King. [Rises.] No, no, it cannot be; and yet my heart Will not confess it owns the malady That doth my life besiege.-Farewell, Whether I live or die, be you the sons

young lords;

Of worthy Frenchmen.-How long is't, my lord,
Since the physician at your father's died?
He was much fam'd.

Ber. Some twelve months since, my lord.

King. If he were living, I would try him yet ;Lend me an arm;-[Leans on Lefeu.] the rest have worn

me out

With several applications :-nature and sickness
Debate it at their leisure.-Welcome, count;
My son's no dearer.

Ber. Thank your majesty.

[Flourish of Trumpets, R.-Exeunt the King, leaning on Lefeu; Biron, Jaques, Tourville, and Attendants, R.

Dum. O, sweet, my lord, that you will stay behind us! Par. 'Tis not his fault; the spark

Lew. O, 'tis brave wars!

Par. Most admirable: I have seen those wars.
Ber. I am commanded here, and kept at home.

Par. [Crossing to Bertram.] An thy mind stand to it, boy, steal away bravely.

Ber. I shall stay here the forehorse to a smock, Creaking my shoes on the plain masonry,

"Till honour be brought up, and no sword worn,

But one to dance with !-By heaven, I'll steal away.
Dumb. There's honour in the theft.

Par. Commit it, count.

Lew. I am your accessary.

Ber. I grow to you, and our parting is a tortur'd

body.

Dum. Farewell, captain.

Lew. Sweet monsieur Paroles !

[Exit Bertram, R.

Par. Noble heroes, my sword and yours are kin.Good sparks and lustrous, a word, good metals: You shall find in the regiment of the Spinii, one captain Spurio, with his cicatrice, an emblem of war, here on his sinister cheek: it was this very sword entrench'd it: Say to him, I live; and observe his reports of me. Dum. We shall, noble captain.

Par. Worthy fellows, and like to prove most sinewy sword-men. [Exeunt Dumain, and Lewis, L.; Paroles, R.

SCENE III.-Rousillon, in France.-The Hall of the Countess's House.

Enter COUNTESS with a Letter, and Clown, L.

Count. Come on, sir; I shall now put you to the height of your breeding.

Clown. I will shew myself highly fed, and lowly taught: I know my business is but to the court.

Count. But to the court! why, what place make you special, when you put off that with such contempt? But to the court!

Clown. Truly, madam, if heaven hath lent a man any manners, he may easily put it off at court: he that cannot make a leg, put off's cap, kiss his hand, and say nothing, has neither leg, hands, lip, nor cap; and, indeed, such a fellow, to say precisely, were not for the court: But, for me, have an answer will serve all men.

Count. Marry, that's a bountiful answer, that fits all questions.

Clown. It is like a barber's chair, that fits all bottoms. Count. Will your answer serve fit to all questions? Clown. As fit as ten groats is for the hands of an attorney, as Tib's rush for Tom's fore-finger, as a pancake for Shrove-Tuesday, a morris for May-day, the cuckold to his horn, as a scolding quean to a wrangling knave, as the nun's lip to the friar's mouth; nay, as the pudding to his skin.

Count. Have you, I say, an answer of such fitness for all questions?

Clown. From below your duke, to beneath your constable, it will fit any question.

Count. It must be an answer of most monstrous size, that must fit all demands.

Clown. But a trifle neither, in good faith, if the learned should speak truth of it: here it is, and all that belongs to't: Ask me, if I am courtier ;-it shall do you no harm to learn.

Count. To be young again, if we could. I will be a fool in question, hoping to be the wiser by your answer. I pray you, sir, are you a courtier ?

Clown. O Lord, sir,- -There's a simple putting off :More, more, a hundred of them.

Count. Sir, I am a poor friend of yours, that loves you. Clown. O Lord, sir, -Thick, thick, spare not me. Count. I think sir, you can eat none of this homely meat. Clown. O Lord, sir,-Nay, put me to 't, I warrant you.

Count. You were lately whipp'd, sir, as I think.
Clown. O Lord, sir,- -Spare not me.

Count. Do you cry, O Lord, sir, as you are whipping, and spare not me? Indeed, your O Lord, sir, is very sequent to your whipping; you would answer very well to a whipping, if you were but bound to 't. [Crosses, L. Clown. I ne'er had worse luck in my life, in myO Lord, sir, -I see, things may serve long, but not

serve ever.

Count. I play the noble housewife with the time, to entertain it so merrily with a fool.

Clown. O Lord, sir,-Why, there 't serves well again. Count. An end, sir, to your business: Give Helen this, [Gives him a Letter. And urge her to a present answer back: Commend me to my kinsmen, and my son : This is not much.

Clown. Not much commendation to them.

Count. Not much employment for you: You understand me?

Clown. Most fruitfully; I am there before my legs.
Count. Haste you again, sirrah; or expect

Clown. O Lord, sir,-[Exeunt Countess, L. and Clown, R.

SCENE IV.-France.--A Library in the Palace.-Table and two Chairs.-The King discovered reading.

Enter LEFEU, r.

Lef. [Kneels.] Pardon, my lord, for me, and for my tidings.

King. I'll fee thee to stand up.
Lef. [Rises.] Then here's a man
Stands, that has brought his pardon.
Will you be cur'd of your infirmity?
King. What dost thou mean?
Lef. I have seen a Médecine,
That's able to breathe life into a stone;

Quicken a rock, and make you dance canary,

With sprightly fire and motion; whose simple touch

Is powerful to araise king Pepin; nay,

To give great Charlemain a pen in his hand,
And write to her a love-line.

King. What her is this?

Lef. Why, doctor She:-My lord, there's one arriv'd, If you will see her,-Now, by my faith and honour,

If seriously I may convey my thoughts

In this my light deliverance, I have spoke

With one that, in her sex, her years, profession,
Wisdom and constancy, hath amaz'd me more

Than I dare blame my weakness: Will you see her,For that is her demand,--and know her business? That done, laugh well at me.

King. Now, good Lefeu,

Bring in the admiration.

Lef. Nay, I'll fit you;

And not be all day, neither.

[Exit Lefeu, R.

King. Thus, he his special nothing ever prologues.

Lef. [Without, R.] Nay, come your ways.

King. This haste hath wings, indeed.

Enter LEFEU, and HELENA, R.

Lef. Nay, come your ways;

This is his majesty, say your mind to him:

A traitor you do look like; but such traitors

His majesty seldom fears: I am Cressid's uncle,
That dare leave two together; [Crosses, R. ] fare you well,
[Exit Lefeu, R.
King. [Rises.] Now, fair one, does your business

follow us?

Hel. Ay, my good lord. Gerard de Narbon was

My father; in what he did profess, well found.

King. I knew him.

Hel. The rather will I spare my praises tow'rd him; Knowing him is enough. On his bed of death

Many receipts he gave me; chiefly one,

Which, as the dearest issue of his practice,
And of his old experience the only darling,
He bade me store up, as a triple eye,

Safer than mine own two, more dear; I have so :
And, hearing your high majesty is touch'd
With that malignant cause, wherein the honour
Of my dear father's gift stands chief in power,
I come to render it

With all bound humbleness.

King. We thank you, maiden;

But may not be so credulous of cure,-
When our most learned doctors leave us, and
The congregated college have concluded
That labouring art can never ransom nature
From her unaidable estate,-I say, we must not

So stain our judgment, or corrupt our hope,
To prostitute our past-cure malady

To empirics.

Hel. My duty then shall pay me for my pains: I will no more enforce mine office on you; Humbly entreating from your royal thoughts

A modest one to bear me back again.

[Sits.

King. I cannot give thee less, to be call'd grateful:
Thou thought'st to help me; and such thanks I give,
As one near death, to those that wish him live.
Hel. What I can do, can do no hurt to try,
Since you set up your rest 'gainst remedy.
He, that of greatest works is finisher,
Oft does them by the weakest minister:
Dear sir, to my endeavours give consent;
Of heaven, not me, make an experiment.
I am not an impostor;

But know I think, and think I know most sure,
My art is not past power, nor you past cure.

King. [Rises.] Art thou so confident? Within what space Hop'st thou my cure?

Het. Ere twice the horses of the sun shall bring
Their fiery torcher his diurnal ring;

Or four and twenty times the pilot's glass
Hath told the thievish minutes how they pass;
What is infirm from your sound parts shall fly,
Health shall live free, and sickness freely die.
King. Upon thy certainty and confidence,
What dar'st thou venture?

Hel. Tax of impudence,

A strumpet's boldness, and my maiden's name
Traduced by odious ballads; if I fail,

With vilest torture let my life be ended.

King. Methinks, in thee some blessed spirit doth speak

His powerful sound.

Thy life is dear; for all, that life can rate

Worth name of life, in thee hath residence :
Thou this to hazard, needs must intimate
Skill infinite, or desperate assurance.
Sweet practiser, thy physic I will try :-
But thy own life depends upon my cure.

Hel. If I break time, or flinch in true performance
Of what I've spoke, unpitied let me die;

And well deserv'd!

But, if I help, what do you promise me?