All's Well That Ends Well (Folger Shakespeare Library)

by William Shakespeare

In delivering my son from me, I bury a sec- 1 ond husband.

Scene 1 Enter young Bertram Count of Rossillion , his mother < the Countess, > and Helen, Lord Lafew, all in black. COUNTESS In delivering my son from me, I bury a sec-1 ond husband. 2

Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead, 57 excessive grief the enemy to the living.

Love all, trust a few, 66 Do wrong to none.

COUNTESS Be thou blessed, Bertram, and succeed thy father 63 In manners as in shape. Thy blood and virtue 64 Contend for empire in thee, and thy goodness 65 Share with thy birthright . Love all, trust a few, 66 Do wrong to none. Be able for thine enemy 67 Rather in power than use , and keep thy friend 68 Under thy own life’s key. Be checked for silence, 69 But never taxed for speech. What heaven more will , 70 That thee may furnish and my prayers pluck down, 71 Fall on thy head. < To Lafew. > Farewell, my lord. 72 ’Tis an unseasoned courtier. Good my lord, 73 Advise him. 74

Be checked for silence, 69 But never taxed for speech.

Withal, full oft we see 109 Cold wisdom waiting on superfluous folly.

It is not politic in the common- 131 wealth of nature to preserve virginity. Loss of vir- 132 ginity is rational increase, and there was never 133 virgin <got> till virginity was first lost. That you 134 were made of is metal to make virgins. Virginity by 135 being once lost may be ten times found; by being 136 ever kept, it is ever lost. ’Tis too cold a companion. 137 Away with ’

PAROLLES Virginity being blown down, man will 128 quicklier be blown up. Marry , in blowing him 129 down again, with the breach yourselves made you 130 lose your city. It is not politic in the common- 131 wealth of nature to preserve virginity. Loss of vir- 132 ginity is rational increase , and there was never 133 virgin < got > till virginity was first lost. That you 134 were made of is metal to make virgins. Virginity by 135 being once lost may be ten times found; by being 136 ever kept, it is ever lost. ’Tis too cold a companion. 137 Away with ’t. 138

He that hangs himself is a virgin; 144 virginity murders itself and should be buried in 145 highways out of all sanctified limit as a desperate 146 offendress against nature. Virginity breeds mites, 147 much like a cheese, consumes itself to the very 148 paring, and so dies with feeding his own stomach. 149 Besides, virginity is peevish, proud, idle, made of 150 self-love, which is the most inhibited sin in the 151 canon. Keep it not; you cannot choose but lose by 152 ’t. Out with ’t! Within ten year it will make itself 153 two, which is a goodly increase, and the principal 154 itself not much the worse. Away with ’

PAROLLES There’s little can be said in ’t . ’Tis against the 141 rule of nature. To speak on the part of virginity is 142 to accuse your mothers, which is most infallible 143 disobedience. He that hangs himself is a virgin ; 144 virginity murders itself and should be buried in 145 highways out of all sanctified limit as a desperate 146 offendress against nature. Virginity breeds mites, 147 much like a cheese, consumes itself to the very 148 paring , and so dies with feeding his own stomach. 149 Besides, virginity is peevish, proud, idle, made of 150 self-love, which is the most inhibited sin in the 151 canon . Keep it not; you cannot choose but lose by 152 ’t. Out with ’t ! Within ten year it will make itself 153 two, which is a goodly increase, and the principal 154 itself not much the worse. Away with ’t! 155

’Tis a commodity will lose the gloss with 159 lying; the longer kept, the less worth. Off with ’t 160 while ’tis vendible; answer the time of request. Vir- 161 ginity, like an old courtier, wears her cap out of 162 fashion, richly suited but unsuitable, just like the 163 brooch and the toothpick, which wear not now.

PAROLLES Let me see. Marry, ill , to like him that ne’er 158 it likes. ’Tis a commodity will lose the gloss with 159 lying ; the longer kept, the less worth. Off with ’t 160 while ’tis vendible; answer the time of request . Vir- 161 ginity, like an old courtier , wears her cap out of 162 fashion, richly suited but unsuitable, just like the 163 brooch and the toothpick, which wear not now . 164 Your date is better in your pie and your porridge 165 than in your cheek . And your virginity, your old 166 virginity, is like one of our French withered pears: 167 it looks ill, it eats dryly; marry, ’tis a withered pear. 168 It was formerly better, marry, yet ’tis a withered 169 pear. Will you anything with it? 170

My poor body, madam, requires it. I am driven 29 on by the flesh, and he must needs go that the devil 30 drives.

FOOL My poor body, madam, requires it. I am driven 29 on by the flesh, and he must needs go that the devil 30 drives . 31

Now I see 176 The mystery of your <loneliness>

My friends were poor but honest;

What I can do can do no hurt to try 152 Since you set up your rest ’gainst remedy. 153 He that of greatest works is finisher 154 Oft does them by the weakest minister. 155 So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown 156 When judges have been babes. Great floods have flown 157 From simple sources, and great seas have dried 158 When miracles have by the great’st been denied. 159 Oft expectation fails, and most oft there 160 Where most it promises, and oft it hits 161 Where hope is coldest and despair most shifts.

HELEN What I can do can do no hurt to try 152 Since you set up your rest ’gainst remedy. 153 He that of greatest works is finisher 154 Oft does them by the weakest minister. 155 So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown 156 When judges have been babes. Great floods have flown 157 From simple sources, and great seas have dried 158 When miracles have by the great’st been denied . 159 Oft expectation fails, and most oft there 160 Where most it promises, and oft it hits 161 Where hope is coldest and despair most shifts . 162 Footnotes 153. set up your rest: i.e., bet everything ( a term from the game of primero ) 154 –59. He . . . denied: These lines seem to allude to biblical passages in which the young or the weak proved wise or powerful. ( See longer note . ) minister: agent 162. shifts: succeeds ( Many editors since the early 18th century have changed this word to “sits” or “fits,” words that more easily fit the context and that maintain the rhymed couplets that dominate from line 150 until the end of the scene. )

Strange is it that our bloods, 129 Of color, weight, and heat, poured all together, 130 Would quite confound distinction, yet stands off 131 In differences so mighty.

KING ’Tis only title thou disdain’st in her, the which 128 I can build up. Strange is it that our bloods, 129 Of color, weight, and heat, poured all together, 130 Would quite confound distinction , yet stands off 131 In differences so mighty. If she be 132 All that is virtuous, save what thou dislik’st—133 “A poor physician’s daughter”—thou dislik’st 134 Of virtue for the name. But do not so. 135

From lowest place whence virtuous things proceed, 136 The place is dignified by th’ doer’s deed.

Good alone 139 Is good, without a name; vileness is so; 140 The property by what <it> is should go, 141 Not by the title.

KING . . . Good alone 139 Is good, without a name; vileness is so; 140 The property by what < it > is should go , 141 Not by the title.

It is in us to plant thine honor where 168 We please to have it grow.

A young man married is a man that’s marred.

PAROLLES Why, these balls bound; there’s noise in it. ’Tis hard. 313 A young man married is a man that’s marred . 314 Therefore away, and leave her bravely. Go. 315 The King has done you wrong, but hush, ’tis so. 316 < They > exit.

many a man’s 22 tongue shakes out his master’s undoing

no legacy is so rich as honesty.

Love is holy,

BERTRAM Change it, change it. 39 Be not so holy-cruel. Love is holy, 40 And my integrity ne’er knew the crafts 41 That you do charge men with. Stand no more off , 42 But give thyself unto my sick desires, 43 Who then recovers . Say thou art mine, and ever 44 My love as it begins shall so persever . 45

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, 73 good and ill together. Our virtues would be proud 74 if our faults whipped them not, and our crimes 75 would despair if they were not cherished by our 76 virtues.

FIRST LORD The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, 73 good and ill together. Our virtues would be proud 74 if our faults whipped them not, and our crimes 75 would despair if they were not cherished by our 76 virtues. 77

All’s well that ends well.

HELEN Yet, I pray you—34 But with the word “The time will bring on summer,” 35 When briers shall have leaves as well as thorns 36 And be as sweet as sharp. We must away. 37 Our wagon is prepared, and time revives us. 38 All’s well that ends well. Still the fine’s the crown. 39 Whate’er the course , the end is the renown. 40 They exit.

’Twas a good lady, ’twas a good lady. We may 14 pick a thousand salads ere we light on such an- 15 other herb.

But for this lord 338 Who hath abused me as he knows himself, 339 Though yet he never harmed me, here I quit him. 340 He knows himself my bed he hath defiled, 341 And at that time he got his wife with child. 342 Dead though she be, she feels her young one kick. 343 So there’s my riddle: one that’s dead is quick. 344 And now behold the meaning.

DIANA Good mother, fetch my bail. < Widow exits. > Stay, 335 royal sir. 336 The jeweler that owes the ring is sent for, 337 And he shall surety me. But for this lord 338 Who hath abused me as he knows himself , 339 Though yet he never harmed me, here I quit him. 340 He knows himself my bed he hath defiled, 341 And at that time he got his wife with child. 342 Dead though she be, she feels her young one kick. 343 So there’s my riddle: one that’s dead is quick . 344 And now behold the meaning. 345 Enter Helen and Widow.

O, my good lord, when I was like this maid, 353 I found you wondrous kind. There is your ring, 354 And, look you, here’s your letter. <She takes out a 355 paper.> This it says: 356 When from my finger you can get this ring 357 And <are> by me with child, etc. This is done. 358 Will you be mine now you are doubly won?

HELEN O, my good lord, when I was like this maid, 353 I found you wondrous kind. There is your ring, 354 And, look you , here’s your letter. < She takes out a 355 paper. > This it says: 356 When from my finger you can get this ring 357 And < are > by me with child, etc. This is done. 358 Will you be mine now you are doubly won? 359

If she, my liege, can make me know this clearly, 360 I’ll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly.

If thou be’st yet a fresh uncroppèd flower, 372 Choose thou thy husband, and I’ll pay thy dower.

All yet seems well, and if it end so meet, 378 The bitter past, more welcome is the sweet.