Thanks, fir; all the reft is mute.

1 Lord. And grant it.

Hel.

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

ace for my life.

Hel. The honour, fir, that flames in your fair eyes,
Before I fpeak, too threatningly 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 wifh receive,

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

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

Hel. Be not afraid [To a Lord.] that I your hand fhould take;

I'll never do you wrong for your own fake :
Bleffing 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: fure, they are baftards to the English; the French ne'er got them.

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

4 Lord. Fair one, I think not fo.

Laf. There's one grape yet,-I am fure, thy father drank wine.-But if thou be'ft not an afs, 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.

Ber. My wife, my liege? I fhall befeech your highness, In fuch a bufinefs give me leave to use

The help of mine own eyes.

King.

What the has done for me?

Ber.

Know'st thou not, Bertram,

Yes, my good lord;

But never hope to know why I fhould marry her.

King. Thou know'st, she has rais'd me from my fickly 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 difdain'ft 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 fo mighty: If the be

All that is virtuous, (fave what thou dislik'ft,
A poor phyfician's daughter,) thou dislik'st
Of virtue for the name: but do not fo:
From lowest place when virtuous things proceed,
The place is dignified by the doer's deed :
Where great additions fwell, and virtue none,
It is a dropfied honour: good alone
Is good, without a name; vileness is so :
The property by what it is thould 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 fire: Honours best thrive,
When rather from our acts we them derive
Than our fore-goers: the mere word's a slave,
D

Debauch'd

Debauch'd on every tomb; on every grave,

A lying trophy; and as oft is dumb,

Where duft, and damn'd oblivion, is the tomb
Of honour'd bones indeed.

What should be faid?

If thou canst like this creature as a maid,

I can create the reft: 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'ft thyself, if thou should'st strive to choose.

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

King. My honour's at the stake; which to defeat,
I must produce my power: Here, take her hand,
Proud fcornful boy, unworthy this good gift;
That doft 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 :
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,
Loofing upon thee in the name of justice,

Without all terms of pity: Speak; thine answer.
Ber. Pardon, my gracious lord; for I fubmit
My fancy to your eyes: When I confider,
What great creation, and what dole of honour,
Flies where you bid it, I find, that he, which late

Was

Was in my nobler thoughts most base, is now
The praised of the king; who, fo ennobled,
Is, as 'twere, born fo.

King.

Take her by the hand, And tell her, she is thine: to whom I promise A counterpoize; 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; whofe ceremony
Shall feem expedient on the now-born brief,
And be perform'd to-night: the folemn feast
Shall more attend upon the coming space,
Expecting abfent friends. As thou lov'ft her,
Thy love's to me religious; elfe, does err.

[Exeunt King, BERTRAM, HELENA, Lords, and
Attendants.

Laf. Do you hear, monfieur? a word with you.
Par. Your pleasure, fir?

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

Par. Recantation ?-My lord? my master?

Laf. Ay; Is it not a language, I speak?

Par. A moft harsh one; and not to be understood without bloody fucceeding. My matter?

Laf. Are you companion to the count Roufillon Par. To any count; to all counts; to what is man. Laf. To what is count's man; counts mafter is of another style.

Par. You are too old, fir; let it fatisfy you, you are too old.

Laf. I must tell thee, firrah, 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 wife fellow; thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel; it might pafs: 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. Hadft thou not the privilege of antiquity upon thee,

Laf. Do not plunge thyself too far in anger, left thou haften 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, deserv'd it.

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

Par. Well, I fhall be wifer.

Laf. E'en as soon as thou canst, for thou haft to pull at a fmack o'the contrary. If ever thou be'ft bound in thy scarf, and beaten, thou shalt find what it is to be proud of thy bondage. I have a defire to hold my acquaintance with thee, or rather my knowledge; that I may fay, 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 fake, and my poor doing eternal: for doing I am paft; 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; fcurvy, old, filthy, fcurvy lord !-Well, I must be patient; there is no fettering of authority. I'll beat him,

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