2 LORD. Let it be forbid, fir! fo fhould I be a great deal of his act.

I LORD. Sir, his wife, fome two months fince, fled from his houfe; her pretence is a pilgrimage to Saint Jaques le grand; which holy undertaking, with most auftere fanctimony, fhe accomplish'd: and, there refiding, the tenderness of her nature became as a prey to her grief; in fine, made a groan of her last breath, and now fhe fings in heaven.

2 LORD. How is this juftified?

I LORD. The stronger part of it by her own letters; which makes her story true, even to the point of her death: her death itself, which could not be her office to fay, is come, was faithfully confirm'd by the rector of the place.

2 LORD. Hath the count all this intelligence?

I LORD. Ay, and the particular confirmations, point from point, to the full arming of the verity. 2 LORD. I am heartily forry, that he'll be glad of this.

I LORD. How mightily, fometimes, we make us comforts of our loffes!

2 LORD. And how mightily, fome other times, we drown our gain in tears! The great dignity, that his valour hath here acquired for him, fhall at home be encounter'd with a fhame as ample.

I LORD. The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipp'd them not; and our crimes would defpair, if they were not cherish'd by our virtues.

Enter a Servant.

How now? where's your mafter?

SERV. He met the duke in the street, fir, of whom he hath taken a folemn leave; his lordfhip will next morning for France. The duke hath offered him letters of commendations to the king.

2 LORD. They fhall be no more than needful there, if they were more than they can commend.

Enter BERTRAM.

1 LORD. They cannot be too fweet for the king's tartnefs. Here's his lordfhip now. How now, my lord, is't not after midnight?

BER. I have to-night despatched fixteen bufineffes, a month's length a-piece, by an abstract of fuccefs: I have conge'd with the duke, done my adieu with his neareft; buried a wife, mourn'd for her; writ to my lady mother, I am returning; entertain'd my convoy; and, between these main parcels of despatch, effected many nicer needs; the laft was the greateft, but that I have not ended yet.

2 LORD. If the business be of any difficulty, and this morning your departure hence, it requires hafte of your lordship.

BER. I mean, the business is not ended, as fearing to hear of it hereafter: But fhall we have this dialogue between the fool and the foldier?————— Come, bring forth this counterfeit module;' he

5 bring forth this counterfeit module;] Module being the pattern of any thing, may be here ufed in that fenfe. Bring forth this fellow, who by counterfeit virtue pretended to make himself a pattern. JOHNSON.

It appears from Minfheu that module and model were synony

has deceived me, like a double-meaning prophefier."

2 LORD. Bring him forth: [Exeunt Soldiers.] he has fat in the ftocks all night, poor gallant knave.

BER. No matter; his heels have deserved it, in ufurping his fpurs fo long." How does he carry himfelf?

I LORD. I have told your lordship already; the stocks carry him. But, to answer you as you would be understood; he weeps, like a wench that had fhed her milk: he hath confefs'd himself to Morgan, whom he fuppofes to be a friar, from the time of his remembrance, to this very instant disaster of his fetting i'the ftocks: And what think you he hath confeffed?

BER. Nothing of me, has he?

2 LORD. His confeffion is taken, and it shall be read to his face: if your lordship be in't, as, I be lieve you are, you must have the patience to hear it.

In K. Richard II. model fignifies a thing fashioned after an archetype:

"Who was the model of thy father's life." Again, in K. Henry VIII:

6

"The model of our chafte loves, his young daughter." Our author, I believe, ufes the word here in the fame fenfe:Bring forth this counterfeit reprefentation of a foldier. MALONE a double-meaning prophefier.] So, in Macbeth: "That palter with us in a double fenfe, "And keep the word of promife to our ear, "But break it to our hope." STEEVENS.

7

in ufurping his spurs fo lang.] The punishment of a recreant, or coward, was to have his fpurs hacked off. MALONE.

I believe these words allude only to the ceremonial degradation of a knight. I am yet to learn, that the fame mode was practised in difgracing daftards of inferior rank. STEEVENS.

Re-enter Soldiers, with PAROLLES.

8

BER. A plague upon him! muffled! he can fay nothing of me; hufh! hufh!

I LORD. Hoodman comes!-Porto tartaroffa.

I SOLD. He calls for the tortures; What will say without 'em?

you

PAR. I will confefs what I know without conftraint; if ye pinch me like a pafty, I can fay no

more.

I SOLD. Bofko chimurcho.

2 LORD. Boblibindo chicurmurco.

I SOLD. You are a merciful general:-Our general bids you answer to what I fhall afk you out of a

note.

PAR. And truly, as I hope to live.

I SOLD. First demand of him how many horse the duke is ftrong. What fay you to that?

PAR. Five or fix thousand; but very weak and unferviceable: the troops are all scatter'd, and the commanders very poor rogues, upon my reputation and credit, and as I hope to live.

I SOLD. Shall I fet down your answer fo?

PAR. DO; I'll take the facrament on't, how and which way you will.

BER. All's one to him. What a past-saving flave is this!

8 Re-enter Soldiers, with Parolles.] See an account of the examination of one of Henry the Eighth's captains, who had gone over to the enemy (which may poffibly have fuggefted this of Parolles) in The Life of Lacke Wilton, 1594. fig. C. iii. RITSON.

• All's one to him.] In the old copy thefe words are given by

I LORD. You are deceived, my lord; this is monfieur Parolles, the gallant militarist, (that was his own phrase,) that had the whole theorick of war in the knot of his fcarf, and the practice in the chape of his dagger.

2 LORD. I will never trust a man again, for keeping his fword clean; nor believe he can have every thing in him, by wearing his apparel neatly.

I SOLD. Well, that's fet down.

PAR. Five or fix thousand horse, I said,—I will fay true, or thereabouts, fet down,-for I'll speak

truth.

I LORD. He's very near the truth in this.

BER. But I con him no thanks for't, in the nature he delivers it."

miftake to Parolles. The prefent regulation, which is clearly right, was fuggefted by Mr. Steevens. MALONE.

It will be better to give these words to one of the Dumains, than to Bertram. RITSON.

8 that had the whole theorick-] i. e. theory. So, in Montaigne's Effaies, tranflated by J. Florio, 1603: "They know the theorique of all things, but you must seek who shall put it in practice. MALONE.

In 1597 was published "Theorique and Practife of Warre, written by Don Philip Prince of Caftil, by Don Bernardino de Mendoza. Tranflated out of the Caftilian tonge in Englifhe, by Sir Edward Hoby, Knight." 4to. REED.

9 - -I con him no thanks for't,] To cox thanks exactly answers the French fcavoir gré. To con is to know. I meet with the fame expreffion in Pierce Pennileffe his Supplication, &c.

66

-I believe he will con thee little thanks for it."

Again, in Wily Beguiled, 1606:

"I con mafter Churms thanks for this."

Again, in Any Thing for a Quiet Life: "He would not truft you with it, I con him thanks for it." STEEVENS.

2

in the nature he delivers it.] He has faid truly that our numbers are about five or fix thousand; but having described them as "weak and unferviceable," &c. I am not much obliged to him. MALONE.