SCENE II.

Paris. A Room in the King's Palace. Flourish of cornets. Enter the King of France, with let

tors; Lords and others attending. King. The Florentines and Senoyss are by the ears; Have fought with equal fortune, and continue A braving war.

1 Lord. So 'tis reported, sir.

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 speedy aid; wherein our dearest friend
Prejudicates the business, and would seem
To have us make denial.
I Lord.

His love and wisdom,
Approv'd so to your majesty, may plead
For amplest credence.
King

He hath arm'd our answer,
And Florence is denied before he comes :
Yet, for our gentlemen, that mean to see
The Tuscan service, freely have they leave
To stand on either part.
2 Lord.

It
may

well serve
A nursery to our gentry, who are sick
For breathing and exploit.
King

What's he comes here?
Enter BERTRAM, Lafey, and PAROLLES.
I Lord. It is the count Rousillon, my good lord,
Young Bertram.
King

Youth, thou bear'st thy father's face; Frank nature, rather curious than in haste, Hath well compos’d thee. Thy father's moral parts May'st thou inherit too! Welcome to Paris.

Ber. My thanks and duty are your majesty's.

5

Senoys - ] The Sanesi, as they are termed by Boccace. Painter, who translates him, calls them Senois. They were the people of a small republick, of which the capital was Sienna. The Florentines were at perpetual variance with them. Steevens. Rousillon,] The old copy reads Rosignoll. Steevens.

Q

6

VOL. V.

King. I would I had that corporal soundness now,
As when thy father, and myself, in friendship
First try'd our soldiership! He did look far
Into the service of the time, and was
Discipled of the bravest: he lasted long;
But on us both did haggish age steal on,
And wore us out of act. It much repairs me
To talk of your good father:7 In his youth
He had the wit, which I can well observe
To-day in our young lords; but they may jest,
Till their own scorn return to them unnoted,
Ere they can hide their levity in honour.&
So like a courtier, contempt nor bitterness..
Were in his pride or sharpness; if they were,
His equal had awak'd them;' and his honour,

7

It much repairs me To talk of your good father:] To repair, in these plays, generally signifies to renovate. So, in Cymbeline :

O disloyal thing,
“ That should'st repair my youth !" Malone.
8 He had the wit, which I can well observe

To-day in our young lords ; but they may jest,
Till their own scorn return to them unnoted,

Ere they can hide their levity in honour. ] I believe honour is not dignity of birth or rank, but acquired reputation : Your father, says the king, had the same airy flights of satirical wit with the young lords of the present time, but they do not what he did, hide their unnoted levity, in honour, cover petty faults with great merit.

This is an excellent observation. Jocose folies, and slight offences, are only allowed by mankind in him that over-powers them by great qualities. Johnson. Point thus :

He had the wit, which I can well observe
To-day in our young lords: but they may jest,
Till their own scorn returns to them, un-noted,
Ere they can hide their levity in honour,

So like a courtier. Contempt, &c. Blackstone. The punctuation recommended by Sir William Blackstone is, I believe, the true one, at least it is such as deserves the read. er's consideration. Steevens. 9 So like a courtier, contempt nor bitterness

Were in his pride or sharpness; if they were,

His equal had awak'd them:] Nor was used without redupli. cation. So, in Measure for Measure:

“ More nor less to others paying,
“ Than by self-offences weighing."

Clock to itself, knew the true minute when
Exception bid him speak, and, at this time,
His tongue obey'd his hand:1 who were below him
He us'd as creatures of another place;?
And bow'd his eminent top to their low ranks,
Making them proud of his humility,
In their poor praise he humbled:3 Such a man

The old text needs to be explained. He was so like a courtier, that there was in his dignity of manner nothing contemptuous, and in his keenness of wit nothing bitter. If bitterness or contemptuousness ever appeared, they had been awakened by some injury, not of a man below him, but of bis equal. This is the complete image of a well-bred man, and somewhat like this Voltaire has exhibited his hero, Lewis XIV. Fohnson.

1 His tongue obey'd his hand:] We should read–His tongue obe;'d the hand. That is, the hand of his honour's clock, showing the true minute when exceptions bad him speak. Fohnson. His is put for its. So, in Othello:

her motion “Blush'd at herself,”-instead of itself. Steevens. 2 He us'd as creatures of another place;] i. e. he made allowances for their conduct, and bore from them what he would not from one of his own rank. The Oxford editor, not understanding the sense, has altered another place to a brother-race.

Warburton. I doubt whether this was our author's meaning. I rather incline to think that he meant only, that the father of Bertram treated those below him with becoming condescension, as creatures not indeed in so high a place as himself, but yet holding a certain place; as one of the links, though not the largest, of the great chain of society.

In The Winter's Tale, place is again used for rank or situation in life:

O thou thing, “ Which I'll not call a creature of thy place.” Malone. Making them proud of his humility,

In their poor praise he humbled:] But why were they proud of his humility? It should be read and pointed thus :

Making them proud; and his humility,

In their poor praise, he humbled i. e. by condescending to stoop to his inferiors, he exalted them and made them proud; and in the gracious receiving their poor praise, he humbled even his humility. The sentiment is fine.

Warburton. Every man has seen the mean too often proud of the humility of the great, and perhaps the great may sometimes be humbled in the praises of the mean, of those who commend them without

3

Might be a copy to these younger times;
Which, follow'd well, would demonstrate them now
But goers backward.
Ber.

His good remembrance, sir,
Lies richer in your thoughts, than on his tomb;
So in approof lives not his epitaph,
As in your royal speech.“

conviction or discernment: this, however, is not so common; the mean are found more frequently than the great. Johnson.

I think the meaning is–Making them proud of receiving such anarks of condesøension and affability from a person in so ele. vated a situation, and at the same time lowering or humbling himself, by stooping to accept of the encomiums of mean persons for that humility. The construction seems to be, "he being humbled in their poor praise." Malone.

Giving them a better opinion of their own importance, by his condescending manner of behaving to them. M. Mason. * So in approof lives not his epitaph,

As in your royal speech.] Epitaph for character. Warburton. I should wish to read

Approof so lives not in his epitaph,

As in your royal speech. Approof is approbation. If I should allow Dr. Warburton's interpretation of epitaph, which is more than can be reasonably expected, I can yet find no sense in the present reading. Fohnson. We might, by a slight transposition, read

So his approof lives not in epitaph.
Approof certainly means approbation. So, in Cynthia's Revenge:

“ A man so absolute in my approof,
“That nature hath reserv'd small dignity

“ That he enjoys not.” Again, in Measure for Measure:

“ Either of condemnation or approof.” Steevens. Perhaps the meaning is this:- His epitaph or inscription on his tomb is not so much in approbation or commendation of him, as is your royal speech. Tollet.

There can be no doubt but the word approof is frequently used in the sense of approbation, but this is not always the case; and in this place it signifies proof or confirmation. The meaning of the passage appears to be this: “The truth of his epitaph is in no way so fully proved, as by your royal speech.” It is needless to remark, that epitaphs generally contain the character and praises of the deceased. Approof is used in the same sense by Bertram, in the second Act:

Laf. But I hope your lordship thinks him not a soldier. “ Ber. Yes, my lord, and of very valiant approof” M. Mason. Mr. Heath supposes the meaning to be this: "His epitaph or he character he left behind him, is not so well established by

King. 'Would, I were with him! He would always say, (Methinks, I hear him now; his plausive words He scatter'd not in ears, but grafted them, To grow there, and to bear)-Let me not live,Thuss his good melancholy oft began, On the catastrophe and heel of pastime, When it was out,-let me not live quoth he, After my fame lacks oil, to be the snuff Of younger spirits, whose apprehensive senses All but new things disdain; whose judgments are Mere fathers of their garments ;6 whose constancies Expire before their fashions : -This he wish'd: I, after him, do after him wish too, Since I nor wax, nor honey, can bring home, I quickly were dissolved from my hive, .To give me labourers room.

the specimens he exhibited of his worth, as by your royal report in his favour.” The passage above quoted from Act II, supports this interpretation. Malone. 6 Thus -] Old copy--This. Corrected by Mr. Pope.

Malone. whose judgments are Mere fathers of their garments;] Who have no other use of their faculties, than to invent new modes of dress. Fohnson.

I have a suspicion that Shakspeare wrote-mere feathers of their garments ; i. e. whose judgments are merely parts (and insignificant parts) of their dress, worn and laid aside, as feathers are, from the mere love of novelty and change. He goes on to say, that they are even less constant in their judgments than in their dress :

their constancies Expire before their fashions. Tyrwhitt. The reading of the old copy--fathers, is supported by a similar passage in Gymbeline :

some jay of Italy
“Whose mother was her painting
Again, by another in the same play:

No, nor thy tailor, rascal,
• Who is thy grandfather; he made those clothes,

“ Which, as it seems, make thee." There the garment is said to be the father of the man in the text, the judgment, being employed solely in forming or giving birth to new dresses, is called the father of the garment. So, in King Henry IV, P. II:

every minute now “Should be the father of some stratagem.” Malone.