to be made, than alone the recovery of the king; as, to be

LAF. Generally thankful.

PAR. I would have said it ; you say well: Here comes the king.

Enter King, HELENA, and Attendants.

LAF. Luftigh, as the Dutchman fays: I'll like a maid the better, whilst I have a tooth in my head: why, he's able to lead her a corranto.

PAR. Mort du vinaigre! is not this Helen?

LAF. 'Fore God, I think fo.

Kin. Go, call before me all the lords in court. —

[Exeunt fome Attendants.

Sit, my preserver, by thy patient's fide;

And with this healthful hand, whose banish'd sense
Thou haft repeal'd, a second time receive

The confirmation of my promis'd gift,

Which but attends thy naming.

Enter feveral Lords.

Fair maid, fend forth thine eye: this youthful parcel Of noble batchelors ftand at my bestowing,

O'er whom both fovereign power and father's voice
I have to use thy frank election make;

Thou haft power to choose, and they none to forfake.
HEL. To each of you one fair and virtuous mistress
[coming from her Seat, and addreffing herself to the Lords.
Fall, when love please ;-marry, to each but one!
LAF. I'd give bay curtal, and his furniture,
My mouth no more were broken than these boys',
And writ as little beard.

Kin. Peruse them well:

Not one of those, but had a noble father.

7 Luftique

HEL. Gentlemen,

Heaven hath, through me, reftor'd the king to health.
Lor. We understand it, and thank heaven for you.
HEL. I am a fimple maid; and therein wealthiest,
That, I proteft, I fimply am a maid:

Please it your majefty, I have done already :
The blushes in my cheeks thus whisper me,
We blufb, that thou should't choose, but be refus'd;
Let the white death fit on thy cheek for ever,
We'll ne'er come there again.

Kin. Make choice; and, fee,

Who fhuns thy love, fhuns all his love in me.
HEL. Now, Dian, from thy altar do I fly;
And to imperial love, that god most high,
Do my fighs ftream. — Sir, will you hear my
1. L. And grant it.

HEL. Thanks, fir; all the reft is mute.

fuit?

LAF. I had rather be in this choice, than throw ames-ace for my life.

[fair eyes,

HEL. The honour, fir, [to 2d L.] that flames in your Before I fpeak, too threat'ningly replies:

Love make your fortunes twenty times above

Her that fo wishes, and her humble love! 2. L. No better, if you please.

HEL. My wish receive,

Which great love grant! and fo I take my leave.

LAF. Do all they deny her? An they were fons of mine, I'd have them whipt; or I would fend them to the Turk, to make eunuchs of.

[take;

HEL. Be not afraid [to 3d L.] that I your hand should I'll never do you wrong for your own fake: Bleffing upon your vows! and in your bed

Find fairer fortune, if you ever wed!

LAF. These boys are boys of ice, they'll none have her: fure, they are bastards of the English; the French ne'er got them.

[too good. HEL. You are too young, [to 4th L.] too happy, and To make yourself a fon out of my blood. 4. L. Fair one, I think not fo.

LAF. There's one grape yet.

Par. I am fure, thy father drunk wine.

Laf. But, if thou be'ft not an afs, I am a youth of fourteen; I have known thee already.

HEL. I dare not fay, I take you; [to Ber.] but I give Me, and my service, ever whilft I live,

Into your guiding power. This is the man.

[wife. Kin. Why then, young Bertram, take her, fhe's thy BER. My wife, my liege? I shall befeech your highness, In fuch a business give me leave to use

The help of mine own eyes.

Kin. Know'st thou not, Bertram,

What she has done for me?.

BER. Yes, my good lord;

But never hope to know why I should marry her. [bed.
Kin. Thou know'ft, she has rais'd me from my fickly
BER. But follows it, my lord, to bring me down
Must answer for your raising? I know her well;
She had her breeding at my father's charge,
A poor physician's daughter: She my wife?
Difdain rather corrupt me ever!

Kin. 'Tis

But title thou difdain'ft in her; the which

I can build up. Strange is it, that our bloods,
Alike of colour, weight, and heat, pour'd all together,

30 'Tis onely title

Would quite confound diftinction, yet stand off
In differences fo mighty: If fhe be

All that is virtuous, fave what thou dislik'st,
A poor physician's daughter, thou diflik't
Of virtue for the name: but do not fo:
From lowest place when virtuous thir gs proceed,
The place is dignify'd by the doer's deed:
Where great addition fwells, and virtue none,
It is a dropfy'd honour: good alone
Is good, without a name; vileness is so ;
The property by what it is should go,
Not by the title. She is young, wise, fair;
In these to nature she's immediate heir;
And these breed honour : that is honour's scorn,
Which challenges itself as honour's born,
And is not like the fire: Honours beft thrive,
When rather from our acts we them derive,
Than our fore-goers: the meer word's a sļave,
Debauch'd on every tomb, on every grave,
A lying trophy; and as oft is dumb,

Where duft, and damn'd oblivion, is the tomb
Of honour'd bones indeed. What should be faid?
If thou can't like this creature as a maid,

I can create the reft: virtue, and fhe,

Is her own dower; honour, and wealth, from me.

BER. I cannot love her, nor will strive to do't. [choose. Kin. Thou wrong'st thyself, if thou should'st strive to HEL. That you are well reftor'd, my lord, I am glad ; Let the rest go.

Kin. My honour's at the ftake; which to defend, I must produce my power: Here, † take her hand, Proud fcornful boy, unworthy this good gift;

1 ftands 6 whence ver- 30 to defeate

That doft in vile mifprision fhackle up
My love, and her desert; that canft not dream,
We, poizing us in her defective scale,

Shall weigh thee to the beam; that wilt not know,
It is in us to plant thine honour, where

claims:

We please to have it grow: Check thy contempt:
Obey our will, which travels in thy good :
Believe not thy disdain, but presently
Do thine own fortunes that obedient right,
Which both thy duty owes, and our power
Or I will throw thee from my care for ever,
Into the ftaggers, and the careless lapse,
Of youth and ignorance; both my revenge, and hate,
Loofing upon thee in the name of juftice,
Without all terms of pity: Speak; thine answer.
BER. Pardon, my gracious lord; for I fubmit
My fancy to your eyes: When I confider,
What great creation, and what dole of honour,
Flies where you
bid it, I find, that fhe, which late
Was in my nobler thoughts most base, is now
The praised of the king; who, fo ennobl❜d,
Is, as 'twere, born fo.

Kin. Take her by the hand;

And tell her, she is thine: to whom I promise
A counterpoize; if not to thy eftate,

A balance more repleat.

BER. I take her hand.

Kin. Good fortune, and the favour of the king, Smile upon this contract: whose ceremony Shall feem expedient on the now-born brief, And be perform'd to-night; the folemn feaft Shall more attend upon the coming space,