William Shakespeare Stratford-upon-Avon 1571 Ovid Diana Titania Ben Jonson 5
1575 1582 Anne Hathaway 1586 1586 1618 6
Mary Lamb 1764 Charles Lamb 1775 Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1792 East India House 1796 1806 William Godwin 1807 12
1823 1833 1834 7 double singleness 13
William Painter 1566-67 1575 The Palace of Pleasure Boccaccio Decameron Helena Bertram Diana 16
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Bertram Helena the countess King of France Lafeu the widow Diana 23
1 Bertram, Count of Rousillon, had newly come to that 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 favor and protection. Bertram was living with his mother, the widowed countess, when Lafeu, an old lord of the French court; came to conduct him to the king. The King of France was an absolute monarch¹ and the invitation to court was in the form of a royal mandate², 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. 1 monarch [}ma n3rk] (n.) 2 mandate [}m$nde0t] (n.) 26
2 Lafeu, who came to fetch him, tried to comfort the countess for the loss of her late lord, and her son s sudden absence; and he said, in a courtier s³ flattering manner, that the king was so kind a prince, she would find in his majesty a husband, and that he would be a father to her son; meaning only, that the good king would befriend the fortunes of Bertram. Lafeu told the countess that the king had fallen into a sad malady, which was pronounced by his physicians to be incurable. The lady expressed great sorrow on hearing this account of the king s ill health, and said, she wished the father of Helena (a young gentlewoman who was present in attendance upon her) were living, for that she doubted not he could have cured his majesty of his disease. 3 courtier [}kc rt0r] (n.) 4 malady [}m$l3di] (n.) 27
3 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 farewell. 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 unseasoned courtier. 5 disposition [{d0sp3}z0n3n] (n.) 6 reprove [r0}pru v] (v.) 7 commend [k3}mend] (v.) 8 unseasoned [Kn}si z3nd] (a.) 28