That blinking Cupid goffips. Now fhall he- HEL. That I wish well.-'Tis pity PAR. What's pity? HEL. That wishing well had not a body in't, Which might be felt: that we, the poorer born, Whose bafer stars do fhut us up in wishes, Might with effects of them follow our friends, And show what we alone must think; which never Returns us thanks. Enter a Page. PAGE. Monfieur Parolles, my lord calls for you. [Exit Page. PAR. Little Helen, farewell: if I can remember thee, I will think of thee at court. HEL. Monfieur Parolles, you were born under a charitable ftar. PAR. Under Mars, I, HEL. I especially think, under Mars, PAR. Why under Mars? HEL, The wars have fo kept you under, that you muft needs be born under Mars. PAR. When he was predominant. HEL. When he was retrograde, I think, rather. PAR. Why think you fo? HEL. You go fo much backward, when you fight. 5 And show what we alone must think;] And show by realities what we now muft only think. JOHNSON, PAR. That's for advantage. HEL. So is running away, when fear proposes the fafety: But the compofition, that your valour and fear makes in you, is a virtue of a good wing, and I like the wear well. PAR. I am fo full of businesses, I cannot answer thee acutely: I will return perfect courtier; in the which, my inftruction fhall serve to naturalize thee, 6 is a virtue of a good wing,] Mr. Edwards is of opinion, that a virtue of a good wing refers to his nimbleness or fleetness in running away. The phrafe, however, is taken from falconry, as may appear from the following paffage in Marfton's Fawne, 1606: "I love my horfe after a journeying eafinefs, as he is easy in journeying; my hawk, for the goodness of his wing, &c." Or it may be taken from drefs: So, in Every Man out of his Humour: "I would have mine fuch a fuit without a difference; fuch stuff, fuch a wing, fuch a fleeve," &c. Mr. Tollet obferves, that a good wing fignifies a strong wing in Lord Bacon's Natural Hiftory, experiment 866: "Certainly many birds of a good wing (as kites and the like) would bear up a good weight as they fly." STEEVENS. The reading of the old copy (which Dr. Warburton changed to ming,) is fupported by a paffage in King Henry V. in which we meet with a fimilar expreffion: Though, his affections are higher mounted than ours, yet when they ftoop, they ftoop with the like wing." Again, in K. Henry IV. P. I: "Yet let me wonder Harry, "At thy affections, which do hold a wing, Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors." MALONE. The meaning of this paffage appears to be this: "If your valour will fuffer you to go backward for advantage, and your fear for the fame reafon will make you run away, the compofition that your valour and fear make in you, must be a virtue that will fly far and fwiftly."-A bird of a good wing, is a bird of swift and ftrong flight. Though the latter part of this fentence is fenfe as it ftands, I cannot help thinking that there is an error in it, and that we ought to read-" And is like to wear well."-Inftead of "I like the wear well." M. MASON. fo thou wilt be capable of a courtier's counsel,' and understand what advice fhall thruft upon thee; elfe thou dieft in thine unthankfulness, and thine ignorance makes thee away: farewell. When thou haft leifure, fay thy prayers; when thou haft none, remember thy friends: get thee a good husband, and ufe him as he uses thee: fo farewell. [Exit, HEL. Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky Gives us free scope; only, doth backward pull Our flow designs, when we ourselves are dull. What power is it, which mounts my love fo high; That makes me fee, and cannot feed mine eye? The mightiest space in fortune nature brings To join like likes, and kiss like native things." Impoffible be strange attempts, to those That weigh their pains in fense; and do suppose, What hath been cannot be: Who ever strove 2 To show her merit, that did mifs her love? "fo thou wilt be capable of a courtier's counfel,] i, e. thou wilt comprehend it. See a note in Hamlet on the words"Whofe form and caufe conjoin'd, preaching to ftones, "Would make them capable." MALONE. 8 What power is it, which mounts my love fo high; That makes me fee, and cannot feed mine eye?] She means, by what influence is my love directed to a perfon fo much above me? why am I made to difcern excellence, and left to long after it, without the food of hope? JOHNSON. 9 native things.] Things formed by nature for each other. The mightiest space in fortune nature brings Impoffible be frange attempts, to those That weigh their pains in fenfe; and do fuppofe, M. MASON. What hath been, &c.] All these four lines are obfcure, and, I believe, corrupt; I fhall propofe an emendation, which those who can explain the prefent reading, are at liberty to reject: Through mightiest space in fortune nature brings The king's disease my project may deceive me, But my intents are fix'd, and will not leave me. [Exit. That is, nature brings like qualities and difpofitions to meet through any diftance that fortune may fet between them; the joins them and makes them kifs like things born together. The next lines I read with Sir T. Hanmer: That weigh their pains in fenfe, and do fuppofe New attempts feem impoffible to those who estimate their labour or enterprifes by fenfe, and believe that nothing can be but what they fee before them. JOHNSON. I understand the meaning to be this-The affections given us by nature often unite perfons between whom fortune or accident has placed the greatest diftance or disparity; aud cause them to join, like likes, (inftar parium) like perfons in the fame fituation or rank of life. Thus (as Mr. Steevens has obferved) in Timon of Athens: "Thou foldereft clofe impoffibilities, "And mak'ft them kifs." This interpretation is strongly confirmed by a fubfequent fpeech of the counteffes fteward, who is fuppofed to have over-heard this foliloquy of Helena: "Fortune, the faid, was no goddess, that had put fuch difference betwixt their two estates." The mightiest space in fortune, for perfons the most widely separated by fortune, is certainly a licentious expreffion; but it is fuch a licence as Shakspeare often takes. Thus in Cymbeline, the diminution of Space is ufed for the diminution, of which space, or diftance, is the cause. If he had written Spaces (as in Troilus and Creffida, "- her whom we know well "The world's large Spaces cannot parallel,)" the paffage would have been more clear; but he was confined by the metre. We might, however, read— The mightieft fpace in nature fortune brings To join, &c. i. e. accident fometimes unites thofe whom inequality of rank has feparated. But I believe the text is right, MALONE. SCENE II. Paris. A Room in the King's Palace. Flourish of cornets. Enter the King of France, with letters; Lords and others attending. KING. The Florentines and Senoys' are by the ears; Have fought with equal fortune, and continue A braving war. I LORD. So 'tis reported, fir. KING. Nay, 'tis most credible; we here receive it A certainty, vouch'd from our cousin Austria, With caution, that the Florentine will move us For fpeedy aid; wherein our dearest friend Prejudicates the bufinefs, and would seem To have us make denial. I LORD. His love and wisdom, KING. He hath arm'd our answer, And Florence is denied before he comes: 2 LORD. KING. What's he comes here! 3 Senoys-] The Sanefi, as they are termed by Boccace. Painter, who tranflates him, calls them Senois. They were the people of a fmall republick, of which the capital was Sienna. The Florentines were at perpetual variance with them. STEEVENS. |