Imatges de pàgina
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Par. Faith, I know more than I'll speak.

King. But wilt thou not speak all thou know'st?

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 talk'd of Satan, and of Limbo, 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.

King. Thou hast spoken all already, unless thou canst say they are married: but thou art too fine 27 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?
Dia. It was not given me, nor I did not buy it.

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King. If it were yours by none of all these ways,

How could you give it him?

Dia.

I never gave't him.

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;

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.

27 Too fine here is too artful, too full of finesse.

King. Take her away.

Dia.

I'll put in bail, my liege.

King. I think thee now some common customer.
Dia. By Jove, if ever I knew man, 'twas 28

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. Great King, I am no strumpet, by my life; I'm either maid, or else this old man's wife.

[Pointing to LAFEU.

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,
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 29 him :
He knows himself my bed he hath defiled;

And at that time he got his wife with child :

Dead though she be, she feels her young one kick :

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28 This is probably addressed to Lafeu; in accordance with the close of her next speech.

29 Quit for acquit. Often so. See vol. iii., page 205, note 45.

30 Exorcist was sometimes used, like conjurer, for one who calls up spirits. Its proper meaning is one who expels them, or drives them away.

"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:
When from my finger you can get this ring,
And are by me with child, And 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.

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, 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 uncroppèd flower,
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 and less,
Resolvedly 31 more leisure shall express :
All yet seems well; and if it end so meet,
The bitter past, more welcome is the sweet. -

The King's a beggar, now the play is done :
All is well ended, if this suit be won,

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[Flourish.

81 Resolve and its derivatives were often used in the sense of to assure or to satisfy. So in Measure for Measure, iii. 1: “I am going to resolve him.” And again in iv. 2: This shall absolutely resolve you."

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That you express content; which we will pay,
With strife to please you, day exceeding day: 32
Ours be your patience then, and yours our parts; 33
Your gentle hands lend us, and take our hearts.

32" Day exceeding day" is more and more every day.

[Exeunt.

33 Our parts is our abilities, mental parts. 'Your hands lend us is "give us your applause"; by clapping hands, of course.

CRITICAL NOTES.

ACT I., SCENE 1.

Page 12. Whose worthiness would stir it up where it wanted, rather than slack it where there is such abundance. - So Warburton and Theobald. The original has lack instead of slack. Possibly a fitting sense may be wrung from lack, but hardly. See foot-note 2.

P. 12. Had it stretch'd so far, 'twould have made nature immortal. -The original has would instead of 'twould, thus leaving the verb without a subject.

P. 13. Her disposition she inherits, which makes fair gifts fairer.— The old text has "her dispositions, — which makes." Corrected by Rowe. Staunton notes upon the text as follows: "There is scarcely a passage of importance in the earlier scenes of this comedy, the meaning of which is not destroyed or impaired by some scandalous textual error. In the present instance some expression implying chaste or pure, before dispositions, appears to have been omitted. Perhaps we should read 'the honesty of her dispositions she inherits'; honesty being understood in the sense of chastity, as in the last clause of the passage, 'she derives her honesty, and achieves her goodness.'" See foot-notes 5 and 8.

P. 14. Lest it be rather thought you affect a sorrow than to have it. – Instead of it after have, the original sets a long dash, as if the sentence were broken off. But it is evident that no broken sentence was intended. Probably, as Dyce remarks, the Poet's manuscript was "here slightly imperfect or illegible.” — It would seem that to ought either to be inserted before affect or omitted before have. But such changes of construction are not uncommon in the old writers. So in Bacon's Advancement of Learning: "The punishment was, that they should be put out of commons, and not to be admitted to the table of the gods." And in As You Like It, iii. 2: "Heaven would that she

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