All's Well That Ends Well (7 page)

KING
    Farewell, young lords. These warlike
principles
¹

Do not
throw from you.
²
And you, my lords, farewell.

Share the advice betwixt you. If both gain, all

The
gift
⁴
doth stretch itself as 'tis received,

And is enough for both.

FIRST LORD
    'Tis our hope, sir,

After
well-entered
⁷
soldiers, to return

And find your grace in health.

KING
    No, no, it cannot be; and yet my heart

Will not confess he
owes
¹⁰
the malady

That doth my life besiege. Farewell, young lords.

Whether I live or die, be you the sons

Of worthy Frenchmen. Let
higher Italy
¹³
—

Those bated that inherit but the fall
¹⁴

Of the last monarchy — see that you come

Not to
woo
honour, but to
wed
¹⁶
it, when

The bravest
questant
shrinks.
¹⁷
Find what you seek,

That fame may
cry
¹⁸
you loud. I say, farewell.

SECOND LORD
    Health at your bidding serve your majesty!

KING
    Those girls of Italy, take heed of them:

They say our French
lack language to deny
²¹

If they demand. Beware of being
captives
²²

Before you
serve.
²³

BOTH
    Our hearts receive your warnings.

KING
    Farewell.— Come hither to me.

FIRST LORD
    O, my sweet lord, that you will stay behind us!

PAROLLES
    'Tis not his fault, the
spark.
²⁷

SECOND LORD
    O, 'tis
brave
²⁸
wars!

PAROLLES
    Most admirable. I have seen those wars.

BERTRAM
    I am commanded
here
, and
kept a coil
³⁰
with

‘Too young' and ‘the next year' and ‘'tis too early'.

PAROLLES
    An thy mind stand to't, boy, steal away
bravely.
³²

BERTRAM
    I shall stay here the
forehorse to a smock
³³
,

Creaking my shoes on the plain
masonry
³⁴
,

Till honour be
bought up
³⁵
and no sword worn

But
one to dance with.
By heaven, I'll
steal
³⁶
away.

FIRST LORD
    There's honour in the theft.

PAROLLES
    Commit it, count.

SECOND LORD
    I am your accessary, and so farewell.

BERTRAM
    I
grow to
you, and our parting is
a tortured body.
⁴⁰

FIRST LORD
    Farewell, captain.

SECOND LORD
    Sweet Monsieur Parolles!

PAROLLES
    Noble heroes, my sword and yours are kin. Good

sparks and lustrous,
a word
, good
metals.
⁴⁴
You shall find in

the regiment of the Spinii one Captain
Spurio
⁴⁵
, with his

cicatrice
, an emblem of war, here on his
sinister
⁴⁶
cheek; it was

this very sword
entrenched
⁴⁷
it. Say to him I live, and observe

his
reports
⁴⁸
for me.

FIRST LORD
    We shall, noble captain.

PAROLLES
    
Mars
dote on you for his
novices!
⁵⁰
—

What will ye do?

BERTRAM
    
Stay
⁵²
the king.

PAROLLES
    Use a more
spacious ceremony
⁵³
to the

noble lords. You have restrained yourself within the
list
⁵⁴
of

too cold an adieu. Be more expressive to them, for they
wear
⁵⁵

themselves in the cap of the time, there do
muster true
⁵⁶

gait, eat, speak, and move under the influence of the most

received
star. And though the devil lead the
measure
⁵⁸
, such

are to be followed. After them, and take a more
dilated
⁵⁹

farewell.

BERTRAM
    And I will do so.

PAROLLES
    Worthy fellows, and
like
⁶²
to prove

most
sinewy
⁶³
sword-men.

LAFEW
    Pardon, my lord, for me and for my
tidings.
⁶⁴

KING
    I'll
fee
⁶⁵
thee to stand up.

LAFEW
    Then here's a man stands that has
brought his pardon.
⁶⁶

I would you had kneeled, my lord, to ask me mercy,

And that at my bidding you could so stand up.

KING
    I would I had, so I had
broke thy pate
⁶⁹
,

And asked thee mercy for't.

LAFEW
    Good faith,
across.
⁷¹
But, my good lord, 'tis thus:

Will you be cured of your infirmity?

KING
    No.

LAFEW
    O,
will you eat no grapes, my royal fox?
⁷⁴

Yes, but you
will
my noble grapes,
an if
⁷⁵

My royal fox could reach them. I have seen a
medicine
⁷⁶

That's able to breathe life into a stone,

Quicken
a rock, and make you dance
canary
⁷⁸

With sprightly fire and motion, whose
simple
⁷⁹
touch,

Is powerful to
araise
King Pippin
⁸⁰
, nay,

To give great Charlemain a
pen
⁸¹
in's hand

And write to her a love-line.

KING
    What ‘her' is this?

LAFEW
    Why, Doctor She: my lord, there's one arrived,

If you will see her. Now, by my faith and honour,

If seriously I may convey my thoughts

In this my
light
deliverance
⁸⁷
, I have spoke

With one that, in her sex, her years,
profession
⁸⁸
,

Wisdom and constancy, hath amazed me more

Than I dare
blame
my
weakness.
⁹⁰
Will you see her,

For that is her demand, and know her business?

That done, laugh well at me.

KING
    Now, good Lafew,

Bring in the
admiration
⁹⁴
that we with thee

May
spend
our wonder too, or
take off
⁹⁵
thine

By wondering how thou
took'st
⁹⁶
it.

LAFEW
    Nay, I'll
fit
⁹⁷
you,

And not be all day neither.

KING
    Thus he his
special nothing
ever prologues.
⁹⁹

LAFEW
    Nay,
come your ways.
¹⁰⁰

KING
    This haste hath wings indeed.

LAFEW
    Nay, come your ways.

This is his majesty, say your mind to him.

A traitor you do look like, but such traitors

His majesty seldom fears. I am
Cressid's uncle
¹⁰⁵
,

That dare leave two together. Fare you well.

KING
    Now, fair one, does your business
follow
¹⁰⁷
us?

HELEN
    Ay, my good lord.

Gerard de Narbon was my father,

In what he did
profess
,
well found.
¹¹⁰

KING
    I knew him.

HELEN
    The rather will I spare my praises towards him.

Knowing him is enough. On's bed of death

Many
receipts
¹¹⁴
he gave me, chiefly one

Which, as the dearest
issue
¹¹⁵
of his practice,

And of his old experience
th'only
¹¹⁶
darling,

He bade me store up, as a
triple
¹¹⁷
eye,

Safer
¹¹⁸
than mine own two. More dear I have so,

And hearing your high majesty is touched

With that malignant
cause wherein the honour
¹²⁰

Of my dear father's gift stands chief in power,

I come to
tender
it and my
appliance
¹²²

With all
bound
¹²³
humbleness.

KING
    We thank you, maiden,

But may not be so
credulous
¹²⁵
of cure,

When our most learnèd doctors leave us, and

The
congregated college
¹²⁷
have concluded

That labouring
art
¹²⁸
can never ransom nature

From her
inaidible
¹²⁹
estate. I say we must not

So stain our judgement, or corrupt our hope,

To
prostitute
¹³¹
our past-cure malady

To
empirics
, or to
dissever
¹³²
so

Our
great self
and our
credit
, to
esteem
¹³³

A
senseless
help when help past
sense
we
deem.
¹³⁴

HELEN
    My
duty
then shall pay me for my
pains
¹³⁵
:

I will no more enforce mine
office
¹³⁶
on you,

Humbly entreating from your royal thoughts

A
modest one
to bear me back again.
¹³⁸

KING
    I cannot give thee less,
to
¹³⁹
be called grateful.

Thou thought'st to help me, and such thanks I give

As one near death to those that wish him live.

But what
at full
I know, thou know'st
no part
¹⁴²
,

I knowing all my peril, thou no
art.
¹⁴³

HELEN
    What I can do can do no hurt to try,

Since you
set up your rest
¹⁴⁵
gainst remedy.

He
¹⁴⁶
that of greatest works is finisher

Oft does them by the weakest minister:

So
holy writ
in
babes
¹⁴⁸
hath judgement shown,

When judges have been babes;
great floods have flown
¹⁴⁹

From
simple
sources, and
great seas have dried
¹⁵⁰

When miracles have by the
great'st
¹⁵¹
been denied.

Oft expectation fails, and most oft there

Where most it promises, and oft it
hits
¹⁵³

Where hope is coldest and despair most
shifts.
¹⁵⁴

KING
    I must not hear thee. Fare thee well, kind maid.

Thy pains not used must
by thyself be paid
¹⁵⁶
:

Proffers
not took reap thanks
for
¹⁵⁷
their reward.

HELEN
    
Inspirèd
merit so by
breath
¹⁵⁸
is barred.

It is not so with him that all things knows

As 'tis with us that
square
our guess by
shows.
¹⁶⁰

But most it is presumption in us when

The help of heaven we
count
¹⁶²
the act of men.

Dear sir, to my endeavours give consent.

Of heaven, not me, make an
experiment.
¹⁶⁴

I am not an
impostor
that
proclaim
¹⁶⁵

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
¹⁶⁹

Hop'st thou my cure?

HELEN
    The
greatest
¹⁷¹
grace lending grace

Ere twice the horses of the sun shall bring

Their fiery
torcher
his
diurnal ring
¹⁷³
,

Ere twice in murk and
occidental
¹⁷⁴
damp

Moist
Hesperus
¹⁷⁵
hath quenched her sleepy lamp,

Or four and twenty times the
pilot's glass
¹⁷⁶

Hath told the thievish minutes how they pass,

What is infirm from your sound parts shall fly,

Health shall live free and sickness freely die.

KING
    Upon thy certainty and confidence

What dar'st thou
venture?
¹⁸¹

HELEN
    
Tax
¹⁸²
of impudence,

A
strumpet's
¹⁸³
boldness, a divulgèd shame

Traduced
¹⁸⁴
by odious ballads: my maiden's name

Seared
otherwise, nay, worse of worst,
extended
¹⁸⁵

With vilest torture, let my life be ended.

KING
    Methinks in thee some blessèd spirit doth speak

His powerful sound within an organ weak:

And what impossibility would
slay
¹⁸⁹

In common
sense
¹⁹⁰
, sense saves another way.

Thy life is dear, for all that life can
rate
¹⁹¹

Worth name of life in thee hath
estimate
¹⁹²
:

Youth, beauty, wisdom, courage, all

That happiness and
prime
¹⁹⁴
can happy call.

Thou this to hazard
needs
¹⁹⁵
must intimate

Skill infinite or
monstrous desperate.
¹⁹⁶

Sweet
practicer
, thy
physic
¹⁹⁷
I will try,

That
ministers
¹⁹⁸
thine own death if I die.

HELEN
    If I
break time
, or flinch in
property
¹⁹⁹

Of what I spoke, unpitied let me die,

And well deserved.
Not
²⁰¹
helping, death's my fee.

But if I help, what do you promise me?

KING
    Make thy demand.

HELEN
    But will you
make it even?
²⁰⁴

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

HELEN
    Then shalt thou give me with thy kingly hand

What
²⁰⁷
husband in thy power I will command:

Exempted
²⁰⁸
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
²¹⁴
,

Thy will by my
performance
²¹⁵
shall be served.

So make the choice
of
²¹⁶
thy own time, for I,

Thy
resolved
patient, on thee
still
²¹⁷
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.
²²⁰
But rest

Unquestioned
²²¹
welcome and undoubted blest.—

Give me some help here, ho!— If thou proceed

As
high as word
²²³
, my deed shall match thy deed.