Laf. [Returns.] Nay, come your ways. [Bringing in Helena. King. This hafte hath wings, indeed. This is his Majefty, fay your mind to him; well. [Exit. King. Now, fair One, do's your business follow us? Gerard de Narbon was my father, In what he did profefs, well found. King. I knew him. Hel. The rather will I fpare my praise towards him; Knowing him, is enough: on's bed of death Many receipts he gave me, chiefly one, Safer than mine own two: more dear I have fo; King. We thank you, maiden; Our great felf and our credit, to esteem A fenfelefs help, when help paft fense we deem. King. King. I cannot give thee lefs, to be call'd grateful; Hel. What I can do, can do no hurt to try, Oft does them by the weakest minister : So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown, When judges have been babes; great floods have flown When mir'cles have by th' greatest been deny'd. Where most it promises: and oft it hits King. I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind Thy pains, not us'd, muft by thy felf be paid: The help of heav'n we count the act of men. But know I think, and think I know most fure, King. Art thou fo confident? within what space. Hel. The greateft grace lending grace, What What is infirm from your found parts shall fly, Hel. Tax of impudence, A ftrumpet's boldness, a divulged fhame King. Methinks, in thee fome bleffed Spirit doth speak His powerful found, within an organ weak; In common fenfe, fenfe faves another way. And well deferv'd! Not helping, death's my fee; (9) Touth, beauty, wisdom, courage, all, &c.] This Verfe is too fhort by a Foot; and apparently fome Diffyllable is drop'd out by Mifchance. Mr. Warburton concurr'd with me in Conjecture to fupply the Verse thus: Touth, beauty, wisdom, courage, virtue, all, &c. Helena had laid a particular Stress on her maiden Reputation; and the King, afterwards, when he comes to speak of her to Bertram, fays; If the be All that is virtuous, (save, What thou dislik'st, King. (10) Make thy demand. Hel. But will you make it even ? King. Ay, by my fcepter, and my hopes of heaven. To chufe from forth the royal blood of France; King. Here is my hand, the premises obferv'd, More fhould I question thee, and more I muft; Count. SCENE changes to Roufillon. Enter Countess and Clown. [Exeunt. NOME on, Sir; I fhall now put you to the height of your breeding. Clown. I will fhew my felf highly fed, and lowly taught; I know, my business is but to the court. (10) King. Make thy Demand. Hel. But will you make it even ? King. Ay, by my Scepter and my hopes of help.] The King could have but a very flight Hope of Help from her, fcarce enough to fwear by: and therefore Helen might fufpect, he meant to equivocate with her. Besides, obferve, the greatest Part of the Scene is ftrictly in Rhyme: and there is no Shadow of Reason why it should be interrupted here. I rather imagine, the Poet wrote; Ay, by my Scepter, and my Hopes of Heaven. Dr. Thirlby. Count. you Count. But to the court? why, what place make special, when you put off that with fuch contempt; but to the court ! Clo. Truly, Madam, if God have lent a man any manners, he may easily put it off at court: he that cannot make a leg, put off's cap, kifs his hand, and fay nothing, has neither leg, hands, lip, nor cap; and, indeed, fuch a fellow, to fay precifely, were not for the court: but for me, I have an anfwer will ferve all men. Count. Marry, that's a bountiful anfwer that fits all questions. Clo. It is like a barber's chair, that fits all buttocks; the pin-buttock, the quatch-buttock, the brawn-buttock, or any buttock. Count. Will your anfwer ferve fit to all questions? Clo. As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an attorney, as your French crown for your taffaty punk, as Tib's ruth for Tom's fore-finger, as a pancake for Shrove Tuef day, a morris for May-day, as the nail to his hole, the cuckold to his horn, as a fcolding quean to a wrangling knave, as the nun's lip to the friar's mouth; nay, as the pudding to his skin. Count. Have you, I fay, an anfwer of fuch fitnefs for all questions? Clo. From below your duke, to beneath your conflable, it will fit any question. Count. It must be an answer of most monftrous fize, that must fit all demands. Clo. But a trifle neither, in good faith, if the learned fhould fpeak truth of it: here it is, and all that belongs to't. Ask me, if I am a courtier ;- -it fhall do you no harm to learn. - Count. To be young again, if we could: I will be a fool in a queftion, hoping to be the wifer by your answer. pray you, Sir, are you a courtier ? I Clo. O lord, Sir there's a fimple putting off: more, more, a hundred of them. Count. Sir, I am a poor friend of yours, that loves you. Clo. O lord, Sir-thick, thick, fpare not me. |