That labouring art can never answer nature To empericks; or to diffever fo Our great felf and our credit, to esteem A fenfelefs help, when help past sense we deem. King. I cannot give thee less, to be call'd grateful: Hel. What I can do, can do no hurt to try, Oft does them by the weakest minister: So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown, When judges have been babes. Great floods have flown Oft expectation fails, and most oft there Where most it promises; and oft it hits, Where hope is coldest, and despair most fits. 4 King. I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind maid; Thy pains, not us'd, muft by thyfelf be paid: Proffers, not took, reap thanks for their reward. P 1 anfwer]-fupply the defects of ransom. A modeft one,]-fuch an one as I may modeftly hope for on my difmiffion. "fet up your reft 'gainft remedy :]-conclude yourself to be paft re• miracles]-the power of working them. covery. P. breath]-mortals. It It is not fo with him that all things knows, The help of heaven we count the act of men. ૧ I am not an impoftor, that proclaim But know I think, and think I know most sure, Hel. The greatest grace lending grace; t Hel. Tax of impudence, A ftrumpet's boldness, a divulged shame, that proclaim myself against the level of mine aim ;]—that pretend to what I have not a reasonable hope of accomplishing. t paft power,]-ineffectual. murk]-darkness. Tax of impudence,]-I would bear the tax &c.-let my maiden reputation become the subject of filthy ballads; let it be mangled by any other means; and (what is the worst of worst, the confummation of misery) my body being extended on the rack by the most cruel torture, let my life pay the forfeit of my prefumption. King. Methinks, in thee fome bleffed fpirit doth speak; And what impoffibility would flay In common fenfe, fenfe faves another way. Hel. But will you make it even? King. Ay, by my fcepter, and my hopes of heaven. Hel. Then fhalt thou give me, with thy kingly hand, What husband in thy power I will command: Exempted be from me the arrogance To chufe from forth the royal blood of France; King. Here is my hand; the premises obferv'd, "His powerful found, within]—is heard, iffuing from. in thee bath estimate ;]-may be ranked among thy gifts. * in prime,]-in its perfection-and prime. Y flinch in property of what I spoke,]-make not my profeffions good. 2 make it even ?]-answer it. 2 branch, or image of thy ftate:]-relative or reprefentative of thine, member of thy state. Thy Thy will by my performance shall be serv'd: More should I queftion thee, and more I must; SCENE II. Roufillon. Enter Countess and Clown. Count. Come on, fir; I fhall now put you to the height of your breeding. Clo. I will fhew myself highly fed, and lowly taught: I know my business is but to the court. Count. But to the court! why, what place make you special, when you put off that with fuch contempt? But to the court! Clo. Truly, madam, if God have lent a man any manners, he may eafily put it off at court: he that cannot make a leg, put off's cap, kifs his hand, and fay nothing, has neither leg, hands, lip, nor cap; and, indeed, fuch a fellow, to fay precifely, were not for the court; but, for me, I have an answer will ferve all men. Count. Marry, that's a bountiful anfwer, that fits all questions. Clo. It is like a barber's chair, that fits all buttocks; the pin-buttock, the quatch-buttock, the brawn-buttock, or any buttock. Count. Count. Will your answer serve fit to all questions? Clo. As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an attorney, as your French crown for your taffaty punk, as Tib's 'rush for Tom's fore-finger, as a pancake for Shrovetuesday, a morris for May-day, as the nail to his hole, the cuckold to his horn, as a fcolding quean to a wrangling knave, as the nun's lip to the friar's mouth; nay, as the pudding to his skin. с Count. Have you, I fay, an answer of fuch fitnefs for all questions? Clo. From below your duke, to beneath your constable, it will fit any question. Count. It must be an answer of most monftrous size, that muft fit all demands. Clo. But a trifle neither, in good faith, if the learned should speak truth of it: here it is, and all that belongs to't: Ask me, If I am a courtier; it shall do you no harm to learn. Count. To be young again, if we could:-I will be a fool in question, hoping to be the wifer by your answer. pray you, fir, are you a courtier ? I Clo. O Lord, fir,-There's a fimple putting off :more, more, a hundred of them. Count. Sir, I am a poor friend of yours, that loves you. meat. Clo. O Lord, fir,-Nay, put me to't, I warrant you. rub]-rush-ring-a ring was formerly prefented by the woman to the man, in return for that received from him, at a wedding. "Strengthen'd by enterchangement of your rings. TWELFTH NIGHT, Act V, Sc. 1. Prieft. fkin.]-paunch. To be young again]-This trifling makes me feem fo. Count. |