All's Well That Ends Well/Act 3

==ACT III.==
=== SCENE 1. Florence. A room in the DUKE's palace. ===
[Flourish. Enter the DUKE OF FLORENCE, attended; two French Lords, and Soldiers.]
DUKE.
:So that, from point to point, now have you heard
:The fundamental reasons of this war;
:Whose great decision hath much blood let forth,
:And more thirsts after.
FIRST LORD.
:Holy seems the quarrel
:Upon your grace's part; black and fearful
:On the opposer.
DUKE.
:Therefore we marvel much our cousin France
:Would, in so just a business, shut his bosom
:Against our borrowing prayers.
SECOND LORD.
:Good my lord,
:The reasons of our state I cannot yield,
:But like a common and an outward man
:That the great figure of a council frames
:By self-unable motion; therefore dare not
:Say what I think of it, since I have found
:Myself in my incertain grounds to fail
:As often as I guess'd.
DUKE.
:Be it his pleasure.
FIRST LORD.
:But I am sure the younger of our nature,
:That surfeit on their ease, will day by day
:Come here for physic.
DUKE.
:Welcome shall they be;
:And all the honours that can fly from us
:Shall on them settle. You know your places well;
:When better fall, for your avails they fell:
:To-morrow to th' field.
[Flourish. Exeunt.]
===SCENE 2. Rousillon. A room in the COUNTESS'S palace.===
[Enter COUNTESS and CLOWN.]
COUNTESS.
:It hath happened all as I would have had it, save that he
:comes not along with her.
CLOWN.
:By my troth, I take my young lord to be a very melancholy man.
COUNTESS.
:By what observance, I pray you?
CLOWN.
:Why, he will look upon his boot and sing; mend the ruff and sing;
:ask questions and sing; pick his teeth and sing. I know a man
:that had this trick of melancholy sold a goodly manor for a song.
COUNTESS.
:Let me see what he writes, and when he means to come.
[Opening a letter.]
CLOWN.
:I have no mind to Isbel since I was at court. Our old ling
:and our Isbels o' the country are nothing like your old ling and
:your Isbels o' the court. The brains of my Cupid's knocked out;
:and I begin to love, as an old man loves money, with no stomach.
COUNTESS.
:What have we here?
CLOWN.
:E'en that you have there.
[Exit.]
COUNTESS.
: [Reads.] 'I have sent you a daughter-in-law; she hath
:recovered the king and undone me. I have wedded her, not bedded
:her; and sworn to make the "not" eternal. You shall hear I am run
:away: know it before the report come. If there be breadth enough
:in the world, I will hold a long distance. My duty to you.
:: Your unfortunate son,
::: BERTRAM.'
:This is not well, rash and unbridled boy,
:To fly the favours of so good a king;
:To pluck his indignation on thy head
:By the misprizing of a maid too virtuous
:For the contempt of empire.
[Re-enter CLOWN.]
CLOWN.
:O madam, yonder is heavy news within between two soldiers and my
:young lady.
COUNTESS.
:What is the matter?
CLOWN.
:Nay, there is some comfort in the news, some comfort; your son
:will not be killed so soon as I thought he would.
COUNTESS.
:Why should he be killed?
CLOWN.
:So say I, madam, if he run away, as I hear he does: the danger is
:in standing to 't; that's the loss of men, though it be the
:getting of children. Here they come will tell you more: for my
:part, I only hear your son was run away.
[Exit.]
[Enter HELENA and the two Gentlemen.]
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
:Save you, good madam.
HELENA.
:Madam, my lord is gone, for ever gone.
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
:Do not say so.
COUNTESS.
:Think upon patience.—Pray you, gentlemen,—
:I have felt so many quirks of joy and grief
:That the first face of neither, on the start,
:Can woman me unto 't.—Where is my son, I pray you?
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
:Madam, he's gone to serve the Duke of Florence:
:We met him thitherward; for thence we came,
:And, after some despatch in hand at court,
:Thither we bend again.
HELENA.
:Look on this letter, madam; here's my passport.
::[Reads.] 'When thou canst get the ring upon my finger, which
::never shall come off, and show me a child begotten of thy body
::that I am father to, then call me husband; but in such a "then" I
::write a "never."
:This is a dreadful sentence.
COUNTESS.
:Brought you this letter, gentlemen?
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
:Ay, madam;
:And for the contents' sake, are sorry for our pains.
COUNTESS.
:I pr'ythee, lady, have a better cheer;
:If thou engrossest all the griefs are thine,
:Thou robb'st me of a moiety. He was my son:
:But I do wash his name out of my blood,
:And thou art all my child.—Towards Florence is he?
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
:Ay, madam.
COUNTESS.
:And to be a soldier?
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
:Such is his noble purpose: and, believe 't,
:The duke will lay upon him all the honour
:That good convenience claims.
COUNTESS.
:Return you thither?
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
:Ay, madam, with the swiftest wing of speed.
HELENA.
:[Reads.] 'Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France.'
:'Tis bitter.
COUNTESS.
:Find you that there?
HELENA.
:Ay, madam.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
:'Tis but the boldness of his hand haply,
:Which his heart was not consenting to.
COUNTESS.
:Nothing in France until he have no wife!
:There's nothing here that is too good for him
:But only she; and she deserves a lord
:That twenty such rude boys might tend upon,
:And call her hourly mistress. Who was with him?
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
:A servant only, and a gentleman
:Which I have sometime known.
COUNTESS.
:Parolles, was it not?
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
:Ay, my good lady, he.
COUNTESS.
:A very tainted fellow, and full of wickedness.
:My son corrupts a well-derived nature
:With his inducement.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
:Indeed, good lady,
:The fellow has a deal of that too much
:Which holds him much to have.
COUNTESS.
:You are welcome, gentlemen.
:I will entreat you, when you see my son,
:To tell him that his sword can never win
:The honour that he loses: more I'll entreat you
:Written to bear along.
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
:We serve you, madam,
:In that and all your worthiest affairs.
COUNTESS.
:Not so, but as we change our courtesies.
:Will you draw near?
[Exeunt COUNTESS and Gentlemen.]
HELENA.
:'Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France.'
:Nothing in France until he has no wife!
:Thou shalt have none, Rousillon, none in France;
:Then hast thou all again. Poor lord! is't I
:That chase thee from thy country, and expose
:Those tender limbs of thine to the event
:Of the none-sparing war? and is it I
:That drive thee from the sportive court, where thou
:Wast shot at with fair eyes, to be the mark
:Of smoky muskets? O you leaden messengers,
:That ride upon the violent speed of fire,
:Fly with false aim: move the still-peering air,
:That sings with piercing; do not touch my lord!
:Whoever shoots at him, I set him there;
:Whoever charges on his forward breast,
:I am the caitiff that do hold him to it;
:And though I kill him not, I am the cause
:His death was so effected: better 'twere
:I met the ravin lion when he roar'd
:With sharp constraint of hunger; better 'twere
:That all the miseries which nature owes
:Were mine at once. No; come thou home, Rousillon,
:Whence honour but of danger wins a scar,
:As oft it loses all. I will be gone:
:My being here it is that holds thee hence:
:Shall I stay here to do't? no, no, although
:The air of paradise did fan the house,
:And angels offic'd all: I will be gone,
:That pitiful rumour may report my flight
:To consolate thine ear. Come, night; end, day!
:For with the dark, poor thief, I'll steal away.
[Exit.]
===SCENE 3. Florence. Before the DUKE's palace.===
[Flourish. Enter the DUKE OF FLORENCE, BERTRAM, PAROLLES, Lords, Soldiers, and others.]
DUKE.
:The general of our horse thou art; and we,
:Great in our hope, lay our best love and credence
:Upon thy promising fortune.
BERTRAM.
:Sir, it is
:A charge too heavy for my strength; but yet
:We'll strive to bear it, for your worthy sake
:To the extreme edge of hazard.
DUKE.
:Then go thou forth;
:And fortune play upon thy prosperous helm,
:As thy auspicious mistress!
BERTRAM.
: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.
[Exeunt.]
===SCENE 4. Rousillon. A room in the COUNTESS'S palace.===
[Enter COUNTESS and Steward.]
COUNTESS.
:Alas! and would you take the letter of her?
:Might you not know she would do as she has done,
:By sending me a letter? Read it again.
STEWARD.
:[Reads.]
:'I am Saint Jaques' pilgrim, thither gone:
: Ambitious love hath so in me offended
:That barefoot plod I the cold ground upon,
: With sainted vow my faults to have amended.
:Write, write, that from the bloody course of war
: My dearest master, your dear son, may hie:
:Bless him at home in peace, whilst I from far
: His name with zealous fervour sanctify:
:His taken labours bid him me forgive;
: I, his despiteful Juno, sent him forth
:From courtly friends, with camping foes to live,
: Where death and danger dog the heels of worth:
:He is too good and fair for death and me;
: Whom I myself embrace to set him free.'
COUNTESS.
:Ah, what sharp stings are in her mildest words!—
:Rinaldo, you did never lack advice so much
:As letting her pass so; had I spoke with her,
:I could have well diverted her intents,
:Which thus she hath prevented.
STEWARD.
:Pardon me, madam:
:If I had given you this at over-night,
:She might have been o'er ta'en; and yet she writes,
:Pursuit would be but vain.
COUNTESS.
:What angel shall
:Bless this unworthy husband? he cannot thrive,
:Unless her prayers, whom heaven delights to hear
:And loves to grant, reprieve him from the wrath
:Of greatest justice.—Write, write, Rinaldo,
:To this unworthy husband of his wife:
:Let every word weigh heavy of her worth,
:That he does weigh too light: my greatest grief,
:Though little he do feel it, set down sharply.
:Dispatch the most convenient messenger:—
:When, haply, he shall hear that she is gone
:He will return; and hope I may that she,
:Hearing so much, will speed her foot again,
:Led hither by pure love: which of them both
:Is dearest to me I have no skill in sense
:To make distinction:—provide this messenger:—
:My heart is heavy, and mine age is weak;
:Grief would have tears, and sorrow bids me speak.
[Exeunt.]
===SCENE 5. Without the walls of Florence.===
[Enter an old Widow of Florence, DIANA, VIOLENTA, MARIANA, and other Citizens.]
WIDOW.
:Nay, come; for if they do approach the city we shall lose
:all the sight.
DIANA.
:They say the French count has done most honourable service.
WIDOW.
:It is reported that he has taken their greatest commander;
:and that with his own hand he slew the duke's brother.
[A tucket afar off.]
:We have lost our labour; they are gone a contrary way: hark! you
:may know by their trumpets.
MARIANA.
:Come, let's return again, and suffice ourselves with the report
:of it. Well, Diana, take heed of this French earl: the honour of
:a maid is her name; and no legacy is so rich as honesty.
WIDOW.
:I have told my neighbour how you have been solicited by a
:gentleman his companion.
MARIANA.
:I know that knave; hang him! one Parolles: a filthy officer he is
:in those suggestions for the young earl.—Beware of them, Diana;
:their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines
:of lust, are not the things they go under; many a maid hath been
:seduced by them; and the misery is, example, that so terrible
:shows in the wreck of maidenhood, cannot for all that dissuade
:succession, but that they are limed with the twigs that threaten
:them. I hope I need not to advise you further; but I hope your
:own grace will keep you where you are, though there were no
:further danger known but the modesty which is so lost.
DIANA.
:You shall not need to fear me.
WIDOW.
:I hope so.—Look, here comes a pilgrim. I know she will lie
:at my house: thither they send one another; I'll question her.—
[Enter HELENA in the dress of a pilgrim.]
:God save you, pilgrim! Whither are bound?
HELENA.
:To Saint Jaques-le-Grand.
:Where do the palmers lodge, I do beseech you?
WIDOW.
:At the Saint Francis here, beside the port.
HELENA.
:Is this the way?
WIDOW.
:Ay, marry, is't. Hark you! They come this way.
[A march afar off.]
:If you will tarry, holy pilgrim,
:But till the troops come by,
:I will conduct you where you shall be lodg'd;
:The rather for I think I know your hostess
:As ample as myself.
HELENA.
:Is it yourself?
WIDOW.
:If you shall please so, pilgrim.
HELENA.
:I thank you, and will stay upon your leisure.
WIDOW.
:You came, I think, from France?
HELENA.
:I did so.
WIDOW.
:Here you shall see a countryman of yours
:That has done worthy service.
HELENA.
:His name, I pray you.
DIANA.
:The Count Rousillon: know you such a one?
HELENA.
:But by the ear, that hears most nobly of him:
:His face I know not.
DIANA.
:Whatsoe'er he is,
:He's bravely taken here. He stole from France,
:As 'tis reported, for the king had married him
:Against his liking: think you it is so?
HELENA.
:Ay, surely, mere the truth; I know his lady.
DIANA.
:There is a gentleman that serves the count
:Reports but coarsely of her.
HELENA.
:What's his name?
DIANA.
:Monsieur Parolles.
HELENA.
:O, I believe with him,
:In argument of praise, or to the worth
:Of the great count himself, she is too mean
:To have her name repeated; all her deserving
:Is a reserved honesty, and that
:I have not heard examin'd.
DIANA.
:Alas, poor lady!
:'Tis a hard bondage to become the wife
:Of a detesting lord.
WIDOW.
:Ay, right; good creature, wheresoe'er she is
:Her heart weighs sadly: this young maid might do her
:A shrewd turn, if she pleas'd.
HELENA.
:How do you mean?
:May be, the amorous count solicits her
:In the unlawful purpose.
WIDOW.
:He does, indeed;
:And brokes with all that can in such a suit
:Corrupt the tender honour of a maid;
:But she is arm'd for him, and keeps her guard
:In honestest defence.
:MARIANA.
:The gods forbid else!
WIDOW. So, now they come:—
[Enter, with a drum and colours, a party of the Florentine army, BERTRAM, and PAROLLES.]
:That is Antonio, the Duke's eldest son;
:That, Escalus.
HELENA.
:Which is the Frenchman?
DIANA.
:He;
:That with the plume: 'tis a most gallant fellow.
:I would he lov'd his wife: if he were honester
:He were much goodlier: is't not a handsome gentleman?
HELENA.
:I like him well.
DIANA.
:'Tis pity he is not honest? yond's that same knave
:That leads him to these places; were I his lady
:I would poison that vile rascal.
HELENA.
:Which is he?
DIANA.
:That jack-an-apes with scarfs. Why is he melancholy?
HELENA.
:Perchance he's hurt i' the battle.
PAROLLES.
:Lose our drum! well.
MARIANA.
:He's shrewdly vex'd at something.
:Look, he has spied us.
WIDOW.
:Marry, hang you!
MARIANA.
:And your courtesy, for a ring-carrier!
[Exeunt BERTRAM, PAROLLES, Officers, and Soldiers.]
WIDOW.
:The troop is past. Come, pilgrim, I will bring you
:Where you shall host: of enjoin'd penitents
:There's four or five, to great Saint Jaques bound,
:Already at my house.
HELENA.
:I humbly thank you:
:Please it this matron and this gentle maid
:To eat with us to-night; the charge and thanking
:Shall be for me: and, to requite you further,
:I will bestow some precepts of this virgin,
:Worthy the note.
BOTH.
:We'll take your offer kindly.
[Exeunt.]
===SCENE 6. Camp before Florence.===
[Enter BERTRAM, and the two French Lords.]
FIRST LORD.
:Nay, good my lord, put him to't; let him have his way.
SECOND LORD.
:If your lordship find him not a hilding, hold me no more in your
:respect.
FIRST LORD.
:On my life, my lord, a bubble.
BERTRAM.
:Do you think I am so far deceived in him?
FIRST LORD.
:Believe it, my lord, in mine own direct knowledge, without any
:malice, but to speak of him as my kinsman, he's a most notable
:coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise-breaker,
:the owner of no one good quality worthy your lordship's
:entertainment.
SECOND LORD.
:It were fit you knew him; lest, reposing too far in his virtue,
:which he hath not, he might at some great and trusty business, in
:a main danger fail you.
BERTRAM.
:I would I knew in what particular action to try him.
SECOND LORD.
:None better than to let him fetch off his drum, which you hear
:him so confidently undertake to do.
FIRST LORD.
:I with a troop of Florentines will suddenly surprise him; such I
:will have whom I am sure he knows not from the enemy; we will
:bind and hoodwink him so that he shall suppose no other but that
:he is carried into the leaguer of the adversaries when we bring
:him to our own tents. Be but your lordship present at his
:examination; if he do not, for the promise of his life, and in
:the highest compulsion of base fear, offer to betray you, and
:deliver all the intelligence in his power against you, and that
:with the divine forfeit of his soul upon oath, never trust my
:judgment in anything.
SECOND LORD.
:O, for the love of laughter, let him fetch his drum; he says he
:has a stratagem for't: when your lordship sees the bottom of his
:success in't, and to what metal this counterfeit lump of ore will
:be melted, if you give him not John Drum's entertainment, your
:inclining cannot be removed. Here he comes.
FIRST LORD.
:O, for the love of laughter, hinder not the honour of his design:
:let him fetch off his drum in any hand.
[Enter PAROLLES.]
BERTRAM.
:How now, monsieur! this drum sticks sorely in your disposition.
SECOND LORD.
:A pox on 't; let it go; 'tis but a drum.
PAROLLES.
:But a drum! Is't but a drum? A drum so lost!—There was excellent
:command! to charge in with our horse upon our own wings, and to
:rend our own soldiers.
SECOND LORD.
:That was not to be blamed in the command of the service; it was a
:disaster of war that Caesar himself could not have prevented, if
:he had been there to command.
BERTRAM.
:Well, we cannot greatly condemn our success: some dishonour we
:had in the loss of that drum; but it is not to be recovered.
PAROLLES.
:It might have been recovered.
BERTRAM.
:It might, but it is not now.
PAROLLES.
:It is to be recovered: but that the merit of service is seldom
:attributed to the true and exact performer, I would have that
:drum or another, or hic jacet.
BERTRAM.
:Why, if you have a stomach, to't, monsieur, if you think your
:mystery in stratagem can bring this instrument of honour 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.
PAROLLES.
:By the hand of a soldier, I will undertake it.
BERTRAM.
:But you must not now slumber in it.
PAROLLES.
:I'll about it this evening: and I will presently pen down my
:dilemmas, encourage myself in my certainty, put myself into my
:mortal preparation; and, by midnight, look to hear further from
:me.
BERTRAM.
:May I be bold to acquaint his grace you are gone about it?
PAROLLES.
:I know not what the success will be, my lord, but the attempt I
:vow.
BERTRAM.
:I know thou art valiant; and, to the possibility of thy
:soldiership, will subscribe for thee. Farewell.
PAROLLES.
:I love not many words.
[Exit.]
FIRST LORD.
:No more than a fish loves water.—Is not this a strange fellow,
:my lord? that so confidently seems to undertake this business,
:which he knows is not to be done; damns himself to do, and dares
:better be damned than to do't.
SECOND LORD.
:You do not know him, my lord, as we do: certain it is that he
:will steal himself into a man's favour, and for a week escape a
:great deal of discoveries; but when you find him out, you have
:him ever after.
BERTRAM.
:Why, do you think he will make no deed at all of this, that so
:seriously he does address himself unto?
FIRST LORD.
:None in the world: but return with an invention, and clap upon
:you two or three probable lies: but we have almost embossed him,
:—you shall see his fall to-night: for indeed he is not for your
:lordship's respect.
SECOND LORD.
:We'll make you some sport with the fox ere we case him. He was
:first smok'd by the old Lord Lafeu: when his disguise and he is
:parted, tell me what a sprat you shall find him; which you shall
:see this very night.
FIRST LORD.
:I must go look my twigs; he shall be caught.
BERTRAM.
:Your brother, he shall go along with me.
FIRST LORD.
:As't please your lordship: I'll leave you.
[Exit.]
BERTRAM.
:Now will I lead you to the house, and show you
:The lass I spoke of.
SECOND LORD.
:But you say she's honest.
BERTRAM.
: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' the 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?
SECOND LORD.
:With all my heart, my lord.
[Exeunt.]
===SCENE 7. Florence. A room in the WIDOW'S house.===
[Enter HELENA and Widow.]
HELENA.
:If you misdoubt me that I am not she,
:I know not how I shall assure you further,
:But I shall lose the grounds I work upon.
WIDOW.
:Though my estate be fallen, I was well born,
:Nothing acquainted with these businesses;
:And would not put my reputation now
:In any staining act.
HELENA.
:Nor would I wish you.
:First give me trust, the count he is my husband,
:And what to your sworn counsel I have spoken
:Is so from word to word; and then you cannot,
:By the good aid that I of you shall borrow,
:Err in bestowing it.
WIDOW.
:I should believe you;
:For you have show'd me that which well approves
:You're great in fortune.
HELENA.
:Take this purse of gold,
:And let me buy your friendly help thus far,
:Which I will over-pay, and pay again
:When I have found it. The count he woos your daughter
:Lays down his wanton siege before her beauty,
:Resolv'd to carry her: let her in fine, consent,
:As we'll direct her how 'tis best to bear it,
:Now his important blood will naught deny
:That she'll demand: a ring the county wears,
:That downward hath succeeded in his house
:From son to son, some four or five descents
:Since the first father wore it: this ring he holds
:In most rich choice; yet, in his idle fire,
:To buy his will, it would not seem too dear,
:Howe'er repented after.
WIDOW.
:Now I see
:The bottom of your purpose.
HELENA.
:You see it lawful then: it is no more
:But that your daughter, ere she seems as won,
:Desires this ring; appoints him an encounter;
:In fine, delivers me to fill the time,
:Herself most chastely absent; after this,
:To marry her, I'll add three thousand crowns
:To what is pass'd already.
WIDOW.
:I have yielded:
:Instruct my daughter how she shall persever,
:That time and place, with this deceit so lawful,
:May prove coherent. Every night he comes
:With musics of all sorts, and songs compos'd
:To her unworthiness: it nothing steads us
:To chide him from our eaves; for he persists,
:As if his life lay on 't.
HELENA.
:Why, then, to-night
:Let us assay our plot; which, if it speed,
:Is wicked meaning in a lawful deed,
:And lawful meaning in a lawful act;
:Where both not sin, and yet a sinful fact:
:But let's about it.
[Exeunt.]
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