Laf. Why, doctor fhe: My lord, there's one arriv'd, If you will fee her now, by my faith and honour, If seriously I may convey my thoughts In this my light deliverance, I have fpoke With one, that, in her fex, her years, profeffion, King. Now, good Lafeu, Bring in the admiration; that we with thee, Laf. Nay, I'll fit you, And not be all day neither. [Exit Lafeu, King. Thus he his fpecial nothing ever prologues, Laf. [Returns.] Nay, come your ways. [Bringing in Helena. King. This hafte hath wings indeed. Laf. Nay, come your ways; This is his majefty, fay your mind to him: Hel. The rather will I fpare my praises toward him; Knowing him, is enough. On his bed of death 3-ber years, profeffion,] By profeffion is meant her declaration of the end and purpose of her coming. WARBURTON. + Than I dare blame my weakness:] This is one of Shakespeare's `perplexed expreffions. To acknowledge how much she has aftonifhed me, would be to acknowledge a weakness; and this I have not the confidence to do. STEEVENS. 5 Creffid's uncle, I am like Pandarus. See Troilus and Crefida. JOHNSON. Many Many receipts he gave me; chiefly one, Safer than mine own two, more dear; I have fo: King. We thank you, maiden; But may not be fo credulous of cure,- 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 lefs, to be call'd grateful : Hel. What I can do, can do no hurt to try, Since you fet up your reft 'gainst remedy: 7 a triple eye,] i. e. a third eye." STEEVENS. - wherein the honour Of my dear father's gift ftands chief in power,] Perhaps we may better read: wherein the power Of my dear father's gift ftands chief in honour. JOHNSON. He He that of greatest works is finisher, From fimple fources; and great feas have dry'd, en. Thy pains, not us'd, muft by thyself be paid: But know, I think, and think I know moft fure, 8 When miracles have by the greatest been deny'd.] I do not fee the import or connection of this line. As the next line stands without a correfpondent rhyme, I fufpect that fomething has been loft. JOHNSON. I point the paffage thus; and then I fee no reason to complain of want of connection: When judges have been babes. Great floods, &c. When miracles have by the greatest been deny'd. i. e. miracles have continued to happen, while the wisest men have been writing against the poffibility of them. STEEVENS. 9 Myfelf against the level of mine aim ;] i. e. pretend to greater things than befits the mediocrity of condition. WARBURTON. my I rather think that the means to fay, I am not an impoftor that proclaim one thing and defign another, that proclaim a cure and aim at a fraud: I think what I fpeak. JOHNSON. King. Art thou fo confident? Within what space Hel. The greateft grace lending grace', Hel. Tax of impudence, A ftrumpet's boldnefs, a divulged fhame', The greatest grace lending grace,] Sear'd I should have thought the repetition of grace to have been fuper. fluous, if the grace of grace had not occurred in the fpeech with which the tragedy of Macbeth concludes. STEEVENS. 2 a divulged fhame, Traduc'd by odious ballads; my maiden's name With wileft torture let my life be ended.] This paffage is apparently corrupt, and how fhall it be rectified? I have no great hope of fuccefs, but fomething must be tried. I read the whole thus:. King. What dar'ft thou venture? Hel. Tax of impudence, A frumpet's boldness; a divulged shame, With vileft torture let my life be ended. When this alteration firft came into my mind, I fuppofed Helen tờ That Sear'd otherwife; no worfe of worst extended, King. Methinks, in thee fome bleffed fpirit doth speak; His powerful found, within an organ weak: And That is, let me act under the greatest terrors poffible. Yet once again we will try to find the right way by the glimmer of Hanmer's emendation, who reads thus: -my maiden name Sear'd; otherwife the worst of worst extended, &c. Perhaps it were better thus: my maiden name Sear'd; otherwife the worst to worst extended; With vileft torture let my life be ended. JOHNSON. Let us try, if poffible, to produce fenfe from this paffage with out exchanging a fyllable. I would bear (fays fhe) the tax of im pudence, which is the denotement of a ftrumpet; would endure a shame refulting from my failure in what I have undertaken, and thence become the fubject of odious ballads; let my maiden reputation be otherwife branded; and, no worfe of worst extended, i. e. provided no thing worfe is offered to me, (meaning violation) let my life be ended with the worst of tortures. The poet for the fake of rhime has ob fcured the fenfe of the paffage. The worst that can befal a woman, being extended to me, feems to be the meaning of the laft line. STEEVENS. The old copy reads not fear'd, but fear'd. The impreffion in my book is very faint, but that, I think, is the word. In the fame line it reads not no, but ne, probably an error for the. I would wish to read and point the paffage thus: a divulged frame Traduc'd by odious ballads my maiden's name; i.e. Let my maiden reputation become the fubject of ballads. 3 Methinks, in thee fome bleffed fpirit doth Speak MALONE. His powerful found, within an organ weak:] To fpeak a found is a barbarifim: for to speak fignifies to utter an articulate found, i. e. a voice. So, Shakespeare, in Love's Labour Loft, fays with propriety, And when love fpeaks the voice of all the gods. To fpeak a found therefore is improper, though to utter a found is not; because the word utter may be applied either to an articulate |