Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

That stays to bear my Letters to my friends, And I am going to deliver them.

Duke. Be they of much import?

Val. The tenor of them doth but signify My health, and happy being at your court.

Duke. Nay, then no matter; stay with me a while;

I am to break with thee of some affairs,

That touch me near, wherein thou must be secret. "Tis not unknown to thee, that I have sought To match my friend, Sir Thurin, to my daughter. Val. I know it well, my lord; and, sure, the match

Were rich and honourable; besides, the gentleman Is full of virtue, bounty, worth, and qualities Beseeming such a wife as your fair daughter: Cannot your grace win her to fancy him?

Duke. No, trust me; she is peevish, sullen, froward,

Proud, disobedient, stubborn, lacking duty;
Neither regarding that she is my child,
Nor fearing me as if I were her father:
And, may I say to thee, this pride of hers,
Upon advice, hath drawn my love from her;
And where I thought the remnant of mine age
Should have been cherish'd by her childlike duty,
I now am full resolv'd to take a wife,

And turn her out to who will take her in:
Then let her beauty be her wedding-dower;
For me and my possessions she esteems not.

[blocks in formation]

Then let me see thy cloak; I'll get me one of such another length.

Val. Why, my cloak will serve the turn, my lord. Duke. How shall I fashion me to wear a cloak?I pray thee, let me feel thy cloak upon me.What letter is this same? What's here? -T Silvia!

[reads.

And here an engine fit for my proceeding?
I'll be so bold to break the seal for once.
My thoughts do harbour with my Silvia nightly;
And slaves they are to me, that send them flying:
O, could their master come and go as lightly,

Himself would lodge where senseless they are lying. My herald thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them; While I, their king, that thither them importune, Do curse the grace that with such grace hath bless'd them,

Because myself do want my servants' fortune: I curse myself, for they are sent by me,

Val. What would your grace have me to do in That they should harbour where their lord should be.

this?

Duke. There is a lady, sir, in Milan, here,
Whom I affect; but she is nice, and coy,
And nought esteems my aged eloquence:
Now, therefore, would I have thee to my tutor,
(For long agone I have forgot to court:
Besides, the fashion of the time is chang'd ;)
How, and which way, I may bestow myself,
To be regarded in her sun-bright eye.

Val. Win her with gifts, if she respect not words;
umb jewels often, in their silent kind,
More than quick words, do move a woman's mind.
Duke. But she did scorn a present that I sent her.
Val. A woman sometimes scorns what best con-

tents her:

Send her another; never give her o'er;
For scorn at first makes after-love the more.
If she do frown, 'tis not in hate of you,
But rather to beget more love in you:
If she do chide, us not to have you gone;
For why, the fools are mad, if left alone.
Take no repulse, whatever she doth say:
For, get you gone, she doth not mean, away:
Flatter, and praise, commend, extol their graces,
Though ne'er so black, say, they have angels' faces.
That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man,
If with his tongue he cannot win a woman.
Duke. But she, I mean, is promis'd by her

friends

Unto a youthful gentleman of worth; And kept severely from resort of men, That no man hath access by day to her.

What's here?

Silvia, this night I will enfranchise thee !

"Tis so; and here's the ladder for the purpose.-
Why, Phaeton (for thou art Merop's son,)
Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car,
And with thy daring folly burn the world?
Wilt thou reach stars because they shine on thee?
Go, base intruder! over-weening slave!
And think, my patience, more than thy desert,
Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates;
Is privilege for thy departure hence:
Thank me for this, more than for all the favours
But if thou linger in my territories
Which, all too much, I have bestow'd on thee.
Longer than swiftest expedition

Will give thee time to leave our royal court,
By heaven, my wrath shall far exceed the love
I ever bore my daughter, or thyself.
Be I will not hear thy vain excuse,
gone,
But, as thou lov'st thy life, make speed from hence.
[Exit DUKE.
Val. And why not death, rather than living tro-

ment?

And Silvia is myself: banish'd from her,
To die, is to be banish'd from myself;
Is self from self; a deadly banishment!
What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by?
What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?

Unless it be to think that she is by,
And feed upon the shadow of perfection,*
Except I be by Silvia in the night,
There is no music in the nightingale;
There is no day for me to look upon:
Unless I look on Silvia in the day,
She is my essence; and I leave to be,
win-If I be not by her fair influence

Val. Why then I would resort to her by night. Duke. Ay, but the doors be lock'd, and keys kept

safe,

That no man hath recourse to her by night. Val. What lets, but one may enter at her

dow?

2

Duke. Her chamber is aloft, far from the ground; And built so shelving that one cannot climb it Without apparent hazard of his life.

Val. Why then, a ladder, quaintly made of cords, To cast up with a pair of anchoring hooks, Would serve to scale another Hero's tower, So bold Leander would adventure it.

Duke. Now, as thou art a gentleman of blood,
Advise me where I may have such a ladder.
Val. When would you use it? pray, sir, tell me
that.

1 Where for whereas, often used by old writers.
2 i. e. hinders.
3 i. e. cause.

Foster'd, illumin'd, cherish'd, kept alive.
Tarry I here, I but attend on death;
I fly not death, to fly his deadly doom;
But, fly I hence, I fly away froin life.

Enter PROTEUS and LAUNCE.

Pro. Run, boy, run, run, and seek him out. Laun. So-ho! so-ho!

Pro. What seest thou?

Laun. Him we go to find; there's not a hair" on's head, but 'tis a Valentine.

4 And feed upon the shadow of perfection. Animum pictura pascit inani. Virgil.

5 i. e. by flying, or in flying. It is a Gallicism. 6 Launce is still quibbling, he is running down the hare he started when he first entered.

Pro. Valentine?

Val. No.

Pro. Who then? his spirit?

Val. Neither.

Pro. What then?

Val. Nothing.

Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love.*
The time now serves not to expostulate:
Come, I'll convey thee through the city gate;
And, ere I part with thee, confer at large
Of all that may concern thy love-affairs:
As thou lov'st Silvia, though not for thyself,

Lun. Can nothing speak? master, shall I strike? Regard thy danger, and along with me.
Pro. Whom would'st thou strike?"

[blocks in formation]

Val. I pray thee, Launce, an if thou seest my boy Bid him make haste, and meet me at the north gate Pro. Go, sirrah, find him out. Come, Valentine. Val. O my dear Silvia! hapless Valentine!

[Exeunt VALENTINE and PROTEUS. Laun. I am but a fool, look you; and yet I have the wit to think, my master is a kind of a knave: but that's all one, if he be but one knave. He lives not now, that knows me to be in love: yet I am in love; but a team of horse shall not pluck that from me; nor who 'tis I love, and yet 'tis a woman: but what woman, I will not tell myself: and yet 'tis a milk-maid: yet 'tis not a maid, for she hath had gossips: yet 'tis a maid, for she is her master's maid, and serves for wages. hath more qualities than a water-spaniel,-which is

She

Val. No Valentine, if Silvia have forsworn me!-much in a bare christian. Here is the cate-log What is your news?

Laun. Sir, there's a proclamation that you are

vanish'd.

Pro. That thou art banished, O, that's the news: From hence, from Silvia, and from me, thy friend. Val. O, I have fed upon this woe already, And now excess of it will make me surfeit. Doth Silvia know that I am banished?

Pro. Ay, ay; and she hath offer'd to the doom, (Which, unrevers'd, stands in effectual force,) A sea of melting pearl, which some call tears: Those at her father's churlish feet she tender'd; With them, upon her knees, her humble self; Wringing her hands, whose whiteness so became

them,

As if but now they waxed pale for woe:
But neither bended knees, pure hands held up,
Sad sighs, deep groans, nor silver-shedding tears,
Could penetrate her uncompassionate sire;
But Valentine, if he be ta'en, must die.
Besides, her intercession chaf'd him so
When she for thy repeal was suppliant,
That to close prison he commanded her,
With many bitter threats of 'biding there.

Val. No more; unless the next word that thou speak'st,

Have some malignant pow'r upon my life:
If so, I pray thee, breathe it in mine ear,
As ending anthem of my endless dolour.1

Pro. Cease to lament for that thou can'st not help,

And study help for that which thou lament'st.
Time is the nurse and breeder of all good.
Here if thou stay, thou canst not see thy love;
Besides, thy staying will abridge thy life.
Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that,
And manage it against despairing thoughts.
Thy letters may be here, though thou art hence;
Which, being writ to me, shall be deliver'd

1 Grief.

2 So in Hamlet:

"These to her excellent white bosom." To understand this mode of addressing letters, &c. it should be known that women anciently had a pocket in the forepart of their stays, in which they carried not only love letters and love tokens, but even their money, &c. In many parts of England rustic damsels still continue the practice. A very old lady informed Mr. Steevens, that when it was the fashion to wear very prominent stays it was the custom for stratagem or gallantry to drop its literary favours within the front of

them.

[Pulling out a paper] of her condition. Imprimis, She can fetch and carry. Why, a horse can do no more; nay, a horse cannot fetch, but only carry; therefore is she better than a jade. Item, She can milk; look you, a sweet virtue in a maid with clean hands.

Enter SPEED.

Speed. How now, signior Launce? what news with your mastership?

Laun. With my master's ship? why it is at sea. Speed. Well, your old vice still, mistake the word a What news then in your paper

Laun. The blackest news that ever thou heard'st.
Speed. Why, man, how black?
Laun. Why, as black as ink.
Speed. Let me read them.

Laun. Fie on thee, jolt-head; thou can'st not read.

Speed. Thou liest, I can.

Laun. I will try thee: Tell me this; Who be got thee?

Speed. Marry, the son of my grandfather. Laun. O illiterate loiterer! it was the son of thy grandmother: this that thou canst not readproves Speed. Come, fool, come: try me in thy paper. Laun. There and saint Nicholas' be thy speed: Speed. Imprimis, She can milk.

Laun. Ay, that she can.

Speed. Item, She brews good ale.

Laun. And therefore comes the proverb,-Bless

ing of your heart, you brew good ale. Speed. Item, She can sew.

Laun. That's as much as to say, can she so? Speed. Item, She can knit.

Laun. What need a man care for a stock with a wench, when she can knit him a stock," Speed. Item, She can wash and scour.

faire." Baret. The old copy reads condition, which was changed to conditions by Rowe,

6 It is undoubtedly true that the mother only knows the legitimacy of the child. Launce infers that if Speed could read, he must have read this well known obser vation.

7 St. Nicholas presided over scholars, who were therefore called St. Nicholas' clerks; either because the legend makes this saint to have been a bishop while yet a boy, or from his having restored three young scholars to life. By a quibble between Nicholas and Old Nick highwaymen are called Nicholas' clerks in Henry IV. part 1. The parish clerks of London finding that schotronage of this saint, conceived that clerks of any kind might have the same right, and accordingly took him as their patron, much in the same way as the woolcombers did St. Blaise, who was martyred with an instrument like a carding comb; the nailmakers St. Clou; and the booksellers St. John Port Latin

3 Gossips not only signify those who answer for a child in baptism, but the tattling women who attend ly-lars, more usualy termed clerks, were under the paings-in. The quibble is evident.

4 Bare, has two senses, mere and naked. Launce, quibbling on, uses it in both senses, and opposes the naked female to the water-spaniel covered with hairs of remarkable thickness.

"Condition, honest behaviour or demeanour in

living, a custume or facion. Mos. Moris, facon de

8 i. e. stocking

Laun. A special virtue; for then she need not be washed and scoured.

Speed. Item, She can spin.

Laun. Then may I set the world on wheels, when she can spin for her living.

Speed. Item, She hath many nameless virtues. Laun. That's as much as to say, bastard virtues; that, indeed, know not their fathers, and therefore

have no names.

Speed. Here follow her vices.

Laun. Close at the heels of her virtues.

Speed. Item, She is not to be kissed fasting, in respect of her breath.

Laun. Well, that fault may be mended with a breakfast: Read on.

Speed. Item, She hath a sweet mouth.1

Laun. That makes amends for her sour breath.
Speed. Item, She doth talk in her sleep.

[blocks in formation]

SCENE II. The same. A Room in the Duke's Palace. Enter DUKE and THURIO; PROTEUS behind.

Duke. Sir Thurio, fear not, but that she will love you,

Now Valentine is banished from her sight.

Thu. Since his exile she has despis'd me most,
Forsworn my company, and rail'd at me,
That I am desperate of obtaining her.
Duke. This weak impress of love is as a figure

Laun. It's no matter for that, so she sleep not in Trench'ds in ice; which with an hour's heat

her talk.

Speed, Item, She is slow in words.

Laun. O villain, that set this down among her vices! To be slow in words, is a woman's only virtue: I pray thee, out with't; and place it for

her chief virtue.

Speed. Item, She is proud.

Laun. Out with that too; it was Eve's legacy, and cannot be ta'en from her.

Speed. Item, She hath no teeth.

Laun. I care not for that neither, because I love

crusts.

Speed. Item, She is curst.
Laun. Well, the best is, she hath no teeth to bite.
Speed. Item, She will often praise her liquor.
Laun. If her liquor be good, she shall: if she
will not, I will; for good things should be praised.
Speed. Item, She is too liberal.2

Laun. Of her tongue she cannot; for that's writ down she is slow of: of her purse she shall not; for that I'll keep shut; now of another thing she may; and that cannot Í help. Well, proceed. Speed. Item, She hath more hair than wit, and more faults than hairs, and more wealth than faults. Laun. Stop there; I'll have her: she was mine, and not mine, twice or thrice in that last article: Rehearse that once more.

Speed. Item, She hath more hair than wit.Laun. More hair than wit,-it may be; I'll prove It: The cover of the salt hides the salt, and therefore it is more than the salt; the hair that covers the wit, is more than the wit; for the greater hides

the less. What's next?

Speed. And more faults than hairs.—
Laun. That's monstrous: 0, that that were out!
Speed. And more wealth than faults.

Laun. Why, that word makes the faults gracious. Well, I'll have her: and if it be a match, as nothing is impossible,

Speed. What then?

Laun. Why, then will I tell thee, that thy ter stays for thee at the north-gate. Speed. For me?

Laun. For thee? ay; who art thou? he

staid for a better man than thee.

Speed. And must I go to him?

Dissolves to water, and doth lose his form.
A little time will melt her frozen thoughts,
And worthless Valentine shall be forgot.—
How now, Sir Proteus? Is your countryman,
According to our proclamation, gone?
Pro. Gone, my good lord.

Duke. My daughter takes his going grievously.
Pro. A little time, my lord, will kill that grief.
Duke. So I believe; but Thurio thinks not so.-
Proteus, the good conceit I hold of thee,
(For thou hast shown some sign of good desert,)

Makes me the better to confer with thee.

Pro. Longer than I prove loyal to your grace, Let me not live to look upon your grace.

Duke. Thou know'st, how willingly I would effect The match between Sir Thurio and my daughter. Pro. I do, my lord.

Duke. And also, I think, thou art not ignorant
How she opposes her against my will.

Pro. She did, my lord, when Valentine was here.
What might we do, to make the girl forget
Duke. Ay, and perversely she persevers so.
The love of Valentine, and love Sir Thurio?

Pro. The best way is to slander Valentine
Three things that women highly hold in hate.
With falsehood, cowardice, and poor descent;

Duke. Ay, but she'll think that it is spoke in hate.
Pro. Ay, if his enemy deliver it:

Therefore it must, with circumstance," be spoken
By one, whom she esteemeth as his friend.

Duke. Then you must undertake to slander him.
"Tis an ill office for a gentleman;
Pro. And that, my lord, I shall be loth to do:

Especially against his very friend.

Duke. Where your good word cannot advantage
him,

Therefore the office is indifferent,
Your slander never can endamage him;
Being entreated to it by your friend.

Pro. You have prevail'd, my lord: if I can do it,
mas-She shall not long continue love to him.
By aught that I can speak in his dispraise,

hath

Laun. Thou must run to him, for thou hast staid so long, that going will scarce serve the turn.

1 Speed uses the term a sweet mouth in the sense of a sweet tooth; but Launce chooses to understand it in the literal and lauditory sense. Cotgrave renders "Friand, A sweet-lips, daintie-mouthed, sweet-toothed," &c.

2 Liberal is licentious, free, frank, beyond honesty or decency. Thus in Othello, Desdemonda says of lago: is he not a most profane and liberal counsellor."

3 This was an old familiar proverb, of which Steevens has given many examples. I will add one from Florio: "A tisty-tosty wag feather, more haire than

wil."

But say, this weed her love from Valentine,
It follows not that she will love Sir Thurio.

Thu. Therefore, as you unwind her love from him,
Lest it should ravel, and be good to none,
You must provide to bottom it on me :"
Which must be done, by praising me as much
As you in worth dispraise Sir Valentine.

There was but one on the dinner table, which was placed near the top, and those who sat below it were, for the most part, of inferior condition to those who sat above it.

5 Gracious was sometimes used for favoured, countenanced, like the Italian Gratiato, v. As you Like It, Act i. Sc. 2.

6 i. e. cut, carved; from the Fr. trancher. 7 i. e. with the addition of such incidental particulars as may induce belief.

8 Very, that is, true; from the Lat. verus. Massinger calls one of his plays " A Very Woman."

9 As you unwind her love from him, make me the 4 The ancient English salt-cellar was very different bottom on which you wind it. A bottom is the housefrom the modern, being a large piece of plate, generally wife's term for a ball of thread wound upon a central much ornamented, with a cover to keep the salt clean. I body.

Duke. And, Proteus, we dare trust you in this kind; | Of which if you should here disfurnish me,
Because we know, on Valentine's report,
You are already love's firm votary,

And cannot soon revolt and change your mind.
Upon this warrant shall you have access,
Where you with Silvia may confer at large;
For she is lumpish, heavy, melancholy,

And, for your friend's sake, will be glad of you;
Where you may temper her, by your persuasion,
To hate young Valentine, and love my friend.

Pro. As much as I can do, I will effect:-
But you, Sir Thurio, are not sharp enough;
You must lay lime,' to tangle her desires,
By wailful sonnets, whose composed rhymes,
Should be full fraught with serviceable vows.
Duke. Ay, much is the force of heaven-bred poesy.
Pro. Say, that upon the altar of her beauty
You sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart:
Write till your ink be dry; and with your tears
Moist it again; and frame some feeling line,
That may discover such integrity:2-
For Orpheus' lute was strung with poets' sinews;
Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones,
Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans
Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands.
After your dire-lamenting elegies,

Visit by night your lady's chamber window
With some sweet consort: to their instruments
Tune a deploring dump ;4 the night's dead silence
Will well become such sweet complaining grievance.
This, or else nothing, will inherit her.'

Duke. This discipline shews thou hast been in love.
Thu. And thy advice this night I'll put in practice:
Therefore, sweet Proteus, my direction-giver,
Let us into the city presently

To sort some gentlemen well skill'd in music :
I have a sonnet, that will serve the turn,
To give the onset to thy good advice.

Duke. About it, gentlemen.

Pro. We'll wait upon your grace till after supper:
And afterward determine our proceedings.
Duke. Even now about it; I will pardon you.

ACT IV.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.-A Forest, near Mantua. Enter cer-
tain Out-laws.

1 Out. Fellows, stand fast; I see a passenger.
2 Out. If there be ten, shrink not, but down

with'em.

Enter VALENTINE and Speed.

You take the sum and substance that I have.
2 Out. Whither travel you?

Val. To Verona.

1 Out. Whence came you?
Val. From Milan.

3 Out. Have you long sojourned there?

Val. Some sixteen months; and longer migh have staid,

If crooked fortune had not thwarted me.

1 Out. What, were you banish'd thence?
Val.

was.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

This fellow were a king for our wild faction.

1 Out. We'll have him; sirs, a word.
Speed. Master, be one of them;

It is an honourable kind of thievery.
Val. Peace, villain!

2 Out. Tell us this: have you any thing to take to?
Val. Nothing but my fortune.

3 Out. Know, then, that some of us are gentlemen,
Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth
Thrust from the company of awful men:
Myself was from Verona banish'd,
For practising to steal away a lady,
An heir, and near allied unto the duke.

10

2 Out. And I from Mantua, for a gentleman,
Whom, in my mood, 1° I stabbed unto the heart.
1 Out. And I, for such like petty crimes as these
But to the purpose,-(for we cite our faults,
That they may hold excus'd our lawless lives,)
And, partly, seeing you are beautify'd

With goodly shape; and by your own report
A linguist, and a man of such perfection,
As we do in our quality11 much want ;-

2 Out. Indeed, because you are a banish'd man,
Therefore, above the rest, we parley to you:
Are you content to be our general?
And live, as we do, in this wilderness?
To make a virtue of necessity,

3 Out. What say'st thou? wilt thou be of our
consort?

3 Out. Stand, sir, and throw us that you have Say ay, and be the captain of us all ;

about you;

If not, we'll make you sit, and rifle you.

Speed. Sir, we are undone! these are the villains That all the travellers do fear so much.

Val. My friends,

1 Out. That's not so, sir; we are your enemies. 2 Out. Peace; we'll hear him.

3 Out. Ay, by my beard, will we; for he is a
proper man.

Val. Then know, that I have little wealth to lose;
A man I am, cross'd with adversity:
My riches are these poor habiliments,

1 i. e. birdlime.

2 i. e. sincerity, such as would be manifested by such impassioned writing. Malone suspects that a line following this has been lost.

We'll do thee homage, and be rul'd by thee,
Love thee as our commander and our king.

1 Out. But if thou scorn our courtesy, thou diest.
2 Out. Thou shalt not live to brag what we have
offer'd.

Val. I take your offer, and will live with you;
Provided that you do no outrages
On silly women, or poor passengers.

3 Out. No, we detest such vile base practices.
Come, go with us, we'll bring thee to our crews,
And shew thee all the treasure we have got ;
Which, with ourselves, all rest at thy dispose.

[Exeunt.

5 To inherit is sometimes used by Shakspeare for to obtain possession of, without any idea of acquiring by inheritance. Milton in Comus has disinherit Chaos,

6 To sort, to choose out.

3 The old copy has consort, which, according to Bul-meaning only to dispossess it. lokar and Philips, signified "a set or company of musicians." If we print concert, as Malone would have it, the relative pronoun their has no correspondent word. It is true that Shakspeare frequently refers to words not expressed, but implied in the former part of a sentence. But the reference here is to consort, as appears by the subsequent words, "to their instruments."

7 A proper man, was a comely, tall, or well proportioned man. Uomo di bel taglio.

4 A dump was the ancient term for a mournful degy

|

9 Friar Tuck, one of the associates of Robin Hood. 9 Arful men, men full of awe and respect for the laws of society, and the duties of life.

10 Mood is anger or resentment.

11 i. e. Condition, profession, occupation, v Hamlet Act ii. Sc. 2.

SCENE II.-Milan. Court of the Palace. Enter
PROTEUS.

Pro. Already have I been false to Valentine,
And now I must be as unjust to Thurio.
Under the colour of commending him,
I have access my own love to prefer;
But Silvia is too fair, too true, too holy,
To be corrupted with my worthless gifts.
When I protest true loyalty to her,

She twits me with my falsehood to my friend;
When to her beauty I commend my vows,
She bids me think, how I have been forsworn
In breaking faith with Julia whom I lov'd:
And, notwithstanding all her sudden quips,'
The least whereof would quell a lover's hope,
Yet, spaniel-like, the more she spurns my love,
The more it grows and fawneth on her still.
But here comes Thurio; now must we to her
window,

And give some evening music to her ear.

Enter THURIO, and Musicians.

Thu. How now, Sir Proteus? are you crept before us?

Pro. Ay, gentle Thurio; for, you know, that love Will creep in service where it cannot go.

Thu. Ay, but, I hope, sir, that you love not here. Pro. Sir, but I do; or else I would be hence. Thu. Who? Silvia?

Pro. Ay, Silvia,-for your sake.

Thu. I thank you for your own. Now, gentlemen,

Let's tune, and to it lustily awhile.

Enter Host, at a distance; and JULIA in boy's clothes. Host. Now, my young guest! methinks you're allycholly; I pray you, why is it?

Jul. Marry, mine host, because I cannot be merry.

Host. Come, we'll have you merry: I'll bring you where you shall hear music, and see the gendeman that you ask'd for.

[blocks in formation]

Host. I perceive, you delight not in music.
Jul. Not a whit, when it jars so.

Host. Hark, what fine change is in the music!
Jul. Ay; that change is the spite.

Host. You would have them always play but one thing?

Jul. I would always have one play but one thing. But, host, doth this Sir Proteus, that we talk on, often resort unto this gentlewoman?

Host. I tell you what Launce, his man, told me, he loved her out of all nick.2

Jul. Where is Launce?

Host. Gone to seek his dog; which, to-morrow, by his master's command, he must carry for a present to his lady.

Jul. Peace! stand aside! the company parts. Pro. Sir Thurio, fear not you! I will so plead, That you shall say, my cunning drift excels. Thu. Where meet we?

Pro. At Saint Gregory's well.

Thu. Farewell. [Exeunt THU. and Musicians, SILVIA appears above, at her window. Pro. Madam, good even to your ladyship. Sil. I thank you for your music, gentlemen: Who is that, that spake ?

Pro. One, lady, if you knew his pure heart's
truth,

You'd quickly learn to know him by his voice.
Sil. Sir Proteus, as I take it.

Pro. Sir Proteus, gentle lady, and your servant.
Sil. What is your will?

Pro. That I may compass yours.

Sil. You have your wish; my will is even this,---
That presently you hie you home to bed.
Thou subtle, perjur'd, false, disloyal man!
Think'st thou, I am so shallow, so conceitless,
To be seduced by thy flattery,

That hast deceiv'd so many with thy vows
Return, return, and make thy love amends.
For me,-by this pale queen of night I swear,
I am so far from granting thy request,
That I despise thee for thy wrongful suit;
And by and by intend to chide myself,
Even for this time I spend in talking to thee.
Pro. I grant, sweet love, that I did love a lady;
But she is dead.

Jul. "Twere false, if I should speak it;
For, I am sure, she is not buried.

[Aside.

Sil. Say, that she be; yet Valentine, thy friend, Survives; to whom, thyself art witness,

I am betroth'd: And art thou not asham'd

To wrong him with thy importunacy?

Pro. I likewise hear, that Valentine is dead. Sil. And so suppose am I; for in his grave, Assure thyself, my love is buried.

Pro. Sweet lady, let me rake it from the earth. Sil. Go to thy lady's grave, and call her's thence; Or, at the least, in her's sepulchre thine. Jul. He heard not that.

[Aside

Pro. Madam, if your heart be so obdurate, Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love, The picture that is hanging in your chamber; To that I'll speak, to that I'll sigh and weep. For, since the substance of your perfect self Is else devoted, I am but a shadow; And to your shadow will I make true love. Jul. If 'twere a substance, you would, sure, deceive it,

And make it but a shadow, as I am.

[Aside.

Sil. I am very loth to be your idol, sir; But, since your falsehood shall become you we"] To worship shadows, and adore false shapes, Send to me in the morning and I'll send it: And so good rest.

Pro. As wretches have o'ernight, That wait for execution in the morn.

[Exeunt PROTEUS; and SILVIA from above. Jul. Host, will you go?

Host. By my halidom,' I was fast asleep.

2 i. e. Out of all reckoning or count; reckonings were kept upon nicked or notched sticks or tallies.

3 Halidom, (says Minsheu,) an old word, used by old countrywomen by manner of swearing.

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »