William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (472 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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3.3
Flourish of trumpets. Enter the Duke of Florence, Bertram, a drummer and trumpeters, soldiers, and Paroles
Enter the Countess and Reynaldo her steward, with a letter
A tucket afar off. Enter an old Widow, her daughter Diana, and Mariana, with other Florentine citizens
Enter Bertram and the two Captains Dumaine
SECOND LORD DUMAINE (
to Bertram
) Nay, good my lord, put him to’t. Let him have his way.
Flourish of trumpets. Enter the Duke of Florence, Bertram, a drummer and trumpeters, soldiers, and Paroles
DUKE
(to Bertram
)
(to Bertram
)
The general of our horse thou art, and we,
Great in our hope, lay our best love and credence
Upon thy promising fortune.
Great in our hope, lay our best love and credence
Upon thy promising fortune.
BERTRAM
Sir, it is
A charge too heavy for my strength, but yet
We’ll strive to bear it for your worthy sake
To th’extreme edge of hazard.
We’ll strive to bear it for your worthy sake
To th’extreme edge of hazard.
DUKE
Then go thou forth,
And Fortune play upon thy prosperous helm
As thy auspicious mistress.
As thy auspicious mistress.
BERTRAM
This very day,
Great Mars, I put myself into thy file.
Make me but like my thoughts, and I shall prove
A lover of thy drum, hater of love.
Make me but like my thoughts, and I shall prove
A lover of thy drum, hater of love.
Exeunt
3.4Enter the Countess and Reynaldo her steward, with a letter
COUNTESS
Alas! And would you take the letter of her?
Might you not know she would do as she has done,
By sending me a letter? Read it again.
Might you not know she would do as she has done,
By sending me a letter? Read it again.
REYNALDO
(reads the letter
)
(reads the letter
)
‘I am Saint Jaques’ pilgrim, thither gone.
Ambitious love hath so in me offended
That barefoot plod I the cold ground upon
With sainted vow my faults to have amended.
Write, write, that from the bloody course of war
My dearest master, your dear son, may hie.
Bless him at home in peace, whilst I from far
His name with zealous fervour sanctify.
His taken labours bid him me forgive;
I, his despiteful Juno, sent him forth
From courtly friends, with camping foes to live,
Where death and danger dogs the heels of worth.
He is too good and fair for death and me;
Whom I myself embrace to set him free.’
Ambitious love hath so in me offended
That barefoot plod I the cold ground upon
With sainted vow my faults to have amended.
Write, write, that from the bloody course of war
My dearest master, your dear son, may hie.
Bless him at home in peace, whilst I from far
His name with zealous fervour sanctify.
His taken labours bid him me forgive;
I, his despiteful Juno, sent him forth
From courtly friends, with camping foes to live,
Where death and danger dogs the heels of worth.
He is too good and fair for death and me;
Whom I myself embrace to set him free.’
COUNTESS
Ah, what sharp stings are in her mildest words!
Reynaldo, you did never lack advice so much
As letting her pass so. Had I spoke with her,
I could have well diverted her intents,
Which thus she hath prevented.
Reynaldo, you did never lack advice so much
As letting her pass so. Had I spoke with her,
I could have well diverted her intents,
Which thus she hath prevented.
REYNALDO
Pardon me, madam.
If I had given you this at over-night
She might have been o’erta’en—and yet she writes
Pursuit would be but vain.
She might have been o’erta’en—and yet she writes
Pursuit would be but vain.
COUNTESS
What angel shall
Bless this unworthy husband? He cannot thrive
Unless her prayers, whom heaven delights to hear
And loves to grant, reprieve him from the wrath
Of greatest justice. Write, write, Reynaldo,
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.
Dispatch 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.
Unless her prayers, whom heaven delights to hear
And loves to grant, reprieve him from the wrath
Of greatest justice. Write, write, Reynaldo,
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.
Dispatch 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
3.5A tucket afar off. Enter an old Widow, her daughter Diana, and Mariana, with other Florentine citizens
WIDOW Nay, come, for if they do approach the city we shall lose all the sight.
DIANA They say the French Count has done most honourable service.
WIDOW It is reported that he has taken their greatest commander, and that with his own hand he slew the Duke’s brother. (Tucket) We have lost our labour; they are gone a contrary way. Hark. You may know by their trumpets.
MARIANA Come, let’s return again, and suffice ourselves with the report of it.—Wett, Diana, take heed of this French earl. The honour of a maid is her name, and no legacy is so rich as honesty.
WIDOW (to Diana) I have told my neighbour how you have been solicited by a gentleman, his companion.
MARIANA I know that knave, hang him! One Paroles. A filthy officer he is in those suggestions for the young earl. Beware of them, Diana; their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all their engines of lust, are not the things they go under. 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 threatens 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.
DIANA You shall not need to fear me.
Enter Helen dressed as a pilgrim
WIDOW 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?
HELEN To Saint Jaques le Grand.
Where do the palmers lodge, I do beseech you?
WIDOW
At the ’Saint Francis’ here beside the port.
HELEN
Is this the way?
WIDOW
Ay, marry, is’t.
Sound of a march, far off
Hark you, they come this way. If you will tarry,
Holy pilgrim, but till the troops come by,
I will conduct you where you shall be lodged,
The rather for I think I know your hostess
As ample as myself.
Holy pilgrim, but till the troops come by,
I will conduct you where you shall be lodged,
The rather for I think I know your hostess
As ample as myself.
HELEN Is it yourself?
WIDOW If you shall please so, pilgrim.
HELEN
I thank you, and will stay upon your leisure.
WIDOW
You came, I think, from France?
HELEN
I did SO.
WIDOW
Here you shall see a countryman of yours
That has done worthy service.
That has done worthy service.
HELEN His name, I pray you?
DIANA
The Count Roussillon. Know you such a one?
HELEN
But by the ear, that hears most nobly of him; 50
His face I know not.
His face I know not.
DIANA
Whatsome’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?
As ’tis reported; for the King had married him
Against his liking. Think you it is so?
HELEN
Ay, surely, mere the truth. I know his lady.
DIANA
There is a gentleman that serves the Count
Reports but coarsely of her.
Reports but coarsely of her.
HELEN
What’s his name?
DIANA A
Monsieur Paroles.
HELEN
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 examined.
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 examined.
DIANA
Alas, poor lady.
’Tis a hard bondage to become the wife
Of a detesting lord.
Of a detesting lord.
WIDOW
I warr’nt, good creature, wheresoe’er she is
Her heart weighs sadly. This young maid might do her
A shrewd turn if she pleased.
Her heart weighs sadly. This young maid might do her
A shrewd turn if she pleased.
HELEN
How do you mean?
Maybe the amorous Count solicits her
In the unlawful purpose.
In the unlawful purpose.
WIDOW
He does indeed,
And brokes with all that can in such a suit
Corrupt the tender honour of a maid.
But she is armed for him, and keeps her guard
In honestest defence.
Corrupt the tender honour of a maid.
But she is armed for him, and keeps her guard
In honestest defence.
MARIANA The gods forbid else.
⌈
Enter
,
with drummer and colours, Bertram, Paroles, and the whole army
⌉
WIDOW So, now they come.
That is Antonio, the Duke’s eldest son;
That, Escalus.
That, Escalus.
HELEN
Which is the Frenchman?
DIANA He—
That with the plume. ’Tis a most gallant fellow.
I would he loved his wife. If he were honester
He were much goodlier. Is’t not
A handsome gentleman?
I would he loved his wife. If he were honester
He were much goodlier. Is’t not
A handsome gentleman?
HELEN I like him well.
DIANA ’Tis pity he is not honest.
Yond’s that same knave that leads him to those
places.
Were I his lady, I would poison
That vile rascal.
places.
Were I his lady, I would poison
That vile rascal.
HELEN
Which is he?
DIANA
That jackanapes
With scarves. Why is he melancholy?
HELEN Perchance he’s hurt i’th’ battle.
PAROLES
(aside)
Lose our drum? Well. 90
(aside)
Lose our drum? Well. 90
MARIANA He’s shrewdly vexed at something.
Look, he has spied us.
WIDOW (to
Paroles)
Paroles)
Marry, hang you!
MARIANA
(to Paroles)
(to Paroles)
And your courtesy
,
for a
ring-carrier.
,
for a
ring-carrier.
Exeunt Bertram, Paroles, and the army
WIDOW
The troop is past. Come, pilgrim, I will bring you
Where you shall host. Of enjoined penitents
There’s four or five to great Saint Jaques bound
Already at my house.
Where you shall host. Of enjoined penitents
There’s four or five to great Saint Jaques bound
Already at my house.
HELEN
I humbly thank you.
Please it this matron and this gentle maid
To eat with us tonight, the charge and thanking
Shall be for me. And to requite you further,
I will bestow some precepts of this virgin
Worthy the note.
To eat with us tonight, the charge and thanking
Shall be for me. And to requite you further,
I will bestow some precepts of this virgin
Worthy the note.
WIDOW
and
MARIANA We’ll take your offer kindly.
Exeunt
3.6and
MARIANA We’ll take your offer kindly.
Exeunt
Enter Bertram and the two Captains Dumaine
SECOND LORD DUMAINE (
to Bertram
) Nay, good my lord, put him to’t. Let him have his way.
FIRST LORD DUMAINE (
to Bertram
) If your lordship find him not a hilding, hold me no more in your respect.
to Bertram
) If your lordship find him not a hilding, hold me no more in your respect.
SECOND LORD DUMAINE (
to Bertram
) On my life, my lord, a bubble.
to Bertram
) On my life, my lord, a bubble.
BERTRAM Do you think I am so far deceived in him?
SECOND LORD DUMAINE 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. 13
FIRST LORD DUMAINE
(to Bertram)
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.
(to Bertram)
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.
BERTRAM I would I knew in what particular action to try him.
FIRST LORD DUMAINE None better than to let him fetch off his drum, which you hear him so confidently undertake to do.
SECOND LORD DUMAINE
(to Bertram)
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 hoodwink him so, that he shall suppose no other but that he is carried into the laager of the adversary’s when we bring him to our own 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, and deliver all the intelligence in his power against you, and that with the divine forfeit of his soul upon oath, never trust my judgement in anything. 34
(to Bertram)
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 hoodwink him so, that he shall suppose no other but that he is carried into the laager of the adversary’s when we bring him to our own 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, and deliver all the intelligence in his power against you, and that with the divine forfeit of his soul upon oath, never trust my judgement in anything. 34
FIRST LORD DUMAINE
(to Bertram)
O, for the love of laughter, let him fetch his drum. He says he has a stratagem for’t. When your lordship sees the bottom of his success in’t, and to what metal this counterfeit lump of ore will be melted, if you give him not John Drum’s entertainment, your inclining cannot be removed. Here he comes.
(to Bertram)
O, for the love of laughter, let him fetch his drum. He says he has a stratagem for’t. When your lordship sees the bottom of his success in’t, and to what metal this counterfeit lump of ore will be melted, if you give him not John Drum’s entertainment, your inclining cannot be removed. Here he comes.
Enter Paroles
SECOND LORD DUMAINE O ⌈
aside
⌉ for the love of laughter ⌈
aloud
⌉ hinder not the honour of his design; let him fetch off his drum in any hand.
aside
⌉ for the love of laughter ⌈
aloud
⌉ hinder not the honour of his design; let him fetch off his drum in any hand.
BERTRAM (
to Paroles
) How now, monsieur? This drum sticks sorely in your disposition.
to Paroles
) How now, monsieur? This drum sticks sorely in your disposition.
FIRST LORD DUMAINE A pox on’t, let it go. ’Tis but a drum.
PAROLES But a drum? Is’t but a drum? A drum so lost! There was excellent command: to charge in with our horse upon our own wings and to rend our own soldiers! 51
FIRST LORD DUMAINE That was not to be blamed in the command of the service. It was a disaster of war that Caesar himself could not have prevented, if he had been there to command.
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