The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare
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THOMAS OF WOODSTOCK
THE SONNETS
II—CHILDHOOD, EDUCATION, AND MARRIAGE
VI—THE FIRST APPEAL TO THE READING PUBLIC
VII—THE SONNETS AND THEIR LITERARY HISTORY
VIII—THE BORROWED CONCEITS OF THE SONNETS
IX—THE PATRONAGE OF THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON
X—THE SUPPOSED STORY OF INTRIGUE IN THE SONNETS
XI—THE DEVELOPMENT OF DRAMATIC POWER
XII—THE PRACTICAL AFFAIRS OF LIFE
XIV—THE HIGHEST THEMES OF TRAGEDY
XVII—SURVIVORS AND DESCENDANTS
XVIII—AUTOGRAPHS, PORTRAITS, AND MEMORIALS
COMEDIES
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.