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.
Which of them both
Is dearest to me--I have no skill in sense
To make distinction.

This is very skilfully, as well as delicately conceived. In rejecting
those poetical and accidental advantages which Giletta possesses in the
original story, Shakspeare has substituted the beautiful character of
the Countess; and he has contrived, that, as the character of Helena
should rest for its internal charm on the depth of her own affections,
so it should depend for its _external_ interest on the affection she
inspires. The enthusiastic tenderness of the old Countess, the
admiration and respect of the King, Lafeu, and all who are brought in
connection with her, make amends for the humiliating neglect of Bertram;
and cast round Helen that collateral light, which Giletta in the story
owes to other circumstances, striking indeed, and well imagined, but not
(I think) so finely harmonizing with the character.

It is also very natural that Helen, with the intuitive discernment of a
pure and upright mind, and the penetration of a quick-witted woman,
should be the first to detect the falsehood and cowardice of the boaster
Parolles, who imposes on every one else.

It has been remarked, that there is less of poetical imagery in this
play than in many of the others. A certain solidity in Helen's character
takes place of the ideal power; and with consistent truth of keeping,
the same predominance of feeling over fancy, of the reflective over the
imaginative faculty, is maintained through the whole dialogue. Yet the
finest passages in the serious scenes are those appropriated to her;
they are familiar and celebrated as quotations, but fully to understand
their beauty and truth, they should be considered relatively to her
character and situation; thus, when in speaking of Bertram, she says,
"that he is one to whom she wishes well," the consciousness of the
disproportion between her words and her feelings draws from her this
beautiful and affecting observation, so just in itself, and so true to
her situation, and to the sentiment which fills her whole heart:--

'Tis pity
That wishing well had not a body in't
Which might be felt: that we the poorer born,
Whose baser star