DRAMATIS

KING of France.
Duke of Florence.
Bertram, Count of Rou fillon.
Lafeu, an old Lord.
Parolles, a parafitical fol
lower of Bertram; a cow-
ard, but vain, and a great
pretender to valour.
Several young French Lords,
that ferve with Bertram
in the Florentine war.
Servants to the

Countess of Rou-Lords, attending on the King,

Steward,

Clown,

fillon

Officers, Soldiers, &c.

SCENE, lies partly in France, and partly in Tuscany.

ACT I. SCENE I..

The Countess of Roufillon's house in France. Enter Bertram, the Countess of Roufillon, Helena, and Lafeu, all in mourning.

Countefs. N diflevering my fo nfrom me, I bury a fecond husband.

IN

Ber. And I in going, Madam, weep. o'er my father's death anew; but I must attend his Majefty's command, to whom I am now in ward, evermore in fubjection.

Laf. You fhall find of the King a husband, Madam; you, Sir, a father. He that fo generally is at all times good, muft of neceffity hold his virtue to you; whofe worthiness would ftir it up where it wanted, rather than flack it where there is fuch abundance.

Count. What hope is there of his Majefty's amend

ment?

*The plot taken from Boccace, Decam. 3. Nov. 9.
A 2

Laf.

Laf He hath abandon'd his phyficians, Madam, under whofe practices he hath perfecuted time with hope; and finds no other advantage in the process, but only the lofing of hope by time.

Count. This young gentlewoman had a father, (0 that bad! how fad a prefage 'tis !), whofe fkill was almost as great as his honesty; had it stretch'd so far, it would have made nature immortal, and death fhould have play'd for lack of work. 'Would, for the King's fake, he were living! I think it would be the death of the King's disease.

Laf. How call'd you the man you fpeak of, Madam?

Count. He was famous, Sir, in his profeffion, and it was his great right to be fo: Gerard de Narbon.

Laf. He was excellent indeed, Madam; the King very lately spoke of him admiringly, and mourningly: he was skilful enough to have liv'd ftill, if knowledge could be fet up against mortality.

Ber. What is it, my good Lord, the King languishes of?

Laf. A fiftula, my Lord.

Ber. I heard not of it before.

Laf. I would it were not notorious. Was this gentlewoman the daughter of Gerard de Narbon?

2

Count. His fole child, my Lord, and bequeathed to my overlooking. I have thofe hopes of her good, that her education promifes her: difpofition fhe inherits, which makes fair gifts fairer; for where an unclean mind carries virtuous qualities *, there commendations go with pity; they are virtues and trai tors too: in her they are the better for her fimpleness; fhe derives her honefty, and atchieves her goodness. Laf. Your commendations, Madam, get from her

tears.

Count. 'Tis the best brine a maiden can feafon her praife in. The remembrance of her father never ap-. proaches her heart, but the tyranny of her forrows takes all livelihood from her cheek. No more of this.

By virtuous qualities here are not meant those of a moral kind, but fuch as are acquired by erudition and good breeding.

Helena;

Helena go to, no more; lebit be rather thought you affect a forrow, than to have it. As an

too.

Hel. I do affect a forrow, indeed, but I have it. smut 74 yder to pmdd Laf. Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead, exceffive grief the enemy to the diving.

Count. If the living be not enemy to the grief, the s excess makes it foon mortal

Ber. Madam, I defire your holy wishes. L (£ 9703 Laf. How understand we that?

Ber. Be thou blefs'd, Bertram, and fucceed thy

odfather or

In manners as in fhape! thy blood and virtue
Contend for empire in thee, and thy goodness:
Share with thy birthright! Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none be able for thine enemy
Rather in power, than ufe; and keep thy friend
Under thy own life's key be check'd for filence,
But never tax'd for fpeech. What heav'n more will,
That thee may furnish, and my pray'rs pluck down,
Fall on thy head; farewel, my Lord;

'Tis an unfeafon'd courtier, good my Lord,
Advise him.

Laf. He cannot want the best,

That fhall attend his love.

Count. Heav'n bless him! Farewel, Bertram.

1

[Exit Countefs. Ber. [To Hel.] The best wishes that can be forge'd in your thoughts, he fervants to you? Be comfortable to my mother your miftrefs, and make much of her. Laf. Farewell, pretty Lady, you must hold the cre-{\ your father. [Exeunt Bertram and Lafeu.

dit of

Hel. Oh, were that all! -I think not on my fa

ther;

And these great tears grace his remembrance more ST
Than thofe I fhed for him. What was he like?

I have forgot him. My imagination
Carries no favour in it, but. my Bertram's.
I am undone there is no living, none,
If Bertram be away. It were all one,

*

That

That I fhould love a bright partic'lar ftar,
And think to wed it; he is fo above me :
In his bright radiance and collateral light
Muft I be comforted, not in his sphere.
Th' ambition in my love thus plagues itself;
The hind that would be mated by the lion,
Muft die for love. "Fwas pretty, though a plague,
To fee him every hour; to fit, and draw
His arched brows, his hawking eye, his curls,
In our heart's table; heart too capable

Of every line and trick of his fweet favour -
But now he's
gone, and my idolatrous fancy
Muft fanctify his relies. Who comes here?

Enter Parolles.

One that goes with him: I love him for his fake, "And yet I know him a notorious lyar; "Think him a great way fool, folely a coward; "Yet thefe fix'd evils fit fo fit in him,

"That they take place, when virtue's fteely bones "Look bleak in the cold wind;" full oft we fee Cold* Wisdom waiting on fuperfluous Folly.

SCENE

Par. Save you, fair Queen.

Hel. And you, Monarch,

Par. No.

Hel. And no,

III.

Par. Are you meditating on virginity?

Hel. Ay; you have fome ftain † of foldier in you; let me afk you a queftion. Man is enemy to virginity, how may we barricado it against him?

Par. Keep him out.

Hel. But he affails; and our virginity, though valiant, in the defence yet is weak: unfold to us fome warlike refiftance.

Par. There is none; man, fetting down before you, will undermine you, and blow you up.

Hel. Blefs our poor virginity from underminers, and

* Cold for naked ; as fuperfluous for over-clotb'd.

Stain for colour.

blowers