Part 18

_Count._ He blushes, and 'tis it: Of six preceding ancestors, that gem, Conferr'd by testament to the sequent issue, 195 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. 200

_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. 205 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, 210 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; 215 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, 220 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.

_King._ Know you this ring? this ring was his of late. 225

_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.

_Enter_ PAROLLES.

_Ber._ My lord, I do confess the ring was hers.

_King._ You boggle shrewdly, every feather starts you. 230 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? 235

_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? 240

_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?

_Par._ He loved her, sir, and loved her not. 245

_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.

_Dia._ Do you know he promised me marriage? 250

_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, 255 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. 260

_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.

_King._ Where did you buy it? or who gave it you? 265

_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?

_Dia._ I never gave it him. 270

_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.

_King._ Take her away; I do not like her now; 275 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.

_King._ I think thee now some common customer. 280

_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. 285 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, 290 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: 295 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?

_Hel._ No, my good lord; 300 '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: 305 '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. 310

_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, 315 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, 320 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: 325 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 repentance_Hanmer.

_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 Widow and Diana.

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.

[To Lafeu. Hanmer.

[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; 5 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.

NOTE I.

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.

NOTE II.

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.

NOTE III.

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).

NOTE IV.

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.

NOTE V.

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.

NOTE VI.

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.

NOTE VII.

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.

NOTE VIII.

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.

NOTE IX.

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.

NOTE X.

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.

NOTE XI.

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.'

NOTE XII.