TPTT All's Well That Ends Well: ACT V
Introduction
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
SCENE I. Marseilles. A street.
SCENE II. Rousillon. Before the COUNT's palace.
SCENE III. Rousillon. The COUNT's palace.
EPILOGUE
About the Play
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SCENE III. Rousillon. The COUNT's palace.
Flourish. Enter KING, COUNTESS, LAFEU, the two French Lords, with Attendants
KING
      We lost a jewel of her; and our esteem
      Was made much poorer by it: but your son,
      As mad in folly, lack'd the sense to know
      Her estimation home.
COUNTESS
5     'Tis past, my liege;
      And I beseech your majesty to make it
      Natural rebellion, done i' the blaze of youth;
      When oil and fire, too strong for reason's force,
      O'erbears it and burns on.
KING
10    My honour'd lady,
      I have forgiven and forgotten all;
      Though my revenges were high bent upon him,
      And watch'd the time to shoot.
LAFEU
      This I must say,
15    But first I beg my pardon, the young lord
      Did to his majesty, his mother and his lady
      Offence of mighty note; but to himself
      The greatest wrong of all. He lost a wife
      Whose beauty did astonish the survey
20    Of richest eyes, whose words all ears took captive,
      Whose dear perfection hearts that scorn'd to serve
      Humbly call'd mistress.
KING
      Praising what is lost
      Makes the remembrance dear. Well, call him hither;
25    We are reconciled, and the first view shall kill
      All repetition: let him not ask our pardon;
      The nature of his great offence is dead,
      And deeper than oblivion we do bury
      The incensing relics of it: let him approach,
30    A stranger, no offender; and inform him
      So 'tis our will he should.
Gentleman
      I shall, my liege.
Exit
KING
      What says he to your daughter? have you spoke?
LAFEU
      All that he is hath reference to your highness.
KING
35    Then shall we have a match. I have letters sent me
      That set him high in fame.
Enter BERTRAM
LAFEU
      He looks well on't.
KING
      I am not a day of season,
      For thou mayst see a sunshine and a hail
40    In me at once: but to the brightest beams
      Distracted clouds give way; so stand thou forth;
      The time is fair again.
BERTRAM
      My high-repented blames,
      Dear sovereign, pardon to me.
KING
45    All is whole;
      Not one word more of the consumed time.
      Let's take the instant by the forward top;
      For we are old, and on our quick'st decrees
      The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time
50    Steals ere we can effect them. You remember
      The daughter of this lord?
BERTRAM
      Admiringly, my liege, at first
      I stuck my choice upon her, ere my heart
      Durst make too bold a herald of my tongue
55    Where the impression of mine eye infixing,
      Contempt his scornful perspective did lend me,
      Which warp'd the line of every other favour;
      Scorn'd a fair colour, or express'd it stolen;
      Extended or contracted all proportions
60    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.
KING
      Well excused:
65    That thou didst love her, strikes some scores away
      From the great compt: but love that comes too late,
      Like a remorseful pardon slowly carried,
      To the great sender turns a sour offence,
      Crying, 'That's good that's gone.' Our rash faults
70    Make trivial price of serious things we have,
      Not knowing them until we know their grave:
      Oft our displeasures, to ourselves unjust,
      Destroy our friends and after weep their dust
      Our own love waking cries to see what's done,
75    While shame full late sleeps out the afternoon.
      Be this sweet Helen's knell, and now forget her.
      Send forth your amorous token for fair Maudlin:
      The main consents are had; and here we'll stay
      To see our widower's second marriage-day.
COUNTESS
80    Which better than the first, O dear heaven, bless!
      Or, ere they meet, in me, O nature, cesse!
LAFEU
      Come on, my son, in whom my house's name
      Must be digested, give a favour from you
      To sparkle in the spirits of my daughter,
85    That she may quickly come.

BERTRAM gives a ring

      By my old beard,
      And every hair that's on't, Helen, that's dead,
      Was a sweet creature: such a ring as this,
      The last that e'er I took her at court,
90    I saw upon her finger.
BERTRAM
      Hers it was not.
KING
      Now, pray you, let me see it; for mine eye,
      While I was speaking, oft was fasten'd to't.
      This ring was mine; and, when I gave it Helen,
95    I bade her, if her fortunes ever stood
      Necessitied to help, that by this token
      I would relieve her. Had you that craft, to reave
      her
      Of what should stead her most?
BERTRAM
100   My gracious sovereign,
      Howe'er it pleases you to take it so,
      The ring was never hers.
COUNTESS
      Son, on my life,
      I have seen her wear it; and she reckon'd it
105   At her life's rate.
LAFEU
      I am sure I saw her wear it.
BERTRAM
      You are deceived, my lord; she never saw it:
      In Florence was it from a casement thrown me,
      Wrapp'd in a paper, which contain'd the name
110   Of her that threw it: noble she was, and thought
      I stood engaged: but when I had subscribed
      To mine own fortune and inform'd her fully
      I could not answer in that course of honour
      As she had made the overture, she ceased
115   In heavy satisfaction and would never
      Receive the ring again.
KING
      Plutus himself,
      That knows the tinct and multiplying medicine,
      Hath not in nature's mystery more science
120   Than I have in this ring: 'twas mine, 'twas Helen's,
      Whoever gave it you. Then, if you know
      That you are well acquainted with yourself,
      Confess 'twas hers, and by what rough enforcement
      You got it from her: she call'd the saints to surety
125   That she would never put it from her finger,
      Unless she gave it to yourself in bed,
      Where you have never come, or sent it us
      Upon her great disaster.
BERTRAM
      She never saw it.
KING
130   Thou speak'st it falsely, as I love mine honour;
      And makest conjectural fears to come into me
      Which I would fain shut out. If it should prove
      That thou art so inhuman,--'twill not prove so;--
      And yet I know not: thou didst hate her deadly,
135   And she is dead; which nothing, but to close
      Her eyes myself, could win me to believe,
      More than to see this ring. Take him away.

Guards seize BERTRAM

      My fore-past proofs, howe'er the matter fall,
      Shall tax my fears of little vanity,
140   Having vainly fear'd too little. Away with him!
      We'll sift this matter further.
BERTRAM
      If you shall prove
      This ring was ever hers, you shall as easy
      Prove that I husbanded her bed in Florence,
145   Where yet she never was.
Exit, guarded
KING
      I am wrapp'd in dismal thinkings.
Enter a Gentleman
Gentleman
      Gracious sovereign,
      Whether I have been to blame or no, I know not:
      Here's a petition from a Florentine,
150   Who hath for four or five removes come short
      To tender it herself. I undertook it,
      Vanquish'd thereto by the fair grace and speech
      Of the poor suppliant, who by this I know
      Is here attending: her business looks in her
155   With an importing visage; and she told me,
      In a sweet verbal brief, it did concern
      Your highness with herself.
KING
      (Reads) Upon his many protestations to marry me
      when his wife was dead, I blush to say it, he won
160   me. Now is the Count Rousillon a widower: his vows
      are forfeited to me, and my honour's paid to him. He
      stole from Florence, taking no leave, and I follow
      him to his country for justice: grant it me, O
      king! in you it best lies; otherwise a seducer
165   flourishes, and a poor maid is undone.
      DIANA CAPILET.
LAFEU
      I will buy me a son-in-law in a fair, and toll for
      this: I'll none of him.
KING
      The heavens have thought well on thee Lafeu,
170   To bring forth this discovery. Seek these suitors:
      Go speedily and bring again the count.
      I am afeard the life of Helen, lady,
      Was foully snatch'd.
COUNTESS
      Now, justice on the doers!
Re-enter BERTRAM, guarded
KING
175   I wonder, sir, sith wives are monsters to you,
      And that you fly them as you swear them lordship,
      Yet you desire to marry.

Enter Widow and DIANA

      What woman's that?
DIANA
      I am, my lord, a wretched Florentine,
180   Derived from the ancient Capilet:
      My suit, as I do understand, you know,
      And therefore know how far I may be pitied.
Widow
      I am her mother, sir, whose age and honour
      Both suffer under this complaint we bring,
185   And both shall cease, without your remedy.
KING
      Come hither, count; do you know these women?
BERTRAM
      My lord, I neither can nor will deny
      But that I know them: do they charge me further?
DIANA
      Why do you look so strange upon your wife?
BERTRAM
190   She's none of mine, my lord.
DIANA
      If you shall marry,
      You give away this hand, and that is mine;
      You give away heaven's vows, and those are mine;
      You give away myself, which is known mine;
195   For I by vow am so embodied yours,
      That she which marries you must marry me,
      Either both or none.
LAFEU
      Your reputation comes too short for my daughter; you
      are no husband for her.
BERTRAM
200   My lord, this is a fond and desperate creature,
      Whom sometime I have laugh'd with: let your highness
      Lay a more noble thought upon mine honour
      Than for to think that I would sink it here.
KING
      Sir, for my thoughts, you have them ill to friend
205   Till your deeds gain them: fairer prove your honour
      Than in my thought it lies.
DIANA
      Good my lord,
      Ask him upon his oath, if he does think
      He had not my virginity.
KING
210   What say'st thou to her?
BERTRAM
      She's impudent, my lord,
      And was a common gamester to the camp.
DIANA
      He does me wrong, my lord; if I were so,
      He might have bought me at a common price:
215   Do not believe him. O, behold this ring,
      Whose high respect and rich validity
      Did lack a parallel; yet for all that
      He gave it to a commoner o' the camp,
      If I be one.
COUNTESS
220   He blushes, and 'tis it:
      Of six preceding ancestors, that gem,
      Conferr'd by testament to the sequent issue,
      Hath it been owed and worn. This is his wife;
      That ring's a thousand proofs.
KING
225   Methought you said
      You saw one here in court could witness it.
DIANA
      I did, my lord, but loath am to produce
      So bad an instrument: his name's Parolles.
LAFEU
      I saw the man to-day, if man he be.
KING
230   Find him, and bring him hither.
Exit an Attendant
BERTRAM
      What of him?
      He's quoted for a most perfidious slave,
      With all the spots o' the world tax'd and debosh'd;
      Whose nature sickens but to speak a truth.
235   Am I or that or this for what he'll utter,
      That will speak any thing?
KING
      She hath that ring of yours.
BERTRAM
      I think she has: certain it is I liked her,
      And boarded her i' the wanton way of youth:
240   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,
245   Subdued me to her rate: she got the ring;
      And I had that which any inferior might
      At market-price have bought.
DIANA
      I must be patient:
      You, that have turn'd off a first so noble wife,
250   May justly diet me. I pray you yet;
      Since you lack virtue, I will lose a husband;
      Send for your ring, I will return it home,
      And give me mine again.
BERTRAM
      I have it not.
KING
255   What ring was yours, I pray you?
DIANA
      Sir, much like
      The same upon your finger.
KING
      Know you this ring? this ring was his of late.
DIANA
      And this was it I gave him, being abed.
KING
260   The story then goes false, you threw it him
      Out of a casement.
DIANA
      I have spoke the truth.
Enter PAROLLES
BERTRAM
      My lord, I do confess the ring was hers.
KING
      You boggle shrewdly, every feather stars you.
265   Is this the man you speak of?
DIANA
      Ay, my lord.
KING
      Tell me, sirrah, but tell me true, I charge you,
      Not fearing the displeasure of your master,
      Which on your just proceeding I'll keep off,
270   By him and by this woman here what know you?
PAROLLES
      So please your majesty, my master hath been an
      honourable gentleman: tricks he hath had in him,
      which gentlemen have.
KING
      Come, come, to the purpose: did he love this woman?
PAROLLES
275   Faith, sir, he did love her; but how?
KING
      How, I pray you?
PAROLLES
      He did love her, sir, as a gentleman loves a woman.
KING
      How is that?
PAROLLES
      He loved her, sir, and loved her not.
KING
280   As thou art a knave, and no knave. What an
      equivocal companion is this!
PAROLLES
      I am a poor man, and at your majesty's command.
LAFEU
      He's a good drum, my lord, but a naughty orator.
DIANA
      Do you know he promised me marriage?
PAROLLES
285   Faith, I know more than I'll speak.
KING
      But wilt thou not speak all thou knowest?
PAROLLES
      Yes, so please your majesty. I did go between them,
      as I said; but more than that, he loved her: for
      indeed he was mad for her, and talked of Satan and
290   of Limbo and of Furies and I know not what: yet I
      was in that credit with them at that time that I
      knew of their going to bed, and of other motions,
      as promising her marriage, and things which would
      derive me ill will to speak of; therefore I will not
295   speak what I know.
KING
      Thou hast spoken all already, unless thou canst say
      they are married: but thou art too fine in thy
      evidence; therefore stand aside.
      This ring, you say, was yours?
DIANA
300   Ay, my good lord.
KING
      Where did you buy it? or who gave it you?
DIANA
      It was not given me, nor I did not buy it.
KING
      Who lent it you?
DIANA
      It was not lent me neither.
KING
305   Where did you find it, then?
DIANA
      I found it not.
KING
      If it were yours by none of all these ways,
      How could you give it him?
DIANA
      I never gave it him.
LAFEU
310   This woman's an easy glove, my lord; she goes off
      and on at pleasure.
KING
      This ring was mine; I gave it his first wife.
DIANA
      It might be yours or hers, for aught I know.
KING
      Take her away; I do not like her now;
315   To prison with her: and away with him.
      Unless thou tell'st me where thou hadst this ring,
      Thou diest within this hour.
DIANA
      I'll never tell you.
KING
      Take her away.
DIANA
320   I'll put in bail, my liege.
KING
      I think thee now some common customer.
DIANA
      By Jove, if ever I knew man, 'twas you.
KING
      Wherefore hast thou accused him all this while?
DIANA
      Because he's guilty, and he is not guilty:
325   He knows I am no maid, and he'll swear to't;
      I'll swear I am a maid, and he knows not.
      Great king, I am no strumpet, by my life;
      I am either maid, or else this old man's wife.
KING
      She does abuse our ears: to prison with her.
DIANA
330   Good mother, fetch my bail. Stay, royal sir:

Exit Widow

      The jeweller that owes the ring is sent for,
      And he shall surety me. But for this lord,
      Who hath abused me, as he knows himself,
      Though yet he never harm'd me, here I quit him:
335   He knows himself my bed he hath defiled;
      And at that time he got his wife with child:
      Dead though she be, she feels her young one kick:
      So there's my riddle: one that's dead is quick:
      And now behold the meaning.
Re-enter Widow, with HELENA
KING
340   Is there no exorcist
      Beguiles the truer office of mine eyes?
      Is't real that I see?
HELENA
      No, my good lord;
      'Tis but the shadow of a wife you see,
345   The name and not the thing.
BERTRAM
      Both, both. O, pardon!
HELENA
      O my good lord, when I was like this maid,
      I found you wondrous kind. There is your ring;
      And, look you, here's your letter; this it says:
350   'When from my finger you can get this ring
      And are by me with child,' &c. This is done:
      Will you be mine, now you are doubly won?
BERTRAM
      If she, my liege, can make me know this clearly,
      I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly.
HELENA
355   If it appear not plain and prove untrue,
      Deadly divorce step between me and you!
      O my dear mother, do I see you living?
LAFEU
      Mine eyes smell onions; I shall weep anon:

To PAROLLES

      Good Tom Drum, lend me a handkercher: so,
360   I thank thee: wait on me home, I'll make sport with thee:
      Let thy courtesies alone, they are scurvy ones.
KING
      Let us from point to point this story know,
      To make the even truth in pleasure flow.

To DIANA

      If thou be'st yet a fresh uncropped flower,
365   Choose thou thy husband, and I'll pay thy dower;
      For I can guess that by thy honest aid
      Thou keep'st a wife herself, thyself a maid.
      Of that and all the progress, more or less,
      Resolvedly more leisure shall express:
370   All yet seems well; and if it end so meet,
      The bitter past, more welcome is the sweet.
Flourish
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