Alls Well That Ends Well | Page 3

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This etext was prepared by the PG Shakespeare Team,
a team of
about twenty Project Gutenberg volunteers.
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
by William Shakespeare
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
KING OF FRANCE.
THE DUKE OF FLORENCE.
BERTRAM,
Count of Rousillon.
LAFEU, an old Lord.
PAROLLES, a follower
of Bertram.
Several young French Lords, that serve with Bertram in
the
Florentine War.
Steward, Servant to the Countess of Rousillon.

Clown, Servant to the Countess of Rousillon.
A Page, Servant to
the Countess of Rousillon.
COUNTESS OF ROUSILLON, Mother to
Bertram.
HELENA, a Gentlewoman protected by the Countess.
An
old Widow of Florence.
DIANA, daughter to the Widow.

VIOLENTA, neighbour and friend to the Widow.
MARIANA,
neighbour and friend to the Widow.
Lords attending on the KING; Officers; Soldiers, &c., French and
Florentine.
SCENE: Partly in France, and partly in Tuscany.
ACT I.
SCENE 1. Rousillon. A room in the COUNTESS'S palace.
[Enter BERTRAM, the COUNTESS OF ROUSILLON, HELENA, and
LAFEU, all in black.]
COUNTESS.
In delivering my son from me, I bury a second
husband.
BERTRAM.
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.
LAFEU.
You shall find of the king a husband, madam;--you, sir, a
father: he that so generally is at all times good, must of necessity hold
his virtue to you; whose worthiness would stir it up where it wanted,
rather than lack it where there is such abundance.
COUNTESS.
What hope is there of his majesty's amendment?
LAFEU.
He hath abandoned his physicians, madam; under whose
practices he hath persecuted time with hope; and finds no other
advantage in the process but only the losing of hope by time.
COUNTESS.
This young gentlewoman had a father--O, that 'had!'
how
sad a passage 'tis!--whose skill was almost as great as his
honesty; had it stretched so far, would have made nature
immortal,
and death should have play for lack of work. Would, for the king's sake,
he were living! I think it would be the death of the king's disease.
LAFEU.
How called you the man you speak of, madam?
COUNTESS.
He was famous, sir, in his profession, and it was his
great right to be so--Gerard de Narbon.
LAFEU.
He was excellent indeed, madam; the king very lately spoke

of him admiringly and mourningly; he was skilful enough to have
liv'd still, if knowledge could be set up against mortality.
BERTRAM.
What is it, my good lord, the king languishes of?
LAFEU.
A fistula, my lord.
BERTRAM.
I heard not of it before.
LAFEU.
I would it were not notorious.--Was this gentlewoman the

daughter of Gerard de Narbon?

COUNTESS.
His sole child, my lord, and bequeathed to my
overlooking. I have those hopes of her good that her education
promises; her
dispositions she inherits, which makes fair gifts fairer;
for where an unclean mind carries virtuous qualities, there

commendations go with pity,--they are virtues and traitors too: in her
they are the better for their simpleness; she derives her honesty, and
achieves her goodness.
LAFEU.
Your commendations, madam, get from her tears.
COUNTESS.
'Tis the best brine a maiden can season her praise in.
The
remembrance of her father never approaches her heart but the
tyranny of her sorrows takes all livelihood from her cheek. No more of
this, Helena,--go to, no more, lest it be rather thought you affect a
sorrow than