put

fon: Fortune, fhe faid, was no goddess, that had fuch difference betwixt their two eftates; Love, no god, that would not extend his might, only where qualities were level; Diana, no queen of virgins, that would fuffer her poor knight to be furprised without rescue in the firft affault, or ransom afterward: This fhe deliver'd in the most bitter touch of forrow, that e'er I heard a virgin exclaim in: which I held my duty, fpeedily to acquaint you withal; fithence, in the lofs that may happen, it concerns you something to know it.

Count. You have difcharg'd this honeftly; keep it to yourself: many likelihoods inform'd me of this before, which hung fo tottering in the balance, that I could neither believe, nor mifdoubt: Pray you, leave me ftall this in your bofom, and I thank you for your honeft care: I will speak with you further [Exit Stewards

anon.

Enter Helena.

Count. Even fo it was with me, when I was young:
If we are nature's, thefe are ours; this thorn

-Fortune, fhe faid, was no goddefs, &c. Love no god, &c. complained against the queen of virgins, &c.] This paffage ftands thus in the old copies:

Love, no god, that would not extend his might only where qualities were level, queen of virgins, that would fuffer her poor knight, &c.

'Tis evident to every fenfible reader that fomething muft have flipt out here, by which the meaning of the context is rendered defective. The steward is speaking in the very words he overheard of the young lady; fortune was no goddefs, the faid, for one reafon; love, no god, for another; what could fhe then

more naturally fubjoin, than as I have amended in the text? Diana, no queen of virgins, that would fuffer her poor knight to be furprised without refcue, &c.

For in poetical history Diana was well known to prefide over chaflity, as Cupid over love, or Fortune over the change or regulation of our circumftances. THEOBALD.

6 If we are nature's, ] The old copy reads: If ever we are nature's.

STEEVENS.

Doth

Doth to our rofe of youth rightly belong;

Our blood to us, this to our blood is born;

It is the fhew and feal of nature's truth,
Where love's strong paffion is impreft in youth:
7 By our remembrances of days foregone,
Such were our faults, O! then we thought them none.
Her eye is fick on't; I obferve her now.
Hel. What is your pleasure, madam?
Count. You know, Helen,"

I am a mother to you.

Hel. Mine honourable miftrefs.
Count. Nay, a mother;

Why not a mother? When I faid, a mother,
Methought you faw a ferpent: What's in mother,
That you start at it? I fay, I am your mother;
And put you in the catalogue of those

That were enwombed mine: 'Tis often feen,
Adoption ftrives with nature; and choice breeds
A native flip to us from foreign feeds:
You ne'er opprefs'd me with a mother's groan,
Yet I exprefs to you a mother's care:
God's mercy, maiden! does it curd thy blood,
To fay, I am thy mother? What's the matter,
That this diffemper'd meffenger of wet,
The many-colour'd Iris, rounds thine eye?
Why?that you are my daughter?
Hel. That I am not.

Count. I fay, I am your mother.
Hel. Pardon, madam;

The count Roufillon cannot be my brother:
I am from humble, he from honour'd name ;

7 By our remembrances That is, according to our fecollection. So we fay, he is old by my reckoning. JOHNSON. 8 Such were our faults, or then we thought them none.] We should read:

O! then we thought them none.

A motive for pity and pardon; agreeable to fact, and the indulgent character of the fpeaker This was fent to the Oxford editor, and he altered O, to tho'. WARBURTON,

No

No note upon my parents, his all noble !
My mafter, my dear lord he is; and I
His fervant live, and will his vaffal die :

He must not be

my

brother.

Count. Nor I your mother?

Hel. You are my mother, madam; 'Would you

were

(So that my lord, your fon, were not my brother) Indeed, my mother!-9or were you both our mothers; I care no more for, than I do for heaven, So I were not his fifter: 'Can't no other, But, I your daughter, he must be my brother? 9 or were you both our mothers,

I care no more for, than I do for heav'n,

So I were not his fifter: ---- -}

The fecond line has not the leaft glimmering of fenfe. Helen, by the indulgence and invitation of her miftrefs, is encouraged to difcover the hidden caufe of her grief; which is the love of her mift trefs's fon; and taking hold of her mistress's words, where the bids her call her mother, the unfolds the mystery: and, as fhe is difco vering it, emboldens herfelf by this reflection, in the line in quef tion, as it ought to be read in a parenthefis :

(I can no more fear, than I do fear beav'n.)

i. e. I can no more fear to truft fo indulgent a mistress with the fe cret, than I can fear heaven, who has my vows for its happy iffue. This break, in her difcovery, is exceeding pertinent and fine. Here again the Oxford editor does his part. WARBURTON.

I do not much yield to this emendation; yet I have not been able to please myself with any thing to which even my own par tiality can give the preference.

Sir Thomas Hanmer reads:

Or were you both our mothers,

I cannot ask for more than that of heaven,

So I were not his fifter: can't be no other

Way Iyour daughter, but he must be my brother? JOHNSON: "Were you both our mothers,

"I care no more for, than I do for heaven,

"So I were not his fifter.”

There is a defigned ambiguity: I care no more for, is, I care as much for.I with it equally. FARMER.

Can't no other,

But, I your daughter, he must be my brother?]

The meaning is obfcur'd by the elliptical diction. Can it be no other way, but if I be your daughter be must be my brother? JOHNSON.

Count

Count. Yes, Helen, you might be my daughter-in

law; larg

God shield, you mean it not! daughter, and mother,
So ftrive upon your pulfe: What, pale again?
My fear hath catch'd your fondness: Now I fee
The mystery of your loneliness, and find

2

3 Your falt tears' head. Now to all fenfe 'tis grofs, You love my fon; invention is afham'd,

Against the proclamation of thy paffion,

To fay, thou doft not: therefore tell me true;
But tell me then, 'tis fo-for, look, thy cheeks
Confefs it one to the other; and thine eyes
See it fo grofly fhewn in thy behaviours,
That in their kind they fpeak it; only fin
And hellish obftinacy tie thy tongue,

That truth fhould be fufpected: Speak, is't fo?
If it be fo, you have wound a goodly clue;
If it be not, forfwear't: howe'er, I charge thee,
As heaven fhall work in me for thine avail,
To tell me truly.

Hel. Good madam, pardon me!

Now I fee

The mystery of your lovelinefs, and find
Your falt tears' head.

The mystery of her loveliness is beyond my comprehenfion : the old Countess is faying nothing ironical, nothing taunting, or in reproach, that this word fhould find a place here; which it could not, unless sarcastically employed, and with some spleen. I dare warrant the poet meant his old lady should fay no more than this: "I now find the mystery of your creeping into corners, and weeping, and pining in fecret." For this reafon I have amended the text, loneliness. The Steward, in the foregoing fcene, where he gives the Countess intelligence of Helena's behaviour, fays:

Alone the was, and did communicate to herself her own words to' her own ears. THEOBALD.

The late Mr. Hall had corrected this, I believe, rightly, your lowlinefs. TYRWHITT.

I think Theobald's correction as plaufible. To chufe folitude is a mark of love. STEEVENS.

3 Your falt tears' head.] The fource, the fountain of your tears, the cause of your grief. JOHNSON.

VOL. IV.

D

Count,

Count. Do you love my fon?

Hel. Your pardon, noble mistress!
Count. Love you my fon?

Hel. Do not you love him, madam ?

Count. Go not about; my love hath in't a bond, Whereof the world takes note: come, come, disclose The state of your affection; for your paffions Have to the full appeach'd.

Hel. Then, I confefs,

Here on my knee, before high heaven and you,
That before you, and next unto high heaven,
I love your fon :-

My friends were poor, but honeft; fo's my love:
Be not offended; for it hurts not him,

That he is lov'd of me: I follow him not

By any token of prefumptuous fuit;

Nor would I have him, 'till I do deserve him;
Yet never know how that defert should be.

I know I love in vain, ftrive against hope;

4

Yet, in this captious and intenible fieve,
I ftill pour in the waters of my love,

And lack not to lose ftill 5: thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore

The fun, that looks upon his worshipper,
But knows of him no more. My deareft madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love,
For loving where you do: but, if yourself,
Whofe aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever, in fo true a flame of liking,
Wish chaftly, and love dearly, that your Dian

4-captious and intenible fieve,] The word captious I never found in this fenfe; yet I cannot tell what to substitute, unless carious for rotten, which yet is a word more likely to have been miftaken by the copyers than used by the author. JOHNSON STEEVENS.

The old copy reads- -intemible fieve.

5 And lack not to lose ftill:- -]

Perhaps we should read :

And lack not to love ftill. TYRWHITT,

Was