loft! There was an excellent command! to charge in with our horfe upon our own wings, and to rend our own foldiers.

2 LORD. That was not to be blamed in the command of the fervice; it was a disaster of war that Cæfar himself could not have prevented, if he had been there to command.

BER. Well, we cannot greatly condemn our fuccefs: fome difhonour we had in the lofs of that drum; but it is not to be recover'd.

PAR. It might have been recover'd.

BER. It might; but it is not now.

PAR. It is to be recover'd: but that the merit of fervice is feldom attributed to the true and exact performer, I would have that drum or another, or bic jacet.*

and

BER. Why, if you have a ftomach to't, monfieur, if you think your mystery in stratagem can bring this inftrument of honour again into his native quarter, be magnanimous in the enterprize, go on; I will grace the attempt for a worthy exploit: if you fpeed well in it, the duke fhall both speak of it, and extend to you what further becomes his greatness, even to the utmost syllable of your worthinefs.

PAR. By the hand of a foldier, I will undertake it.

BER. But you must not now flumber in it.

PAR. I'll about it this evening: and I will pre

I would have that drum or another, or hic jacet.] i. e. Here lies; the ufual beginning of epitaphs. I would (fays Parolles) recover either the drum I have loft, or another belonging to the enemy; or die in the attempt. MALONE.

fently pen down my dilemmas, encourage myfelf in my certainty, put my felf into my mortal preparation, and, by midnight, look to hear further from me.

BER. May I be bold to acquaint his grace, you are gone about it?

PAR. I know not what the fuccefs will be, my lord; but the attempt I vow.

BER. I know, thou art valiant; and, to the poffibility of thy foldierfhip, will fubfcribe for thee. Farewell.

PAR. I love not many words.

[Exit.

I LORD. No more than a fifh loves water.'-Is not this a strange fellow, my lord? that fo confidently seems to undertake this business, which he

5I will prefently pen down my dilemmas,] By this word, Parolles is made to infinuate that he had feveral ways, all equally certain of recovering his drum. For a dilemma is an argument that concludes both ways. WARBURTON.

Shakspeare might have found the word thus ufed in Holinfhed. STEEVENS.

I think, that by penning down his dilemmas, Parolles means, that he will pen down his plans on the one fide, and the probable obstructions he was to meet with, on the other. M. MASON.

6 poffibility of thy foldiership,] I will fubfcribe (fays Bertram) to the poffibility of your foldiership. His doubts being now raised, he fuppreffes that he should not be fo willing to vouch for its probability. STEEVENS,

I believe, Bertram means no more than that he is confident Parolles will do all that foldiership can effect. He was not yet certain that he was 66 a hilding." MALONE.

7 Par. I love not many

words.

1 Lord. No more than a fifh loves water.] Here we have the origin of this boafter's name; which, without doubt, (as Mr. Steevens has obferved) ought in ftrict propriety to be writtenParoles. But our author certainly intended it otherwife, having made it a trifyllable:

"Ruft fword, cool blushes, and Parolles live." He probably did not know the true pronunciation. MALONE.

knows is not to be done; damns himself to do, and dares better be damn'd than to do't.

2 LORD. You do not know him, my lord, as we do: certain it is, that he will steal himself into a man's favour, and, for a week, escape a great deal of difcoveries; but when you find him out, you have him ever after.

BER. Why, do you think, he will make no deed at all of this, that fo feriously he does addrefs himfelf unto?

I LORD. None in the world; but return with an invention, and clap upon you two or three probable lies: but we have almoft embofs'd him, you fhall fee his fall to-night; for, indeed, he is not for your lordship's refpect.

2 LORD. We'll make you fome fport with the fox, ere we cafe him. He was first smoked by the old lord Lafeu: when his difguife and he is parted, tell me what a fprat you fhall find him; which you shall fee this very night.

I LORD. I must go look my twigs; he shall be caught.

8 — we have almoft emboss'd him,] To embofs a deer is to inclofe him in a wood. Milton ufes the fame word:

"Like that felf-begotten bird

"In the Arabian woods imboft,

"Which no fecond knows or third." JOHNSON.

It is probable that Shakspeare was unacquainted with this word in the fenfe which Milton affixes to it, viz. from emboscare, Ital. to enclofe in a thicket.

When a deer is run hard and foams at the mouth, in the language of the field, he is faid to be embofs'd. STEEVENS.

"To know when a ftag is weary (as Markham's Country Contentments fay) you fhall fee him imboft, that is, foaming and slavering about the mouth with a thick white froth," &c. TOLLET. ere we case him.] That is, before we strip him naked.

9

JOHNSON.

BER. Your brother, he shall go along with me. I LORD. As't please your lordship: I'll leave you.2

[Exit. BER. Now will I lead you to the house, and show

you

The lafs I spoke of.

2 LORD.

But, you fay, fhe's honeft.

BER. That's all the fault: I spoke with her but

once,

And found her wondrous cold; but I fent to her, By this fame coxcomb that we have i'the wind,' Tokens and letters which fhe did re-fend;

And this is all I have done: She's a fair creature; Will you go fee her?

2 LORD.

With all my heart, my lord.

SCENE

VII.

[Exeunt.

Florence. A Room in the Widow's Houfe.

Enter HELENA, and Widow.

HEL. If you misdoubt me that I am not fhe,
I know not how I fhall affure you further,
But I fhall lose the grounds I work upon.*

2

I'll leave you.] This line is given in the old copy to the fecond lord, there called Captain G, who goes out; and the first lord, there called Captain E, remains with Bertram. The whole courfe of the dialogue fhows this to have been a mistake. See p. 297. "1. Lord. [i. e. Captain E.] I, with a troop of Florentines" &c.

MALONE.

3 we have i'the wind,] To have one in the wind, is enumerated as a proverbial faying by Ray, p. 261. REED.

4 But I shall lose the grounds I work upon.] i. e. by discovering herself to the count. WARBURTON.

WID. Though my eftate be fallen, I was well

born,

Nothing acquainted with these bufineffes;
And would not put my reputation now
In any staining act.

HEL.
Nor would I wish you.
First, give me truft, the count he is my husband;
And, what to your fworn counfels I have spoken,
Is fo, from word to word; and then you cannot,
By the good aid that I of you fhall borrow,
Err in beftowing it.

WID.

I fhould believe you; For you have show'd me that, which well approves You are great in fortune.

HEL.

Take this purfe of gold, And let me buy your friendly help thus far,

Which I will over-pay, and pay again,

When I have found it. The count he wooes your daughter,

Lays down his wanton fiege before her beauty,
Refolves to carry her; let her, in fine, confent,
As we'll direct her how 'tis best to bear it,
Now his important blood will nought deny"
That she'll demand: A ring the county wears,'
That downward hath fucceeded in his houfe,
From fon to fon, fome four or five descents
Since the firft father wore it: this ring he holds

5to your fworn counfel-] To your private knowledge, after having required from you an oath of fecrefy. JOHNSON. 6 Now his important blood will nought deny-] Important here, and elsewhere, is importunate. JOHNSON.

So, Spenfer in The Fairy Queen, B. II. c. vi. ft. 29: "And with important outrage him affailed."

Important, from the Fr. Emportant. TYRWHITT.

7

the county wears,] i. e. the count. So, in Romeo and Juliet, we have "the county Paris." STEEVENS.