ACT I

SCENE I. Rossillon. A room in the Countess’s palace.

Enter Bertram, the Countess of Rossillon, Helena, and Lafew, all in black.

COUNTESS. In delivering my son from me, I bury a second husband.

BERTRAM. And I in going, madam, weep o’er my father’s death anew; but I must attend his majesty’s command, to whom I am now in ward, evermore in subjection.

LAFEW. 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 there is such abundance.

COUNTESS. What hope is there of his majesty’s amendment?

LAFEW. He hath abandon’d his physicians, madam; under whose practices he hath persecuted time with hope, and finds no other advantage in the process but only the losing of hope by time.