Whoever shoots at him, I set him there; With sharp constraint of hunger; better 'twere Were mine at once. No, come thou home, Rousillon, My being here it is that holds thee hence. To consolate thine ear. Come, night; end, day! [Exit. SCENE III. Florence. Before the Duke's Palace. 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 Duke. Then go thou forth; And fortune play upon thy prosperous helm, 1 That is, the ravenous or ravening lion. 2 The sense is, "From that place, where all the advantages that honor usually reaps from the danger it rushes upon, 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." Ber. This very day, Great Mars, I put myself into thy file: Make me but like my thoughts; and I shall prove [Exeunt. SCENE IV. 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. gone; Stew. I am Saint Jaques'1 pilgrim, thither I, his despiteful Juno, sent him forth Whom I myself embrace, to set him free. Count. Ah, what sharp stings are in her mildest words! Rinaldo, you did never lack advice3 so much, 1 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. See Heylin's France Painted to the Life, 1656, p. 270-6. 2 Alluding to the story of Hercules. 3 i. e. discretion or thought. Stew. Pardon me, madam: If I had given you this at over-night, She might have been o'erta'en; and yet she writes, Pursuit would be but vain. Count. What angel shall Bless this unworthy husband? He cannot thrive, Grief would have tears, and sorrow bids me speak. SCENE V. [Exeunt. Without the Walls of Florence. 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 honorable 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 labor; 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 honor of a maid is her name; and no legacy is so rich as honesty. Wid. I have told my neighbor how you have been solicited by a gentleman his companion. 1 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 all that, dissuade succession, but that they are limed with the twigs that threaten them. I hope I need not to advise you further; but I hope your own grace will keep you where you are, though there were no further danger known, but the modesty which is so lost. Dia. You shall not need to fear me. Enter HELENA, in the dress of a Pilgrim. Wid. I hope so.- -Look, here comes a pilgrim; I know she will lie at my house: thither they send one another. I'll question her. God save you, pilgrim! Whither are you bound? Where do the palmers3 lodge, I do beseech you? Wid. Ay, marry, is it.-Hark you; [A march afar off. They come this way.-If you will tarry, holy pilgrim, But till the troops come by, I will conduct you where you shall be lodged; 1 Suggestions are temptations. 2 They are not the things for which their names would make them To go under the name of so and so is a common expression. pass. 3 Pilgrims; so called from a staff or bough of palm they were wont to carry, especially such as had visited the holy places at Jerusalem. The rather, for, I think, I know your hostess Hel. Is it yourself? Wid. If you shall please so, pilgrim. Hel. I thank you, and will stay upon your leisure. Wid. You came, I think, from France? I did so. Hel. Wid. Here you shall see a countryman of yours, That has done worthy service. Hel. Dia. The count Rousillon. His name, I pray you. Know you such a one? Hel. But by the ear, that hears most nobly of him; His face I know not. Dia. Whatsoe'er he is, He's bravely taken here. He stole from France, Hel. Ay, surely, mere the truth; I know his lady. Dia. There is a gentleman, that serves the count, Reports but coarsely of her. Hel. Dia. Monsieur Parolles. What's his name? O, I believe with him, In argument of praise, or to the worth Of the great count himself, she is too mean I have not heard examined.2 Dia. Alas, poor lady! 'Tis a hard bondage, to become the wife Of a detesting lord. Wid. Ay, right; good creature, wheresoe'er she is,3 1 For, here and in other places, signifies because, which Tooke says is always its signification. 2 That is, questioned, doubted. 3 The old copy reads "I write good creature, wheresoe'er she is." Malone once deemed this an error, and proposed, "A right good creature," which was admitted into the text, but he subsequently thought that the old reading was correct. |