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| All's Well That Ends Well |
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| All's Well That Ends Well
| Act 1, Scene 2
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Flourish of cornets. Enter the KING of France, with letters, and divers AttendantsKING
The Florentines and Senoys are by the ears;First Lord
Have fought with equal fortune and continue
A braving war.
So 'tis reported, sir.KING
Nay, 'tis most credible; we here received itFirst Lord
A certainty, vouch'd from our cousin Austria,
With caution that the Florentine will move us
For speedy aid; wherein our dearest friend
Prejudicates the business and would seem
To have us make denial.
His love and wisdom,KING
Approved so to your majesty, may plead
For amplest credence.
He hath arm'd our answer,Second Lord
And Florence is denied before he comes:
Yet, for our gentlemen that mean to see
The Tuscan service, freely have they leave
To stand on either part.
It well may serveKING
A nursery to our gentry, who are sick
For breathing and exploit.
What's he comes here?First Lord
Enter BERTRAM, LAFEU, and PAROLLES
It is the Count Rousillon, my good lord,KING
Young Bertram.
Youth, thou bear'st thy father's face;BERTRAM
Frank nature, rather curious than in haste,
Hath well composed thee. Thy father's moral parts
Mayst thou inherit too! Welcome to Paris.
My thanks and duty are your majesty's.KING
I would I had that corporal soundness now,BERTRAM
As when thy father and myself in friendship
First tried our soldiership! He did look far
Into the service of the time and was
Discipled of the bravest: he lasted long;
But on us both did haggish age steal on
And wore us out of act. It much repairs me
To talk of your good father. In his youth
He had the wit which I can well observe
To-day in our young lords; but they may jest
Till their own scorn return to them unnoted
Ere they can hide their levity in honour;
So like a courtier, contempt nor bitterness
Were in his pride or sharpness; if they were,
His equal had awaked them, and his honour,
Clock to itself, knew the true minute when
Exception bid him speak, and at this time
His tongue obey'd his hand: who were below him
He used as creatures of another place
And bow'd his eminent top to their low ranks,
Making them proud of his humility,
In their poor praise he humbled. Such a man
Might be a copy to these younger times;
Which, follow'd well, would demonstrate them now
But goers backward.
His good remembrance, sir,KING
Lies richer in your thoughts than on his tomb;
So in approof lives not his epitaph
As in your royal speech.
Would I were with him! He would always say--Second Lord
Methinks I hear him now; his plausive words
He scatter'd not in ears, but grafted them,
To grow there and to bear,--'Let me not live,'--
This his good melancholy oft began,
On the catastrophe and heel of pastime,
When it was out,--'Let me not live,' quoth he,
'After my flame lacks oil, to be the snuff
Of younger spirits, whose apprehensive senses
All but new things disdain; whose judgments are
Mere fathers of their garments; whose constancies
Expire before their fashions.' This he wish'd;
I after him do after him wish too,
Since I nor wax nor honey can bring home,
I quickly were dissolved from my hive,
To give some labourers room.
You are loved, sir:KING
They that least lend it you shall lack you first.
I fill a place, I know't. How long is't, count,BERTRAM
Since the physician at your father's died?
He was much famed.
Some six months since, my lord.KING
If he were living, I would try him yet.BERTRAM
Lend me an arm; the rest have worn me out
With several applications; nature and sickness
Debate it at their leisure. Welcome, count;
My son's no dearer.
Thank your majesty.
Exeunt. Flourish
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| All's Well That Ends Well
| Act 1, Scene 2
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 | Ahoy Mates! We're happy to announce that 2006 is the year of Moby Dick. Join us before the mast! For more information, please check out Moby Dick or email Drake. Free downloadable copies are available at Moby Dick, and we hope that ye join us in discussing the novel at the Moby Dick Campfire. Invite yer friends! We would like to unite the world in reading what is perhaps the greatest work of fiction ever penned on the American shores. Written in the rich context of Shakespeare and the Bible, Moby Dick was Herman Melville's definitive masterpiece. If you've already read the epic, we invite you to read it again. And be sure to pick up Hamlet and the Bible throughout November, as the novel shall only be enhanced by the deeper context. The White Whale, symbolic of the truth and freedom which the greatest spirits in Western Civilization have ever pursued, yet swims free. Concerning Moby Dick, Melville wrote, "It ... is of the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships' cables and hausers. A Polar wind blows through it, & birds of prey hover over it. Warn all gentle fastidious people from so much as peeping into the book..." Moby Dick was the first "Great Book" posted at jollyroger.com, over six years ago, and Melville's masterpiece has inspired a lot of our poetry and prose. Check out Drake's new film at Moby Dick Film and Moby Dick.  Amazon Computers | |