ACT I.
[Scene I.] Rousillon. The Count's palace.
[Enter] Bertram, the Countess of Rousillon, Helena, and Lafeu, all in black.
[Count.] In delivering my son from me, I bury a second
husband.
Ber. [And I in going, madam,] weep o'er my father's
death anew: but I must attend his majesty's command, to
5 whom I am now in ward, evermore in subjection.
Laf. You shall find of the king a husband, madam;
you, sir, a father: he that so generally is at all times good,
must of necessity hold his virtue to you; whose worthiness
would stir it up where it wanted, rather than [lack] it where
10 there is such abundance.
Count. What hope is there of his majesty's amendment?
Laf. He hath abandoned his physicians, madam; under
whose practices he hath [persecuted] time with hope, and
finds no other advantage in the process but only the losing
15 of hope by time.
Count. This young gentlewoman had a father,—O, that
'had'! how sad a [passage] 'tis!—whose skill was almost as
great as his honesty; had it stretched so far, [would] have
made nature immortal, and death should [have] play for lack
20 of work. Would, for the king's sake, he were living! I
think it would be the death of the king's disease.
Laf. How called you the man you speak of, madam?