SCENE V.

Without the walls of Florence.

A tucket1 afar off. Enter an old WIDOW of Florence, DIANA, VIOLENTA, MARIANA, and other Citizens.

Wi. 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.

Wi. 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. by their trumpets.

Mar. Come, let's return selves with the report of it.

Hark! you may know

again, and suffice our

Well, Diana, take heed

. of this French earl: the honor of a maid is her name; and no legacy is so rich as honesty.

Wi. I have told my neighbor, how you have been solicited by a gentleman his companion.

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: 3 many a

1 A florish of instruments.

3 Not what their names express.

Temptations.

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 farther; but, I hope, your own grace will keep you where you are, though there were no farther 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.

Wi. 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? Hel. To Saint Jaques le grand.

Where do the palmers lodge, I do beseech you? Wi. At the Saint Francis here, beside the port. Hel. Is this the

Wi.

way ?

Ay, marry, is it.—Hark you!
[a march afar off.

They come this way. If you will tarry, holy pil

grim,

But till the troops come by,

I will conduct you where shall be lodged;

you

The rather, for,1 I think, I know your hostess
As ample as myself.

Wi. If you shall please so, pilgrim.

Hel. I thank you, and will stay upon your leisure. Wi. You came, I think, from France?

Hel.

I did so.

Wi. Here you shall see a countryman of yours, That has done worthy service.

Hel.

His name, I pray you.

Dia. The count Rousillon. 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,
As 'tis reported, for 1 the king had married him
Against his liking. Think you it is so?

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.

What's his name?

Dia. Monsieur Parolles.

Hel.

O, I believe with him,

In argument of praise, or to the worth

Of the great count himself, she is too mean
To have her name repeated: all her deserving
Is a reserved honesty, and that

I have not heard examined.2

Dia.

Alas, poor lady!

• Because

2 Questioned.

'Tis a hard bondage, to become the wife Of a detesting lord.

Wi. A right good creature: wheresoe'er she is, Her heart weighs sadly this young maid might do

her

:

A shrewd turn, if she pleased.

Hel.

How do you mean?

May be, the amorous count solicits her

In the unlawful purpose.

Wi.

He does, indeed;

And brokes 1 with all that can in such a suit

Corrupt the tender honor of a maid:

But she is arm'd for him, and keeps her guard
In honestest defence.

Enter, with drum and colors, a party of the Florentine army, BERTRAM, and PAROLles.

Mar. The gods forbid else!

That with the plume: 'tis a most gallant fellow;
I. would, he loved his wife: if he were honester,
He were much goodlier.-Is 't not a handsome gen-
tleman ?

Hel. I like him well.

1 Deals with panders.

Dia. 'Tis pity, he is not honest.

same knave,

Yond 's that

That leads him to these places: were I his lady,
I'd poison that vile rascal.

Hel.

Which is he?

Dia. That jack-an-apes with scarfs. Why is he melancholy?

Hel. Perchance he's hurt i the battle.

Par. Lose our drum! well.

Mar. He's shrewdly vexed at something. Look,

he has spied us.

Wi. Marry, hang you!

Mar. And your courtesy, for a ring-carrier!

[Exeunt Bertram, Parolles, Officers, and Soldiers. Wi. The troop is past. Come, pilgrim, I will bring you

Where you shall host: of enjoin'd penitents There's four or five, to great Saint Jaques bound, Already at my house.

Hel.

I humbly thank you :

Please it this matron, and this gentle maid,

To eat with us to-night, the charge, and thanking, Shall be for me; and, to requite you farther,

I will bestow some precepts on this virgin,

Worthy the note.

Both.

We'll take your offer kindly.

[Exeunt.