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SCENE I.

ACT I

Rousillon, in France. The hall of the Countess of Rousillon's house.

Enter BERTRAM, the COUNTESS OF ROUSILLON,

HELENA, and LAFEU, all in black.

Count. In delivering my son from me, I bury a second husband.

Ber. And I, in going, madam, weep o'er my father's death anew: but I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward, evermore in subjection.

[Laf. You shall find of the king a husband, madam;-you, sir, a father: he that so generally is at all times good, must of necessity hold1 his virtue to you; whose worthiness would stir it up where it wanted, rather than lack it where there is such abundance.]

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Count. What hope is there of his majesty's amendment?

Laf. He hath abandoned his physicians, madam; under whose practices he hath persecuted time with hope; and finds no other advantage in the process but only the losing of hope by time.

1 Hold, continue.

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Hel. I do affect a sorrow, indeed; but I have it too.

[Laf. Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead; excessive grief the enemy to the living.

Count. If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess makes it soon mortal.]

Ber. Madam, I desire your holy wishes. [Laf. How understand we that?] Count. Be thou blest, Bertram! and succeed thy father

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In manners, as in shape! thy blood and virtue Contend for empire in thee, and thy goodness Share2 with thy birthright! Love all, trust a few,

Do wrong to none; be able for thine enemy Rather in power than use, and keep thy friend Under thy own life's key; be check'd3 for silence,

But never tax'd for speech. What heaven more will,

That thee may furnish, and my prayers pluck down,

Fall on thy head!-Farewell, my lord: "Tis an unseason'd courtier; good my lord, so Advise him.

1 Honesty, honourable position, claims to respect.

2 Share, go even with, be as great as.

3 Check'd, rebuked.

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Than those I shed for him. What was he like?

I have forgot him: my imagination
Carries no favour' in 't but Bertram's.
I am undone: there is no living, none,
If Bertram be away. It were all one,
That I should love a bright particular star,
And think to wed it, he is so above me:
[In his bright radiance and collateral light
Must I be comforted, not in his sphere.
Th' ambition in my love thus plagues itself:]
The hind that would be mated by the lion
Must die for love. 'Twas pretty, though a

plague,

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Hel. But he assails; and our virginity, though valiant in the defence, yet is weak: unfold to us some warlike resistance. Par. There is none: man, sitting down before you, will undermine you, and blow you up. Hel. Bless our poor virginity from underminers and blowers-up!-Is there no military policy, how virgins might blow up men?

Par. Virginity being blown down, man will quicklier be blown up: marry, in blowing him down again, with the breach yourselves made, you lose your city. It is not politic in the commonwealth of nature to preserve virginity. Loss of virginity is rational increase; and there was never virgin got till virginity was first lost. That you were made of, is metal to make virgins. Virginity, by being once lost, may be ten times found; by being ever kept, it is ever lost: 't is too cold a companion; away with 't! Hel. I will stand for 't a little, though therefore I die a virgin.

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He

Par. There's little can be said in 't; 't is against the rule of nature. To speak on the part of virginity, is to accuse your mothers; which is most infallible disobedience. that hangs himself is a virgin: virginity murders itself; and should be buried in highways, out of all sanctified limit, as a desperate offendress against nature. Virginity breeds mites, much like a cheese; consumes itself to the very paring, and so dies with feeding his own stomach. Besides, virginity is peevish, proud, idle, made of self-love, which is the most inhibited sin in the canon. Keep it not; you cannot choose but lose by 't: out with 't! within ten year it will make itself ten, which

1 Stain, tinge.

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is a goodly increase; and the principal itself) not much the worse: away with 't! Hel. How might one do, sir, to lose it to her? own liking?

Par. Let me see: marry, ill, to like him that ne'er it likes. T is a commodity will lose the gloss with lying; the longer kept, the less worth: off with 't while 't is vendible; answer the time of request. Virginity, like an old courtier, wears her cap out of fashion; richly suited, but unsuitable: just like the brooch and the toothpick, which wear not now. Your date is better in your pie and your porridge/ than in your cheek: and your virginity, your old virginity, is like one of our French withered pears, it looks ill, it eats dryly; marry, 't is a withered pear; it was formerly better; marry, yet, 't is a withered pear: will you any) thing with it?

Hel. Not my virginity yet.

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There shall your master have a thousand loves,
A mother, and a mistress, and a friend,
A phoenix, captain, and an enemy,
A guide, a goddess, and a sovereign,
A counsellor, a traitress, and a dear;
His humble ambition, proud humility,
His jarring concord, and his discord dulcet,
His faith, his sweet disaster; with a world
Of pretty, fond, adoptious christendoms,3
That blinking Cupid gossips. Now shall he—
I know not what he shall:-God send him
well!-

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Par. Little Helen, farewell: if I can remember thee, I will think of thee at court.

Hel. Monsieur Parolles, you were born under a charitable star.

Par. Under Mars, I.

[Hel. I especially think, under Mars. Par. Why under Mars?

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Hel. The wars have so kept you under, that you must needs be born under Mars. 5 Par.] When he was predominant.

Hel. When he was retrograde,1 I think, rather.

Par. Why think you so?

Hel. You go so much backward when you fight.

Par. That's for advantage.

Hel. So is running away, when fear proposes the safety: but the composition, that your valour and fear make in you, is a virtue of a good wing, and I like the wear well. 219

Par. I am so full of businesses, I cannot answer thee acutely. [I will return perfect courtier; in the which, my instruction shall serve to naturalize thee, so thou wilt be capable of a courtier's counsel, and understand what advice shall thrust upon thee; else thou diest in thine unthankfulness, and thine ig@norance makes thee away: ] farewell. When thou hast leisure, say thy prayers; when thou hast none, remember thy friends: get thee a good husband, and use him as he uses thee: so, farewell. [Exit. 230 Hel. Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated3 sky Gives us free scope; only doth backward pull Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull. [What power is it which mounts my love so

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To show her merit, that did miss her love? The king's disease,-my project may deceive me, But my intents are fix'd, and will not leave me. [Exit.

[SCENE II. Paris. The King's palace.

Flourish of cornets. Enter the KING OF FRANCE with letters, and divers Attendants.

King. The Florentines and Senoys are by th' ears;

Have fought with equal fortune, and continue A braving war.

First Lord. So 't is reported, sir.

King. Nay, 't is most credible; we here re

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