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Laf. Not to be helped,

Par. Right; as 'twere, a man assured of an-
Laf. Uncertain life, and sure death.

137

Par. Just, you say well; so would I have said. Laf. I may truly say, it is a novelty to the world. Par. It is, indeed: if you will have it in showing, you shall read it in, What do you call there?Laf. A showing of a heavenly effect in an earthly

actor.

Par. That's it I would have said; the very same. Laf. Why, your dolphin is not lustier; 'fore me I speak in respect

Par. Nay, 'tis strange, 'tis very strange, that is the brief and the tedious of it; and he is of a most facinorous spirit, that will not acknowledge it to be the Laf. Very hand of heaven.

Par. Ay, so I say.

Laf. In a most weak

Par. And debile minister, great power, great transcendence; which should, indeed, give us a further use to be made, than alone the recovery of the king, as to

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Enter King, HELENA, and attendants.

Par. I would have said it; you say well: Here comes the king.

Laf. Lustick, as the Dutchman says: I'll like a maid the better, whilst I have a tooth in my head: Why, he's able to lead her a coranto.

Par. Mort du Vinaigre! Is not this Helen?
Laf. 'Fore God, I think so.

VOL. XII.

King. Go, call before me all the lords in court.—

[Exit an attendant.

Sit, my preserver, by thy patient's side;

And with this healthful hand, whose banish'd sense
Thou hast repeal'd, a second time receive

The confirmation of my promis'd gift,

Which but attends thy naming.

Enter several Lords.

Fair maid, send forth thine eye: this youthful parcel
Of noble bachelors stand at my bestowing,

O'er whom both sovereign power and father's voice
I have to use thy frank election make;

Thou hast power to choose, and they none to forsake.
Hel. To each of you one fair and virtuous mistress
Fall, when love please !-marry, to each, but one!
Laf. I'd give bay Curtal, and his furniture,
My mouth no more were broken than these boys,
And writ as little beard.

King. Peruse them well:

Not one of those, but had a noble father.

Hel. Gentlemen,

Heaven hath, through me, restor❜d the king to health.
All. We understand it, and thank heaven for you.
Hel. I am a simple maid; and therein wealthiest,
That, I protest, I simply am a maid:

Please it your majesty, I have done already :
The blushes in my cheeks thus whisper me,
We blush, that thou should'st choose; but, be refus'd,
Let the white death sit on thy cheek for ever;
We'll ne'er come there again.

King. Make choice; and, see,

Who shuns thy love, shuns all his love in me.
Hel. Now, Dian, from thy altar do I fly;
And to imperial Love, that god most high,
Do my sighs stream.-Sir, will you hear
hear my
1 Lord. And grant it.

Hel. Thanks, sir; all the rest is mute.

suit?

Laf. I had rather be in this choice, than throw amesace for my life.

Hel. The honour, sir, that flames in your fair eyes, Before I speak, too threateningly replies:

Love make your fortunes twenty times above
Her, that so wishes, and her humble love!
2 Lord. No better, if you please.

Hel. My wish receive,

Which great love grant! and so I take my leave.

Laf. Do they all deny her? An they were sons of mine, I'd have them whipped; or I would send them to the Turk, to make eunuchs of.

Hel. Be not afraid [To a lord.] that I your hand should take;

I'll never do you wrong for your own sake:
Blessing upon your vows! and in your bed
Find fairer fortune, if you ever wed!

Laf. These boys are boys of ice, they'll none have her: sure, they are bastards to the English; the French ne'er got them.

Hel. You are too young, too happy, and too good, To make yourself a son out of my blood.

4 Lord. Fair one, I think not so.

Laf. There's one grape yet,—I am sure, thy father drank wine. But if thou be'st not an ass, I am a youth of fourteen; I have known thee already.

Hel. I dare not say, I take you: [To BERTRAM] but

I give

Me, and my service, ever whilst I live,

Into your guiding power.-This is the man.

King. Why then, young Bertram, take her, she's thy

wife.

Ber. My wife, my liege? I shall beseech your high

ness,

In such a business give me leave to use

The help of mine own eyes.

King. Know'st thou not, Bertram,

What she has done for me?

Ber. Yes, my good lord;

But never hope to know why I should marry her.
King. Thou know'st, she has rais'd me from my
sickly bed.

Ber. But follows it, my lord, to bring me down
Must answer for your raising? I know her well;
She had her breeding at my father's charge:
A poor physician's daughter my wife!-Disdain
Rather corrupt me ever!

King. 'Tis only title thou disdain'st in her, the which
I can build up, Strange is it, that our bloods,
Of colour, weight, and heat, pour'd all together,
Would quite confound distinction, yet stand off
In differences so mighty: If she be

All that is virtuous, (save what thou dislik'st,
A poor physician's daughter,) thou dislik❜st
Of virtue for the name: but do not so:
From lowest place when virtuous things proceed,
The place is dignified by the doer's deed:
Where great additions swell, and virtue none,

It is a dropsied honour: good alone
Is good, without a name; vileness is so :
The property by what it is should go,

Not by the title. She is young, wise, fair;
In these to nature she's immediate heir;
And these breed honour: that is honour's scorn,
Which challenges itself as honour's born,
And is not like the sire: Honours best thrive,
When rather from our acts we them derive
Than our fore-goers: the mere word's a slave,
Debauch'd on every tomb; on every grave,
A lying trophy, and as oft is dumb,

Where dust, and damn'd oblivion, is the tomb
Of honour'd bones indeed. What should be said?
If thou canst like this creature as a maid,

I can create the rest: virtue, and she,

Is her own dower: honour, and wealth, from me.
Ber. I cannot love her, nor will strive to do't.
King. Thou wrong'st thyself, if thou should'st strive
to choose.

Hel. That you are well restor'd, my lord, I am glad; Let the rest go.

King. My honour's at the stake; which to defeat,
I must produce my power: Here, take her hand,
Proud scornful boy, unworthy this good gift;
That dost in vile misprision shackle up

My love, and her desert; that canst not dream,
We, poizing us in her defective scale,

Shall weigh thee to the beam: that wilt not know
It is in us to plant thine honour, where

We please to have it grow: Check thy contempt:
Obey our will, which travails in thy good:

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