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He that of greatest works is finisher,
Oft does them by the weakest minister:
So holy writ in babes hath judgment shewn,
When judges have been babes. Great floods have
flown

From simple sources; and great seas have dried,
When miracles have by the greatest been denied.
Oft expectation fails, and most oft there
Where most it promises; and oft it hits
Where hope is coldest, and despair most sits.
King. I must not hear thee: fare thee well,
kind maid:

Thy pains, not used, must by thyself be paid:
Proffers not took, reap thanks for their reward.
Hel. Inspiréd merit so by breath is barred!
It is not so with Him that all things knows,
As 'tis with us, that square our guess by shows:
But most it is presumption in us, when
The help of heaven we count the act of men.-
Dear sir, to my endeavours give consent:
Of heaven, not me, make an experiment.
I am not an impostor, that proclaim
Myself against the level of mine aim;

But know I think, and think I know most sure,
My art is not past power, nor you past cure.
King. Art thou so confident?-Within what
space

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A strumpet's boldness, a divulgéd shame; Traduced by odious ballads; my maiden's name Seared otherwise: no worse of worst extended, With vilest torture let my life be ended.

King. Methinks in thee some blesséd spirit doth speak;

His powerful sound within an organ weak:
And what impossibility would slay

In common sense, sense saves another way.
Thy life is dear; for all that life can rate
Worth name of life, in thee hath estimate:
Youth, beauty, wisdom, courage, all
That happiness and prime can happy call.
Thou this to hazard, needs must intimate
Skill infinite, or monstrous desperate.
Sweet practiser, thy physic I will try;
That ministers thine own death if I die.

Hel. If I break time, or flinch in property
Of what I spoke, unpitied let me die;
And well deserved. Not helping, death's my
fee:

But if I help, what do you promise me?
King. Make thy demand.

Hel.

But will you make it even?

King. Ay, by my sceptre and my hopes of heaven.

Hel. Then thou shalt give me, with thy kingly hand,

What husband in thy power I will command:-
Exempted be from me the arrogance

To choose from forth the royal blood of France;
My low and humble name to propagate
With any branch or image of thy state :-
But such a one, thy vassal, whom I know
Is free for me to ask, thee to bestow.

King. Here is my hand: the premises observed,
Thy will by my performance shall be served.
So make the choice of thy own time; for I,
Thy resolved patient, on thee still rely.
More should I question thee, and more I must;
Though more to know could not be more to

trust:

From whence thou cam'st, how tended on ;-but

rest

Unquestioned welcome, and undoubted blest.— Give me some help here, ho!-If thou proceed As high as word, my deed shall match thy deed. [Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Rousillon. A Room in the COUNTESS'S Palace.

Enter COUNTESS and Clown. Count. Come on, sir: I shall now put you to the height of your breeding.

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

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

Clo. Truly, madam, if God have 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, I have an answer will serve all men.

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

Clo. It is like a barber's chair, that fits all buttocks the pin-buttock, the quatch-buttock, the brawn-buttock, or any buttock.

Count. Will your answer serve fit to all questions?

Clo. As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an attorney, as your French crown for your taffeta punk, as Tib's rush for Tom's forefinger, as a pancake for Shrove-Tuesday, a morris for Mayday, as the nail to his hole, 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?

Clo. 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.

Clo. 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 a 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 ?

Clo. 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.

Clo. O Lord, sir!—Thick, thick, spare not me. Count. I think, sir, you can eat none of this homely meat.

Clo. O Lord, sir!-Nay, put me to 't; I
warrant you.

Count. You were lately whipped, sir, as I think.
Clo. O Lord, sir!-Spare not me.

Count. Do you cry—“O Lord, sir," at your 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.

Clo. I ne'er had worse luck in my life, in my "O 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.

Clo. O Lord, sir!-Why, there't serves well again.

Count. An end, sir:-to your business:-
Give Helen this,

And urge her to a present answer back :
Commend me to my kinsmen, and my son :
This is not much.

Clo. Not much commendation to them.
Count. Not much employment for you:-you

understand me?

Clo. Most fruitfully: I am there before my legs. Count. Haste you again. [Exeunt severally.

SCENE III.-Paris. A Room in the KING's Palace. Enter BERTRAM, LAFEU, and PAROLLES. Laf. They say miracles are past; and we have our philosophical persons to make modern and familiar things supernatural and causeless. Hence is it that we make trifles of terrors; ensconcing ourselves into seeming knowledge, when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear.

Par. Why, 't is the rarest argument of wonder that hath shot out in our latter times. Ber. And so 't is.

Laf. To be relinquished of the artists,-
Par. So I say; both of Galen and Paracelsus.
Laf. Of all the learned and authentic fellows,
Par. Right; so I say.

Laf. That gave him out incurable,-
Par. Why, there 'tis; so say I too.
Laf. Not to be helped,―

Par. Right: as 't were a man assured of a-
Laf. Uncertain life, and sure death.
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 shew-
ing, you shall read it in-What do you call there?
Laf. A shewing of a heavenly effect in an
earthly actor.

Par. That's it: I would have said the very

same.

Luf. Why, your dolphin is not lustier: 'fore me, I speak in respect—

Par. Nay, 't is strange, 't is 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 be

Laf. Generally thankful.

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.

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 banished

sense

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Hel.

Thanks, sir: all the rest is mute. Laf. I had rather be in this choice than throw ames-ace for my life.

Hel. The honour, sir, that flames in your fair eyes, Before I speak, too threat'ningly replies: Love make your fortunes twenty times above Her that so wishes, and her humble love! 2nd Lord. No better, if you please. Hel. My wish receive,

Which great love grant! and so I take my leave. Laf. Do all they 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. 4th Lord. Fair one, I think not so.

Laf. There's one grape yet-I am sure thy father drank wine.-But if thou beest 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;

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Ber. But follows it, my lord, to bring me down Must answer for your rising? 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, poured 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 thrive,
When rather from our acts we them derive
Than our foregoers: the mere word's a slave,
Deboshed on every tomb; on every grave
A lying trophy; and as oft is dumb
Where dust and damned oblivion is the tomb
Of honoured bones indeed.—What should be said?

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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, poising 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:
Believe not thy disdain, but presently
Do thine own fortunes that obedient right
Which both thy duty owes and our power claims;

Or I will throw thee from my care for ever,
Into the staggers, and the careless lapse
Of youth and ignorance: both my revenge and hate
Loosing upon thee in the name of justice,
Without all terms of pity.-Speak; thine answer.

Ber. Pardon, my gracious lord; for I submit
My fancy to your eyes. When I consider
What great creation, and what dole of honour,
Flies where you bid it, I find that she, which late
Was in my nobler thoughts most base, is now
The praised of the King; who, so ennobled,
Is, as 't were, born so.
King.

Take her by the hand,

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King. Good fortune, and the favour of the King, Smile upon this contract; whose ceremony Shall seem expedient on the now-born brief, And be performed to-night: the solemn feast Shall more attend upon the coming space, Expecting absent friends.-As thou lov'st her, Thy love's to me religious; else, does err.

[Exeunt KING, BERTRAM, HELENA, Lords, and Attendants. Laf. Do you hear, monsieur? a word with you. Par. Your pleasure, sir?

Laf. Your lord and master did well to make his recantation.

Par. Recantation?-My lord! my master! Laf. Ay; is it not a language I speak?

Par. A most harsh one; and not to be understood without bloody succeeding. My master! Laf. Are you companion to the Count Rousillon?

Par. To any count; to all counts; to what is

man.

Laf. To what is count's man; count's master is of another style.

Par. You are too old, sir: let it satisfy you, you are too old.

Laf. I must tell thee, sirrah, I write man; to which title age cannot bring thee.

Par. What I dare too well do, I dare not do. Laf. I did think thee, for two ordinaries, to be a pretty wise fellow: thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel; it might pass: yet the scarfs and the bannerets about thee did manifoldly dissuade me from believing thee a vessel of too great a burden. I have now found thee; when I lose thee again I care not: yet art thou good for nothing but taking up; and that thou art scarce worth.

Pur. Hadst thou not the privilege of antiquity upon thee,

Laf. Do not plunge thyself too far in anger, lest thou hasten thy trial: which if-Lord have mercy on thee for a hen! So, my good window of lattice, fare thee well: thy casement I need not open, for I look through thee. Give me thy hand.

Par. My lord, you give me most egregious indignity.

Laf. Ay, with all my heart; and thou art worthy of it.

Par. I have not, my lord, deserved it.

Laf. Yes, good faith, every dram of it; and I will not bate thee a scruple.

Par. Well, I shall be wiser.

Laf. E'en as soon as thou canst, for thou hast to pull at a smack o' the contrary. If ever thou beest bound in thy scarf, and beaten, thou shalt find what it is to be proud of thy bondage. I have a desire to hold my acquaintance with thee, or rather my knowledge; that I may say, in the default, he is a man I know.

Par. My lord, you do me most insupportable

vexation.

Laf. I would it were hell-pains for thy sake, and my poor doing eternal : for doing I am past; as I will by thee, in what motion age will give me leave. [Exit.

Par. Well, thou hast a son shall take this disgrace off me; scurvy, old, filthy, scurvy lord!— Well, I must be patient; there is no fettering of authority. I'll beat him, by my life, if I can meet him with any convenience, an he were double and double a lord. I'll have no more pity of his age, than I would have of-I'll beat him an if I could but meet him again.

Re-enter LAFeu.

Laf. Sirrah, your lord and master's married; there's news for you; you have a new mistress.

Par. I most unfeignedly beseech your lordship to make some reservation of your wrongs:he is my good lord: whom I serve above, is my

master.

Laf. Who? God? Par. Ay, sir.

Laf. The devil it is that's thy master. Why dost thou garter up thy arms o' this fashion? dost make hose of thy sleeves? do other servants so? Thou wert best set thy lower part where thy nose stands. By mine honour, if I were but two hours younger I'd beat thee: methinks thou art a general offence, and every man should beat thee. I think thou wast created for men to breathe themselves upon thee.

my

Par. This is hard and undeserved measure, lord.

Laf. Go to, sir: you were beaten in Italy for picking a kernel out of a pomegranate; you are a vagabond, and no true traveller; you are more saucy with lords and honourable personages than the heraldry of your birth and virtues gives you commission. You are not worth another word, else I'd call you knave. I leave you. [Exit.

Par. Good, very good; it is so, then.-Good, very good; let it be concealed a while.

Re-enter BERTRAM.

Ber. Undone and forfeited to cares for ever!
Par. What is the matter, sweet heart?
Ber. Although before the solemn priest I
have sworn,

I will not bed her.

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