Enter HELENA and two Gentlemen. 1 Gen. Save you, good Madam. Hel. Madam, my lord is gone, for ever gone. Count. Think upon patience.-'Pray you, gentlemen,-- Can woman me unto 't :-Where is my son, I pray you? 2 Gen. 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. Hel. Look on his 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. Count. Brought you this letter, gentlemen? 1 Gen. Ay, Madam; And, for the contents' sake, are sorry for our pains. Count. 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? 2 Gen. Ay, Madam. Count. And to be a soldier? 2 Gen. Such is his noble purpose: and, believe 't, The duke will lay upon him all the honour That good convenience claims. Count. Return you thither? 1 Gen. Ay, Madam, with the swiftest wing of speed. Hel. [Reads.] "Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France." "Tis bitter. Count. Find you that there? Hel. Ay, Madam. 1 Gen. 'Tis but the boldness of his hand, haply, That twenty such rude boys might tend upon, 1 Gen. A servant only, and a gentleman Which I have some time known. Count. 1 Gen. Ay, my good lady, he. Parolles, was it not? Count. A very tainted fellow, and full of wickedness. My son corrupts a well-derived nature With his inducement. I Gen. Indeed, good lady, The fellow has a deal of that too much, Count. You are welcome, gentlemen. 2 Gen. We serve you, Madam, In that and all your worthiest affairs. Count. Not so, but as we change our courtesies. Will you draw near? [Exeunt COUNTESS and Gentlemen. Hel. "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 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, As oft it loses all: I will be gone; My being here it is that holds thee hence: 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! SCENE III.-FLORENCE. Before the DUKE's Palace. Flourish. [Exit. Enter the DUKE OF FLORENCE, Bertram, ParoLLES, Lords, Duke. The general of our horse thou art; and we, A charge too heavy for my strength; but yet Duke. And fortune play upon thy prosp'rous helm, As thy auspicious mistress! Ber. Then go thou forth; 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 IV. ROUSILLON. A Room in the COUNTESS's Mansion. Enter COUNTESS and Steward. Count. 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. Stew. [Reads.] "I am Saint Jaques' pilgrim, thither gone. That bare-foot plod I the cold ground upon, From courtly friends, with camping foes to live, Count. Ah, what sharp stings are in her mildest words!— Stew. As letting her pass so: had I spoke with her, Pardon me, Madam : If I had given you this at over-night, She might have been o'erta'en; and yet she writes, Count. What angel shall 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 V. Without the walls of FLORENCE. Enter a Widow of Florence, DIANA, VIOLENTA, MARIANA, Wid. Nay, come; for if they do approach the city, we shall lose all the sight. Dia. They say the French count has done most honourable service. Wid. It is reported that he has taken their greatest commander ; and that with his own hand he slew the duke's brother. LA tucket afar off.] We have lost our labour; they are gone a contrary way : hark! you may know by their trumpets. Mar. 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. Wid. I have told my neighbour how you have been solicited by a gentleman his companion. Mar. 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 farther; but I hope your own grace will keep you where you are, though there were no farther danger known but the modesty which is so lost. Dia. You shall not need to fear me, Wid. I hope so.-Look, here comes a pilgrim: I know she will lie at my house; thither they send one another: Where do the palmers lodge, I do beseech you? Wid. At the Saint Francis here, beside the port. Hel. Is this the way? Wid. Ay, marry, is 't.-[A march afar off.] Hark you! Hel. 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 Is it yourself? Wid. If you shall please so, pilgrim. Hel. I thank you, and will stay upon your leisure. Hel. I did so. Wid. Here you shall see a countryman of yours, That has done worthy service. His name, I pray you. Hel. Dia. Whatsoe'er he is, He's bravely taken here. He stole from France, |