THE BEAUTIES OF SHAKSPEARE. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. ACT I. ADVICE. BE thou blest Bertram! and succeed thy father In manners, as in shape! 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 use; and keep thy friend Under thy own life's key: be check'd for silence, But never tax'd for speech. TOO AMBITIOUS LOVE. 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. The 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 To see him every hour; to sit and draw His arched brows, his hawking eye, his curls, In our heart's fable;* heart, too capable COWARDICE. I know him a notorious liar, Think him a great way fool, solely a coward; That they take place, when virtue's steely bones THE REMEDY OF EVILS GENERALLY IN Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, CHARACTER OF A NOBLE COURTIER. In his youth He had the wit, which I can well observe And bow'd his eminent top to their low ranks, Such a man Might be a copy to these younger times. * Helena considers her heart as the tablet on which his resemblance was pourtrayed. † Peculiarity of feature. § His is put for its. Countenance. ACT II. HONOUR DUE TO PERSONAL VIRTUE ONLY, NOT TO BIRTH. From lowest place when virtuous things proceed, The place is dignified by the doer's deed: Where great additions* swell, and virtue none, Is good, without a name; vileness is so:† Where dust and damn'd oblivion, is the tomb ACT III. SELF-ACCUSATION OF TOO GREAT LOVE. Poor Lord! is't I That chase thee from thy country, and expose Of the non-sparing war? and is it I That drive thee from the sportive court, where thou Wast shot at with fair eyes, to be the mark Of smoky muskets? O you leaden messengers, That ride upon the violent speed of fire, Fly with false aim; move the still-piercing air, Whoever charges on his forward breast, I am the caitiff, that do hold him to it; * Titles. † Good is good independent of any worldly distinction, and so is vileness vile. And, though I kill him not, I am the cause I met the ravin* lion when he roar'd With sharp constraint of hunger; better 'twere Were mine at once: No, come thou home, Rousillon, My being here it is that holds thee hence: A MAID'S HONOUR. The honour of a maid is her name; ana no legacy is so rich as honesty. ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN. Beware of them, Diana; their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines of lust, are not the things they go under:† many a maid hath been seduced by them; and the misery is, example, that so terrible shows in the wreck of maidenhood, cannot for all that dissuade succession, but that they are limed with the twigs that threaten them. I hope, I need not advise you farther; but, I hope, your own grace will keep you where you are, though there were no farther danger known, than the modesty which is so lost. ACT IV. CUSTOM OF SEDUCERS. Ay so you serve us, Till we serve you: but when you have our roses * Ravenous. They are not the things for which their names would make them pass. |