Count. Brought you this letter, gentlemen? 1 Gen. Ay, madam; And, for the contents' sake, are sorry for our pains. Count. I pr'ythee, lady, have a better cheer; If thou engrossest all the griefs are thine," Thou robb'st me of a moiety: He was my son; But I do wash his name out of my blood, And thou art all my child.-Towards Florence is he? 2 Gen. Ay, madam. Count. And to be a soldier? 2.Gen. Such is his noble purpose: and, believ't, • The duke will lay upon him all the honour That good convenience claims. Count. Return you thither? 1. Gen. Ay, madam, with the swiftest wing of speed. Hel. [reads.] Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France. "Tis bitter. Count. Find you that there? Hel. Ay, madam. 1 Gen. 'Tis but the boldness of his hand, haply, which His heart was not consenting to. Count. Nothing in France, until he have no wife! That twenty such rude boys might tend upon, Which I have some time known. Count. 1 Gen. Ay, my good lady, he. Parolles, was't not? Count. A very tainted fellow, and full of wickedness. My son corrupts a well-derived nature With his inducement. 1 Gen. Indeed, good lady, The fellow has a deal of that, too much, Which holds him much to have.h If thou engrossest all the griefs are thine, &c.] This sentiment is elliptically expressed. If thou keepest all thy sorrows to thyself, i. e. "all the griefs that are thine," &c.-STEEVENS. h a deal of that, too much, Which holds him much to have.] That is, his vices stand him in stead.WARBURTON. Count. You are welcome, gentlemen, To tell him, that his sword can never win The honour that he loses: more I'll entreat you 2 Gen. We serve you, madam, In that and all your worthiest affairs. Count. Not so, but as we change our courtesies.i Thou shalt have none, Rousillon, none in France, That drive thee from the sportive court, where thou I met the ravin' lion when he roar'd With sharp constraint of hunger; better 'twere Were mine at once: No, come thou home, Rousillon, m i Not so, &c.] The gentlemen declare that they are servants to the countess; she replies,-No otherwise than as she returns the same offices of civility.— JOHNSON. k still-piecing-] i. e. Closing as soon as divided.-The old reading is, move the still peering air;" the emendation which has been generally adopted, and which I have retained, was made by Steevens. Dr. Warburton supposes that the words have become accidently "shuffled into nonsense," and that the following transposition would rectify the passage:-" Pierce the still-moving air, That sings with piercing." ravin- i. e. Ravenous or ravening. m Whence honour but of danger, &c.] The sense is, from these wars, where all the advantages that honour usually reaps from the danger it rushes upon, As oft it loses all; I will be gone: My being here it is, that holds thee hence: SCENE III. Florence. Before the Duke's Palace. [Exit. Flourish. Enter the Duke of Florence, BERTRAM, Lords, Officers, Soldiers, and others. Duke. The general of our horse thou art; and we, Great in our hope, lay our best love and credence, Upon thy promising fortune. Ber. Sir, it is A charge too heavy for my strength; but yet To the extreme edge of hazard. Duke. And fortune play upon thy prosperous helm, As thy auspicious mistress! Ber. Then go thou forth; This very day, Great Mars, I put myself into thy file: Make me but like my thoughts; and I shall prove SCENE IV. [Exeunt. Rousillon. A Room in the Countess's Palace. Enter Countess and Steward. Count. Alas! and would you take the letter of her? Might you not know, she would do as she has done, By sending me a letter? Read it again. is only a scar in testimony of its bravery, as on the other hand, it often is the cause of losing all, even life itself.-HEATH. Stew. I am St. Jaques' pilgrim," thither gone: Where death and danger dog the heels of worth: He is too good and fair for death and me ; Whom I myself embrace, to set him free. Count. Ah, what sharp stings are in her mildest words! Rinaldo, you did never lack advice so much, As letting her pass so; had I spoke with her, Which thus she hath prevented. Stew. If I had given you this at over-night, Pardon me, madam : She might have been o'erta'en; and yet she writes, Count. What angel shall n St. Jaques' pilgrim,] From Heylin's France painted to the life, 8vo. 1656, we learn that at Orleans was a church dedicated to St. Jaques, to which pilgrims formerly used to resort, to adore a part of the cross pretended to be found there.-REED. When, haply, he shall hear that she is gone, SCENE V. Without the Walls of Florence. [Exeunt. A tucket afar off. Enter an old Widow of Florence. DIANA, VIOLENTA, MARIANA, and other Citizens. Wid. Nay, come; for if they do approach the city we shall lose all the sight. Dia. They say, the French count has done most ho nourable service. Wid. It is reported that he has taken their greatest commander; and that with his own hand he slew the duke's brother. We have lost our labour; they are gone a contrary way: hark! you may know by their trumpets. Mar. Come, let's return again, and suffice ourselves with the report of it. Well, Diana, take heed of this French earl: the honour of a maid is her name; and no legacy is so rich as honesty. Wid. I have told my neighbour, how you have been solicited by a gentleman his companion. Mar. I know that knave; hang him; one Parolles : a filthy officer he is in those suggestions" for the young earl.-Beware of them, Diana; their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines of lust, are not the things they go under: many a maid hath been. seduced by them; and the misery is, example, that so terrible shows in the wreck of maidenhood, cannot for suggestions-] Temptations. are not the things they go under :] They are not the things for which their names would make them pass.-JOHNSON. |