Lamb_)

Bertram, count of Rossilion, had newly come to his title and estate,
by the death of his father. The king of France loved the father of
Bertram, and when he heard of his death, he sent for his son to come
immediately to his royal court in Paris; intending, for the friendship
he bore the late count, to grace young Bertram with his especial
favour and protection.

Bertram was living with his mother, the widowed countess, when Lafeu,
an old lord of the French court, came to conduct Bertram to the king.
The king of France was an absolute monarch, and the invitation to
court was in the form of a royal mandate, or positive command, which
no subject of what high dignity soever might disobey; therefore though
the countess, in parting with this dear son, seemed a second time
to bury her husband, whose loss she had so lately mourned, yet she
dared not to keep him a single day, but gave instant orders for his
departure. Lafeu, who came to fetch him, tried to comfort the countess
for the loss of her late lord, and her son's sudden absence; and he
said, in a courtier's flattering manner, that the king was so kind a
prince, she would find in his majesty a husband, and that he would be
a father to her son: meaning only that the good king would befriend
the fortunes of Bertram. Lafeu told the countess that the king had
fallen into a sad malady, which was pronounced by his physicians to be
incurable. The lady expressed great sorrow on hearing this account of
the king's ill health, and said, she wished the father of Helena (a
young gentlewoman who was present in attendance upon her) were living,
for that she doubted not he could have cured his majesty of his
disease. And she told Lafeu something of the history of Helena, saying
she was the only daughter of the famous physician Gerard de Narbon,
and that he had recommended his daughter to her care when he was
dying, so that since his death she had taken Helena under her
protection; then the countess praised the virtuous disposition and
excellent qualities of Helena, saying she inherited these virtues from
her worthy father. While she was speaking, Helena wept in sad and
mournful silence, which made the countess gently reprove her for too
much grieving for her father's death.

Bertram now bade his mother farewel. The countess parted with this
dear son with tears and many blessings, and commended him to the care
of Lafeu, saying, "Good my lord, advise him, for he is an unseaso