil of her honour : he hath given her his monumental ring, and thinks himself made in the unchaste composition. Fr. Gent. Now, God delay our rebellion: as we are ourselves, what things are we ! Fr. Env. Merely our own traitors: and as in the common course of all treasons, we still see them reveal themselves, till they attain to their abhorred ends, so he that in this action 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. 5 Fr. Gent. That approaches apace: I would gladly have him see his companion anatomized, that he might take a measure of his own judgment, wherein so curiously he had set this counterfeit. Fr. Env. We will not meddle with him till he come, Fr. Env. I hear there is an overture of peace. 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 letters, 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. 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 medal: he has deceived me, like a double-meaning prophesier. He Fr. Env. Bring him forth. [Exeunt Soldiers.] has sat i' the stocks all night, poor gallant knave. Ber. No matter; his heels have deserved it, in usurp ing 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 sitting 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. 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? 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 my sacrament on 't, how and which way you will. 1 Sold. All's one to him.2 Ber. 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. 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; 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 wellweighing 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 Ber. A plague upon him! muffled? he can say no- not say him, nay. [Dumaine lifts up his hand in anger. thing of me hush! hush! Fr. Gent. Hoodman1 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 chimurko. 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. An allusion to blind man's buff.-Knight. 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 your lordship anon. 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 2 f. e. give these words to Bertram. 3 Hook, by which it was attached. 4 Owe. him out o' the band: I think, I have his letter in my more of his soldiership I know not; except, in that 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 Sold. Here 'tis; here's a paper: shall I read it to you? Par. I do not know if it be it, or no. Ber. Our interpreter does it well. 1 Sold. [Reads.]" Dian, the count's a fool, and full of gold," Par. That is not the duke's letter, sir: that is an advertisement to a proper maid in Florence, one Diana, to take heed of the allurement of one count Rousillon, a foolish idle boy, but, for all that, very ruttish. I pray you, sir, put it up again. 1 Sold. Nay, I'll read it first, by your favour. Par. My meaning in 't, I protest, was very honest in the behalf of the maid; for I knew the young count to be a dangerous and lascivious boy, who is a whale to virginity, and devours up all the fry it finds. Ber. Damnable, both-sides rogue ! 1 Sold. [Reads. "When he swears oaths, bid him drop gold, and take it; After he scores, he never pays the score: 2 country, he had the honour to be the officer at a place there called Mile-end, to instruct for the doubling of files: I would do the man what honour I can, but of this I am not certain. Fr. Gent. He hath out-villained villany so far, that the rarity redeems him. Ber. A pox on him! he's a cat still. 1 Sold. His qualities being at this poor price, I need not ask you, if gold will corrupt him to revolt. Par. Sir, for a quart d'ecu3 he will sell the fee-simple of his salvation, the inheritance of it; and cut the entail from all remainders, and a perpetual succession for it perpetually. 1 Sold. What's his brother, the other captain Dumaine? Fr. Env. Why does he ask him of me? Par. E'en a crow o' the same nest; not altogether so great as the first in goodness, but greater a great deal in evil. He excels his brother for a coward, yet his brother is reputed one of the best that is. In a retreat he out-runs any lackey; marry, in coming on he has the cramp. 1 Sold. If your life be saved, will you undertake to betray the Florentine? Par. Ay, and the captain of his horse, count Rou 1 Sold. I'll whisper with the general, and know his pleasure. Half won is match well made; match, and well make it: sillon. "Thine, as he vow'd to thee in thine ear, "PAROLLES." Ber. He shall be whipped through the army, with this rhyme in 's forehead. Fr. Env. This is your devoted friend, sir; the manifold linguist, and the armipotent soldier. Ber. I could endure any thing before but a cat, and now he's a cat to me. 1 Sold. I perceive, sir, by our general's looks, we shall be fain to hang you. Par. My life, sir, in any case! not that I am afraid to die; but that, my offences being many, I would repent out the remainder of nature. Let me live, sir, in a dungeon, i' the stocks, or any where, so I may live. 1 Sold. We'll see what may be done, so you confess freely therefore, once more to this captain Dumaine. You have answered to his reputation with the duke, and to his valour: what is his honesty? Par. He will steal, sir, an egg out of a cloister: for rapes and ravishments he parallels Nessus. He professes not keeping of oaths; in breaking them he is stronger than Hercules. He will lie, sir, with such volubility, that you would think truth were a fool. Drunkenness is his best virtue; for he will be swinedrunk, and in his sleep he does little harm, save to his bed-clothes about him; but they know his conditions, and lay him in straw. I have but little more to say, sir, of his honesty: he has every thing that an honest man should not have; what an honest man should have, he has nothing. Fr. Gent. I begin to love him for this. Par. [Aside.] I'll no more drumming; a plague of all drums! Only to seem to deserve well, and to beguile the supposition of that lascivious young boy the count, have I run into this danger. Yet who would have suspected an ambush, where I was taken? 1 Sold. There is no remedy, sir, but you must die. The general says, you, that have so traitorously discovered the secrets of your army, and made such pestiferous reports of men very nobly held, can serve the world for no honest use; therefore you must die. Come, headsman; off with his head. Par. O Lord, sir; let me live, or let me see my death! 1 Sold. That shall you; and take your leave of all So, look about you: know you any here? Fr. Env. God bless you, captain Parolles. Fr. Gent. Good captain, will you give me a copy of the sonnet you writ to Diana in behalf of the count Rousillon? an I were not a very coward, I'd compel it of you; but fare you well. [Exeunt BERTRAM, Frenchmen, &c. 1 Sold. You are undone, captain; all but your scarf, that has a knot on't yet. Par. Who cannot be crushed with a plot ? 1 Sold. If you could find out. a country where but women were, that had received so much shame, you might begin an impudent nation. Fare you well, sir; I am for France too: we shall speak of you there. [Exit. Par. Yet am I thankful: if my heart were great, Ber. For this description of thine honesty? A pox 'T would burst at this. Captain I'll be no more ; upon him! for me he is more and more a cat. 1 Sold. What say you to his expertness in war? Par. Faith, sir, he has led the drum before the English tragedians,-to belie him, I will not,-and But I will eat, and drink, and sleep as soft 1 Meddle, do. 2 A place where the Londoners were often mustered and trained. 3 About eight-pence English. you, One of the greatest in the Christian world My husband hies him home; where, heaven aiding, You never had a servant, to whose trust Hel. Dia. But with the world' the time will bring on summer, [Exeunt. SCENE V.-Rousillon. A Room in the COUNTESS's Palace. Enter COUNTESS, LAFEU, and Clown. Laf. 'T was a good lady, 't was a good lady: we may pick a thousand salads, ere we light on such another herb. Clo. Indeed, sir, she was the sweet marjoram of the salad, or, rather the herb of grace. Laf. They are not pot-herbs, you knave; they are nose-herbs. Clo. I am no great Nebuchadnezzar, sir; I have not much skill in grass. Laf. Whether dost thou profess thyself, a knave, or a fool ? Clo. A fool, sir, at a woman's service, and a knave at a man's. Clo. At your service. Laf. No, no, no. Clo. Why, sir, if I cannot serve you, I can serve as great a prince as you are. Laf. Who's that? a Frenchman? Clo. Faith, sir, a' has an English name; but his phisnomy is more hotter in France, than there. Laf. What prince is that? Clo. The black prince, sir; alias, the prince of darkness; alias, the devil. Laf. Hold thee, there's my purse. I give thee not this to suggest thee from thy master thou talkest of: serve him still. Clo. I am a woodland fellow, sir, that always loved a great fire; and the master I speak of, ever keeps a good fire. But, sure, he is the prince of the world; let the nobility remain in 's court. I am for the house with the narrow gate, which I take to be too little for pomp to enter: some, that humble themselves, may; but the many will be too chill and tender, and they 'll be for the flowery way, that leads to the broad gate, and the great fire. Laf. Go thy ways, I begin to be a-weary of thee; and I tell thee so before, because I would not fall out with thee. Go thy ways: let my horses be well looked to, without any tricks. Clo. If I put any tricks upon 'em, sir, they shall be jades' tricks, which are their own right by the law of [Exit. nature. Laf. A shrewd knave, and an unhappy7. Count. So a' is. My lord, that's gone, made himself much sport out of him: by his authority he remains here, which he thinks is a patent for his sauciness: and, indeed, he has no places, but runs where he will. Laf. No, no, no; your son was misled with a snipt- Laf. I like him well; 't is not amiss. And I was taffata fellow there, whose villanous saffron would about to tell you, since I heard of the good lady's have made all the unbaked and doughy youth of a death, and that my lord, your son, was upon his return nation in his colour: your daughter-in-law had been home, I moved the king, my master, to speak in the alive at this hour, and your son here at home, more behalf of my daughter; which, in the minority of them advanced by the king, than by that red-tailed humble- both, his majesty, out of a self-gracious remembrance, bee I speak of. 3 Count. I would I had not known him. It was the death of the most virtuous gentlewoman, that ever nature had praise for creating: if she had partaken of my flesh, and cost me the dearest groans of a mother, I could not have owed her a more rooted love. 1 word in f. e. to color pie-crust. sometimes attached. did first propose. His highness hath promised me to do it; and to stop up the displeasure he hath conceived against your son, there is no fitter matter. How does your ladyship like it? Count. With very much content, my lord; and I wish it happily effected. 2 revives in f. e. 3 Saffron was used to color starch, a yellow hue being then fashionable in dress. It was also used 4 salad-herbs: in f. e. 5 A short stick, with a fool's head, or a small figure, at the end of it. An inflated bladder was 6 Old copies: maine. 7 Mischievous. 8 pace in f. e. |