ACT V.
Scene I. [Marseilles. A street.]
Enter Helena, Widow, and Diana, with two Attendants.
Hel. But this exceeding posting day and night
Must wear your spirits low; we cannot help it:
But since [you have] made the days and nights as one,
To wear your gentle limbs in my affairs,
Be bold you do so grow in my requital
As nothing can unroot you. In happy time;
This man may help me to his majesty's ear,
If he would spend his power. God save you, sir.
Gent. And you.
10
Hel. Sir, I have seen you in the court of France.
Gent. I have been sometimes there.
Hel. I do presume, sir, that you are not fallen
From the report that goes upon your goodness;
And therefore, goaded with most sharp occasions,
Which lay nice manners by, I put you to
The use of your own [virtues], for the which
I shall continue thankful.
Gent. What's your will?
Hel. That it will please you
To give this poor petition to the king,
And aid me with that store of power you have
To come into his presence.
Gent. The king's not here.
Hel. Not here, sir!
Gent. Not, indeed:
He hence removed last night and with more haste
Than is his use.
Wid. Lord, how we lose our pains!
25
Hel. All's well that ends well yet,
Though time seem so adverse and means unfit.
I do beseech you, whither is he gone?
Gent. Marry, as I take it, to Rousillon;
Whither I am going.
Hel. [I do] beseech you, sir,
Since you are like to see the king before me,
Commend the paper to his gracious hand,
Which I presume shall render you no blame
But rather make you thank your pains for it.
I will come after you with what good speed
Our means will [make us means].
35
Gent. This I'll do for you.
Hel. [And you] shall find yourself to be well thank'd,
Whate'er falls more. We must to horse again.
Go, go, provide. [Exeunt.
LINENOTES:
[Marseilles. A street.] Capell. The Court of France. Pope.
[3] [you have] you've Pope.
[6] [Enter a Gentleman.] Rowe. Enter a gentle Astringer. F1. Enter a gentle Astranger. F2. Enter a Gentleman a stranger. F3 F4.
[16] [virtues] virtue S. Walker conj.
[29] [I do] I Hanmer.
[35] [make us means.] make us. Anon. conj.
[36-38] [Printed as prose] in Ff. First as verse by Pope.
[Scene II. Rousillon. Before the] Count's palace.
Enter Clown, and Parolles, [following].
Par. Good [Monsieur Lavache], give my Lord Lafeu this
letter: I have ere now, sir, been better known to you, when
I have held familiarity with fresher clothes; but I am now,
sir, muddied in fortune's [mood], and smell somewhat strong
of her strong displeasure.
Clo. Truly, fortune's displeasure is but sluttish, if it
smell so strongly as thou speakest of: I will henceforth eat
no fish of fortune's buttering. Prithee, allow the wind.
Par. Nay, you need not to stop your nose, sir; I
[spake] but by a metaphor.
Clo. Indeed, sir, if your metaphor stink, I will stop my
nose; [or against] any man's metaphor. Prithee, get thee
further.
Par. Pray you, sir, deliver me this paper.
15
Clo. Foh! prithee, stand away: a paper from fortune's
close-stool to give to a nobleman! Look, here he comes
himself.
Enter Lafeu.
[Here] is a [purr] of fortune's, sir, [or of] fortune's cat,—but not
a [musk-cat],—that [has] fallen into the unclean fishpond of
her displeasure, and, as he says, is muddied withal: pray
you, sir, use the carp as you may; for he looks like a poor,
decayed, [ingenious], foolish, rascally knave. I do pity his
distress in my [similes] of comfort and leave him to your
lordship. [Exit.
25
Par. My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly
scratched.
Laf. And what would you have me to do? 'Tis too
late to pare her nails now. Wherein have you played the
knave with fortune, that she should scratch you, who of
herself is a good lady and would not have knaves thrive
long [under her]? There's a [quart d'écu] for you: let the
justices make you and fortune friends: I am for other
business.
Par. I beseech your honour to hear me one single
word.
Laf. [You] beg a single penny more: come, you shall
ha't; save your word.
Par. My name, my good lord, is Parolles.
Laf. You beg more than ['word,'] then. Cox my passion!
give me your hand. How does your drum?
Par. O my good lord, you were the first that found
me!
Laf. Was I, in sooth? and I was the first that lost
thee.
45
Par. It [lies in you], my lord, to bring me in some grace,
for you did bring me out.
Laf. Out upon thee, knave! dost thou put upon me at
once both the office of God and the devil? One brings thee
in grace and the other brings thee out. [[Trumpets sound.]]
The king's coming; I know by his trumpets. Sirrah, inquire
further after me; I had talk of you last night: though
you are a fool and a knave, you shall eat; go to, follow.
Par. I praise God for you. [Exeunt.
LINENOTES:
[Scene II. Before ... palace.] Edd. Inner-court of the palace. Capell.
[following.] Capell. ill-favoured. Collier MS.
[1] [Monsieur] Mr Ff. Lavache] Edd. (Tollet conj.).
Lavatch Ff. Lapatch Jervis conj.
[4] [mood] moat Theobald. [See note (xvii)].
[10] [spake] F1. speake F2. speak F3 F4.
[12] [or against] against Theobald.
[18] [Here] Clo. Here Ff.
[purr] purre F1 F2 F3. pur F4. puss Mason conj.
[or of] or Warburton.
[19] [musk-cat] Theobald. Muscat Ff. mouse-cat Anon. conj.
[has] hath Pope.
[22] [ingenious] ingenuous Anon. conj.
[23] [similes] Theobald (Warburton). smiles Ff.
[31] [under her?] F2 F3 F4. under? F1.
[quart'd'écu] Pope. cardecue Ff.
[36] [You] If you Anon. conj.
[39] ['word'] word F1 F2. one word F3 F4. a word Collier (Egerton MS.).
[45] [lies in you] lies on you Capell.
[49] [Trumpets sound.] Sound trumpets. Theobald, om. Ff.
[Scene III.] Rousillon. The Count's palace.
Flourish. Enter King, [Countess], Lafeu, the two French Lords, with Attendants.
King. We lost a jewel [of her]; and our [esteem]
Was made much poorer by it: but your son,
As mad in folly, lack'd the sense to know
Her estimation home.
Count. 'Tis past, my liege;
And I beseech your majesty to make it
Natural rebellion, done i' the [blaze] of youth;
When oil and fire, too strong for reason's force,
[O'erbears] it and burns on.
King. My honour'd lady,
I have forgiven and forgotten all;
Though my revenges were high bent upon him,
And watch'd the time to shoot.
Laf. This I must say,
[But] first I beg my pardon, the young lord
Did to his majesty, his mother and his lady
Offence of mighty note; but to himself
The greatest wrong of all. He lost a wife
Whose beauty did astonish the survey
Of richest eyes, whose words all ears took captive,
Whose dear perfection hearts that scorn'd to serve
Humbly call'd mistress.
King. Praising what is lost
Makes the remembrance dear. Well, call him hither;
[We are] reconciled, and the first view shall kill
All repetition: let him not ask our pardon;
The [nature] of his great offence is dead,
And deeper than oblivion [we do] bury
The incensing relics of it: let him approach,
A stranger, no offender; and inform him
So 'tis our will he should.
Gent. I shall, my liege. [Exit.
King. [What] says he to your daughter? have you spoke?
Laf. All that he is hath reference to your highness.
30
King. [Then shall] we have a match. I have letters sent me
That [set] him high in fame.
Enter Bertram.
Laf. He looks well on't.
King. [I am] not a day of [season],
For thou mayst see a sunshine and a hail
In me at once: but to the brightest beams
Distracted clouds give way; so stand thou forth;
The time is fair again.
Ber. My high-repented blames,
Dear sovereign, pardon to me.
King. All is whole;
Not one word more of the consumed time.
Let's take the instant by the [forward] top;
For we are old, and on our quick'st decrees
The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time
Steals ere we can effect them. You remember
The daughter of this lord?
Ber. [Admiringly,] my liege, at first
I stuck my choice upon her, ere my heart
Durst make too bold a herald of my tongue:
Where the impression of mine eye infixing,
Contempt his scornful perspective did lend me,
Which [warp'd] the line of every other favour;
[Scorn'd] a fair colour, or express'd it stolen;
Extended or contracted all proportions
To a most hideous object: thence it came
That she whom all men praised and whom myself,
Since I have lost, have loved, was in mine eye
The dust that did offend it.
55
King. Well excused:
That thou didst love her, strikes some scores away
From the great compt: but love that comes too late.
[Like] a remorseful pardon slowly [carried],
To the great sender turns a [sour] offence,
Crying 'That's good [that's gone.'] [Our] rash [faults]
Make [trivial] price of serious things we have,
Not knowing them until we know their grave:
Oft our displeasures, to ourselves unjust,
Destroy our friends and after weep their dust:
[Our] [own] love waking cries to see what's done,
While [shameful hate] [sleeps] out the afternoon.
Be this sweet Helen's knell, and now [forget her].
Send forth your amorous token for fair Maudlin:
The main consents are had; and here we'll stay
To see our widower's second marriage-day.
[Count.] Which better than the first, O dear heaven, bless!
Or, ere they [meet], [in me], O nature, cesse!
Laf. Come on, my son, in whom my house's name
Must be [digested], give a favour from you
To sparkle in the spirits of my daughter,
That she may quickly come. [[Bertram gives a ring].] By my old beard,
And every hair that's on't, Helen, that's dead,
Was a sweet creature: such a ring as this,
The last [that e'er] I took her [leave] at court,
I saw upon her finger.
80
Ber. Hers it was not.
King. Now, pray you, let me see it; for mine eye,
While I was speaking, oft was fasten'd to't.
This ring was mine; and, when I gave it Helen,
I bade her, if her fortunes ever stood
[Necessitied] to help, that by this token
I would relieve her. Had you that craft, to reave her
Of what should stead her most?
Ber. My gracious sovereign,
Howe'er it pleases you to take it so,
The ring was never hers.
Count. Son, on my life,
[I have] seen her wear it; and she reckon'd it
At her [life's] rate.
Laf. [I am] sure I saw her wear it.
Ber. You are deceived, my lord; she never saw it:
In Florence was it from a casement thrown me,
Wrapp'd in a paper, which contain'd the name
Of her that threw it: noble she was, and thought
I stood [engaged:] but when I had subscribed
To mine own fortune and inform'd her fully
I could not answer in that course of honour
As she had made the overture, she ceased
In heavy satisfaction and would never
Receive the ring again.
King. [Plutus] himself,
That knows the tinct and multiplying medicine,
Hath not in nature's mystery more science
Than I have in this ring: 'twas mine, 'twas Helen's,
Whoever gave it you. Then, if you know
That you are well acquainted with yourself,
Confess 'twas hers, and by what rough enforcement
You got it from her: she call'd the saints to surety
That she would never put it from her finger,
Unless she gave it to [yourself] in bed,
Where you have never come, or sent it us
Upon her great disaster.
Ber. She never saw it.
King. Thou speak'st it falsely, as I love mine honour;
And makest [conjectural] fears to come into me,
Which I [would fain] shut [out]. If it should prove
That thou art so inhuman,—'twill not prove so;—
And yet I know not: thou didst hate her deadly,
And she is dead; which nothing, but to close
Her eyes myself, could win me to believe,
More than to see this ring. Take him away.
My fore-past proofs, howe'er the matter fall,
Shall [tax] my fears of little vanity,
Having vainly fear'd too little. Away with him!
We'll sift this matter further.
Ber. If you shall prove
This ring was ever hers, you shall as easy
Prove that I husbanded her bed in Florence,
Where yet she never was. [[Exit], [guarded].
King. [I am] wrapp'd in dismal [thinkings].
[Enter a] Gentleman.
Gent. Gracious sovereign,
Whether [I have] been [to blame] or no, I know not:
Here's a petition from a Florentine,
Who [hath] [for four] or five removes come short
To tender it herself. I undertook it,
Vanquish'd thereto by the fair grace and speech
Of the poor suppliant, who by this I know
Is here attending: her business looks in her
With an [importing] visage; and she told me,
In a sweet verbal brief, it did concern
Your highness with herself.
King. [[reads]] Upon his many protestations to marry me
when his wife was dead, I blush to say it, he won me. Now is the
Count Rousillon a widower: his vows are forfeited to me, and my
honour's paid to him. He stole from Florence, taking no leave, and
I follow him to [his] country for justice: grant it me, O king! in
[you it best] lies; otherwise a seducer flourishes, and a poor maid is
undone. Diana [Capilet].
Laf. I will buy me a son-in-law in a [fair], [and toll] for
King. The heavens have thought well on thee, Lafeu,
To bring forth this discovery. Seek these suitors:
Go speedily and bring again the [count].
I am [afeard] the life of Helen, lady,
Was foully [snatch'd].
Count. Now, justice on the doers!
Re-enter Bertram, guarded.
King. I wonder, [sir, sith wives are monsters] to you,
And that you fly them as you swear [them lordship],
Yet you desire to [marry].
155
What woman's that?
Dia. I am, my lord, a wretched Florentine,
Derived from the ancient [Capilet]:
My suit, as I do understand, you know,
And therefore know how far I may be pitied.
160
Wid. I am her mother, sir, whose age and honour
Both suffer under this complaint we bring,
And both shall cease, without your remedy.
King. Come [hither], [count; do you] know these women?
Ber. My lord, I neither can nor will deny
But that I know them: do they charge me further?
Dia. Why do you look so strange upon your wife?
Ber. She's none of mine, my lord.
Dia. If you shall marry,
You give away this hand, and [that is] mine;
You give away heaven's vows, and those are mine;
You give away [myself], which is known mine;
For I by vow am so embodied yours,
That she which marries you must marry me,
Either both or none.
Laf. Your reputation comes [too] short for my daughter;
you are no husband for her.
Ber. My lord, this a fond and desperate creature,
Whom sometime I have laugh'd with: let your highness
Lay a more noble thought upon mine honour
[Than for] to think that I would sink it here.
180
King. Sir, for my thoughts, you have them ill to friend
Till your deeds gain [them: fairer] prove your honour
Than in my thought it lies.
Dia. [Good] my lord,
Ask him upon his oath, if he does think
He had not my virginity.
King. What say'st thou to her?
185
Ber. She's impudent, my lord,
And was a common gamester to the camp.
Dia. He does me wrong, my lord; if I were so,
He might have bought me at a common price:
Do not believe him. O, behold this ring,
Whose high respect and rich validity
Did lack a parallel; yet for all that
[He] gave it to a commoner o' the camp,
If I be one.
[Count.] He blushes, and ['tis it]:
Of six preceding ancestors, that gem,
Conferr'd by testament [to the sequent] issue,
Hath [it] been owed and worn. This is his wife;
That ring's a thousand proofs.
King. Methought you said
You saw one here in court could witness it.
Dia. I did, my lord, but loath am to produce
So bad an instrument: his name's Parolles.
Laf. I saw the man to-day, if man he be.
King. Find him, and bring [him] hither. [[Exit an Attendant].
Ber. What of him?
He's quoted for a most perfidious slave,
With all the spots o' the world tax'd and debosh'd;
[Whose nature sickens but] to speak a truth.
Am I or that or this for what he'll utter,
That will speak any thing?
King. She hath that ring of yours.
Ber. I think she has: certain it is I liked her,
And boarded her i' the wanton way of youth:
She knew her distance, and did angle [for me],
Madding my eagerness with her restraint,
As all impediments in fancy's course
Are motives of more fancy; and, in fine,
Her [infinite cunning], with her modern grace,
Subdued me to her rate: she got the ring;
And I had that which [any] inferior might
At market-price have bought.
Dia. I must be patient:
You, that [have turn'd off] a first so noble wife,
May justly [diet] me. I pray you yet,
Since you lack virtue I will lose a husband,
Send for your ring, I will return [it] home,
And give me mine again.
Ber. I have it not.
King. What ring was yours, I pray you?
Dia. [Sir], much like
The same upon your finger.
225
King. Know you this ring? this ring was his of late.
Dia. And this was it I gave him, being a-bed.
King. The story then goes false, you threw it him
Out of a casement.
[Dia. I have spoke the truth.]
Ber. My lord, I do confess the ring was [hers].
230
King. You boggle shrewdly, every feather starts you.
Is this the man you speak of?
Dia. [Ay,] my lord.
King. [Tell me, sirrah], [but tell me true], I charge you,
Not fearing the displeasure of your master,
Which on your just proceeding I'll keep off,
By him and by this woman here what know you?
Par. So please your majesty, my master hath been
an honourable [gentleman]: tricks he hath had in him, which
gentlemen have.
King. Come, come, to the purpose: did he love this
woman?
Par. Faith, sir, he did love her; [but how]?
King. How, I pray you?
Par. He did love her, sir, as a [gentleman] loves a woman.
King. How is that?
245
Par. He loved her, sir, and loved her not.
King. As thou art a [knave], and no knave. What an
equivocal companion is this!
Par. I am a poor man, and at your majesty's command.
Laf. He's a good drum, my lord, but a naughty orator.
250
Dia. Do you know he promised me marriage?
Par. Faith, I know more than I'll speak.
King. [But] wilt thou not speak all thou knowest?
Par. Yes, so please your majesty. I did go between
them, as I said; but more [than that, he] [loved her]: for indeed
he was mad for her, and talked of Satan, and of Limbo,
and of Furies, and I know not what: yet I was in that
credit with them at that time, that I knew of their going to
bed, and of other motions, as promising her marriage, and
things [which] would derive me ill will to speak of; therefore
I will not speak what I know.
King. Thou hast spoken all already, unless thou [canst]
say they are married: but thou art too fine in thy evidence;
therefore stand aside.
This ring, you say, was yours?
Dia. Ay, my good lord.
265
King. Where did you buy it? or who gave it you?
Dia. It was not given me, [nor I did not] buy it.
King. Who lent it you?
Dia. It was not lent me neither.
King. Where did you find it, then?
Dia. I found it not.
King. If it were yours by none of all these ways,
How could you give it him?
270
Dia. I never [gave it] him.
Laf. This woman's an easy glove, my lord; she goes
off and on at pleasure.
King. This ring was mine; I gave it his first wife.
Dia. It might be yours or hers, for aught I know.
275
King. Take her away; I do not like her now;
To prison with her: and away with him.
Unless thou tell'st me where thou hadst this ring,
Thou diest within this hour.
Dia. I'll never tell you.
King. Take her away.
Dia. I'll put in bail, my liege.
280
King. I think thee now some common customer.
Dia. By [Jove], if ever I knew man, 'twas [you].
King. Wherefore hast thou accused him all this while?
Dia. Because he's guilty, and he is not guilty:
He knows I am no maid, and he'll swear to't;
I'll swear I am a maid, and he knows not.
Great king, I am no strumpet, by my life;
[I am] either maid, or else this [old] man's wife.
King. She does abuse our ears: to prison with her.
Dia. Good mother, fetch my bail. Stay, royal sir: [[Exit Widow].
The jeweller that owes the ring is sent for,
And he shall surety me. But for this lord,
Who hath abused me, as he knows himself,
Though yet he never harm'd me, here I quit him:
He knows himself my bed he hath defiled;
And at that time he got his wife with child:
Dead though she be, she feels her young one kick:
So there's my riddle,—One that's dead is quick:
And now behold the meaning.
[Re-enter] Widow, with Helena.
King. Is there no exorcist
Beguiles the truer office of mine eyes?
Is't real that I see?
300
Hel. No, my good lord;
'Tis but the shadow of a wife you see,
The name and not the thing.
Ber. Both, both. O, pardon!
Hel. O my good lord, when I was like this maid,
I found you wondrous kind. There is your ring;
And, look you, here's your letter; this it says:
'When from my finger you can get this ring
[And are] by me with child,' &c. [This is done]:
Will you be mine, now you are doubly won?
Ber. If she, my liege, can make me know this clearly,
I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly.
Hel. If it appear not plain and prove untrue,
Deadly divorce step between me and you!
O my dear mother, do I see you living?
Laf. Mine eyes smell onions; I shall weep anon:
[To Parolles] Good Tom Drum, lend me a [handkercher]: [so,]
[I thank] thee: wait on me home, I'll make sport with thee:
Let thy courtesies alone, they are scurvy ones.
King. Let us from point to point this story know,
To make the even truth in pleasure flow.
[[To Diana]] If thou be'st yet a fresh uncropped flower,
Choose thou thy husband, and I'll pay thy dower;
For I can guess that by thy honest aid
[Thou kept'st] a wife herself, thyself a maid.
Of that and all the progress, more [or] less,
[Resolvedly] more leisure shall express:
All yet seems well; and if it end so meet,
The bitter past, more welcome is the sweet. [[Flourish].
LINENOTES:
[Scene III.] The Count's palace.] A Room of State in the Palace. Capell.
[Countess] old Lady Ff.
[1] [of her] F1 F2. om. F3 F4.
[esteem] estate Warburton conj. (withdrawn).
[6] [blaze] Warburton. blade Ff.
[8] [O'erbears ... burns] O'er-bear ... burn Hanmer.
[12, 13] [But ... lady] Hanmer these lines at did ... lady.
[21] [We are] We're Pope.
[23] [nature] matter Hanmer.
[24] [we do] do we Reed.
[28] [What ... spoke?] As two lines in Ff, ending daughter ... spoke?
[30, 31] [Printed] as prose in Ff. First as verse by Pope.
[31] [set] Rowe. sets Ff.
[32] [I am] I'm Pope.
[Scene IV.] Pope.
Enter Bertram.] Enter Count Bertram. Ff.
[39] [forward] forehead Anon. conj.
[44] [Admiringly, my liege, at first] F3 F4. Admiringly my liege, at first F1 F2. Admiringly, my liege. At first Rowe. Admiringly, my liege. Even at first Hanmer. Admiringly, my liege; at the first sight Capell. Admiringly. My liege, at first Collier.
[49] [warp'd] warpt F1 F2. wrapt F3 F4.
[50] [Scorn'd] Scorch'd Hanmer (Warburton). Scors'd Becket conj.
[58, 59] [Like ... offence,] (Like ... To an offender) turns to sour repentanceHanmer.
[carried, ... sender] Theobald. carried ... sender, Ff. carried, ... sender, Rowe.
[59] [sour] sore Collier MS.
[60] [that's gone] that is gone Rowe (ed. 2).
[Our] Our own Capell.
[faults] thoughts Long MS.
[61] [trivial] triviall F1 F2. triall F3. trial F4.
[65, 66] [Our ... afternoon] omitted in Collier MS.
[65] [own] old Collier (Mason conj.).
[66] [shameful hate] shapeful hate F4. shame full late W. G. C. (Fras. Mag.) conj.
[sleeps] slept Johnson conj.
[67, 68] [forget her] ... fair Maudlin] forget ... Margaret Anon. conj.
[71] [Count.] Theobald. Continued to King in Ff. O dear] dear Lloyd conj.
[72] [meet,] Rowe. meet F1 F2. meet F3 F4.
[in me] in one Long MS. cesse] F1. ceasse F2. ceass F3. cease F4.
[74] [digested] F1 F4. disgested F2 F3.
[76] [B. gives a ring.] Hanmer.
[79] [that e'er I] that ere I Ff. that e'er she Rowe. time e'er she Hanmer. time, ere she Collier (Collier MS.).
[that ... leave] leave that I took of her Jervis conj.
[85] [Necessitied] F1 F2 F3. Necessited F4.
[90] [I have] I've Pope.
[91] [life's] Rowe. lives Ff.
[I am] I'm Pope.
[96] [engaged] Rowe. ingag'd Ff. ungag'd Theobald. in gage Jackson conj.
[101] [Plutus] Rowe (ed. 2). Platus] Ff.
[110] [yourself] you selfe F2.
[114] [conjectural] connecturall F1.
[115] [would fain] should fain Capell (corrected in MS.).
[out.] out, F1 F2 F3. out; F4.
[120] [Guards seize B.] Rowe.
[122] [tax] F3 F4. taxe F2. taze F1.
[127] [Exit, guarded.] Rowe.
[128] [scene v.] Pope.
[I am] I'm Pope.
[thinkings] thinking Rowe.
[Enter....] Ff (after line 127). Enter the Astringer. Grant White.
[129] [I have] I've Pope.
[to blame] too blame Ff.
[131] [hath] had Heath conj.
[for four] some four Warburton.
[136] [importing] important Boswell (1821).
[139] [King, [reads] A letter. Ff. The King reads a letter. Rowe.
[143] [his] F1 F2. this F3 F4.
[144] [you it best] your breast it Hanmer.
[145, 157] [Capilet] Ff. Capulet Rowe.
[146] [fair] faire F1. feare F2. fear F3 F4.
[and toll] a toule Becket conj.
[146, 147] [toll for this:] I'll] toule for this. Ile F1. toule him for this. Ile F2 F3 F4. toll for him. For this, I'll Theobald, toll him: for this, I'll Steevens. toll: for this, I'll Collier (Mason conj.). towl him: for this, I'll Grant White.
[147] [this ... him] him ... this Anon, conj.
[150] [Exeunt some Attendants.] Capell. Exeunt Gentleman and some Attendants. Malone.
[151] [afeard] afraid Rowe.
[152] [Re-enter B., guarded.] Capell. Enter Bertram. Ff (after line 150).
[153] [sir, sith wives are monsters]
Dyce. sir, sir, wives are monsters F1. sir, wives are such monsters F2. sir, wives are so monstrous F3 F4. sir, since wives are monsters Steevens (Tyrwhitt conj.). sir, sin wives are monsters Becket conj. sir, for wives are monsters Collier (Egerton MS.).
[154] [them lordship] to them Rowe (ed. 2). them worship Anon. conj.
[155] [marry] wed Pope.
Enter Widdow, Diana, and Parolles. Ff. Re-enter Gentleman with Widow and Diana. Malone. Enter the Astringer with ... Grant White.
[157] [Capilet] Capulets Heath conj.
[163] [hither] F2 F3 F4. hether F1.
[count; do you] count; do you not Hanmer. count; say, do you Capell. county, do you S. Walker conj.
[168] [that is] this is or that were Seymour conj.
[170] [myself] my flesh Hanmer.
[174] [too] om. Hanmer, who reads lines 174, 175 as verse, ending comes ... her.
[To Bertram. Rowe.
[179] [Than for] Than e'er Pope. Than so Collier MS.
[181] [them: fairer] Hanmer (Theobald conj.). them fairer: Ff.
[182] [Good] Now, good Hanmer.
[192, 204] [o'] Rowe. a' Ff.
[193] [Count.] Coun. F1. Boun. F2. Old La. F3 F4.
['tis it] Capell. 'tis hit Ff. 'tis his Pope. is hit Malone conj. 'tis fit Henley conj.
[195] [to the sequent] to 'th sequent F1 F2. to th' sequent F3 F4. to th' subsequent Pope.
[196] [it] so Hanmer.
[202] [Exit an Attendant.] Dyce.
[him?] F2 F3 F4. him: F1.
[205] [Whose nature sickens but] ... truth.] Hanmer. Whose nature sickens: but ... truth, Ff. Which nature sickens with: but to speak truth, Rowe.
[210] [for me] F1. of me F2 F3 F4.
[214] [infinite cunning] Singer (S. Walker conj.). insuite comming F1. insuit comming F2 F3. insuit coming F4. in suit coming Hanmer. insuit cunning Easy conj. instant comity Bubier conj.
infinite ... grace] own suit joining with her mothers, scarce Heath conj.
modern] modest Long MS.
[216] [any] an or my S.Walker conj.
[218] [have turn'd off] Ff. turn'd off Rowe (ed. 2).
[219] [diet] edict Jackson conj.
[221] [it] this Hanmer.
[223, 224] [Sir, ... finger] Metre as in Capell. As one line in Ff. Much like that same upon your finger, sir. Hanmer.
[228] [Dia. I have ... truth] omitted by Rowe.
[Enter P.] Ff. Re-enter Attendant, with P. Dyce (after line 230).
[229] [Scene vi.] Pope.
[231] [Ay] It is Theobald.
[232] [Tell me, sirrah] Now tell me, sirrah Capell.
[sirrah, but tell me true] but tell me true, sirrah Hanmer.
[236] [gentleman] gentlemen F2.
[241, 242] [but how?] King. How,] King. But how, how, Malone conj.
[243] [gentleman] Rowe. Gent. Ff.
[246] [knave.] knave, Ff. knave; Rowe.
[252] [But] What! Capell conj.
[254] [than that, he] F4. then that he F1 F2. then that, he F3.
[loved her:] lov'd her,—Capell.
[259] [which] F1 F2. that F3 F4.
[261-263] [Collier prints] as three lines ending canst ... fine ... aside.
[266] [nor I did not] F1 F2. nor did not F3 F4. nor did I Theobald.
[270] [gave it] gave't S. Walker conj.
[281] [Jove] God Nicholson conj.
[287] [I am] I'm Pope.
[old] ]om. Long MS.
[Pointing to Laf. Rowe.
[289] [Exit Widow.] Pope.
[298] [Re-enter...] Capell. Enter Hellen and Widow. Ff.
[307] [And are] Rowe. And is Ff.
[This is done] This now is done Hanmer.
[315-317] [Hanmer prints] as three lines ending handkerchief, ... with thee: ... ones.
[315] [To Parolles] Rowe.
Good ... handkercher] as a verse in Ff. Now good.... Hanmer.
handkercher] handkerchief Rowe.
[316] [I thank] 'thank Hanmer.
[320] [To Diana] Rowe.
[323] [Thou kept'st] Thou'st kept Anon. conj.
kept'st] keptst F1. keeptst F2. keepest F3 F4. keep'st Rowe (ed. 1). kep'st Rowe (ed. 2).
[324] [or] and Theobald.
[325] [Resolvedly] F4. Resoldvedly F1. Resoldv'dly F2 F3.
[327] [Flourish.] Ff. Exeunt. Rowe.
[EPILOGUE].
King. The king's a beggar, now the play is done:
All is well ended, if this suit be won,
That you express content; which we will pay,
With [strife] to please you, day [exceeding] day:
Ours be your patience then, and yours our parts;
Your gentle hands lend us, and take our hearts.
[Exeunt.
LINENOTES:
[Epilogue.] Rowe. Epilogue spoken by the King. Pope. Advancing. Capell.
[4] [strife] strift F1.
[exceeding] succeeding. [See note (xviii)].
NOTES.
Dramatis Personæ. In the Folios Rousillon is spelt, almost without exception, 'Rossillion,' and Helena in the stage directions 'Hellen.' As the Clown's name occurs in the play we have introduced it among the 'Dramatis Personæ,' changing however the spelling from 'Lavatch' to 'Lavache.'
Violenta, whose name occurs in the stage direction at the beginning of Act iii. Sc. 5, is a mute personage, but as it is possible that Diana's first speech in that scene should be given to her, we have retained the name in the list.
i. 1. 153. It cannot be doubted that there is some omission here. The editors, except Steevens, who is satisfied with the text as it stands, substantially agree either with Hanmer's emendation or Malone's. Mr Grant White, however, thinks that in either case the transition would be too abrupt and that the passage omitted was longer and more important.
If it were not for the
'Pretty fond adoptious christendoms
That blinking Cupid gossips,'
we should be inclined to suppose that the whole passage was by another hand. Indeed all the foregoing dialogue between Helena and Parolles is a blot on the play. Mr Badham (Cambridge Essays, 1856, p. 256) would strike out the whole passage (105-152) from 'Ay, you have &c.' to 'Will you any thing with it?' as an interpolation.
i. 3. 50. No one has been able to discover the origin of the names 'Charbon' and 'Poysam,' or to guess at any probable meaning for them. Yet it is not likely that they should have been given at random. Is it possible that Shakespeare may have written 'Chairbonne' and 'Poisson,' alluding to the respective lenten fare of the Puritan and the Papist?
The same suggestion was made independently by Mr Easy (Notes and Queries, 3rd S. iv. 106) after the present note was in the printers' hands (Ibid. p. 203).
i. 3. 106. We have not inserted Theobald's admirable emendation in the text, because it is probable that something more has been omitted, perhaps a whole line of the MS.
Becket would transpose the sentences and read thus:
'... level. This she delivered ... exclaim in.—Queen of Virgins! that ... afterward. This I held....'
We take this opportunity of saying that many of Becket's proposed changes are so sweeping that we found it impossible to record them in the compass of a foot-note, and at the same time so improbable, that we did not think it worth while to record them separately at the end.
i. 3. 118. We have followed the Folios in placing Helena's entry after line 118, rather than after 126, as most recent editors have done. The Countess may be supposed to be observing Helena earnestly as she enters with slow step and downcast eyes. Her words have thus more force and point.
ii. 1. 1, 2. The editors have for the most part followed Hanmer's correction 'lord ... lord' for 'lords ... lords,' the reading of the Folios, on the ground that there is no reason why the lords who are taking leave should be divided into two sections. But from the stage direction 'divers young Lords,' it is clear that there are more than two. Mr Staunton thinks that the king first addresses himself to the young lords in general, and then turns to the two who are spokesmen in the scene and bids them share in the advice just given to their companions.
We rather incline to think that the young lords are divided into two sections according as they intended to take service with the 'Florentines' or the 'Senoys.' The king had said, i. 2. 13-15:
Yet, for our gentlemen that mean to see
The Tuscan service, freely have they leave
To stand on either part.
Throughout this scene the two speakers whom Rowe and all subsequent editors have called 'First' and 'Second Lord' are called in the Folios 'Lord G.' and 'Lord E.' In all likelihood, as Capell has suggested, the parts were originally played by two actors whose names began respectively with G and E; and, in fact, in the list of 'Principall Actors' prefixed to the first Folio we find the names 'Gilburne,' 'Goughe' and 'Ecclestone.' The same actors doubtless took the parts of the two gentlemen who bring the letter to Helena in the 2nd scene of Act iii., and who in the stage directions of the Folio are termed 'Fren. G.' and 'Fren. E.' Mr Collier indeed interprets these words to mean 'French Envoy' and 'French Gentleman,' but they are spoken of as 'two gentlemen' in the stage direction at line 41, and one was as much an 'envoy' as the other. This interpretation moreover leaves the 'G.' and 'E.' of the former scene and of subsequent scenes quite unexplained. Some have supposed the 'two gentlemen' of iii. 1, to be the same as the 'two lords' of ii. 1, and as far as the action of the Drama is concerned, there is no reason why they should not be, but when the two lords reappear in iii. 6 they are introduced thus; 'Enter Count Rossillion and the Frenchmen, as at first:' which seems to prove that the two gentlemen were different persons though played by the same actors. In this latter scene the two lords are called Cap. G. and Cap. E. according to their rank in the Florentine service. The confusion of speakers in the dialogue at the close of this scene will be remedied if we suppose the Folio to have printed Cap. G. by mistake for Cap. E. in line 97 and Cap. E. for Cap. G. in lines 99, 105. 'Lord E.' appears again in iv. 1, and 'Cap. G.' and 'Cap. E.' in iv. 3.
ii. 1. 3. Johnson in his note to this passage says that all the latter copies have '... if both again,' and that Sir T. Hanmer reads 'if both gain all.' The statement as to Hanmer's reading was corrected in the 'Steevens and Johnson' of 1793, but that as to all the latter copies, though equally erroneous, was allowed to remain.
ii. 1. 23. In the absence of any guidance from the Folios we have thought it better to follow Pope, who makes the king leave the stage, than Capell, who supposes that he retires to a couch. Bertram and Parolles could hardly, consistently with the etiquette of a court, or indeed the rules of good manners (of which Shakespeare had an instinctive knowledge), carry on a whispered conversation in the royal presence. The king we may suppose is carried out on a couch. When Bertram says, 'Stay: the king,' the ushers in attendance throw open the folding doors at the back of the stage, Bertram and Parolles retire close to one of the side doors, and while they are speaking together then the king is borne in upon his couch to the front of the stage. To say that the king retires to a couch, as Capell does, would imply that he was able to walk, but from what Lafeu says, lines 61, 62, it is clear that he could not even stand. We must therefore suppose that he is reclining on a couch throughout the whole scene. Thus, at his first appearance, his illness would be made evident to the spectators. After they have set the couch down, the attendants retire to the back of the stage so as to be out of ear-shot.
ii. 1. 46. As printed in the Folios, the words 'what will ye do?' seem to be a taunt addressed, after the speaker's manner, to the young lords when their backs were turned and they were out of hearing.
ii. 1. 142. The correction made by Theobald is found also in a MS. note on the margin of the copy of the first Folio, which belongs to Lord Ellesmere, i.e. 'ffits' for 'shifts.' Theobald's emendation 'loneliness' for 'loveliness,' i. 3. 162, is also found there.
ii. 3. 282. In the margin of the third Folio belonging to the Capell collection an unknown hand has made the correction 'detested' for 'detected.'
ii. 5. 36. Another reading proposed by an anonymous correspondent of Theobald's will be found in his Letters to Warburton, Nichols' Illustrations, ii. 346.
iii. 3. 3. Mr Grant White says that the Folio has merely 'Sir it'—'is' having dropped out. He appears to have quoted from the reprint of the first Folio, published in 1808. The copies to which we have access read 'Sir it is.'
iii. 7. 22. In this, as in so many other cases, Capell was the first to restore the true reading from F1. Steevens follows him, but as usual without acknowledgement. Sometimes as at v. 3. 193, he passes his authority over in silence, sometimes as at i. 2. 35, he sedulously attributes to some one else that which was undoubtedly Capell's by priority of publication. At iv. 3. 152 he assigns to an anonymous correspondent a reading which Hanmer had introduced. Steevens probably derived his knowledge of it from Capell, who had adopted it. Such unworthy practices go far to explain and justify the enmities of which Steevens was the object during his life-time.
iv. 2. 25. The word Jove's has here probably been substituted for the original God's in obedience to the statute against profanity. Read 'God's' and all is plain. 'How,' asks Diana, 'can you believe me if I swear by the purity and holiness of God to do an impure and unholy deed?'
Johnson said in his note that he could hardly distinguish whether the reading of the first Folio were Iove's or Love's. Ritson, who was not ashamed lusco dicere 'lusce,' taunted him bitterly.
iv. 3. 55. Mr Singer says that the old copy (meaning the first Folio) misprints selfe for itselfe. Mr Collier tells us that some copies of F1 have itselfe. All the copies we know of read it selfe.
v. 2. 4. Warburton adopts Theobald's reading and copies in substance his note, but he has not claimed it in his copy of Theobald's edition. The conjecture was originally made in one of Theobald's letters to Warburton, Capell adopted the emendation, but afterwards repented.
Epilogue, 4. Mr Collier, in his second edition, quotes this substitution of 'succeeding' for 'exceeding,' but does not say by whom it was proposed.
TWELFTH NIGHT;
OR,
WHAT YOU WILL.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ[9].
| Orsino, Duke of Illyria. | |
| Sebastian, brother to Viola. | |
| Antonio, a sea captain, friend to Sebastian. | |
| A Sea Captain, friend to Viola. | |
| Valentine, | }gentlemen attending on the Duke. |
| Curio, | } |
| Sir Toby Belch, uncle to Olivia. | |
| Sir Andrew Aguecheek. | |
| Malvolio, steward to Olivia. | |
| Fabian, | } servants to Olivia. |
| Feste a Clown, | } |
| Olivia. | |
| Viola. | |
| Maria, Olivia's woman. | |
| Lords, Priests, Sailors, Officers, Musicians, and | |
| other Attendants. | |
| Scene: A city in Illyria, and the sea-coast near it. |