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 mis-

tress

Fall, when love please!-marry, to each, but one !! Laf. I'd give bay Curtal,2 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,

L

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 re-

fus'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 my suit?

1 Lord. And grant it.

Hel.

Thanks, sir; all the rest is mute.3

Laf. I had rather be in this choice, than throw ames-ace4 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!

(1) Except one, meaning Bertram. (2) A docked horse.

(3) i. e. I have no more to say to you. (4) The lowest chance of the dice.

2 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. 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

highness,

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 knew 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 title1 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,2 and virtue none,
It is a dropsied honour: good alone
Is good, without a name; vileness is so :3
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 scorD,
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,

can create the rest: virtue, and she, 's 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;

(1) i. e. The want of title.

(2) Titles.

(3) Good is good independent of any worldly

distinction, and so is vileness vile.

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, 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 'twere, born so.

Take her by the hand,

King.
And tell her, she is thine: to whom I promise
A counterpoise; if not to thy estate,

A balance more replete.

Ber.

I take her hand.

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 perform'd 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,1 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. Par. 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.

(1) i. e. While I sat twice with thee at dinner.