ACT 1
Scene 1
Enter young Bertram Count of Rossillion, his mother the Countess, and Helen, Lord Lafew, all in black.
...a second husband.
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.
...up against mortality.
What is it, my good lord, the King languishes
of?
...fistula, my lord.
I heard not of it before.
...it soon mortal.
Madam, I desire your holy wishes.
...bless him.—Farewell, Bertram.
The best wishes that can be forged in your
thoughts be servants to you.
To Helen.
Be comfortable to my mother, your
mistress, and make much of her.
...of your father.
Bertram and Lafew exit.
Scene 2
...breathing and exploit.
Enter Bertram, Lafew, and Parolles.
...Welcome to Paris.
My thanks and duty are your Majesty’s.
...But goers backward.
His good remembrance, sir,
Lies richer in your thoughts than on his tomb.
So in approof lives not his epitaph
As in your royal speech.
...was much famed.
Some six months since, my lord.
...son’s no dearer.
Thank your Majesty.
They exit. Flourish.
ACT 2
Scene 1
...shalt not miss.
Flourish cornets. Enter the King, attended, with divers young Lords, taking leave for the Florentine war; Bertram Count Rossillion, and Parolles.
...hither to me.
The King speaks to Attendants, while Bertram, Parolles, and other Lords come forward.
...seen those wars.
I am commanded here and kept a coil
With “Too young,” and “The next year,” and “’Tis too early.”
...steal away bravely.
I shall stay here the forehorse to a smock,
Creaking my shoes on the plain masonry
Till honor be bought up, and no sword worn
But one to dance with. By heaven, I’ll steal away!
...And so, farewell.
I grow to you, and our parting is a tortured
body.
...will you do?
Stay the King.
...more dilated farewell.
And I will do so.
...most sinewy swordmen.
Bertram and Parolles exit.
Scene 3
...Haste you again.
Enter Count Bertram, Lafew, and Parolles.
...our latter times.
And so ’tis.
...She’s thy wife.
My wife, my liege? I shall beseech your Highness
In such a business give me leave to use
The help of mine own eyes.
...done for me?
Yes, my good lord,
But never hope to know why I should marry her.
...my sickly bed.
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!
...wealth from me.
I cannot love her, nor will strive to do ’t.
...Speak. Thine answer.
Pardon, my gracious lord, for I submit
My fancy to your eyes. When I consider
What great creation and what dole of honor
Flies where you bid it, I find that she which late
Was in my nobler thoughts most base is now
The praisèd of the King, who, so ennobled,
Is as ’twere born so.
...balance more replete.
I take her hand.
...else, does err.
They exit. Parolles and Lafew stay behind, commenting of this wedding.
...be concealed awhile.
Enter Bertram Count Rossillion.
Undone, and forfeited to cares forever!
...the matter, sweetheart?
Although before the solemn priest I have sworn,
I will not bed her.
...What, what, sweetheart?
O my Parolles, they have married me!
I’ll to the Tuscan wars and never bed her.
...To th’ wars!
There’s letters from my mother. What th’
import is I know not yet.
...to th’ war!
It shall be so. I’ll send her to my house,
Acquaint my mother with my hate to her
And wherefore I am fled, write to the King
That which I durst not speak. His present gift
Shall furnish me to those Italian fields
Where noble fellows strike. Wars is no strife
To the dark house and the detested wife.
...thee? Art sure?
Go with me to my chamber, and advise me.
I’ll send her straight away. Tomorrow
I’ll to the wars, she to her single sorrow.
...hush, ’tis so.
They exit.
Scene 5
...you, come, sirrah.
Enter Lafew and Bertram.
...him a soldier.
Yes, my lord, and of very valiant approof.
...his own deliverance.
And by other warranted testimony.
...for a bunting.
I do assure you, my lord, he is very great in
knowledge and accordingly valiant.
...very good tailor.
aside to Parolles
Is she gone to the King?
... She is.
Will she away tonight?
...you’ll have her.
I have writ my letters, casketed my treasure,
Given order for our horses, and tonight,
When I should take possession of the bride,
End ere I do begin.
...save you, captain.
to Parolles
Is there any unkindness
between my lord and you, monsieur?
...for your residence.
It may be you have mistaken him, my lord.
...lord, I swear.
I think not so.
...not know him?
Yes, I do know him well, and common speech
Gives him a worthy pass.
Enter Helen.
Here comes my clog.
...speech with you.
I shall obey his will.
You must not marvel, Helen, at my course,
Which holds not color with the time, nor does
The ministration and requirèd office
On my particular. Prepared I was not
For such a business; therefore am I found
So much unsettled. This drives me to entreat you
That presently you take your way for home,
And rather muse than ask why I entreat you;
For my respects are better than they seem,
And my appointments have in them a need
Greater than shows itself at the first view
To you that know them not.Giving her a paper.
This to my mother.
’Twill be two days ere I shall see you, so
I leave you to your wisdom.
...most obedient servant—
Come, come, no more of that.
...my great fortune.
Let that go.
My haste is very great. Farewell. Hie home.
...sir, your pardon.
Well, what would you say?
...vouch mine own.
What would you have?
...and not kiss.
I pray you stay not, but in haste to horse.
...other men?—Monsieur, farewell.
Go thou toward home, where I will never come
Whilst I can shake my sword or hear the drum.—
Away, and for our flight.
... Bravely, coraggio!
They exit.
ACT 3
Scene 3
...I’ll steal away.
Flourish. Enter the Duke of Florence, Bertram Count Rossillion, Drum and Trumpets, Soldiers, Parolles.
...thy promising fortune.
Sir, it is
A charge too heavy for my strength, but yet
We’ll strive to bear it for your worthy sake
To th’ extreme edge of hazard.
...thy auspicious mistress.
This very day,
Great Mars, I put myself into thy file.
Make me but like my thoughts, and I shall prove
A lover of thy drum, hater of love.
All exit.
Scene 5
...gods forbid else!
Drum and Colors. Enter Bertram Count Rossillion, Parolles, and the whole Army.
...for a ring-carrier.
Bertram, Parolles, and the army exit.
Scene 6
...your offer kindly.
Enter Bertram Count Rossillion and the French Lords, as at first.
...lord, a bubble.
Do you think I am so far deceived in him?
...danger fail you.
I would I knew in what particular action to
try him.
...in any hand.
to Parolles
How now, monsieur? This
drum sticks sorely in your disposition.
...there to command.
Well, we cannot greatly condemn our success.
Some dishonor we had in the loss of that
drum, but it is not to be recovered.
...have been recovered.
It might, but it is not now.
...or hic jacet.
Why, if you have a stomach, to ’t, monsieur!
If you think your mystery in stratagem can bring
this instrument of honor again into his native
quarter, be magnanimous in the enterprise and go
on. I will grace the attempt for a worthy exploit. If
you speed well in it, the Duke shall both speak of it
and extend to you what further becomes his greatness,
even to the utmost syllable of your
worthiness.
...will undertake it.
But you must not now slumber in it.
...further from me.
May I be bold to acquaint his Grace you are
gone about it?
...attempt I vow.
I know thou ’rt valiant, and to the possibility
of thy soldiership will subscribe for thee. Farewell.
...him ever after.
Why, do you think he will make no deed at
all of this that so seriously he does address himself
unto?
...shall be caught.
Your brother he shall go along with me.
...I’ll leave you.
Now will I lead you to the house and show you
The lass I spoke of.
...say she’s honest.
That’s all the fault. I spoke with her but once
And found her wondrous cold. But I sent to her,
By this same coxcomb that we have i’ th’ wind,
Tokens and letters, which she did re-send.
And this is all I have done. She’s a fair creature.
Will you go see her?
...heart, my lord.
They exit.
ACT 4
Scene 2
...and safely locked.
Enter Bertram and the maid called Diana.
They told me that your name was Fontibell.
...good lord, Diana.
Titled goddess,
And worth it, with addition. But, fair soul,
In your fine frame hath love no quality?
If the quick fire of youth light not your mind,
You are no maiden but a monument.
When you are dead, you should be such a one
As you are now, for you are cold and stern,
And now you should be as your mother was
When your sweet self was got.
...then was honest.
So should you be.
...to your wife.
No more o’ that.
I prithee do not strive against my vows.
I was compelled to her, but I love thee
By love’s own sweet constraint, and will forever
Do thee all rights of service.
...with our bareness.
How have I sworn!
...in my opinion.
Change it, change it.
Be not so holy-cruel. Love is holy,
And my integrity ne’er knew the crafts
That you do charge men with. Stand no more off,
But give thyself unto my sick desires,
Who then recovers. Say thou art mine, and ever
My love as it begins shall so persever.
...me that ring.
I’ll lend it thee, my dear, but have no power
To give it from me.
...not, my lord?
It is an honor ’longing to our house,
Bequeathèd down from many ancestors,
Which were the greatest obloquy i’ th’ world
In me to lose.
...your vain assault.
Here, take my ring.
My house, mine honor, yea, my life be thine,
And I’ll be bid by thee.
...hope be done.
A heaven on Earth I have won by wooing thee.
...in the end.
He exits.
Scene 3
...the King’s tartness.
Enter Bertram Count Rossillion.
...not after midnight?
I have tonight dispatched sixteen businesses,
a month’s length apiece. By an abstract of
success: I have congeed with the Duke, done my
adieu with his nearest, buried a wife, mourned for
her, writ to my lady mother I am returning, entertained
my convoy, and between these main parcels
of dispatch effected many nicer needs. The last
was the greatest, but that I have not ended yet.
...of your Lordship.
I mean the business is not ended as fearing
to hear of it hereafter. But shall we have this dialogue
between the Fool and the Soldier? Come,
bring forth this counterfeit module; has deceived
me like a double-meaning prophesier.
...poor gallant knave.
No matter. His heels have deserved it in
usurping his spurs so long. How does he carry
himself?
...he hath confessed?
Nothing of me, has he?
...the First Soldier.
A plague upon him! Muffled! He can say
nothing of me.
...way you will.
aside
All’s one to him. What a past-saving
slave is this!
...truth in this.
aside
But I con him no thanks for ’t, in the
nature he delivers it.
...themselves to pieces.
aside
What shall be done to him?
...say him nay.
aside to First Lord
Nay, by your leave, hold
your hands, though I know his brains are forfeit to
the next tile that falls.
...it or no.
aside
Our interpreter does it well.
...fry it finds.
aside
Damnable both-sides rogue!
...thine ear, Parolles.
aside
He shall be whipped through the
army with this rhyme in ’s forehead.
...the armipotent soldier.
aside
I could endure anything before but a
cat, and now he’s a cat to me.
...him for this.
aside
For this description of thine honesty?
A pox upon him! For me, he’s more and more
a cat.
...rarity redeems him.
aside
A pox on him! He’s a cat still.
...you any here?
Good morrow, noble captain.
...fare you well.
Bertram and Lords exit.
ACT 5
Scene 3
...high in fame.
Enter Count Bertram.
...is fair again.
My high-repented blames,
Dear sovereign, pardon to me.
...of this lord?
Admiringly, my liege. At first
I stuck my choice upon her, ere my heart
Durst make too bold a herald of my tongue;
Where the impression of mine eye infixing,
Contempt his scornful perspective did lend me,
Which warped the line of every other favor,
Scorned a fair color or expressed it stol’n,
Extended or contracted all proportions
To a most hideous object. Thence it came
That she whom all men praised and whom myself,
Since I have lost, have loved, was in mine eye
The dust that did offend it.
...may quickly come.
Bertram gives him a ring.
...upon her finger.
Hers it was not.
...stead her most?
My gracious sovereign,
Howe’er it pleases you to take it so,
The ring was never hers.
...her wear it.
You are deceived, my lord. She never saw it.
In Florence was it from a casement thrown me,
Wrapped in a paper which contained the name
Of her that threw it. Noble she was, and thought
I stood ungaged, but when I had subscribed
To mine own fortune and informed her fully
I could not answer in that course of honor
As she had made the overture, she ceased
In heavy satisfaction and would never
Receive the ring again.
...her great disaster.
She never saw it.
...this matter further.
If you shall prove
This ring was ever hers, you shall as easy
Prove that I husbanded her bed in Florence,
Where yet she never was.
He exits, under guard.
...on the doers!
Enter Bertram under guard.
...know these women?
My lord, I neither can nor will deny
But that I know them. Do they charge me further?
...upon your wife?
She’s none of mine, my lord.
...husband for her.
to the King
My lord, this is a fond and desp’rate creature
Whom sometime I have laughed with. Let your Highness
Lay a more noble thought upon mine honor
Than for to think that I would sink it here.
...thou to her?
She’s impudent, my lord,
And was a common gamester to the camp.
...bring him hither.
What of him?
He’s quoted for a most perfidious slave,
With all the spots o’ th’ world taxed and debauched,
Whose nature sickens but to speak a truth.
Am I or that or this for what he’ll utter,
That will speak anything?
...ring of yours.
I think she has. Certain it is I liked her
And boarded her i’ th’ wanton way of youth.
She knew her distance and did angle for me,
Madding my eagerness with her restraint,
As all impediments in fancy’s course
Are motives of more fancy; and in fine
Her infinite cunning with her modern grace
Subdued me to her rate. She got the ring,
And I had that which any inferior might
At market price have bought.
...me mine again.
I have it not.
... Enter Parolles.
My lord, I do confess the ring was hers.
...not the thing.
Both, both. O, pardon!
...are doubly won?
If she, my liege, can make me know this clearly,
I’ll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly.
EPILOGUE
...take our hearts.
All exit.