Unless her prayers, whom Heaven delights to hear,
And loves to grant, reprieve him from the wrath
Of greatest justice.-Write, write, Rinaldo,
To this unworthy husband of his wife;
Let every word weigh heavy of her worth,
That he does weigh too light: my greatest grief,
Though little he do feel it, set down sharply.
Despatch the most convenient messenger :-
When, haply, he shall hear that she is gone,
He will return; and hope I may, that she,
Hearing so much, will speed her foot again,
Led hither by pure love: which of them both,
Is dearest to me, I have no skill in sense

To make distinction :-Provide this messenger:-
My heart is heavy, and mine age is weak;
Grief would have tears, and sorrow bids me speak.
[Exeunt.

SCENE V-Without the walls of Florence.
A tucket afar off. Enter an old Widow of
Florence, Diana, Violenta, Mariana, and other
citizens.

Wid. Nay, come; for if they do approach the city, we shall lose all the sight.

Dia. They say, the French count has done most honourable service.

Wid. It is reported, that he has taken their greatest commander; and that with his own hand he slew the duke's brother. We have lost our labour; they are gone a contrary way: hark! you may know by their trumpets.

Mar. Come, let's return again, and suffice ourselves with the report of it. Well, Diana, take heed of this French earl: the honour of a maid is her and no legacy is so rich as honesty.

name;

Wid. I have told my neighbour, how you have been solicited by a gentleman, his companion. Mar. I know that knave; hang him! one Pa

(1) Weigh, here means to value or esteem.

rolles a filthy officer he is in those suggestions! for the young earl.-Beware of them, Diana; their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines of lust, are not the things they go under :2 many a maid hath been seduced by them; and the misery is, example, that so terrible shows in the wreck of maidenhood, cannot for all that dissuade succession, but that they are limed with the twigs that threaten them. I hope, I need not to advise you further; but I hope your own grace will keep you where you are, though there were no further danger known, but the modesty which

is so lost.

Dia. You shall not need to fear me.

Enter Helena, in the dress of a pilgrim. Wid. I hope so.- -Look, here comes a pilgrim: I know she will lie at my house: thither they send one another: I'll question her.God save you, pilgrim! Whither are you bound? Hel. To Saint Jaques le grand.

Where do the palmers3 lodge, I do beseech you? Wid. At the Saint Francis here, beside the port. Hel. Is this the way?

Wid.

Ay, marry, is it.-Hark you! A march afar off They come this way:-If you will tarry, holy pil

grim,

But till the troops come by,

I will conduct you where you shall be lodg'd;
The rather, for, I think, I know your hostess,

As ample as myself.

Hel.

Is it yourself?

Wid. If you shall please so, pilgrim.

(1) Temptations.

(2) They are not the things for which their names would make them pass.

(3) Pilgrims; so called from a staff or bough of palm they were wont to carry.

I did so.

Hel. I thank you, and will stay upon your leisure. Wid. You came, I think, from France? Hel. Wid. Here you shall see a countryman of yours, That has done worthy service.

Hel. His name, I pray you? Dia. The count Rousillon: Know you such a one? Hel. But by the ear, that hears most nobly of him: His face I know not.

Dia.

Whatsoe'er he is, He's bravely taken here. He stole from France, As 'tis reported, for the king had married him Against his liking: Think you it is so? Hel. Ay, surely, mere the truth;2 I know his lady.

Dia. There is a gentleman that serves the count, Reports but coarsely of her.

Hel.

Dia. Monsieur Parolles.

Hel.

What's his name?

O, I believe with him,

In argument of praise, or to the worth

Of the great count himself, she is too mean
To have her name repeated; all her deserving
Is a reserved honesty, and that

I have not heard examin'd.

Dia.

Alas, poor lady!

'Tis a hard bondage, to become the wife

Of a detesting

lord.

Wid. A right good creature: wheresoe'er she is, Her heart weighs sadly: this young maid might do

her

May be, the amorous count solicits her

In the unlawful purpose.

Wid.

How do you mean?

He does, indeed;

And brokes3 with all that can in such a suit

(1) Because.

(2) The exact, the entire truth.

3) Deals with panders.

Corrupt the tender honour of a maid:

But she is arm'd for him, and keeps her guard
In honestest defence.

Enter with drum and colours, a party of the
Florentine army, Bertram, and Parolles.

Mar. The gods forbid else!

Wid.

So, now they come :

That is Antonio, the duke's eldest son;

That, Escalus.

Hel.
Dia.

Which is the Frenchman?

He;

That with the plume: 'tis a most gallant fellow; I would, he lov'd his wife: if he were honester, He were much goodlier :-Is't not a handsome gentleman?

Hel. I like him well.

Dia. 'Tis pity he is not honest: Yond's that same knave,

That leads him to these places; were I his lady, I'd poison that vile rascal.

Hel.

Which is he?

Dia. That jack-an-apes with scarfs: Why is he melancholy?

Hel. Perchance he's hurt i' the battle.
Par. Lose our drum! well.

Mar. He's shrewdly vex'd at something: Look, he has spied us.

Wid. Marry, hang you!

Mar. And your courtesy, for a ring-carrier! [Exeunt Bertram, Parolles, officers, and soldiers.

Wid. The troop is past: Come, pilgrim, I will bring you

Where you shall host: of enjoin'd penitents There's four or five, to great Saint Jaques bound, Already at my house.

you:

Hel. I humbly thank Please it this matron, and this gentle maid, To eat with us to-night, the charge, and thanking,

Shall be for me; and, to requite you further,
I will bestow some precepts on this virgin,
Worthy the note.

Both.

We'll take your offer kindly.

[Exeunt. SCENE VI-Camp before Florence. Enter Bertram, and the two French Lords.

1 Lord. Nay, good my lord, put him to't; let him have his way.

2 Lord. If your lordship find him not a hilding, hold me no more in your respect.

1 Lord. On my life, my lord, a bubble.

Ber. Do you think I am so far deceived in him? 1 Lord. Believe it, my lord, in mine own direct knowledge, without any malice, but to speak of him as my kinsman, he's a most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise-breaker, the owner of no one good quality worthy your lordship's entertainment.

2 Lord. It were fit you knew him; lest, reposing too far in his virtue, which he hath not, he might, at some great and trusty business, in a main danger, fail you.

Ber. I would I knew in what particular action to try him.

2 Lord. None better than to let him fetch off his drum, which you hear him so confidently undertake to do.

1 Lord. I, with a troop of Florentines, will suddenly surprise him; such I will have, whom, I am sure, he knows not from the enemy: we will bind and hood-wink him so, that he shall suppose no other but that he is carried into the leaguer2 of the adversaries, when we bring him to our tents: Be but your lordship present at his examination; if he do not, for the promise of his life, and in the highest compulsion of base fear, offer to betray you,

(1) A paltry fellow, a coward. (2) The camp.