With wearie limmes, at lengthe did sad departe:
And to him selfe quoth hee, I doe disdayne
These grapes I see, bicause their taste is tarte:
So thou, that hunt’st for that thou longe hast mist,
Still makes thy boast, thou maist if that thou list.”
Plantin, the famed printer of Antwerp, had, in 1583, put forth an edition of Faerni’s fables,[[144]] and thus undoubtedly it was that Whitney became acquainted with them; and from the intercourse then existing between Antwerp and London it would be strange if a copy had not fallen into Shakespeare’s hands.
Owing to some malady, the King of France, in All’s Well that Ends Well (act ii. sc. 1, l. 59, vol. iii. p. 133), is unable to go forth to the Florentine war with those whom he charges to be “the sons of worthy Frenchmen.” Lafeu, an old lord, has learned from Helena some method of cure, and brings the tidings to the king, and kneeling before him is bidden to rise,—
“King. I’ll fee thee to stand up.
Laf. Then here’s a man stands, that has brought his pardon.
I would you had kneel’d, my lord, to ask me mercy;