facinorous spirit, that will not acknowledge it to be the LAF. Very hand of heaven. LAF. In a most weak PAR. And debile minister, great power, great transcendence: which should, indeed, give us a further use to be made, than alone the recovery of the king, as to be- LAF. Generally thankful. Enter King, HELENA, and Attendants. PAR. I would have said it; you say well: Here comes the king. 3 LAF. Lustick, as the Dutchman says: I'll like a FACINOROUS spirit,] This word is used in Heywood's English Traveller, 1633: "And magnified for high facinorous deeds." Facinorous is wicked. The old copy spells the word facinerious; but as Parolles is not designed for a verbal blunderer, I have adhered to the common spelling. STEEVENS. 4 which should, indeed, give us a further use to be made, &c.] I believe Parolles has again usurped words and sense to which he has no right and I read this passage thus : "Laf. In a most weak and debile minister, great power, great transcendence; which should, indeed, give us a further use to be made than the mere recovery of the king. "Par. As to be 66 Laf. Generally thankful." JOHNSON. When the parts are written out for players, the names of the characters which they are to represent are never set down; but only the last words of the preceding speech which belongs to their partner in the scene. If the plays of Shakspeare were printed (as there is reason to suspect) from these piece-meal transcripts, how easily may the mistake be accounted for, which Dr. Johnson has judiciously strove to remedy? STEEVENS. 5 LUSTICK, as the Dutchman says:] Lustigh is the Dutch word for lusty, chearful, pleasant. It is used in Hans Beer-pat's invisible Comedy, 1618: 66 can walk a mile or two "As lustique as a boor-." maid the better, whilst I have a tooth in my head: Why, he's able to lead her a coranto. PAR. Mort du Vinaigre! Is not this Helen? KING. Go, call before me all the lords in court. [Exit an Attendant. Sit, my preserver, by thy patient's side; And with this healthful hand, whose banish'd sense The confirmation of my promis'd gift, Enter several Lords. Fair maid, send forth thine eye: this youthful parcel Of noble bachelors stand at my bestowing, O'er whom both sovereign power and father's voice I have to use thy frank election make; Thou hast power to choose, and they none to forsake. HEL. To each of you one fair and virtuous mis tress Fall, when love please!-marry, to each, but one"! Again, in The Witches of Lancashire, by Heywood and Broome, 1634: "What all lustick, all frolicksome! The burden also of one of our ancient medleys is— "Hey Lusticke." STEEVENS. In the narrative of the cruelties committed by the Dutch at Amboyna, in 1622, it is said, that after a night spent in prayer, &c. by some of the prisoners, "the Dutch that guarded them offered them wine, bidding them drink lustick, and drive away the sorrow, according to the custom of their own nation." REED. O'er whom both sovereign power and FATHER'S voice] They were his wards as well as his subjects. HENley. 7. marry, to each, BUT ONE!] I cannot understand this passage in any other sense, than as a ludicrous exclamation, in consequence of Helena's wish of one fair and virtuous mistress to each of the lords. If that be so, it cannot belong to Helena; and might, properly enough, be given to Parolles. TYRWHITT. Tyrwhitt's observations on this passage are not conceived with : LAF. I'd give bay Curtal, and his furniture, My mouth no more were broken than these boys', And writ as little beard. KING. Peruse them well: Not one of those, but had a noble father. HEL. Gentlemen, Heaven hath, through me, restor❜d the king to health. ALL. We understand it, and thank heaven for you. HEL. I am a simple maid; and therein wealthiest, That, I protest, I simply am a maid :—— Please it your majesty, I have done already : The blushes in my cheeks thus whisper me, We blush, that thou should'st choose; but, be refus'd, Let the white death sit on thy cheek for ever; We'll ne'er come there again his usual sagacity. He mistakes the import of the words but one, which does not mean only one, but except one. Helena wishes a fair and virtuous mistress to each of the young lords who were present, one only excepted; and the person excepted is Bertram, whose mistress she hoped she herself should be; and she makes the exception out of modesty: for otherwise the description of a fair and virtuous mistress would have extended to herself. M. MASON. 8 bay Curtal,] i. e. a bay, docked horse. STEEVENs. 9 My mouth no more were BROKEN-] A broken mouth is a mouth which has lost part of its teeth. JOHNSON. ▪ We blush, that thou should'st choose; but, be refus'd, Let the WHITE DEATH, &c.] In the original copy, these lines are pointed thus: 66 "We blush that thou should'st choose, but be refus'd; "Let the white death sit on thy cheek for ever," &c. This punctuation has been adopted in all the subsequent editions. The present regulation of the text appears to me to afford a much clearer sense. My blushes (says Helen), thus whisper me. We blush that thou should'st have the nomination of thy husband. However, choose him at thy peril. But, if thou be refused, let thy cheeks be for ever pale; we will never revisit them again." The blushes, which are here personified, could not be supposed to know that Helena would be refused, as, according to the for KING. Make choice; and, see, Who shuns thy love, shuns all his love in me. HEL. Now, Dian, from thy altar do I fly; And to imperial Love, that god most high, Do my sighs stream.-Sir, will you hear my suit? 1 LORD. And grant it. ་ HEL. Thanks, sir; all the rest is mute 2. LAF. I had rather be in this choice, than throw ames-ace for my life. HEL. The honour, sir, that flames in your fair eyes, Before I speak, too threateningly replies : Love make your fortunes twenty times above 2 LORD. No better, if you please. HEL. My wish receive, Which great love grant! and so I take my leave. LAF. Do all they deny her1? An they were sons of mine, I'd have them whipped; or I would send them to the Turk, to make eunuchs of. mer punctuation, they appear to do; and, meant this, he would surely have written but be refused." not " even if the poet had - and be refused," 66 Be refus'd means the same as-"thou being refused,”—or, “be thou refused." MALONE. The white death is the chlorosis. JOHNSON. The white death is the paleness of death. Boswell. The pestilence that ravaged England in the reign of Edward III. was called "the black death." STEEVENS. 2 all THE REST IS MUTE.] i. e. I have no more to say to you. So, Hamlet: "the rest is silence." STEEVENS. 3 -ames-ace -] i. e. the lowest chance of the dice. So, in The Ordinary, by Cartwright: "may I at my last stake, &c. throw ames-aces thrice together." STEEVENS. 4 Laf. Do all they deny her?] None of them have yet denied her, or deny her afterwards, but Bertram. The scene must be so regulated that Lafeu and Parolles talk at a distance, where they may see what passes between Helena and the lords, but not hear it, so that they know not by whom the refusal is made. JOHNSON. HEL. Be not afraid [To a Lord.] that I your I'll never do you wrong for your own sake: LAF. These boys are boys of ice, they'll none have her sure, they are bastards to the English ; the French ne'er got them. HEL. You are too young, too happy, and too good, To make yourself a son out of my blood. 4 LORD. Fair one, I think not so. LAF. There's one grape yet 3,—I am sure, thy father drank wine.-But if thou be'st not an ass, I am a youth of fourteen; I have known thee already. HEL. I dare not say, I take you; [To BERTRAM.] but I give Me, and my service, ever whilst I live, Into your guiding power. This is the man. KING. Why then, young Bertram, take her, she's thy wife. BER. My wife, my liege? I shall beseech your highness, In such a business give me leave to use 5 There's one grape yet,] This speech the three last editors [Theobald, Hanmer, and Warburton,] have perplexed themselves, by dividing between Lafeu and Parolles, without any authority of copies, or any improvement of sense. I have restored the old reading, and should have thought no explanation necessary, but that Mr. Theobald apparently misunderstood it. Old Lafeu having, upon the supposition that the lady was refused, reproached the young lords as boys of ice, throwing his eyes on Bertram, who remained, cries out, "There is one yet into whom his father put good blood-but I have known thee long enough to know thee for an ass." JOHNSON. |