To marry her, I'll add three thousand crowns Wid. I have yielded: Instruct my daughter how she shall persever, To chide him from our eaves; for he persists, Hel. Why then, to-night Let us assay our plot; which, if it speed, [Exeunt. SCENE I. ACT IV. Part of the French Camp in Florence. Lord. HE E can come no other way but by this hedge' corner: When you sally upon him, speak what terrible language you will; though you understand it not yourselves, no mat 25 ter: for we must not seem to understand him; unless some one amongst us, whom we must produce for an interpreter. Sol. Good captain, let me be the interpreter. Lord. Art not acquainted with him? knows 30 he not thy voice? Sol. No, sir, I warrant you. Lord. But what linsy-woolsy hast thou to speak to us again? Sol. Even such as you speak to me. 1351 Lord. He must think us some band of strangers 'the adversaries' entertainment. Now he hath a sinack of all neighbouring languages; therefore we must every one be a man of his own fancy, not to know what we speak one to another; so we seem 40 to know, is to know straight our purpose: chough's language, gabble enough, and good enough. As for you, interpreter, you must seem very politick. But couch, ho! here he comes; to beguile two hours in sleep, and then to return and swear the 45 lies he forges. Enter Parolles. Par. Ten o'clock: within these three hours 'twill] be time enough to go home. What shall I say I have done? It must be a very plausive invention 50 that carries it: They begin to smoke me: and disgraces have of late knock'd too often at my door. I find my tongue is too fool-hardy; but my heart hath the fear of Mars before it, and of his creatures, not daring the reports of my tongue. Lord. This is the first truth that e'er thine own tongue was guilty of. Aside say, I got them in exploit: Yet slight ones will not carry it. They will say, Came you off with so little? and great ones I dare not give; Wherefore? what's the instance? Tongue, I must put you intoa butter-woman's mouth,and buy another' of Bajazet's mule, if you prattle me into these perils. Lord. Is it possible, he should know what he is, and be that he is? [Aside, Par. I would, the cutting of my garments would serve the turn; or the breaking of my Spanish sword. Pur. Though I swore I leap'd from the window lof the citadel Lord. How deep? [Aside. Lord. Three great oaths would scarce make Lord. You shall hear one anon. [Aside. [Alarum within. Lord. Throca morousus, cargo, cargo, cargo. All. Cargo, cargo, villianda par corbo,cargo. Par. Oh! ransom, ransom:-Do not hide mine eyes. [They seize him and blindfold him. Inter. Boskos thromuldo boskos. Par. I know you are the Muskos' regiment, Par. What the devil should move me to undertake the recovery of this drum; being not ignorant of the impossibility, and knowing had no such 60 purpose? I must give myself some hurts, and Discover that which shall undo the Florentine. I understand thee, and can speak thy tongue:- Betake thee to thy faith, for seventeen poniards ' Bertram's meaning is wicked in a lawful deed, and Helen's meaning is lawful in a lawful act; and neither of them sin: yet on his part it was a sinful act, for his meaning was to commit adultery, of which he was innocent, as the lady was his wife. i. e. proof. i. e. a silent one. Par. 5 10 [rolles. 15 Come on, thou art granted space. [Exit withPa[A short alarum within. Lord. Go,tell the count Rousillon, and my brother, We have caught the woodcock, and will keep him 'Till we do hear from them. Sol. Captain, I will. [muilled 20 Lord. He will betray us all unto ourselves: Inform 'em that. Sol. So I will, sir. Lord. 'Till then I'll keep him dark, and safely 25 And worth it, with addition! But, fair soul, Dia. She then was honest. Ber. So should you be. My mother did but duty; such, my lord, wife, Br. No more of that! I pr'ythee, do not strive against my vows; By love's own sweet constraint, and will for ever Dia. Ay, so you serve us, 'Till we serve you: but when you have our roses, You barely leave our thorns to prick ourselves, And mock us with our barrenness, Ber. How have I sworn? [truth Dia. 'Tis not the many oaths, that make the But the plain single vow, that is vow'd true. What is not holy, that we swear not by, But take the highest to witness': Then, pray you, tell me, If I should swear by Jove's great attributes, I lov'd you dearly, would you believe my oaths, Ber. Change it, change it; Be not so holy-cruel: love is holy; [off, And my integrity ne'er knew the crafts, Dia. I see, that men make hopes in such affairs, Dia. Will you not, my lord? Ber. It is an honour 'longing to our house, Dia. Mine honour's such a ring: Ber. Here, take my ring : My house, mine honour, yea, my life be thine, 35 And I'll be bid by thee. Dia. When midnight comes, knock at my I'll order take, my mother shall not hear. them, Dia. For which live long to thank both heaven You may so in the end. [and me! My mother told me just how he would woo, 60 Only, in this disguise, I think't no sin To cozen him, that would unjustly win. [Exit. The sense is, we never swear by what is not holy, but swear by, or take to witness, the Highest, the Divinity. i. e. crafty or deceitful. SCENE Act 4. Scene 3.] ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.' SCENE III. The Florentine Camp. Enter the trvo French Lords, and trvo or three Soldiers. 1 Lord. You have not given him his mother's letter? 2 Lord. I have deliver'd it an hour since: there is something in't that stings his nature; for, on the reading it, he chang'd almost into another man. 1 Lord. The stronger part of it by her own 2 Lord. Hath the count all this intelligence? 1 Lord. He has much worthy blame laid upon him, for shaking off so good a wife, and so sweet 10 of this. a lady. 2 Lord. Especially he hath incurred the everlasting displeasure of the king, who had even tun'd his bounty to sing happiness to him. I will tell you a thing, but you shall let it dwell darkly with you. 1 Lord. When you have spoken it, 'tis dead. and I am the grave of it. 15 2 Lord. He hath perverted a young gentlewoman here in Florence, of a most chaste renown; and 20 this night he fleshes his will in the spoil of he honour: he hath given her his monumental ring, and thinks himself made in the unchaste composition. 1 Lord. Now God d lay our rebellion; as we are ourselves, what things are we! 1 Lord. How mightily, sometimes, we make us comforts of our losses! 2 Lord. And how mightily, some other times, we drown our gain in tears! The great dignity, that his valour hath here acquired for him, shall at home be encounter'd with a shame as ample. 1 Lord. The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud, f our faults whipp'd them not; and our crimes would despair, if they were not cherish'd by our virtues. Enter a Servant. How now? where's your master? Serv. He met the duke in the street, sir, of 25 whom he hath taken a solemn leave; his lordship will next morning for France. The duke hath offered him letters of tommendations to the king. 2 Lord. They shall be no more than needful there, if they were more than they can commend. Enter Bertram. 2 Lord. Merely our own traitors. And as in the common course of all trea ons, we still see them reveal themselves, till they attain to their abhorr'd ends; so he, that in this action contrives against his own nobility, in his proper stream o'er 30| flows himself'. 1 Lord. Is it not meant damnable in us, to be trumpeters of our unlawful intents? We shall not then have his company to-night? 2 Lord. Not till after midnight; for he is dieted 35 to his hour. -1 Lord. That approaches apace: I would gladly have him see his company anatomized; that he might take a measure of his own judgment, wherein so curiously he had set this counterfeit. 2 Lord. We will not meddle with him till he come: for his presence must be the whip of the other. you of 1 Lord. In the mean time, what hear these wars? 2 Lord. I hear there is an overture of peace. 1 Lord. Nay, I assure you, a peace concluded. 2 Lord. What will count Rousillon do then? will he travel higher, or return again into France ? 40 45 1 Lord. I perceive by this demand, you are not 50 altogether of his counsel. 2 Lord. Let it be forbid, sir! so should I be a great deal of his act. 1 Lord. Sir, his wife, some two months since, fled from his house; her pretence is a pilgrimage 55 to Saint Jaques le grand; which holy undertaking, with most austere sanctimony, she accomplish'd and, there residing, the tenderness of her nature became as a prey to her grief; in fine, made a groan of her last breath, and now she sings in 60 heaven. 2 Lord. How is this justified? 1 Lord. They cannot be too sweet for the king's tartness. Here's his lordship now. How now, my lord, is't not after midnight? Ber. I have to-night dispatch'd sixteen businesses, ́ a month's length a-piece, by an abstract of success: I have conge'd with the duke, done my adiea with his nearest; buried a wife, mourn'd for her; writ to my lady mother, I am returning; entertain'd my convoy; and, between these main parcels of dispatch, effected many nicer needs: the last was the greatest, but that I have not ended yet. 3 Lord. If the business be of any difficulty, and this morning your departure hence, it requires haste of your lordship. Ber. I mean, the business is not ended, as fearng to hear of it hereafter: But shall we have this dialogue between the fool and the soldier?--Come, bring forth this counterfeit module; he has deceiv'd me like a double-meaning prophesier. 2 Lord. Bring him forth: he hath sat in the stocks all night, poor gallant knave. Ber. No matter; his heels have deserv'd it, in surping his spurs so long. How does he carry aimselt? 1 Lord. I have told your lordship already; the tocks carry him. But, to answer you as you would be understood; he weeps, like a wench that had shed her milk: he hath confess'd hinself to Morgan, whom he supposes to be a friar, trom the time of his remembrance, to this very instant disaster of his sitting i' the stocks: And what, think you, he hath confest ? The meaning is, betrays his own secrets in his own talk. 2 Module means pattern. Ber. Ber. Nothing of me, has he? 2 Lord. His confession is taken, and it shall be read to his tace: if your lordship be in't, as I believe you are, you must have the patience to hear it. Re-enter Soldiers with Parolies. Ber. A plague upon him! muilled! he can say nothing of me; hush! hush! 1 Lord. Hoodman comes!-Porto tartarossa. Inter. He calls for the tortures; What will you say without 'em? Par. I will confess what I know without constraint: if ye pinch me like a pasty, I can say no more. Inter. Bosko chimurcho. 2 Lord. Boblibindo chicurmurco. Inter. You are a merciful general:--Ourgenera! bids you answer to what I shall ask you out ofa note. Pur. And truly, as I hope to live Inter. First demand of him how many horse "the duke is strong." What say you to that? Par. Five or six thousand; but very weak and unserviceable: the troops are all scatter'd, and the commanders very poor rogues; upon my reputa-] tion and credit, and as I hope to live. Inter. Shall I set down your answer so? Par. Do; I'll take the sacrament on't, how and which way you will: all's one to him'. Ber. What a past-saving slave is this! 1 Lord. Nothing, but let him have thanks. Demand of him my conditions, and what credit I have with the duke. Inter. Well, that's set down. "You shall de5 "mand of him, whether one captain Dumain be "i' the camp, a Frenchman; what his reputation is with the duke, what his valour, honesty, and expertness in wars; or whether he thinks, it "were not possible with well-weighing sums of 10" gold to corrupt him to a revolt." What say you to this? what do you know of it? 15 201 25 1 Lord. You are deceiv'd, my lord; this is monsieur Parolles, the gallant militarist, (that was 30 his own phrase) that had the whole theorique of war in the knot of his scarf, and the practice in the chape of his dagger. 2 Lord. I will never trust a man again, for keeping his sword clean; nor believe he can have every 35 thing in him, by wearing his apparel neatly. Inter. Well, that's set down. Par. Five or six thousand horse, I said,-I will say true, or thereabouts, set down,-for I'll speak truth. 1 Lord. He's very near the truth in this. Par. Poor rogues, I pray you, say. Pur. I humbly thank you, sir: a truth's a truth, the rogues are marvellous poor. Inter. "Demand of him, of what strength they "are afoot." What say you to that? [40] 46 Par. I beseech you, let me answer to the particular of the interrogatories: Demand them singly. Inter. Do you know this captain Dumain? Par. I know him: he was a botcher's 'prentice in Paris, from whence he was whipp'd for getting the sheriff's fool with child; a dumb innocent, that could not say him, nay. [Dumain lifts up his hand in anger. Ber. Nay,by your leave hold your hands; though Iknow, his brains are forfeit to the nexttile thatfalls. Inter. Well, is this captain in the duke of Florence's camp? Par. Upon my knowledge, he is, and lousy. 1 Lord. Nay, look not so upon me; we shall hear of your lordship anon. Inter. What is his reputation with the duke? Par. The duke knows him for no other but a poor officer of mine; and writ to me the other day, to turn him out o' the band: I think, I have his letter in my pocket. Inter. Marry, we'll search. Par. In good sadness, I do not know; either is there, or it is upon a file, with the duke's other letters, in my tent. it Inter. Here 'tis; here's a paper; Shall I read it to you? Par. I do not know, if it be it, or no. Ber. Our interpreter does it well. 1 Lord. Excellently. Inter. "Dian. The count's a fool, and full of "gold," Par. That is not the duke's letter, sir; that is an advertisement to a proper maid in Florence, 45 one Diana, to take heed of the allurement of one count Rousillon, a foolish idle boy, but, for all that, very ruttish: I pray you, sir, put it up again. Inter. Nay, I'll read it first, by your favour. Par. My meaning in't, I protest, was very 50honest in the behalf of the maid; for I knew the young count to be a dangerous and lascivious boy; who is a whale to virginity, and devours up all the fry it finds. Par. By my troth, sir, if I were to live this present hour, I will tell true. Let me see: Spurio a hundred and fifty, Sebastian so many, Corambus so many, Jaques so many; Guiltian, Cosmo, Lodowick, and Gratii, two hundred fifty each: mine own company, Chitopher, Vaumond, Bentii, two 55 hundred and fitty each; so that the muster file, rotten and sound, upon my life, amounts not to fifteen thousand poll; half of the which dare not shake the snow from off their cassocks', lest they shake themselves to pieces. Ber. What shall be done to him? [60] Ber. Damnable, both sides rogue! Interpreter reads the letter. "When he swears oaths, bid him drop gold, and "take it: "After he scores, he never pays the score: "Half won, is match well made; match, and well "make it ; "He ne'er pays after-debts, take it before; The words "all's one to him" seem to belong to another speaker, and appear to be a proper remark of Bertram's upon Parolles's assertion. i. e. I am not obliged to him for it. To con is to know. 2 Cassock signifies a horseman's loose coat. "PAROLLES." Ber. He shall be whipp'd through the army, with this rhime in his torehead. 5 2 Lord. This is your devoted friend, sir, the 10 manifold linguist, and the armipotent soldier. Ber. I could endure any thing before but a cat, and now he's a cat to me. Inter. I perceive, sir, by our general's looks. we shall be fain to hang you. Par. My life, sir, in any case: not that I am afraid to die; but that, my offences being many, I would repent out the remainder of nature: let me live, sir, in a dungeon, i' the stocks, or any where, so I may live. Inter. We'll see what may be done, so you confess freely; therefore, once more to this captain Dumain: You have answer'd to his reputation with the duke, and to his valour; What is his honesty? 15 2 Lord. Why does he ask him of me? *Inter. What's he? Par. E'en a crow of the same nest; not altogether so great as the first in goodness, but greater a great deal in evil. He excels his brother for a coward, yet his brother is reputed one of the best that is: In a retreat he outruns any lacquey; marry, in coming on he has the cramp. Inter. If your life be saved, will you undertake to betray the Fiorentine? Par. Ay, and the captain of his horse, count Rousillon. Inter. I'll whisper with the general, and know his pleasure. Par. Il no more drumming; a plague of all drums! Only to seem to deserve well, and to beguile the supposition of that lascivious young boy the count, have I run into this danger: Yet, who would have suspected an ambush where I 20 was taken ? [Aside. 25 Par. He will steal, sir, an egg out of a cloister; for rapes and ravishments he parallels Nessus. He professes no keeping of oaths; in breaking them, he is stronger than Hercules. He will lie, sir,] with such volubility, that you would think truth 30 were a fool: drunkenness is his best virtue; for he will be swine-drunk; and in his sleep he does little harm, save to his bed-cloaths about him; but they know his conditions, and lay him in straw. I have but little more to say, sir, of his honesty: 35 he has every thing that an honest man should not have; what an honest man should have, he has nothing. Inter. There is no remedy, sir,but you must die: the general says, you, that have so traiterously discovered the secrets of your army, and made such pestiferous reports of men very nobly held, can serve the world for no very honest use; therefore you must die. Come, headsman, off with his head. Pur. O lord, sir; let me live, or let me see my death! Inter. That shall you, and take your leave of all your friends. [Unbinding him. So, look about you; Know you any here? Ber. Good-morrow, noble captain. 2 Lord. God bless you, captain Parolles. 1 Lord. God save you, noble captain. 2 Lord. Captain, what greeting will you to my lord Lafeu? I am for France. 1 Lord. Good captain, will you give me a copy of that same sonnet you writ to Diana in behalf of the count Rousillon an I were not a very coward, A40'd compel it of you; but fare you well. [Exeunt. Inter. You are undone, captain; all but your scarf, that has a knot on't yet. Pur. Who cannot be crush'd with a plot? Inter. If you could find out a country where but women were that had received so much shame, you might begin an impudent nation. Fare you well, sir; I am for France too; we shall speak of you there. 1 Lord. I begin to love him for this. Ber. For this description of thine honesty? pox upon him for me, he is more and more a cat. Inter. What say you to his expertness in war? Par. Faith, sir, he has led the drum before the English tragedians,—to belie him, I will not, and more of his soldiership I know not; except, in that 45 country, he had the honour to be the officer at a place there call'd Mile-end, to instruct for the doubling of files: I would do the man what honour I can, but of this I am not certain. 1 Lord. He hath out-villain'd villainy so far, that the rarity redeems him. Ber. A pox on him! he's a cat still. Inter. His qualities being at this poor price, I need not to ask you, if gold will corrupt him to revolt. Par. Sir, for a quart d'ecu he will sell the feesimple of his salvation, the inheritance of it; and cut the intail from all remainders, and a perpetual succession for it perpetually. 50 55 Inter. What's his brother, the other captain 60 Dumain? [Exit. Pur. Yet am I thankful: if my heart were great, As captain shall: simply the thing I am [Exit. To mell, is derived from the French word, meler, to mingle. 2 i. e. to deceive the opinion. SCENE |