searcher/tsrc/cpixsearchertest/conf/act1.txt
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     1 William Shakespeare
       
     2 
       
     3 All's Well That Ends Well
       
     4      __________________________________________________________________
       
     5 
       
     6 ACT I
       
     7 
       
     8 SCENE I. Rousillon. The Count's palace.
       
     9 
       
    10    Enter Bertram, the Countess of Rousillon, Helena, and Lafeu, all in
       
    11    black
       
    12 
       
    13    Countess
       
    14 
       
    15    In delivering my son from me, I bury a second husband.
       
    16 
       
    17    Bertram
       
    18 
       
    19    And I in going, madam, weep o'er my father's death anew: but I must
       
    20    attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward, evermore in
       
    21    subjection.
       
    22 
       
    23    Lafeu
       
    24 
       
    25    You shall find of the king a husband, madam; you, sir, a father: he
       
    26    that so generally is at all times good must of necessity hold his
       
    27    virtue to you; whose worthiness would stir it up where it wanted rather
       
    28    than lack it where there is such abundance.
       
    29 
       
    30    Countess
       
    31 
       
    32    What hope is there of his majesty's amendment?
       
    33 
       
    34    Lafeu
       
    35 
       
    36    He hath abandoned his physicians, madam; under whose practises he hath
       
    37    persecuted time with hope, and finds no other advantage in the process
       
    38    but only the losing of hope by time.
       
    39 
       
    40    Countess
       
    41 
       
    42    This young gentlewoman had a father,--O, that `had'! how sad a passage
       
    43    'tis!--whose skill was almost as great as his honesty; had it stretched
       
    44    so far, would have made nature immortal, and death should have play for
       
    45    lack of work. Would, for the king's sake, he were living! I think it
       
    46    would be the death of the king's disease.
       
    47 
       
    48    Lafeu
       
    49 
       
    50    How called you the man you speak of, madam?
       
    51 
       
    52    Countess
       
    53 
       
    54    He was famous, sir, in his profession, and it was his great right to be
       
    55    so: Gerard de Narbon.
       
    56 
       
    57    Lafeu
       
    58 
       
    59    He was excellent indeed, madam: the king very lately spoke of him
       
    60    admiringly and mourningly: he was skilful enough to have lived still,
       
    61    if knowledge could be set up against mortality.
       
    62 
       
    63    Bertram
       
    64 
       
    65    What is it, my good lord, the king languishes of?
       
    66 
       
    67    Lafeu
       
    68 
       
    69    A fistula, my lord.
       
    70 
       
    71    Bertram
       
    72 
       
    73    I heard not of it before.
       
    74 
       
    75    Lafeu
       
    76 
       
    77    I would it were not notorious. Was this gentlewoman the daughter of
       
    78    Gerard de Narbon?
       
    79 
       
    80    Countess
       
    81 
       
    82    His sole child, my lord, and bequeathed to my overlooking. I have those
       
    83    hopes of her good that her education promises; her dispositions she
       
    84    inherits, which makes fair gifts fairer; for where an unclean mind
       
    85    carries virtuous qualities, there commendations go with pity; they are
       
    86    virtues and traitors too; in her they are the better for their
       
    87    simpleness; she derives her honesty and achieves her goodness.
       
    88 
       
    89    Lafeu
       
    90 
       
    91    Your commendations, madam, get from her tears.
       
    92 
       
    93    Countess
       
    94 
       
    95    'Tis the best brine a maiden can season her praise in. The remembrance
       
    96    of her father never approaches her heart but the tyranny of her sorrows
       
    97    takes all livelihood from her cheek. No more of this, Helena; go to, no
       
    98    more; lest it be rather thought you affect a sorrow than have it.
       
    99 
       
   100    Helena
       
   101 
       
   102    I do affect a sorrow indeed, but I have it too.
       
   103 
       
   104    Lafeu
       
   105 
       
   106    Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead, excessive grief the
       
   107    enemy to the living.
       
   108 
       
   109    Countess
       
   110 
       
   111    If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess makes it soon mortal.
       
   112 
       
   113    Bertram
       
   114 
       
   115    Madam, I desire your holy wishes.
       
   116 
       
   117    Lafeu
       
   118 
       
   119    How understand we that?
       
   120 
       
   121    Countess
       
   122 
       
   123    Be thou blest, Bertram, and succeed thy father
       
   124    In manners, as in shape! thy blood and virtue
       
   125    Contend for empire in thee, and thy goodness
       
   126    Share with thy birthright! Love all, trust a few,
       
   127    Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
       
   128    Rather in power than use, and keep thy friend
       
   129    Under thy own life's key: be cheque'd for silence,
       
   130    But never tax'd for speech. What heaven more will,
       
   131    That thee may furnish and my prayers pluck down,
       
   132    Fall on thy head! Farewell, my lord;
       
   133    'Tis an unseason'd courtier; good my lord,
       
   134    Advise him.
       
   135 
       
   136    Lafeu
       
   137 
       
   138      He cannot want the best
       
   139    That shall attend his love.
       
   140 
       
   141    Countess
       
   142 
       
   143    Heaven bless him! Farewell, Bertram.
       
   144 
       
   145    Exit
       
   146 
       
   147    Bertram
       
   148 
       
   149    [To Helena] The best wishes that can be forged in your thoughts be
       
   150    servants to you! Be comfortable to my mother, your mistress, and make
       
   151    much of her.
       
   152 
       
   153    Lafeu
       
   154 
       
   155    Farewell, pretty lady: you must hold the credit of your father.
       
   156 
       
   157    Exeunt Bertram and Lafeu
       
   158 
       
   159    Helena
       
   160 
       
   161    O, were that all! I think not on my father;
       
   162    And these great tears grace his remembrance more
       
   163    Than those I shed for him. What was he like?
       
   164    I have forgot him: my imagination
       
   165    Carries no favour in't but Bertram's.
       
   166    I am undone: there is no living, none,
       
   167    If Bertram be away. 'Twere all one
       
   168    That I should love a bright particular star
       
   169    And think to wed it, he is so above me:
       
   170    In his bright radiance and collateral light
       
   171    Must I be comforted, not in his sphere.
       
   172    The ambition in my love thus plagues itself:
       
   173    The hind that would be mated by the lion
       
   174    Must die for love. 'Twas pretty, though plague,
       
   175    To see him every hour; to sit and draw
       
   176    His arched brows, his hawking eye, his curls,
       
   177    In our heart's table; heart too capable
       
   178    Of every line and trick of his sweet favour:
       
   179    But now he's gone, and my idolatrous fancy
       
   180    Must sanctify his reliques. Who comes here?
       
   181 
       
   182    Enter Parolles
       
   183 
       
   184    [Aside] One that goes with him: I love him for his sake;
       
   185    And yet I know him a notorious liar,
       
   186    Think him a great way fool, solely a coward;
       
   187    Yet these fixed evils sit so fit in him,
       
   188    That they take place, when virtue's steely bones
       
   189    Look bleak i' the cold wind: withal, full oft we see
       
   190    Cold wisdom waiting on superfluous folly.
       
   191 
       
   192    Parolles
       
   193 
       
   194    Save you, fair queen!
       
   195 
       
   196    Helena
       
   197 
       
   198    And you, monarch!
       
   199 
       
   200    Parolles
       
   201 
       
   202    No.
       
   203 
       
   204    Helena
       
   205 
       
   206    And no.
       
   207 
       
   208    Parolles
       
   209 
       
   210    Are you meditating on virginity?
       
   211 
       
   212    Helena
       
   213 
       
   214    Ay. You have some stain of soldier in you: let me ask you a question.
       
   215    Man is enemy to virginity; how may we barricado it against him?
       
   216 
       
   217    Parolles
       
   218 
       
   219    Keep him out.
       
   220 
       
   221    Helena
       
   222 
       
   223    But he assails; and our virginity, though valiant, in the defence yet
       
   224    is weak: unfold to us some warlike resistance.
       
   225 
       
   226    Parolles
       
   227 
       
   228    There is none: man, sitting down before you, will undermine you and
       
   229    blow you up.
       
   230 
       
   231    Helena
       
   232 
       
   233    Bless our poor virginity from underminers and blowers up! Is there no
       
   234    military policy, how virgins might blow up men?
       
   235 
       
   236    Parolles
       
   237 
       
   238    Virginity being blown down, man will quicklier be blown up: marry, in
       
   239    blowing him down again, with the breach yourselves made, you lose your
       
   240    city. It is not politic in the commonwealth of nature to preserve
       
   241    virginity. Loss of virginity is rational increase and there was never
       
   242    virgin got till virginity was first lost. That you were made of is
       
   243    metal to make virgins. Virginity by being once lost may be ten times
       
   244    found; by being ever kept, it is ever lost: 'tis too cold a companion;
       
   245    away with 't!
       
   246 
       
   247    Helena
       
   248 
       
   249    I will stand for 't a little, though therefore I die a virgin.
       
   250 
       
   251    Parolles
       
   252 
       
   253    There's little can be said in 't; 'tis against the rule of nature. To
       
   254    speak on the part of virginity, is to accuse your mothers; which is
       
   255    most infallible disobedience. He that hangs himself is a virgin:
       
   256    virginity murders itself and should be buried in highways out of all
       
   257    sanctified limit, as a desperate offendress against nature. Virginity
       
   258    breeds mites, much like a cheese; consumes itself to the very paring,
       
   259    and so dies with feeding his own stomach. Besides, virginity is
       
   260    peevish, proud, idle, made of self-love, which is the most inhibited
       
   261    sin in the canon. Keep it not; you cannot choose but loose by't: out
       
   262    with 't! within ten year it will make itself ten, which is a goodly
       
   263    increase; and the principal itself not much the worse: away with 't!
       
   264 
       
   265    Helena
       
   266 
       
   267    How might one do, sir, to lose it to her own liking?
       
   268 
       
   269    Parolles
       
   270 
       
   271    Let me see: marry, ill, to like him that ne'er it likes. 'Tis a
       
   272    commodity will lose the gloss with lying; the longer kept, the less
       
   273    worth: off with 't while 'tis vendible; answer the time of request.
       
   274    Virginity, like an old courtier, wears her cap out of fashion: richly
       
   275    suited, but unsuitable: just like the brooch and the tooth-pick, which
       
   276    wear not now. Your date is better in your pie and your porridge than in
       
   277    your cheek; and your virginity, your old virginity, is like one of our
       
   278    French withered pears, it looks ill, it eats drily; marry, 'tis a
       
   279    withered pear; it was formerly better; marry, yet 'tis a withered pear:
       
   280    will you anything with it?
       
   281 
       
   282    Helena
       
   283 
       
   284    Not my virginity yet.
       
   285    There shall your master have a thousand loves,
       
   286    A mother and a mistress and a friend,
       
   287    A phoenix, captain and an enemy,
       
   288    A guide, a goddess, and a sovereign,
       
   289    A counsellor, a traitress, and a dear;
       
   290    His humble ambition, proud humility,
       
   291    His jarring concord, and his discord dulcet,
       
   292    His faith, his sweet disaster; with a world
       
   293    Of pretty, fond, adoptious christendoms,
       
   294    That blinking Cupid gossips. Now shall he--
       
   295    I know not what he shall. God send him well!
       
   296    The court's a learning place, and he is one--
       
   297 
       
   298    Parolles
       
   299 
       
   300    What one, i' faith?
       
   301 
       
   302    Helena
       
   303 
       
   304    That I wish well. 'Tis pity--
       
   305 
       
   306    Parolles
       
   307 
       
   308    What's pity?
       
   309 
       
   310    Helena
       
   311 
       
   312    That wishing well had not a body in't,
       
   313    Which might be felt; that we, the poorer born,
       
   314    Whose baser stars do shut us up in wishes,
       
   315    Might with effects of them follow our friends,
       
   316    And show what we alone must think, which never
       
   317    Return us thanks.
       
   318 
       
   319    Enter Page
       
   320 
       
   321    Page
       
   322 
       
   323    Monsieur Parolles, my lord calls for you.
       
   324 
       
   325    Exit
       
   326 
       
   327    Parolles
       
   328 
       
   329    Little Helen, farewell; if I can remember thee, I will think of thee at
       
   330    court.
       
   331 
       
   332    Helena
       
   333 
       
   334    Monsieur Parolles, you were born under a charitable star.
       
   335 
       
   336    Parolles
       
   337 
       
   338    Under Mars, I.
       
   339 
       
   340    Helena
       
   341 
       
   342    I especially think, under Mars.
       
   343 
       
   344    Parolles
       
   345 
       
   346    Why under Mars?
       
   347 
       
   348    Helena
       
   349 
       
   350    The wars have so kept you under that you must needs be born under Mars.
       
   351 
       
   352    Parolles
       
   353 
       
   354    When he was predominant.
       
   355 
       
   356    Helena
       
   357 
       
   358    When he was retrograde, I think, rather.
       
   359 
       
   360    Parolles
       
   361 
       
   362    Why think you so?
       
   363 
       
   364    Helena
       
   365 
       
   366    You go so much backward when you fight.
       
   367 
       
   368    Parolles
       
   369 
       
   370    That's for advantage.
       
   371 
       
   372    Helena
       
   373 
       
   374    So is running away, when fear proposes the safety; but the composition
       
   375    that your valour and fear makes in you is a virtue of a good wing, and
       
   376    I like the wear well.
       
   377 
       
   378    Parolles
       
   379 
       
   380    I am so full of businesses, I cannot answer thee acutely. I will return
       
   381    perfect courtier; in the which, my instruction shall serve to
       
   382    naturalize thee, so thou wilt be capable of a courtier's counsel and
       
   383    understand what advice shall thrust upon thee; else thou diest in thine
       
   384    unthankfulness, and thine ignorance makes thee away: farewell. When
       
   385    thou hast leisure, say thy prayers; when thou hast none, remember thy
       
   386    friends; get thee a good husband, and use him as he uses thee; so,
       
   387    farewell.
       
   388 
       
   389    Exit
       
   390 
       
   391    Helena
       
   392 
       
   393    Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,
       
   394    Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky
       
   395    Gives us free scope, only doth backward pull
       
   396    Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull.
       
   397    What power is it which mounts my love so high,
       
   398    That makes me see, and cannot feed mine eye?
       
   399    The mightiest space in fortune nature brings
       
   400    To join like likes and kiss like native things.
       
   401    Impossible be strange attempts to those
       
   402    That weigh their pains in sense and do suppose
       
   403    What hath been cannot be: who ever strove
       
   404    So show her merit, that did miss her love?
       
   405    The king's disease--my project may deceive me,
       
   406    But my intents are fix'd and will not leave me.
       
   407 
       
   408    Exit
       
   409 
       
   410 SCENE II. Paris. The King's palace.
       
   411 
       
   412    Flourish of cornets. Enter the King of France, with letters, and divers
       
   413    Attendants
       
   414 
       
   415    King
       
   416 
       
   417    The Florentines and Senoys are by the ears;
       
   418    Have fought with equal fortune and continue
       
   419    A braving war.
       
   420 
       
   421    First Lord
       
   422 
       
   423      So 'tis reported, sir.
       
   424 
       
   425    King
       
   426 
       
   427    Nay, 'tis most credible; we here received it
       
   428    A certainty, vouch'd from our cousin Austria,
       
   429    With caution that the Florentine will move us
       
   430    For speedy aid; wherein our dearest friend
       
   431    Prejudicates the business and would seem
       
   432    To have us make denial.
       
   433 
       
   434    First Lord
       
   435 
       
   436    His love and wisdom,
       
   437    Approved so to your majesty, may plead
       
   438    For amplest credence.
       
   439 
       
   440    King
       
   441 
       
   442    He hath arm'd our answer,
       
   443    And Florence is denied before he comes:
       
   444    Yet, for our gentlemen that mean to see
       
   445    The Tuscan service, freely have they leave
       
   446    To stand on either part.
       
   447 
       
   448    Second Lord
       
   449 
       
   450    It well may serve
       
   451    A nursery to our gentry, who are sick
       
   452    For breathing and exploit.
       
   453 
       
   454    King
       
   455 
       
   456    What's he comes here?
       
   457 
       
   458    Enter Bertram, Lafeu, and Parolles
       
   459 
       
   460    First Lord
       
   461 
       
   462    It is the Count Rousillon, my good lord,
       
   463    Young Bertram.
       
   464 
       
   465    King
       
   466 
       
   467      Youth, thou bear'st thy father's face;
       
   468    Frank nature, rather curious than in haste,
       
   469    Hath well composed thee. Thy father's moral parts
       
   470    Mayst thou inherit too! Welcome to Paris.
       
   471 
       
   472    Bertram
       
   473 
       
   474    My thanks and duty are your majesty's.
       
   475 
       
   476    King
       
   477 
       
   478    I would I had that corporal soundness now,
       
   479    As when thy father and myself in friendship
       
   480    First tried our soldiership! He did look far
       
   481    Into the service of the time and was
       
   482    Discipled of the bravest: he lasted long;
       
   483    But on us both did haggish age steal on
       
   484    And wore us out of act. It much repairs me
       
   485    To talk of your good father. In his youth
       
   486    He had the wit which I can well observe
       
   487    To-day in our young lords; but they may jest
       
   488    Till their own scorn return to them unnoted
       
   489    Ere they can hide their levity in honour;
       
   490    So like a courtier, contempt nor bitterness
       
   491    Were in his pride or sharpness; if they were,
       
   492    His equal had awaked them, and his honour,
       
   493    Clock to itself, knew the true minute when
       
   494    Exception bid him speak, and at this time
       
   495    His tongue obey'd his hand: who were below him
       
   496    He used as creatures of another place
       
   497    And bow'd his eminent top to their low ranks,
       
   498    Making them proud of his humility,
       
   499    In their poor praise he humbled. Such a man
       
   500    Might be a copy to these younger times;
       
   501    Which, follow'd well, would demonstrate them now
       
   502    But goers backward.
       
   503 
       
   504    Bertram
       
   505 
       
   506    His good remembrance, sir,
       
   507    Lies richer in your thoughts than on his tomb;
       
   508    So in approof lives not his epitaph
       
   509    As in your royal speech.
       
   510 
       
   511    King
       
   512 
       
   513    Would I were with him! He would always say--
       
   514    Methinks I hear him now; his plausive words
       
   515    He scatter'd not in ears, but grafted them,
       
   516    To grow there and to bear,--`Let me not live,'--
       
   517    This his good melancholy oft began,
       
   518    On the catastrophe and heel of pastime,
       
   519    When it was out,--`Let me not live,' quoth he,
       
   520    `After my flame lacks oil, to be the snuff
       
   521    Of younger spirits, whose apprehensive senses
       
   522    All but new things disdain; whose judgments are
       
   523    Mere fathers of their garments; whose constancies
       
   524    Expire before their fashions.' This he wish'd;
       
   525    I after him do after him wish too,
       
   526    Since I nor wax nor honey can bring home,
       
   527    I quickly were dissolved from my hive,
       
   528    To give some labourers room.
       
   529 
       
   530    Second Lord
       
   531 
       
   532    You are loved, sir:
       
   533    They that least lend it you shall lack you first.
       
   534 
       
   535    King
       
   536 
       
   537    I fill a place, I know't. How long is't, count,
       
   538    Since the physician at your father's died?
       
   539    He was much famed.
       
   540 
       
   541    Bertram
       
   542 
       
   543      Some six months since, my lord.
       
   544 
       
   545    King
       
   546 
       
   547    If he were living, I would try him yet.
       
   548    Lend me an arm; the rest have worn me out
       
   549    With several applications; nature and sickness
       
   550    Debate it at their leisure. Welcome, count;
       
   551    My son's no dearer.
       
   552 
       
   553    Bertram
       
   554 
       
   555    Thank your majesty.
       
   556 
       
   557    Exeunt. Flourish
       
   558 
       
   559 SCENE III. Rousillon. The Count's palace.
       
   560 
       
   561    Enter Countess, Steward, and Clown
       
   562 
       
   563    Countess
       
   564 
       
   565    I will now hear; what say you of this gentlewoman?
       
   566 
       
   567    Steward
       
   568 
       
   569    Madam, the care I have had to even your content, I wish might be found
       
   570    in the calendar of my past endeavours; for then we wound our modesty
       
   571    and make foul the clearness of our deservings, when of ourselves we
       
   572    publish them.
       
   573 
       
   574    Countess
       
   575 
       
   576    What does this knave here? Get you gone, sirrah: the complaints I have
       
   577    heard of you I do not all believe: 'tis my slowness that I do not; for
       
   578    I know you lack not folly to commit them, and have ability enough to
       
   579    make such knaveries yours.
       
   580 
       
   581    Clown
       
   582 
       
   583    'Tis not unknown to you, madam, I am a poor fellow.
       
   584 
       
   585    Countess
       
   586 
       
   587    Well, sir.
       
   588 
       
   589    Clown
       
   590 
       
   591    No, madam, 'tis not so well that I am poor, though many of the rich are
       
   592    damned: but, if I may have your ladyship's good will to go to the
       
   593    world, Isbel the woman and I will do as we may.
       
   594 
       
   595    Countess
       
   596 
       
   597    Wilt thou needs be a beggar?
       
   598 
       
   599    Clown
       
   600 
       
   601    I do beg your good will in this case.
       
   602 
       
   603    Countess
       
   604 
       
   605    In what case?
       
   606 
       
   607    Clown
       
   608 
       
   609    In Isbel's case and mine own. Service is no heritage: and I think I
       
   610    shall never have the blessing of God till I have issue o' my body; for
       
   611    they say barnes are blessings.
       
   612 
       
   613    Countess
       
   614 
       
   615    Tell me thy reason why thou wilt marry.
       
   616 
       
   617    Clown
       
   618 
       
   619    My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on by the flesh; and he
       
   620    must needs go that the devil drives.
       
   621 
       
   622    Countess
       
   623 
       
   624    Is this all your worship's reason?
       
   625 
       
   626    Clown
       
   627 
       
   628    Faith, madam, I have other holy reasons such as they are.
       
   629 
       
   630    Countess
       
   631 
       
   632    May the world know them?
       
   633 
       
   634    Clown
       
   635 
       
   636    I have been, madam, a wicked creature, as you and all flesh and blood
       
   637    are; and, indeed, I do marry that I may repent.
       
   638 
       
   639    Countess
       
   640 
       
   641    Thy marriage, sooner than thy wickedness.
       
   642 
       
   643    Clown
       
   644 
       
   645    I am out o' friends, madam; and I hope to have friends for my wife's
       
   646    sake.
       
   647 
       
   648    Countess
       
   649 
       
   650    Such friends are thine enemies, knave.
       
   651 
       
   652    Clown
       
   653 
       
   654    You're shallow, madam, in great friends; for the knaves come to do that
       
   655    for me which I am aweary of. He that ears my land spares my team and
       
   656    gives me leave to in the crop; if I be his cuckold, he's my drudge: he
       
   657    that comforts my wife is the cherisher of my flesh and blood; he that
       
   658    cherishes my flesh and blood loves my flesh and blood; he that loves my
       
   659    flesh and blood is my friend: ergo, he that kisses my wife is my
       
   660    friend. If men could be contented to be what they are, there were no
       
   661    fear in marriage; for young Charbon the Puritan and old Poysam the
       
   662    Papist, howsome'er their hearts are severed in religion, their heads
       
   663    are both one; they may jowl horns together, like any deer i' the herd.
       
   664 
       
   665    Countess
       
   666 
       
   667    Wilt thou ever be a foul-mouthed and calumnious knave?
       
   668 
       
   669    Clown
       
   670 
       
   671    A prophet I, madam; and I speak the truth the next way:
       
   672    For I the ballad will repeat,
       
   673    Which men full true shall find;
       
   674    Your marriage comes by destiny,
       
   675    Your cuckoo sings by kind.
       
   676 
       
   677    Countess
       
   678 
       
   679    Get you gone, sir; I'll talk with you more anon.
       
   680 
       
   681    Steward
       
   682 
       
   683    May it please you, madam, that he bid Helen come to you: of her I am to
       
   684    speak.
       
   685 
       
   686    Countess
       
   687 
       
   688    Sirrah, tell my gentlewoman I would speak with her; Helen, I mean.
       
   689 
       
   690    Clown
       
   691 
       
   692      Was this fair face the cause, quoth she,
       
   693    Why the Grecians sacked Troy?
       
   694    Fond done, done fond,
       
   695    Was this King Priam's joy?
       
   696    With that she sighed as she stood,
       
   697    With that she sighed as she stood,
       
   698    And gave this sentence then;
       
   699    Among nine bad if one be good,
       
   700    Among nine bad if one be good,
       
   701    There's yet one good in ten.
       
   702 
       
   703    Countess
       
   704 
       
   705    What, one good in ten? you corrupt the song, sirrah.
       
   706 
       
   707    Clown
       
   708 
       
   709    One good woman in ten, madam; which is a purifying o' the song: would
       
   710    God would serve the world so all the year! we'ld find no fault with the
       
   711    tithe-woman, if I were the parson. One in ten, quoth a'! An we might
       
   712    have a good woman born but one every blazing star, or at an earthquake,
       
   713    'twould mend the lottery well: a man may draw his heart out, ere a'
       
   714    pluck one.
       
   715 
       
   716    Countess
       
   717 
       
   718    You'll be gone, sir knave, and do as I command you.
       
   719 
       
   720    Clown
       
   721 
       
   722    That man should be at woman's command, and yet no hurt done! Though
       
   723    honesty be no puritan, yet it will do no hurt; it will wear the
       
   724    surplice of humility over the black gown of a big heart. I am going,
       
   725    forsooth: the business is for Helen to come hither.
       
   726 
       
   727    Exit
       
   728 
       
   729    Countess
       
   730 
       
   731    Well, now.
       
   732 
       
   733    Steward
       
   734 
       
   735    I know, madam, you love your gentlewoman entirely.
       
   736 
       
   737    Countess
       
   738 
       
   739    Faith, I do: her father bequeathed her to me; and she herself, without
       
   740    other advantage, may lawfully make title to as much love as she finds:
       
   741    there is more owing her than is paid; and more shall be paid her than
       
   742    she'll demand.
       
   743 
       
   744    Steward
       
   745 
       
   746    Madam, I was very late more near her than I think she wished me: alone
       
   747    she was, and did communicate to herself her own words to her own ears;
       
   748    she thought, I dare vow for her, they touched not any stranger sense.
       
   749    Her matter was, she loved your son: Fortune, she said, was no goddess,
       
   750    that had put such difference betwixt their two estates; Love no god,
       
   751    that would not extend his might, only where qualities were level; Dian
       
   752    no queen of virgins, that would suffer her poor knight surprised,
       
   753    without rescue in the first assault or ransom afterward. This she
       
   754    delivered in the most bitter touch of sorrow that e'er I heard virgin
       
   755    exclaim in: which I held my duty speedily to acquaint you withal;
       
   756    sithence, in the loss that may happen, it concerns you something to
       
   757    know it.
       
   758 
       
   759    Countess
       
   760 
       
   761    You have discharged this honestly; keep it to yourself: many
       
   762    likelihoods informed me of this before, which hung so tottering in the
       
   763    balance that I could neither believe nor misdoubt. Pray you, leave me:
       
   764    stall this in your bosom; and I thank you for your honest care: I will
       
   765    speak with you further anon.
       
   766 
       
   767    Exit Steward
       
   768 
       
   769    Enter Helena
       
   770 
       
   771    Even so it was with me when I was young:
       
   772    If ever we are nature's, these are ours; this thorn
       
   773    Doth to our rose of youth rightly belong;
       
   774    Our blood to us, this to our blood is born;
       
   775    It is the show and seal of nature's truth,
       
   776    Where love's strong passion is impress'd in youth:
       
   777    By our remembrances of days foregone,
       
   778    Such were our faults, or then we thought them none.
       
   779    Her eye is sick on't: I observe her now.
       
   780 
       
   781    Helena
       
   782 
       
   783    What is your pleasure, madam?
       
   784 
       
   785    Countess
       
   786 
       
   787    You know, Helen, I am a mother to you.
       
   788 
       
   789    Helena
       
   790 
       
   791    Mine honourable mistress.
       
   792 
       
   793    Countess
       
   794 
       
   795    Nay, a mother:
       
   796    Why not a mother? When I said `a mother,'
       
   797    Methought you saw a serpent: what's in 'mother,'
       
   798    That you start at it? I say, I am your mother;
       
   799    And put you in the catalogue of those
       
   800    That were enwombed mine: 'tis often seen
       
   801    Adoption strives with nature and choice breeds
       
   802    A native slip to us from foreign seeds:
       
   803    You ne'er oppress'd me with a mother's groan,
       
   804    Yet I express to you a mother's care:
       
   805    God's mercy, maiden! does it curd thy blood
       
   806    To say I am thy mother? What's the matter,
       
   807    That this distemper'd messenger of wet,
       
   808    The many-colour'd Iris, rounds thine eye?
       
   809    Why? that you are my daughter?
       
   810 
       
   811    Helena
       
   812 
       
   813    That I am not.
       
   814 
       
   815    Countess
       
   816 
       
   817    I say, I am your mother.
       
   818 
       
   819    Helena
       
   820 
       
   821    Pardon, madam;
       
   822    The Count Rousillon cannot be my brother:
       
   823    I am from humble, he from honour'd name;
       
   824    No note upon my parents, his all noble:
       
   825    My master, my dear lord he is; and I
       
   826    His servant live, and will his vassal die:
       
   827    He must not be my brother.
       
   828 
       
   829    Countess
       
   830 
       
   831    Nor I your mother?
       
   832 
       
   833    Helena
       
   834 
       
   835    You are my mother, madam; would you were,--
       
   836    So that my lord your son were not my brother,--
       
   837    Indeed my mother! or were you both our mothers,
       
   838    I care no more for than I do for heaven,
       
   839    So I were not his sister. Can't no other,
       
   840    But, I your daughter, he must be my brother?
       
   841 
       
   842    Countess
       
   843 
       
   844    Yes, Helen, you might be my daughter-in-law:
       
   845    God shield you mean it not! daughter and mother
       
   846    So strive upon your pulse. What, pale again?
       
   847    My fear hath catch'd your fondness: now I see
       
   848    The mystery of your loneliness, and find
       
   849    Your salt tears' head: now to all sense 'tis gross
       
   850    You love my son; invention is ashamed,
       
   851    Against the proclamation of thy passion,
       
   852    To say thou dost not: therefore tell me true;
       
   853    But tell me then, 'tis so; for, look thy cheeks
       
   854    Confess it, th' one to th' other; and thine eyes
       
   855    See it so grossly shown in thy behaviors
       
   856    That in their kind they speak it: only sin
       
   857    And hellish obstinacy tie thy tongue,
       
   858    That truth should be suspected. Speak, is't so?
       
   859    If it be so, you have wound a goodly clew;
       
   860    If it be not, forswear't: howe'er, I charge thee,
       
   861    As heaven shall work in me for thine avail,
       
   862    Tell me truly.
       
   863 
       
   864    Helena
       
   865 
       
   866      Good madam, pardon me!
       
   867 
       
   868    Countess
       
   869 
       
   870    Do you love my son?
       
   871 
       
   872    Helena
       
   873 
       
   874    Your pardon, noble mistress!
       
   875 
       
   876    Countess
       
   877 
       
   878    Love you my son?
       
   879 
       
   880    Helena
       
   881 
       
   882      Do not you love him, madam?
       
   883 
       
   884    Countess
       
   885 
       
   886    Go not about; my love hath in't a bond,
       
   887    Whereof the world takes note: come, come, disclose
       
   888    The state of your affection; for your passions
       
   889    Have to the full appeach'd.
       
   890 
       
   891    Helena
       
   892 
       
   893    Then, I confess,
       
   894    Here on my knee, before high heaven and you,
       
   895    That before you, and next unto high heaven,
       
   896    I love your son.
       
   897    My friends were poor, but honest; so's my love:
       
   898    Be not offended; for it hurts not him
       
   899    That he is loved of me: I follow him not
       
   900    By any token of presumptuous suit;
       
   901    Nor would I have him till I do deserve him;
       
   902    Yet never know how that desert should be.
       
   903    I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
       
   904    Yet in this captious and intenible sieve
       
   905    I still pour in the waters of my love
       
   906    And lack not to lose still: thus, Indian-like,
       
   907    Religious in mine error, I adore
       
   908    The sun, that looks upon his worshipper,
       
   909    But knows of him no more. My dearest madam,
       
   910    Let not your hate encounter with my love
       
   911    For loving where you do: but if yourself,
       
   912    Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
       
   913    Did ever in so true a flame of liking
       
   914    Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
       
   915    Was both herself and love: O, then, give pity
       
   916    To her, whose state is such that cannot choose
       
   917    But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
       
   918    That seeks not to find that her search implies,
       
   919    But riddle-like lives sweetly where she dies!
       
   920 
       
   921    Countess
       
   922 
       
   923    Had you not lately an intent,--speak truly,--
       
   924    To go to Paris?
       
   925 
       
   926    Helena
       
   927 
       
   928      Madam, I had.
       
   929 
       
   930    Countess
       
   931 
       
   932    Wherefore? tell true.
       
   933 
       
   934    Helena
       
   935 
       
   936    I will tell truth; by grace itself I swear.
       
   937    You know my father left me some prescriptions
       
   938    Of rare and proved effects, such as his reading
       
   939    And manifest experience had collected
       
   940    For general sovereignty; and that he will'd me
       
   941    In heedfull'st reservation to bestow them,
       
   942    As notes whose faculties inclusive were
       
   943    More than they were in note: amongst the rest,
       
   944    There is a remedy, approved, set down,
       
   945    To cure the desperate languishings whereof
       
   946    The king is render'd lost.
       
   947 
       
   948    Countess
       
   949 
       
   950    This was your motive
       
   951    For Paris, was it? speak.
       
   952 
       
   953    Helena
       
   954 
       
   955    My lord your son made me to think of this;
       
   956    Else Paris and the medicine and the king
       
   957    Had from the conversation of my thoughts
       
   958    Haply been absent then.
       
   959 
       
   960    Countess
       
   961 
       
   962    But think you, Helen,
       
   963    If you should tender your supposed aid,
       
   964    He would receive it? he and his physicians
       
   965    Are of a mind; he, that they cannot help him,
       
   966    They, that they cannot help: how shall they credit
       
   967    A poor unlearned virgin, when the schools,
       
   968    Embowell'd of their doctrine, have left off
       
   969    The danger to itself?
       
   970 
       
   971    Helena
       
   972 
       
   973    There's something in't,
       
   974    More than my father's skill, which was the greatest
       
   975    Of his profession, that his good receipt
       
   976    Shall for my legacy be sanctified
       
   977    By the luckiest stars in heaven: and, would your honour
       
   978    But give me leave to try success, I'ld venture
       
   979    The well-lost life of mine on his grace's cure
       
   980    By such a day and hour.
       
   981 
       
   982    Countess
       
   983 
       
   984    Dost thou believe't?
       
   985 
       
   986    Helena
       
   987 
       
   988    Ay, madam, knowingly.
       
   989 
       
   990    Countess
       
   991 
       
   992    Why, Helen, thou shalt have my leave and love,
       
   993    Means and attendants and my loving greetings
       
   994    To those of mine in court: I'll stay at home
       
   995    And pray God's blessing into thy attempt:
       
   996    Be gone to-morrow; and be sure of this,
       
   997    What I can help thee to thou shalt not miss.
       
   998 
       
   999    Exeunt
       
  1000 
       
  1001    | [1]Table of Contents | [2]Next |
       
  1002 
       
  1003    Last updated on Wed Sep 29 20:06:20 2004 for [3]eBooks@Adelaide.
       
  1004 
       
  1005 References
       
  1006 
       
  1007    1. file://localhost/home/arau/shakespeare/allswell/index.html
       
  1008    2. file://localhost/home/arau/shakespeare/allswell/act2.html
       
  1009    3. http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/