William Shakespeare - The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

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.