SCENE V. _The same. A street._

_Enter SPEED and LAUNCE severally._

_Speed._ Launce! by mine honesty, welcome to Padua!

_Launce._ Forswear not thyself, sweet youth; for I am not

welcome. I reckon this always--that a man is never undone

till he be hanged; nor never welcome to a place till

some certain shot be paid, and the hostess say 'Welcome!' 5

_Speed._ Come on, you madcap, I'll to the alehouse with

you presently; where, for one shot of five pence, thou shalt

have five thousand welcomes. But, sirrah, how did thy

master part with Madam Julia?

_Launce._ Marry, after they closed in earnest, they parted 10

very fairly in jest.

_Speed._ But shall she marry him?

_Launce._ No.

_Speed._ How, then? shall he marry her?

_Launce._ No, neither. 15

_Speed._ What, are they broken?

_Launce._ No, they are both as whole as a fish.

_Speed._ Why, then, how stands the matter with them?

_Launce._ Marry, thus; when it stands well with him, it

stands well with her. 20

_Speed._ What an ass art thou! I understand thee not.

_Launce._ What a block art thou, that thou canst not!

My staff understands me.

_Speed._ What thou sayest?

_Launce._ Ay, and what I do too: look thee, I'll but 25

lean, and my staff understands me.

_Speed._ It stands under thee, indeed.

_Launce._ Why, stand-under and under-stand is all one.

_Speed._ But tell me true, will't be a match?

_Launce._ Ask my dog: if he say ay, it will; if he say, 30

no, it will; if he shake his tail and say nothing, it will.

_Speed._ The conclusion is, then, that it will.

_Launce._ Thou shalt never get such a secret from me

but by a parable.

_Speed._ 'Tis well that I get it so. But, Launce, how 35

sayest thou, that my master is become a notable lover?

_Launce._ I never knew him otherwise.

_Speed._ Than how?

_Launce._ A notable lubber, as thou reportest him to be.

_Speed._ Why, thou whoreson ass, thou mistakest me. 40

_Launce._ Why fool, I meant not thee; I meant thy master.

_Speed._ I tell thee, my master is become a hot lover.

_Launce._ Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn

himself in love. If thou wilt, go with me to the alehouse;

if not, thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name 45

of a Christian.

_Speed._ Why?

_Launce._ Because thou hast not so much charity in thee

as to go to the ale with a Christian. Wilt thou go?

_Speed._ At thy service. [_Exeunt._ 50

Notes: II, 5.

SCENE V.] SCENA QUINTA F1. SCENA QUARTA F2 F3 F4. SCENE VIII. Pope.

1: _Padua_] Ff. _Milan_ Pope. See note (VII).

4: _be_] _is_ Rowe.

21-28: Put in the margin as spurious by Pope.

36: _that_] F2 F3 F4. _that that_ F1.

44: _in love. If thou wilt, go_] Knight. _in love. If thou wilt go_

Ff. _in love, if thou wilt go_ Collier (Malone conj.).

_alehouse_] F1. _alehouse, so_ F2 F3 F4.

49: _ale_] _ale-house_ Rowe.

SCENE VI. _The same. The DUKE'S palace._

_Enter PROTEUS._

_Pro._ To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn;

To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn;

To wrong my friend, I shall be much forsworn;

And even that power, which gave me first my oath,

Provokes me to this threefold perjury; 5

Love bade me swear, and Love bids me forswear.

O sweet-suggesting Love, if thou hast sinn'd,

Teach me, thy tempted subject, to excuse it!

At first I did adore a twinkling star,

But now I worship a celestial sun. 10

Unheedful vows may needfully be broken;

And he wants wit that wants resolved will

To learn his wit to exchange the bad for better.

Fie, fie, unreverend tongue! to call her bad,

Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferr'd 15

With twenty thousand soul-confirming oaths.

I cannot leave to love, and yet I do;

But there I leave to love where I should love.

Julia I lose, and Valentine I lose:

If I keep them, I needs must lose myself; 20

If I lose them, thus find I by their loss

For Valentine, myself, for Julia, Silvia.

I to myself am dearer than a friend,

For love is still most precious in itself;

And Silvia--witness Heaven, that made her fair!-- 25

Shows Julia but a swarthy Ethiope.

I will forget that Julia is alive,

Remembering that my love to her is dead;

And Valentine I'll hold an enemy,

Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend. 30

I cannot now prove constant to myself,

Without some treachery used to Valentine.

This night he meaneth with a corded ladder

To climb celestial Silvia's chamber-window;

Myself in counsel, his competitor. 35

Now presently I'll give her father notice

Of their disguising and pretended flight;

Who, all enraged, will banish Valentine;

For Thurio, he intends, shall wed his daughter;

But, Valentine being gone, I'll quickly cross 40

By some sly trick blunt Thurio's dull proceeding.

Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift,

As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift! [_Exit._

Notes: II, 6.

SCENE VI.] SCENE IX. Pope.

Enter PROTEUS.] Enter PROTHEUS solus. Ff.

1, 2: _forsworn; ... forsworn;_] Theobald. _forsworn? ... forsworn?_

Ff.

7: _sweet-suggesting_] _sweet suggestion,_ Pope.

_if thou hast_] _if I have_ Warburton.

16: _soul-confirming_] _soul-confirmed_ Pope.

21: _thus_] _this_ Theobald.

_by_] F1. _but_ F2 F3 F4.

24: _most_] _more_ Steevens.

_in_] _to_ Collier MS.

35: _counsel_] _counsaile_ F1 F2. _councel_ F3. _council_ F4.

37: _pretended_] _intended_ Johnson conj.

43: _this_] F1. _his_ F2 F3 F4.

SCENE VII. _Verona. JULIA'S house._

_Enter JULIA and LUCETTA._

_Jul._ Counsel, Lucetta; gentle girl, assist me;

And, even in kind love, I do conjure thee,

Who art the table wherein all my thoughts

Are visibly character'd and engraved,

To lesson me; and tell me some good mean, 5

How, with my honour, I may undertake

A journey to my loving Proteus.

_Luc._ Alas, the way is wearisome and long!

_Jul._ A true-devoted pilgrim is not weary

To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps; 10

Much less shall she that hath Love's wings to fly,

And when the flight is made to one so dear,

Of such divine perfection, as Sir Proteus.

_Luc._ Better forbear till Proteus make return.

_Jul._ O, know'st thou not, his looks are my soul's food? 15

Pity the dearth that I have pined in,

By longing for that food so long a time.

Didst thou but know the inly touch of love,

Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow

As seek to quench the fire of love with words. 20

_Luc._ I do not seek to quench your love's hot fire,

But qualify the fire's extreme rage,

Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason.

_Jul._ The more thou damm'st it up, the more it burns.

The current that with gentle murmur glides, 25

Thou know'st, being stopp'd, impatiently doth rage;

But when his fair course is not hindered,

He makes sweet music with the enamell'd stones,

Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge

He overtaketh in his pilgrimage; 30

And so by many winding nooks he strays,

With willing sport, to the wild ocean.

Then let me go, and hinder not my course:

I'll be as patient as a gentle stream,

And make a pastime of each weary step, 35

Till the last step have brought me to my love;

And there I'll rest, as after much turmoil

A blessed soul doth in Elysium.

_Luc._ But in what habit will you go along?

_Jul._ Not like a woman; for I would prevent 40

The loose encounters of lascivious men:

Gentle Lucetta, fit me with such weeds

As may beseem some well-reputed page.

_Luc._ Why, then, your ladyship must cut your hair.

_Jul._ No, girl; I'll knit it up in silken strings 45

With twenty odd-conceited true-love knots.

To be fantastic may become a youth

Of greater time than I shall show to be.

_Luc._ What fashion, madam, shall I make your breeches?

_Jul._ That fits as well as, 'Tell me, good my lord, 50

What compass will you wear your farthingale?'

Why even what fashion thou best likest, Lucetta.

_Luc._ You must needs have them with a codpiece, madam.

_Jul._ Out, out, Lucetta! that will be ill-favour'd.

_Luc._ A round hose, madam, now's not worth a pin, 55

Unless you have a codpiece to stick pins on.

_Jul._ Lucetta, as thou lovest me, let me have

What thou think'st meet, and is most mannerly.

But tell me, wench, how will the world repute me

For undertaking so unstaid a journey? 60

I fear me, it will make me scandalized.

_Luc._ If you think so, then stay at home, and go not.

_Jul._ Nay, that I will not.

_Luc._ Then never dream on infamy, but go.

If Proteus like your journey when you come, 65

No matter who's displeased when you are gone:

I fear me, he will scarce be pleased withal.

_Jul._ That is the least, Lucetta, of my fear:

A thousand oaths, an ocean of his tears,

And instances of infinite of love, 70

Warrant me welcome to my Proteus.

_Luc._ All these are servants to deceitful men.

_Jul._ Base men, that use them to so base effect!

But truer stars did govern Proteus' birth:

His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles; 75

His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate;

His tears pure messengers sent from his heart;

His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth.

_Luc._ Pray heaven he prove so, when you come to him!

_Jul._ Now, as thou lovest me, do him not that wrong, 80

To bear a hard opinion of his truth:

Only deserve my love by loving him;

And presently go with me to my chamber,

To take a note of what I stand in need of,

To furnish me upon my longing journey. 85

All that is mine I leave at thy dispose,

My goods, my lands, my reputation;

Only, in lieu thereof, dispatch me hence.

Come, answer not, but to it presently!

I am impatient of my tarriance. [_Exeunt._ 90

Notes: II, 7.

SCENE VII.] SCENE X. Pope.

13: _perfection_] F1 F2 F4. _perfections_ F3.

18: _inly_] F1 F2. _inchly_ F3 F4.

22: _extreme_] _extremest_ Pope.

32: _wild_] _wide_ Collier MS.

47: _fantastic_] _fantantastique_ F2.

52: _likest_] Pope. _likes_ Ff.

67: _withal_] _with all_ F1 F4. _withall_ F2 F3.

70: _of infinite_] F1. _as infinite_ F2 F3 F4. _of the infinite_

Malone.

85: _longing_] _loving_ Collier MS.

89: _to it_] _do it_ Warburton.

ACT III.

SCENE I. _Milan. Ante-room in the DUKE'S palace._

_Enter DUKE, THURIO, and PROTEUS._

_Duke._ Sir Thurio, give us leave, I pray, awhile;

We have some secrets to confer about. [_Exit Thu._

Now, tell me, Proteus, what's your will with me?

_Pro._ My gracious lord, that which I would discover

The law of friendship bids me to conceal; 5

But when I call to mind your gracious favours

Done to me, undeserving as I am,

My duty pricks me on to utter that

Which else no worldly good should draw from me.

Know, worthy prince, Sir Valentine, my friend, 10

This night intends to steal away your daughter:

Myself am one made privy to the plot.

I know you have determined to bestow her

On Thurio, whom your gentle daughter hates;

And should she thus be stol'n away from you, 15

It would be much vexation to your age.

Thus, for my duty's sake, I rather chose

To cross my friend in his intended drift

Than, by concealing it, heap on your head

A pack of sorrows, which would press you down, 20

Being unprevented, to your timeless grave.

_Duke._ Proteus, I thank thee for thine honest care;

Which to requite, command me while I live.

This love of theirs myself have often seen,

Haply when they have judged me fast asleep; 25

And oftentimes have purposed to forbid

Sir Valentine her company and my court:

But, fearing lest my jealous aim might err,

And so, unworthily disgrace the man,

A rashness that I ever yet have shunn'd, 30

I gave him gentle looks; thereby to find

That which thyself hast now disclosed to me.

And, that thou mayst perceive my fear of this,

Knowing that tender youth is soon suggested,

I nightly lodge her in an upper tower, 35

The key whereof myself have ever kept;

And thence she cannot be convey'd away.

_Pro._ Know, noble lord, they have devised a mean

How he her chamber-window will ascend,

And with a corded ladder fetch her down; 40

For which the youthful lover now is gone,

And this way comes he with it presently;

Where, if it please you, you may intercept him.

But, good my Lord, do it so cunningly

That my discovery be not aimed at; 45

For, love of you, not hate unto my friend,

Hath made me publisher of this pretence.

_Duke._ Upon mine honour, he shall never know

That I had any light from thee of this.

_Pro._ Adieu, my Lord; Sir Valentine is coming. [_Exit._ 50

_Enter VALENTINE._

_Duke._ Sir Valentine, whither away so fast?

_Val._ Please it your grace, there is a messenger

That stays to bear my letters to my friends,

And I am going to deliver them.

_Duke._ Be they of much import? 55

_Val._ The tenour of them doth but signify

My health and happy being at your court.

_Duke._ Nay then, no matter; stay with me awhile;

I am to break with thee of some affairs

That touch me near, wherein thou must be secret. 60

'Tis not unknown to thee that I have sought

To match my friend Sir Thurio 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 65

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, 70

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 child-like duty, 75

I now am full resolved 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.

_Val._ What would your Grace have me to do in this? 80

_Duke._ There is a lady in Verona 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; 85

Besides, the fashion of the time is changed,--

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:

Dumb jewels often in their silent kind 90

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 contents her.

Send her another; never give her o'er;

For scorn at first makes afterlove the more. 95

If she do frown, 'tis not in hate of you,

But rather to beget more love in you:

If she do chide, 'tis not to have you gone;

For why, the fools are mad, if left alone.

Take no repulse, whatever she doth say; 100

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. 105

_Duke._ But she I mean is promised 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.

_Val._ Why, then, I would resort to her by night. 110

_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 window?

_Duke._ Her chamber is aloft, far from the ground,

And built so shelving, that one cannot climb it 115

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. 120

_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.

_Duke._ This very night; for Love is like a child,

That longs for every thing that he can come by. 125

_Val._ By seven o'clock I'll get you such a ladder.

_Duke._ But, hark thee; I will go to her alone:

How shall I best convey the ladder thither?

_Val._ It will be light, my lord, that you may bear it

Under a cloak that is of any length. 130

_Duke._ A cloak as long as thine will serve the turn?

_Val._ Ay, my good lord.

_Duke._ Then let me see thy cloak:

I'll get me one of such another length.

_Val._ Why, any cloak will serve the turn, my lord.

_Duke._ How shall I fashion me to wear a cloak? 135

I pray thee, let me feel thy cloak upon me.

What letter is this same? What's here? 'To Silvia'!

And here an engine fit for my proceeding.

I'll be so bold to break the seal for once. [_Reads._

'My thoughts do harbour with my Silvia nightly; 140

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, 145

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,

That they should harbour where their lord would be.

What's here? 150

'Silvia, this night I will enfranchise thee.'

'Tis so; and here's the ladder for the purpose.

Why, Phaethon,--for thou art Merops' son,--

Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car,

And with thy daring folly burn the world? 155

Wilt thou reach stars, because they shine on thee?

Go, base intruder! overweening slave!

Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates;

And think my patience, more than thy desert,

Is privilege for thy departure hence: 160

Thank me for this more than for all the favours,

Which all too much I have bestow'd on thee.

But if thou linger in my territories

Longer than swiftest expedition

Will give thee time to leave our royal court, 165

By heaven! my wrath shall far exceed the love

I ever bore my daughter or thyself.

Be gone! I will not hear thy vain excuse;

But, as thou lovest thy life, make speed from hence. [_Exit._

_Val._ And why not death rather than living torment? 170

To die is to be banish'd from myself;

And Silvia is myself: banish'd from her,

Is self from self: a deadly banishment!

What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?

What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by? 175

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;

Unless I look on Silvia in the day, 180

There is no day for me to look upon:

She is my essence; and I leave to be,

If I be not by her fair influence

Foster'd, illumined, cherish'd, kept alive.

I fly not death, to fly his deadly doom: 185

Tarry I here, I but attend on death:

But, fly I hence, I fly away from life.

_Enter PROTEUS and LAUNCE._

_Pro._ Run, boy, run, run, and seek him out.

_Launce._ Soho, soho!

_Pro._ What seest thou? 190

_Launce._ Him we go to find: there's not a hair on's

head but 'tis a Valentine.

_Pro._ Valentine?

_Val._ No.

_Pro._ Who then? his spirit? 195

_Val._ Neither.

_Pro._ What then?

_Val._ Nothing.

_Launce._ Can nothing speak? Master, shall I strike?

_Pro._ Who wouldst thou strike? 200

_Launce._ Nothing.

_Pro._ Villain, forbear.

_Launce._ Why, sir, I'll strike nothing: I pray you,--

_Pro._ Sirrah, I say, forbear. Friend Valentine, a word.

_Val._ My ears are stopt, and cannot hear good news, 205

So much of bad already hath possess'd them.

_Pro._ Then in dumb silence will I bury mine,

For they are harsh, untuneable, and bad.

_Val._ Is Silvia dead?

_Pro._ No, Valentine. 210

_Val._ No Valentine, indeed, for sacred Silvia.

Hath she forsworn me?

_Pro._ No, Valentine.

_Val._ No Valentine, if Silvia have forsworn me.

What is your news? 215

_Launce._ Sir, there is a proclamation that you are vanished.

_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. 220

Doth Silvia know that I am banished?

_Pro._ Ay, ay; and she hath offer'd to the doom--

Which, unreversed, stands in effectual force--

A sea of melting pearl, which some call tears:

Those at her father's churlish feet she tender'd; 225

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, 230

Could penetrate her uncompassionate sire;

But Valentine, if he be ta'en, must die.

Besides, her intercession chafed him so,

When she for thy repeal was suppliant,

That to close prison he commanded her, 235

With many bitter threats of biding there.

_Val._ No more; unless the next word that thou speak'st

Have some malignant power upon my life:

If so, I pray thee, breathe it in mine ear,

As ending anthem of my endless dolour. 240

_Pro._ Cease to lament for that thou canst 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. 245

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

Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love. 250

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 lovest Silvia, though not for thyself, 255

Regard thy danger, and along with me!

_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! 260

[_Exeunt Val. and Pro._

_Launce._ 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 265

'tis a woman; but what woman, I will not tell myself; and

yet 'tis a milkmaid; 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. She hath more qualities than a water-spaniel,--

which is much in a bare Christian. 270

[_Pulling out a paper._]

Here is the cate-log 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. 275

_Enter SPEED._

_Speed._ How now, Signior Launce! what news with your mastership?

_Launce._ With my master's ship? why, it is at sea.

_Speed._ Well, your old vice still; mistake the word.

What news, then, in your paper? 280

_Launce._ The blackest news that ever thou heardest.

_Speed._ Why, man, how black?

_Launce._ Why, as black as ink.

_Speed._ Let me read them.

_Launce._ Fie on thee, jolt-head! thou canst not read. 285

_Speed._ Thou liest; I can.

_Launce._ I will try thee. Tell me this: who begot thee?

_Speed._ Marry, the son of my grandfather.

_Launce._ O illiterate loiterer! it was the son of thy grandmother:

this proves that thou canst not read. 290

_Speed._ Come, fool, come; try me in thy paper.

_Launce._ There; and Saint Nicholas be thy speed!

_Speed_ [_reads_]. 'Imprimis: She can milk.'

_Launce._ Ay, that she can.

_Speed._ 'Item: She brews good ale.' 295

_Launce._ And thereof comes the proverb: 'Blessing of

your heart, you brew good ale.'

_Speed._ 'Item: She can sew.'

_Launce._ That's as much as to say, Can she so?

_Speed._ 'Item: She can knit.' 300

_Launce._ 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.'

_Launce._ A special virtue; for then she need not be

washed and scoured. 305

_Speed._ 'Item: She can spin.'

_Launce._ Then may I set the world on wheels, when

she can spin for her living.

_Speed._ 'Item: She hath many nameless virtues.'

_Launce._ That's as much as to say, bastard virtues; 310

that, indeed, know not their fathers, and therefore have no

names.

_Speed._ 'Here follow her vices.'

_Launce._ Close at the heels of her virtues.

_Speed._ 'Item: She is not to be kissed fasting, in respect 315

of her breath.'

_Launce._ Well, that fault may be mended with a breakfast.

Read on.

_Speed._ 'Item: She hath a sweet mouth.'

_Launce._ That makes amends for her sour breath. 320

_Speed._ 'Item: She doth talk in her sleep.'

_Launce._ It's no matter for that, so she sleep not in her talk.

_Speed._ 'Item: She is slow in words.'

_Launce._ O villain, that set this down among her vices! 325

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.'

_Launce._ Out with that too; it was Eve's legacy, and

cannot be ta'en from her. 330

_Speed._ 'Item: She hath no teeth.'

_Launce._ I care not for that neither, because I love crusts.

_Speed._ 'Item: She is curst.'

_Launce._ Well, the best is, she hath no teeth to bite. 335

_Speed._ 'Item: She will often praise her liquor.'

_Launce._ 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.'

_Launce._ Of her tongue she cannot, for that's writ down 340

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 I

help. Well, proceed.

_Speed._ 'Item: She hath more hair than wit, and more

faults than hairs, and more wealth than faults.' 345

_Launce._ 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,'--

_Launce._ More hair than wit? It may be; I'll prove it. 350

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,'--

_Launce._ That's monstrous: O, that that were out! 355

_Speed._ 'And more wealth than faults.'

_Launce._ 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? 360

_Launce._ Why, then will I tell thee--that thy master

stays for thee at the North-gate?

_Speed._ For me?

_Launce._ For thee! ay, who art thou? he hath stayed

for a better man than thee. 365

_Speed._ And must I go to him?

_Launce._ Thou must run to him, for thou hast stayed

so long, that going will scarce serve the turn.

_Speed._ Why didst not tell me sooner? pox of your

love-letters! [_Exit._ 370

_Launce._ Now will he be swinged for reading my letter,--an

unmannerly slave, that will thrust himself into secrets!

I'll after, to rejoice in the boy's correction. [_Exit._

Notes: III, 1.

Ante-room] Capell.

2: [Exit Thu.] Rowe.

7: _as_] F1 F3 F4. _as as_ F2.

21: _Being_] _If_ Pope.

_unprevented_] F1 F2. _unprepared_ F3 F4.

32: _hast_] _hath_ Pope.

33: _that_] F1. om. F2 F3 F4.

50: [Exit] Rowe.

Enter Valentine.] om. F1. [Enter. F2 F3 F4.

51: SCENE II. Pope.

_whither_] F2. _whether_ F1 (and elsewhere).

56: _tenour_] _tenure_ Ff.

72: _may I_] _I may_ Hanmer.

78: _dower_] _dowre_ Ff. _dowry_ Hanmer.

81: _in Verona_] Ff. _sir, in Milan_ Pope. _in Milano_ Collier MS.

_of Verona_ Halliwell. See note (VII).

83: _nought_] F2 F3 F4. _naught_ F1.

89: _respect_] F1 F2 F3. _respects_ F4.

92: _that I sent her_] _that I sent, sir_ Steevens conj.

93: _contents_] _content_ Mason conj.

98: _'tis_] F1 F3 F4. _'its_ F2.

99: _For why, the_] _For why the_ Dyce.

105: _with_] F1 F3 F4. _this_ F2.

139: [Reads] Rowe.

149: _would be_] F2 F3 F4. _should be_ F1.

151: _I will_] F1 F2 F3. _will I_ F4.

154: _car_] _cat_ F3 F4.

169: [Exit] F2.

170: SCENE III. Pope.

Enter PRO. and LAUNCE] F2.

189: _Soho, soho!_] _So-hough, Soa hough--_ F1.

200: _Who_] F1. _Whom_ F2 F3 F4.

204: _Sirrah_] om. Pope.

216: _vanished_] _vanish'd_ Pope.

217: _banished--O that's_] _banish'd: oh, that's_ Ff. _banish'd--O,

that is_ Pope. _banished--_ Val. _Oh, that's the news!_ Pro. _From

hence, ... _ Edd. conj.

260: [Exeunt Val. and Pro.] Exeunt. F2.

261: SCENE VI. Pope, by misprint for IV.

263: _one knave_] _one kind of knave_ Hanmer. _one kind_ Warburton.

_one in love_ Staunton conj.

270: [Pulling out a paper] Rowe.

271: _cate-log_] _cat-log_ Pope.

_condition_] F1 F2 F3. _conditions_ F4.

274: _milk;' look you,_] _milk, look you;_' Capell.

276: Enter Speed] F2.

278: _master's ship_] Theobald. _Mastership_ Ff.

293, 294: om. Farmer conj.

293: _Imprimis_] _Item_ Halliwell.

304: _need not be_] F1. _need not to be_ F2 F3 F4.

313: _follow_] F1. _followes_ F2. _follows_ F3 F4.

315: _kissed_] Rowe. om. Ff.

322: _sleep_] _slip_ Collier MS.

325: _O ... this_] _O villaine, that set this_ F1. _O villainy,

that set_ F2 F3. _Oh villain! that set_ F4. _O villainy that set

this_ Malone.

342: _cannot I_] _I cannot_ Steevens.

344: _hair_] F1. _hairs_ F2 F3 F4.

347: _that last_] F1. (in some copies only, according to Malone.)

_that_ F2 F3 F4.

350: _It may be; I'll prove it_] Theobald. _It may be I'll prove it_

Ff.

369: _of_] F1 F2. om. F3 F4.

370: [Exit] Capell.

373: [Exit.] Capell. [Exeunt. Ff.

SCENE II. _The same. The DUKE'S palace._

_Enter DUKE and THURIO._

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

Now Valentine is banish'd from her sight.

_Thu._ Since his exile she hath despised me most.

Forsworn my company, and rail'd at me,

That I am desperate of obtaining her. 5

_Duke._ This weak impress of love is as a figure

Trenched in ice, which with an hour's heat

Dissolves to water, and doth lose his form.

A little time will melt her frozen thoughts,

And worthless Valentine shall be forgot. 10

_Enter PROTEUS._

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. 15

_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 20

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 25

How she opposes her against my will.

_Pro._ She did, my lord, when Valentine was here.

_Duke._ Ay, and perversely she persevers so.

What might we do to make the girl forget

The love of Valentine, and love Sir Thurio? 30

_Pro._ The best way is to slander Valentine

With falsehood, cowardice and poor descent,

Three things that women highly hold in hate.

_Duke._ Ay, but she'll think that it is spoke in hate.

_Pro._ Ay, if his enemy deliver it: 35

Therefore it must with circumstance be spoken

By one whom she esteemeth as his friend.

_Duke._ Then you must undertake to slander him.

_Pro._ And that, my lord, I shall be loath to do:

'Tis an ill office for a gentleman, 40

Especially against his very friend.

_Duke._ Where your good word cannot advantage him,

Your slander never can endamage him;

Therefore the office is indifferent,

Being entreated to it by your friend. 45

_Pro._ You have prevail'd, my lord: if I can do it

By ought that I can speak in his dispraise,

She shall not long continue love to him.

But say this weed her love from Valentine,

It follows not that she will love Sir Thurio. 50

_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. 55

_Duke._ And, Proteus, we dare trust you in this kind,

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 60

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. 65

_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. 70

_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 75

Moist it again; and frame some feeling line

That may discover such integrity:

For Orpheus' lute was strung with poets' sinews;

Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones,

Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans 80

Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands.

After your dire-lamenting elegies,

Visit by night your lady's chamber-window

With some sweet concert; to their instruments

Tune a deploring dump: the night's dead silence 85

Will well become such sweet-complaining grievance.

This, or else nothing, will inherit her.

_Duke._ This discipline shows thou hast been in love.

_Thu._ And thy advice this night I'll put in practice.

Therefore, sweet Proteus, my direction-giver, 90

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! 95

_Pro._ We'll wait upon your Grace till after supper,

And afterward determine our proceedings.

_Duke._ Even now about it! I will pardon you. [_Exeunt._

Notes: III, 2.

SCENE II.] SCENE V. Pope.

14: _grievously._] _grievously?_ F1. (in some copies only, according

to Malone). _heavily?_ F2 F3. _heavily._ F4.

18: _some_] _sure_ Collier MS.

19: _better_] _bolder_ Capell conj.

20: _loyal_] F1 F3 F4. _royall_ F2.

21: _your_] F1 F3 F4. _you_ F2.

_Grace_] _face_ Anon. conj.

25: _I think_] F1. _I doe think_ F2 F3 F4.

28: _persevers_] F1 F2. _perseveres_ F3 F4.

37: _esteemeth_] F1. _esteemes_ F2. _esteems_ F3 F4.

49: _weed_] Ff. _wean_ Rowe.

55: _worth_] _word_ Capell conj.

64: _Where_] _When_ Collier MS.

71, 72: _Ay, Much_] Capell. _I, much_ Ff. _Much_ Pope.

76: _line_] _lines_ S. Verges conj.

77: _such_] _strict_ Collier MS. _love's_ S. Verges conj. Malone

suggests that a line has been lost to this purport: _'As her

obdurate heart may penetrate.'_

81: _to_] F1. _and_ F2 F3 F4.

84: _concert_] Hanmer. _consort_ Ff.

86: _sweet-complaining_] Capell. _sweet complaining_ Ff.

94: _advice_] F2 F3 F4. _advise_ F1.

ACT IV.

SCENE I. _The frontiers of Mantua. A forest._

_Enter certain _Outlaws_._

_First Out._ Fellows, stand fast; I see a passenger.

_Sec. Out._ If there be ten, shrink not, but down with 'em.

_Enter VALENTINE and SPEED._

_Third Out._ Stand, sir, and throw us that you have about ye:

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

_Speed._ Sir, we are undone; these are the villains 5

That all the travellers do fear so much.

_Val._ My friends,--

_First Out._ That's not so, sir: we are your enemies.

_Sec. Out._ Peace! we'll hear him.

_Third Out._ Ay, by my beard, will we, for he's a proper man. 10

_Val._ Then know that I have little wealth to lose:

A man I am cross'd with adversity;

My riches are these poor habiliments,

Of which if you should here disfurnish me,

You take the sum and substance that I have. 15

_Sec. Out._ Whither travel you?

_Val._ To Verona.

_First Out._ Whence came you?

_Val._ From Milan.

_Third Out._ Have you long sojourned there? 20

_Val._ Some sixteen months, and longer might have stay'd,

If crooked fortune had not thwarted me.

_First Out._ What, were you banish'd thence?

_Val._ I was.

_Sec. Out._ For what offence? 25

_Val._ For that which now torments me to rehearse:

I kill'd a man, whose death I much repent;

But yet I slew him manfully in fight,

Without false vantage or base treachery.

_First Out._ Why, ne'er repent it, if it were done so. 30

But were you banish'd for so small a fault?

_Val._ I was, and held me glad of such a doom.

_Sec. Out._ Have you the tongues?

_Val._ My youthful travel therein made me happy,

Or else I often had been miserable. 35

_Third Out._ By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar,

This fellow were a king for our wild faction!

_First Out._ We'll have him. Sirs, a word.

_Speed._ Master, be one of them; it's an honourable kind

of thievery. 40

_Val._ Peace, villain!

_Sec. Out._ Tell us this: have you any thing to take to?

_Val._ Nothing but my fortune.

_Third Out._ Know, then, that some of us are gentlemen,

Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth 45

Thrust from the company of awful men:

Myself was from Verona banished

For practising to steal away a lady,

An heir, and near allied unto the duke.

_Sec. Out._ And I from Mantua, for a gentleman, 50

Who, in my mood, I stabb'd unto the heart.

_First Out._ And I for such like petty crimes as these.

But to the purpose,--for we cite our faults,

That they may hold excused our lawless lives;

And partly, seeing you are beautified 55

With goodly shape, and by your own report

A linguist, and a man of such perfection

As we do in our quality much want,--

_Sec. Out._ Indeed, because you are a banish'd man,

Therefore, above the rest, we parley to you: 60

Are you content to be our general?

To make a virtue of necessity,

And live, as we do, in this wilderness?

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

Say ay, and be the captain of us all: 65

We'll do thee homage and be ruled by thee,

Love thee as our commander and our king.

_First Out._ But if thou scorn our courtesy, thou diest.

_Sec. Out._ Thou shalt not live to brag what we have offer'd.

_Val._ I take your offer, and will live with you, 70

Provided that you do no outrages

On silly women or poor passengers.

_Third Out._ No, we detest such vile base practices.

Come, go with us, we'll bring thee to our crews,

And show thee all the treasure we have got; 75

Which, with ourselves, all rest at thy dispose. [_Exeunt._

Notes: IV, 1.

SCENE I. The frontiers ... forest.] Capell. A forest. Rowe.

A forest leading towards Mantua. Warburton.

2: _shrink_] _shrinkd_ F2.

4: _sit_] F1 F2. _sir_ F3 F4.

5: _Sir_] _O sir_ Capell.

6: _do_] om. Pope, who prints lines 5 and 6 as prose.

9: _Peace!_] _Peace, peace!_ Capell.

11: _little wealth_] F1. _little_ F2 F3 F4. _little left_ Hanmer.

18: _Whence_] _And whence_ Capell, who reads 16-20 as two lines

ending _came you? ... there?_

35: _ I often had been_] F2. _I often had been often_ F1. _often had

been_ (om. _I_) F3 F4. _I had been often_ Collier.

39, 40: _it's ... thievery_] Printed as a verse in Ff. _It is a kind

of honourable thievery_ Steevens.

42: _thing_] F1. _things_ F2 F3 F4.

46: _awful_] _lawful_ Heath conj.

49: _An heir, and near allied_] Theobald. _And heire and Neece,

allide_ F1 F2. _An heir, and Neice allide_ F3. _An Heir, and

Neece alli'd_ F4.

51: _Who_] _Whom_ Pope.

60: _Therefore_] F1 F2. _There_ F3 F4.

63: _this_] F1. _the_ F2 F3 F4.

74: _crews_] F4. _crewes_ F1 F2 F3. _cave_ Collier MS. _caves_

Singer. _crew_ Delius conj. _cruives_ Bullock conj.

76: _all_] _shall_ Pope.

SCENE II. _Milan. Outside the DUKE'S palace, under SILVIA'S chamber._

_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, 5

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 10

In breaking faith with Julia whom I loved:

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. 15

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. 20

_Tim._ 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. 25

_Enter, at a distance, HOST, 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 gentleman that 30

you asked for.

_Jul._ But shall I hear him speak?

_Host._ Ay, that you shall.

_Jul._ That will be music. [_Music plays._

_Host._ Hark, hark! 35

_Jul._ Is he among these?

_Host._ Ay: but, peace! let's hear 'em.

SONG.

Who is Silvia? what is she,

That all our swains commend her?

Holy, fair, and wise is she; 40

The heaven such grace did lend her,

That she might admired be.

Is she kind as she is fair?

For beauty lives with kindness.

Love doth to her eyes repair, 45

To help him of his blindness,

And, being help'd, inhabits there.

Then to Silvia let us sing,

That Silvia is excelling;

She excels each mortal thing 50

Upon the dull earth dwelling:

To her let us garlands bring.

_Host._ How now! are you sadder than you were before?

How do you, man? the music likes you not.

_Jul._ You mistake; the musician likes me not. 55

_Host._ Why, my pretty youth?

_Jul._ He plays false, father.

_Host._ How? out of tune on the strings?

_Jul._ Not so; but yet so false that he grieves my very

heart-strings. 60

_Host._ You have a quick ear.

_Jul._ Ay, I would I were deaf; it makes me have a slow

heart.

_Host._ I perceive you delight not in music.

_Jul._ Not a whit, when it jars so. 65

_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 70

Often resort unto this gentlewoman?

_Host._ I tell you what Launce, his man, told me,--he

loved her out of all nick.

_Jul._ Where is Launce?

_Host._ Gone to seek his dog; which to-morrow, by his 75

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. 80

[_Exeunt Thu. and Musicians._

_Enter SILVIA above._

_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 would quickly learn to know him by his voice. 85

_Sil._ Sir Proteus, as I take it.

_Pro._ Sir Proteus, gentle lady, and your servant.

_Sil._ What's 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. 90

Thou subtle, perjured, false, disloyal man!

Think'st thou I am so shallow, so conceitless,

To be seduced by thy flattery,

That hast deceived so many with thy vows?

Return, return, and make thy love amends. 95

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. 100

_Pro._ I grant, sweet love, that I did love a lady;

But she is dead.

_Jul._ [_Aside_] 'Twere false, if I should speak it;

For I am sure she is not buried.

_Sil._ Say that she be; yet Valentine thy friend

Survives; to whom, thyself art witness, 105

I am betroth'd: and art thou not ashamed

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. 110

_Pro._ Sweet lady, let me rake it from the earth.

_Sil._ Go to thy lady's grave, and call hers thence;

Or, at the least, in hers sepulchre thine.

_Jul._ [_Aside_] He heard not that.

_Pro._ Madam, if your heart be so obdurate, 115

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; 120

And to your shadow will I make true love.

_Jul._ [_Aside_] If 'twere a substance, you would,

sure, deceive it,

And make it but a shadow, as I am.

_Sil._ I am very loath to be your idol, sir;

But since your falsehood shall become you well 125

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 Pro. and Sil. severally._

_Jul._ Host, will you go? 130

_Host._ By my halidom, I was fast asleep.

_Jul._ Pray you, where lies Sir Proteus?

_Host._ Marry, at my house. Trust me, I think 'tis

almost day.

_Jul._ Not so; but it hath been the longest night 135

That e'er I watch'd, and the most heaviest. [_Exeunt._

Notes: IV, 2.

SCENE II. Outside ... palace ...] An open place, ... Warburton.

Court of the palace. Capell.

1: _have I_] _I've_ Pope.

15: _and_] om. F3 F4.

18: Musicians.] Rowe. Musitian. Ff. at the beginning of the scene.

23: _Who_] F1. Whom F2 F3 F4.

25: _tune_] F1. _turne_ F2. _turn_ F3 F4.

26: at a distance] Capell.

_allycholly_] _melancholy_ Pope.

27: _I pray you, why is it_] F1. _I pray you what is it_ F2 F3.

_I pray what is it?_ F4.

34: [Music plays] Capell.

40: _is she_] _as free_ Collier MS.

50: _excels_] _exceeds_ S. Walker conj.

53: SCENE III. Pope.

53, 54: _are you ... before?_] _you are ... before_ Heath conj.

68: _You would_] _you would, then,_ Malone. _you would not_

Collier MS.

70, 71: Printed as prose by Capell.

72-74: Printed as verse in Ff. _I tell ... He lov'd ..._

78: _fear not you_] F1. _fear not_ F2 F3 F4.

80: [Exeunt Thu. and Musicians.] Rowe.

81: SCENE IV. Pope.

Enter SILVIA above] Rowe. om. Ff.

85: _You would_] Ff. _You'd_ Pope.

88: _What's_] _What is_ Pope.

89: _even_] F1. _ever_ F2 F3 F4.

102: [Aside] Pope.

105: _thyself_] _even thyself_ Hanmer.

109: _his_] F2 F3 F4. _her_ F1.

112: _hers_] F1 F2. _her_ F3 F4.

114: [Aside] Pope.

115: _if_] _if that_ Warburton.

115, 116: _obdurate, Vouchsafe_] _Obdurate, O, vouchsafe_ Hanmer.

116: _for my love_] om. Hanmer.

122: [Aside] Pope.

125: _since your falsehood shall_] _since you're false, it shall_

Johnson conj.

129: [Exeunt ... severally] om. F1. [Exeunt. F2.

136: _heaviest_] _heavy one_ Pope.

SCENE III. _The same._

_Enter EGLAMOUR._

_Egl._ This is the hour that Madam Silvia

Entreated me to call and know her mind:

There's some great matter she'ld employ me in.

Madam, madam!

_Enter SILVIA above._

_Sil._ Who calls?

_Egl._ Your servant and your friend;

One that attends your ladyship's command. 5

_Sil._ Sir Eglamour, a thousand times good morrow.

_Egl._ As many, worthy lady, to yourself:

According to your ladyship's impose,

I am thus early come to know what service

It is your pleasure to command me in. 10

_Sil._ O Eglamour, thou art a gentleman,--

Think not I flatter, for I swear I do not,--

Valiant, wise, remorseful, well accomplish'd:

Thou art not ignorant what dear good will

I bear unto the banish'd Valentine; 15

Nor how my father would enforce me marry

Vain Thurio, whom my very soul abhors.

Thyself hast loved; and I have heard thee say

No grief did ever come so near thy heart

As when thy lady and thy true love died, 20

Upon whose grave thou vow'dst pure chastity.

Sir Eglamour, I would to Valentine,

To Mantua, where I hear he makes abode;

And, for the ways are dangerous to pass,

I do desire thy worthy company, 25

Upon whose faith and honour I repose.

Urge not my father's anger, Eglamour,

But think upon my grief, a lady's grief,

And on the justice of my flying hence,

To keep me from a most unholy match, 30

Which heaven and fortune still rewards with plagues.

I do desire thee, even from a heart

As full of sorrows as the sea of sands,

To bear me company, and go with me:

If not, to hide what I have said to thee, 35

That I may venture to depart alone.

_Egl._ Madam, I pity much your grievances;

Which since I know they virtuously are placed,

I give consent to go along with you;

Recking as little what betideth me 40

As much I wish all good befortune you.

When will you go?

_Sil._ This evening coming.

_Egl._ Where shall I meet you?

_Sil._ At Friar Patrick's cell,

Where I intend holy confession.

_Egl._ I will not fail your ladyship. Good morrow, 45

gentle lady.

_Sil._ Good morrow, kind Sir Eglamour.

[_Exeunt severally._

Notes: IV, 3.

SCENE III.] SCENE V. Pope. Dyce makes no new scene here. See note

(VIII).

4: _Madam, madam!_] _Madam!_ Hanmer.

13: _Valiant, wise_] _Valiant and wise_ Pope. _Wise, valiant_

Anon. conj. A monosyllable lost before _valiant._ S. Walker conj.

17: _abhors_] Hanmer. _abhor'd_ F1 F2 F3. _abhorr'd_ F4.

19: _ever_] F1. om. F2 F3 F4.

_near_] _near unto_ Pope.

31: _rewards_] Ff. _reward_ Pope.

37, 38: _grievances; Which_] _grievances, And the most true

affections that you bear; Which_ Collier MS.

40: _Recking_] Pope. _Wreaking_ F1.

42: _evening coming_] _coming evening_ Anon. conj.

SCENE IV. _The same._

_Enter LAUNCE, with his Dog._

_Launce._ When a man's servant shall play the cur with

him, look you, it goes hard: one that I brought up of a

puppy; one that I saved from drowning, when three or

four of his blind brothers and sisters went to it! I have

taught him, even as one would say precisely, 'thus I 5

would teach a dog.' I was sent to deliver him as a present

to Mistress Silvia from my master; and I came no sooner

into the dining-chamber, but he steps me to her trencher,

and steals her capon's leg: O, 'tis a foul thing when a cur

cannot keep himself in all companies! I would have, as 10

one should say, one that takes upon him to be a dog indeed,

to be, as it were, a dog at all things. If I had not

had more wit than he, to take a fault upon me that he

did, I think verily he had been hanged for't: sure as I

live, he had suffered for't: you shall judge. He thrusts 15

me himself into the company of three or four gentleman-like

dogs, under the duke's table: he had not been there--bless

the mark!--a pissing while, but all the chamber

smelt him. 'Out with the dog!' says one: 'What cur is

that?' says another: 'Whip him out,' says the third: 'Hang 20

him up,' says the duke. I, having been acquainted with

the smell before, knew it was Crab, and goes me to the

fellow that whips the dogs: 'Friend,' quoth I, 'you mean

to whip the dog?' 'Ay, marry, do I,' quoth he. 'You

do him the more wrong,' quoth I; ''twas I did the thing 25

you wot of.' He makes me no more ado, but whips me

out of the chamber. How many masters would do this for

his servant? Nay, I'll be sworn, I have sat in the stocks

for puddings he hath stolen, otherwise he had been executed;

I have stood on the pillory for geese he hath killed, 30

otherwise he had suffered for't. Thou thinkest not of this

now. Nay, I remember the trick you served me when I

took my leave of Madam Silvia: did not I bid thee still

mark me, and do as I do? when didst thou see me heave

up my leg, and make water against a gentlewoman's farthingale? 35

didst thou ever see me do such a trick?

_Enter PROTEUS and JULIA._

_Pro._ Sebastian is thy name? I like thee well,

And will employ thee in some service presently.

_Jul._ In what you please: I'll do what I can.

_Pro._ I hope thou wilt. [_To Launce_] How now, you

whoreson peasant! 40

Where have you been these two days loitering?

_Launce._ Marry, sir, I carried Mistress Silvia the dog

you bade me.

_Pro._ And what says she to my little jewel?

_Launce._ Marry, she says your dog was a cur, and tells 45

you currish thanks is good enough for such a present.

_Pro._ But she received my dog?

_Launce._ No, indeed, did she not: here have I brought

him back again.

_Pro._ What, didst thou offer her this from me? 50

_Launce._ Ay, sir; the other squirrel was stolen from me

by the hangman boys in the market-place: and then I

offered her mine own, who is a dog as big as ten of yours,

and therefore the gift the greater.

_Pro._ Go get thee hence, and find my dog again, 55

Or ne'er return again into my sight.

Away, I say! stay'st thou to vex me here?

[_Exit Launce._

A slave, that still an end turns me to shame!

Sebastian, I have entertained thee,

Partly that I have need of such a youth, 60

That can with some discretion do my business,

For 'tis no trusting to yond foolish lout;

But chiefly for thy face and thy behaviour,

Which, if my augury deceive me not,

Witness good bringing up, fortune, and truth: 65

Therefore know thou, for this I entertain thee.

Go presently, and take this ring with thee,

Deliver it to Madam Silvia:

She loved me well deliver'd it to me.

_Jul._ It seems you loved not her, to leave her token. 70

She is dead, belike?

_Pro._ Not so; I think she lives.

_Jul._ Alas!

_Pro._ Why dost thou cry, 'alas'?

_Jul._ I cannot choose

But pity her.

_Pro._ Wherefore shouldst thou pity her?

_Jul._ Because methinks that she loved you as well 75

As you do love your lady Silvia:

She dreams on him that has forgot her love;

You dote on her that cares not for your love.

'Tis pity love should be so contrary;

And thinking on it makes me cry, 'alas!' 80

_Pro._ Well, give her that ring, and therewithal

This letter. That's her chamber. Tell my lady

I claim the promise for her heavenly picture.

Your message done, hie home unto my chamber,

Where thou shalt find me, sad and solitary. [_Exit._ 85

_Jul._ How many women would do such a message?

Alas, poor Proteus! thou hast entertained

A fox to be the shepherd of thy lambs.

Alas, poor fool! why do I pity him

That with his very heart despiseth me? 90

Because he loves her, he despiseth me;

Because I love him, I must pity him.

This ring I gave him when he parted from me,

To bind him to remember my good will;

And now am I, unhappy messenger, 95

To plead for that which I would not obtain,

To carry that which I would have refused,

To praise his faith which I would have dispraised.

I am my master's true-confirmed love;

But cannot be true servant to my master, 100

Unless I prove false traitor to myself.

Yet will I woo for him, but yet so coldly,

As, heaven it knows, I would not have him speed.

_Enter SILVIA, attended._

Gentlewoman, good day! I pray you, be my mean

To bring me where to speak with Madam Silvia. 105

_Sil._ What would you with her, if that I be she?

_Jul._ If you be she, I do entreat your patience

To hear me speak the message I am sent on.

_Sil._ From whom?

_Jul._ From my master, Sir Proteus, madam. 110

_Sil._ O, he sends you for a picture.

_Jul._ Ay, madam.

_Sil._ Ursula, bring my picture there.

Go give your master this: tell him, from me,

One Julia, that his changing thoughts forget, 115

Would better fit his chamber than this shadow.

_Jul._ Madam, please you peruse this letter.--

Pardon me, madam; I have unadvised

Deliver'd you a paper that I should not:

This is the letter to your ladyship. 120

_Sil._ I pray thee, let me look on that again.

_Jul._ It may not be; good madam, pardon me.

_Sil._ There, hold!

I will not look upon your master's lines:

I know they are stuff'd with protestations, 125

And full of new-found oaths; which he will break

As easily as I do tear his paper.

_Jul._ Madam, he sends your ladyship this ring.

_Sil._ The more shame for him that he sends it me;

For I have heard him say a thousand times 130

His Julia gave it him at his departure.

Though his false finger have profaned the ring,

Mine shall not do his Julia so much wrong.

_Jul._ She thanks you.

_Sil._ What say'st thou? 135

_Jul._ I thank you, madam, that you tender her.

Poor gentlewoman! my master wrongs her much.

_Sil._ Dost thou know her?

_Jul._ Almost as well as I do know myself:

To think upon her woes I do protest 140

That I have wept a hundred several times.

_Sil._ Belike she thinks that Proteus hath forsook her.

_Jul._ I think she doth; and that's her cause of sorrow.

_Sil._ Is she not passing fair?

_Jul._ She hath been fairer, madam, than she is: 145

When she did think my master loved her well,

She, in my judgement, was as fair as you;

But since she did neglect her looking-glass,

And threw her sun-expelling mask away,

The air hath starved the roses in her cheeks, 150

And pinch'd the lily-tincture of her face,

That now she is become as black as I.

_Sil._ How tall was she?

_Jul._ About my stature: for, at Pentecost,

When all our pageants of delight were play'd, 155

Our youth got me to play the woman's part,

And I was trimm'd in Madam Julia's gown;

Which served me as fit, by all men's judgements,

As if the garment had been made for me:

Therefore I know she is about my height. 160

And at that time I made her weep agood,

For I did play a lamentable part:

Madam, 'twas Ariadne passioning

For Theseus' perjury and unjust flight;

Which I so lively acted with my tears, 165

That my poor mistress, moved therewithal,

Wept bitterly; and, would I might be dead,

If I in thought felt not her very sorrow!

_Sil._ She is beholding to thee, gentle youth.

Alas, poor lady, desolate and left! 170

I weep myself to think upon thy words.

Here, youth, there is my purse: I give thee this

For thy sweet mistress' sake, because thou lovest her.

Farewell. [_Exit Silvia, with attendants._

_Jul._ And she shall thank you for't, if e'er you know her. 175

A virtuous gentlewoman, mild and beautiful!

I hope my master's suit will be but cold,

Since she respects my mistress' love so much.

Alas, how love can trifle with itself!

Here is her picture: let me see; I think, 180

If I had such a tire, this face of mine

Were full as lovely as is this of hers:

And yet the painter flatter'd her a little,

Unless I flatter with myself too much.

Her hair is auburn, mine is perfect yellow: 185

If that be all the difference in his love,

I'll get me such a colour'd periwig.

Her eyes are grey as glass; and so are mine:

Ay, but her forehead's low, and mine's as high.

What should it be that he respects in her, 190

But I can make respective in myself,

If this fond Love were not a blinded god?

Come, shadow, come, and take this shadow up,

For 'tis thy rival. O thou senseless form,

Thou shalt be worshipp'd, kiss'd, loved, and adored! 193

And, were there sense in his idolatry,

My substance should be statue in thy stead.

I'll use thee kindly for thy mistress' sake,

That used me so; or else, by Jove I vow,

I should have scratch'd out your unseeing eyes, 200

To make my master out of love with thee! [_Exit._

Notes: IV, 4.

SCENE IV.] SCENE VI. Pope. Dyce makes no new scene here. See note

(VIII).

The same.] The same. Silvia's Anti-chamber. Capell.

6: _I was sent_] _I went_ Theobald.

11: _to be a dog indeed_] _to be a dog, to be a dog indeed_

Johnson conj.

20: _the third_] _a third_ Hanmer.

23: _you mean_] _do you mean_ Collier MS.

26: _makes me no more_] _makes no more_ Rowe.

28: _his servant_] _their servant_ Pope.

33: _Silvia_] _Julia_ Warburton.

39: _I'll do_] _Ile do_ F1. _Ile do sir_ F2 F3 F4. _I will do_

Malone.

45: _was_] _is_ Capell conj.

48: _did she_] F1 F2. _she did_ F3 F4.

50: _this_] _this cur_ Collier MS.

51: _the other squirrel_] _the other, Squirrel_ Hanmer.

51-54: Printed as four verses ending _me ... marketplace ... dog ...

greater_ Ff. Pope made the change.

52: _hangman boys_] Singer. _Hangmans boyes_ F1. _hangmans boy_

F2 F3 F4. _a hangman boy_ Collier MS.

57: [Exit Launce] om. F1. [Exit. F2 after line 58.

58: _still an end_] _ev'ry day_ Pope.

66: _know thou_] F2 F3 F4. _know thee_ F1.

_entertain thee_] F1 F3 F4. _entertaine hee_ F2.

70: _to leave_] F2 F3 F4. _not leave_ F1. _nor love_ Johnson conj.

74: _Wherefore_] _Why_ Hanmer.

75: _that_] _if_ Hanmer.

81: _give her_] _give to her_ Collier MS.

_and therewithal_] _and give therewithal_ Theobald. _and give her

therewithal_ Capell.

85: [Exit] F2.

95: _am I_] F1 F2. _I am_ F3 F4.

103: Enter SILVIA attended] Malone. Enter SILVIA. Rowe.

104: _Gentlewoman_] Ff. _Lady_ Pope.

110: _From my master,_] _My master; from_ Capell.

111: Capell adds _does he not?_

115: _forget_] F1 F2. _forgot_ F3 F4.

117: _please you peruse_] _may 't please you to peruse_ Pope.

_wilt please you to peruse_ Capell. _so please you to peruse_

Collier MS.

127: _easily_] F1. _easie_ F2 F3 F4.

138: _Dost thou_] _Dost_ Capell conj.

151: _pinch'd_] _pitch'd_ Warburton. _pincte_ Becket conj. _pinc'd_

Id. conj.

158: _judgements_] _judgment_ Capell.

161: _agood_] F2 F3 F4. _a good_ F1. _a-good_ Theobald.

168: _felt_] _feel_ Seward conj.

169: _beholding_] _beholden_ Pope.

172: _my purse_] F1. _a purse_ F2 F3 F4.

174: _Farewell_] om. Pope.

[Exit ... attendants] Dyce, after 175. [Exit. F2. om. F1. [Exit S.

Singer, after 175.

178: _my mistress'_] _his mistress'_ Hanmer.

185: _auburn_] Rowe. _Aburne_ Ff.

188: _grey as glass_] F1. _grey as grass_ F2 F3 F4. _green as grass_

Collier MS.

189: _mine's as high_] _mine is high_ Pope.

197: _statue_] _sainted_ Hanmer. _statued_ Warburton. _statua_

Reed conj.

200: _your_] _thy_ Hanmer.

201: [Exit.] F2. [Exeunt. F1.

ACT V.

SCENE I. _Milan. An abbey._

_Enter EGLAMOUR._

_Egl._ The sun begins to gild the western sky;

And now it is about the very hour

That Silvia, at Friar Patrick's cell, should meet me.

She will not fail, for lovers break not hours,

Unless it be to come before their time; 5

So much they spur their expedition.

See where she comes.

_Enter SILVIA._

Lady, a happy evening!

_Sil._ Amen, amen! Go on, good Eglamour,

Out at the postern by the abbey-wall:

I fear I am attended by some spies. 10

_Egl._ Fear not: the forest is not three leagues off;

If we recover that, we are sure enough. [_Exeunt._

Notes: V, 1.

SCENE I. An abbey.] Capell. Near the Friar's cell. Theobald.

3: _That_] om. Pope.

_Friar_] om. Steevens (1793).

12: _we are_] _we're_ Pope.

SCENE II. _The same. The DUKE'S palace._

_Enter THURIO, PROTEUS, and JULIA._

_Thu._ Sir Proteus, what says Silvia to my suit?

_Pro._ O, sir, I find her milder than she was;

And yet she takes exceptions at your person.

_Thu._ What, that my leg is too long?

_Pro._ No; that it is too little. 5

_Thu._ I'll wear a boot, to make it somewhat rounder.

_Jul._ [_Aside_] But love will not be spurr'd to what it loathes.

_Thu._ What says she to my face?

_Pro._ She says it is a fair one.

_Thu._ Nay then, the wanton lies; my face is black. 10

_Pro._ But pearls are fair; and the old saying is,

Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies' eyes.

_Jul._ [_Aside_] 'Tis true, such pearls as put out ladies' eyes;

For I had rather wink than look on them.

_Thu._ How likes she my discourse? 15

_Pro._ Ill, when you talk of war.

_Thu._ But well, when I discourse of love and peace?

_Jul._ [_Aside_] But better, indeed, when you hold your peace.

_Thu._ What says she to my valour?

_Pro._ O, sir, she makes no doubt of that. 20

_Jul._ [_Aside_] She needs not, when she knows it cowardice.

_Thu._ What says she to my birth?

_Pro._ That you are well derived.

_Jul._ [_Aside_] True; from a gentleman to a fool.

_Thu._ Considers she my possessions? 25

_Pro._ O, ay; and pities them.

_Thu._ Wherefore?

_Jul._ [_Aside_] That such an ass should owe them.

_Pro._ That they are out by lease.

_Jul._ Here comes the duke. 30

_Enter DUKE._

_Duke._ How now, Sir Proteus! how now, Thurio!

Which of you saw Sir Eglamour of late?

_Thu._ Not I.

_Pro._ Nor I.

_Duke._ Saw you my daughter?

_Pro._ Neither.

_Duke._ Why then,

She's fled unto that peasant Valentine; 35

And Eglamour is in her company.

'Tis true; for Friar Laurence met them both,

As he in penance wander'd through the forest;

Him he knew well, and guess'd that it was she,

But, being mask'd, he was not sure of it; 40

Besides, she did intend confession

At Patrick's cell this even; and there she was not;

These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence.

Therefore, I pray you, stand not to discourse,

But mount you presently, and meet with me 45

Upon the rising of the mountain-foot

That leads toward Mantua, whither they are fled:

Dispatch, sweet gentlemen, and follow me. [_Exit._

_Thu._ Why, this it is to be a peevish girl,

That flies her fortune when it follows her. 50

I'll after, more to be revenged on Eglamour

Than for the love of reckless Silvia. [_Exit._

_Pro._ And I will follow, more for Silvia's love

Than hate of Eglamour, that goes with her. [_Exit._

_Jul._ And I will follow, more to cross that love 55

Than hate for Silvia, that is gone for love. [_Exit._

Notes: V, 2.

SCENE II. The Duke's palace.] Theobald.

7: Jul. [Aside] _But love ..._] Collier (Boswell conj.). Pro.

_But love ..._ Ff.

13: Jul. [Aside] _'Tis true ..._] Rowe. Thu. _'Tis true ..._ Ff.

18, 21, 24, 28: [Aside] Capell.

18: _hold_] _do hold_ Capell.

25: _possessions_] _large possessions_ Collier MS.

28: _owe_] Ff. _own_ Pope.

32: _saw Sir_] F4. _saw_ F1. _say saw Sir_ F2 F3.

34, 35: _Why then, She's_] _Why then, she's_ Capell.

35: _that_] F1. _the_ F2 F3 F4.

40: _it_] _her_ Collier MS.

47: _toward_] _towards_ Pope.

48: [Exit.] Rowe.

50: _when_] F1. _where_ F2 F3 F4.

51: _on_] _of_ Pope.

52: [Exit.] Capell.

54: [Exit.] Capell.

56: [Exit.] Capell. [Exeunt. Ff.

SCENE III. _The frontiers of Mantua. The forest._

_Enter _Outlaws_ with SILVIA._

_First Out._ Come, come,

Be patient; we must bring you to our captain.

_Sil._ A thousand more mischances than this one

Have learn'd me how to brook this patiently.

_Sec. Out._ Come, bring her away. 5

_First Out._ Where is the gentleman that was with her?

_Third Out._ Being nimble-footed, he hath outrun us,

But Moses and Valerius follow him.

Go thou with her to the west end of the wood;

There is our captain: we'll follow him that's fled; 10

The thicket is beset; he cannot 'scape.

_First Out._ Come, I must bring you to our captain's cave:

Fear not; he bears an honourable mind,

And will not use a woman lawlessly.

_Sil._ O Valentine, this I endure for thee! [_Exeunt_. 15

Notes: V, 3.

SCENE III. The ... Mantua] Capell.

The forest.] Pope.

8: _Moses_] Capell. _Moyses_ Ff.

10: _we'll_] om. Pope.

11: [Exeunt. Capell.

SCENE IV. _Another part of the forest._

_Enter VALENTINE._

_Val._ How use doth breed a habit in a man!

This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods,

I better brook than flourishing peopled towns:

Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,

And to the nightingale's complaining notes 5

Tune my distresses and record my woes.

O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,

Leave not the mansion so long tenantless,

Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall,

And leave no memory of what it was! 10

Repair me with thy presence, Silvia;

Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain!

What halloing and what stir is this to-day?

These are my mates, that make their wills their law,

Have some unhappy passenger in chase. 15

They love me well; yet I have much to do

To keep them from uncivil outrages.

Withdraw thee, Valentine: who's this comes here?

_Enter PROTEUS, SILVIA, and JULIA._

_Pro._ Madam, this service I have done for you,

Though you respect not aught your servant doth, 20

To hazard life, and rescue you from him

That would have forced your honour and your love;

Vouchsafe me, for my meed, but one fair look;

A smaller boon than this I cannot beg,

And less than this, I am sure, you cannot give. 25

_Val._ [_Aside_] How like a dream is this I see and hear!

Love, lend me patience to forbear awhile.

_Sil._ O miserable, unhappy that I am!

_Pro._ Unhappy were you, madam, ere I came;

But by my coming I have made you happy. 30

_Sil._ By thy approach thou makest me most unhappy.

_Jul._ [_Aside_] And me, when he approacheth to your presence.

_Sil._ Had I been seized by a hungry lion,

I would have been a breakfast to the beast,

Rather than have false Proteus rescue me. 35

O, Heaven be judge how I love Valentine,

Whose life's as tender to me as my soul!

And full as much, for more there cannot be,

I do detest false perjured Proteus.

Therefore be gone; solicit me no more. 40

_Pro._ What dangerous action, stood it next to death,

Would I not undergo for one calm look!

O, 'tis the curse in love, and still approved,

When women cannot love where they're beloved!

_Sil._ When Proteus cannot love where he's beloved. 45

Read over Julia's heart, thy first, best love,

For whose dear sake thou didst then rend thy faith

Into a thousand oaths; and all those oaths

Descended into perjury, to love me.

Thou hast no faith left now, unless thou'dst two, 50

And that's far worse than none; better have none

Than plural faith which is too much by one:

Thou counterfeit to thy true friend!

_Pro._ In love

Who respects friend?

_Sil._ All men but Proteus.

_Pro._ Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words 55

Can no way change you to a milder form,

I'll woo you like a soldier, at arms' end,

And love you 'gainst the nature of love,--force ye.

_Sil._ O heaven!

_Pro._ I'll force thee yield to my desire.

_Val._ Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch, 60

Thou friend of an ill fashion!

_Pro._ Valentine!

_Val._ Thou common friend, that's without faith or love,

For such is a friend now; treacherous man!

Thou hast beguiled my hopes; nought but mine eye

Could have persuaded me: now I dare not say 65

I have one friend alive; thou wouldst disprove me.

Who should be trusted now, when one's right hand

Is perjured to the bosom? Proteus,

I am sorry I must never trust thee more,

But count the world a stranger for thy sake. 70

The private wound is deepest: O time most accurst,

'Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst!

_Pro._ My shame and guilt confounds me.

Forgive me, Valentine: if hearty sorrow

Be a sufficient ransom for offence, 75

I tender 't here; I do as truly suffer

As e'er I did commit.

_Val._ Then I am paid;

And once again I do receive thee honest.

Who by repentance is not satisfied

Is nor of heaven nor earth, for these are pleased. 80

By penitence the Eternal's wrath's appeased:

And, that my love may appear plain and free,

All that was mine in Silvia I give thee.

_Jul._ O me unhappy! [_Swoons._

_Pro._ Look to the boy. 85

_Val._ Why, boy! why, wag! how now! what's the matter?

Look up; speak.

_Jul._ O good sir, my master charged me to deliver

a ring to Madam Silvia, which, out of my neglect, was never

done. 90

_Pro._ Where is that ring, boy?

_Jul._ Here 'tis; this is it.

_Pro._ How! let me see:

Why, this is the ring I gave to Julia.

_Jul._ O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook:

This is the ring you sent to Silvia. 95

_Pro._ But how camest thou by this ring? At my depart

I gave this unto Julia.

_Jul._ And Julia herself did give it me;

And Julia herself hath brought it hither.

_Pro._ How! Julia! 100

_Jul._ Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths,

And entertain'd 'em deeply in her heart.

How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root!

O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush!

Be thou ashamed that I have took upon me 105

Such an immodest raiment, if shame live

In a disguise of love:

It is the lesser blot, modesty finds,

Women to change their shapes than men their minds.

_Pro._ Than men their minds! 'tis true. O heaven, were man 110

But constant, he were perfect! That one error

Fills him with faults; makes him run through all the sins:

Inconstancy falls off ere it begins.

What is in Silvia's face, but I may spy

More fresh in Julia's with a constant eye? 115

_Val._ Come, come, a hand from either:

Let me be blest to make this happy close;

'Twere pity two such friends should be long foes.

_Pro._ Bear witness, Heaven, I have my wish for ever.

_Jul._ And I mine. 120

_Enter _Outlaws_, with DUKE and THURIO._

_Outlaws._ A prize, a prize, a prize!

_Val._ Forbear, forbear, I say! it is my lord the duke.

Your Grace is welcome to a man disgraced,

Banished Valentine.

_Duke._ Sir Valentine!

_Thu._ Yonder is Silvia; and Silvia's mine. 125

_Val._ Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death;

Come not within the measure of my wrath;

Do not name Silvia thine; if once again,

Verona shall not hold thee. Here she stands:

Take but possession of her with a touch: 130

I dare thee but to breathe upon my love.

_Thu._ Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I:

I hold him but a fool that will endanger

His body for a girl that loves him not:

I claim her not, and therefore she is thine. 135

_Duke._ The more degenerate and base art thou,

To make such means for her as thou hast done,

And leave her on such slight conditions.

Now, by the honour of my ancestry,

I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine, 140

And think thee worthy of an empress' love:

Know, then, I here forget all former griefs,

Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,

Plead a new state in thy unrival'd merit,

To which I thus subscribe: Sir Valentine, 145

Thou art a gentleman, and well derived;

Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserved her.

_Val._ I thank your grace; the gift hath made me happy.

I now beseech you, for your daughter's sake,

To grant one boon that I shall ask of you. 150

_Duke._ I grant it, for thine own, whate'er it be.

_Val._ These banish'd men that I have kept withal

Are men endued with worthy qualities:

Forgive them what they have committed here,

And let them be recall'd from their exile: 155

They are reformed, civil, full of good,

And fit for great employment, worthy lord.

_Duke._ Thou hast prevail'd; I pardon them and thee:

Dispose of them as thou know'st their deserts.

Come, let us go: we will include all jars 160

With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity.

_Val._ And, as we walk along, I dare be bold

With our discourse to make your Grace to smile.

What think you of this page, my lord?

_Duke._ I think the boy hath grace in him; he blushes. 165

_Val._ I warrant you, my lord, more grace than boy.

_Duke._ What mean you by that saying?

_Val._ Please you, I'll tell you as we pass along,

That you will wonder what hath fortuned.

Come, Proteus; 'tis your penance but to hear 170

The story of your loves discovered:

That done, our day of marriage shall be yours;

One feast, one house, one mutual happiness. [_Exeunt._

Notes: V, 4.

SCENE IV. Another ... forest.] Capell. The outlaw's cave in the

forest. Theobald.

2: _This shadowy desert,_] _These shadowy, desert,_ Collier MS.

8: _so_] _too_ Collier MS.

14: _are my_] _my rude_ Collier MS.

18: [Steps aside. Johnson.

19: _I have_] F1 F2 F3. _have I_ F4. _having_ Collier MS.

25: _I am_] _I'm_ Pope.

26, 32: [Aside] Theobald.

26: _is this I see and hear!_] Theobald. _is this? I see and hear:_

Ff.

43: _and still approved_] _for ever prov'd_ Pope.

49: _to love me_] F1. _to deceive me_ F2 F3 F4.

57: _woo_] _wooe_ F1. _move_ F2 F3 F4.

58: _ye_] Ff. _you_ Warburton.

63: _treacherous man_] F1. _Thou treacherous man_ F2. _Though

treacherous man_ F3. _Tho treacherous man_ F4.

65: _now_] om. Pope.

67: _trusted now, when one's_] F2 F3 F4. _trusted, when one's_ F1.

_trusted, when one's own_ Johnson. _trusted now, when the_ Pope.

69: _I am_] _I'm_ Pope.

71: _O time most accurst_] _O time accurst_ Hanmer. _O time most

curst_ Johnson. _O spite accurst_ S. Verges conj.

72: _all foes that a friend_] _all my foes a friend_ Collier MS.

73: _confounds_] _confound_ Rowe.

_My ... confounds me_] _My shame and desperate guilt at once

confound me_ Collier MS.

82, 83: Blackstone proposes to transfer these lines to the end of

Thurio's speech, line 135.

84: [Swoons.] Pope.

86-90: Printed by Capell as four verses ending _matter ... me ...

Silvia ... done._

86: _what's_] _what is_ Capell.

88: _to deliver_] _Deliver_ Steevens conj.

92: _see_] _see it_ Steevens conj. suggesting that lines 92-97

should end at _ring ... sir ... sent ... this?_ (om. _ring_)

_... Julia._

93: _Why, this is_] _This is_ Pope. _Why, 'tis_ S. Verges conj.

96: _But_] om. Pope.

102: _'em_] _them_ Capell.

103: _root_] _root on't_ Hanmer.

112: _all the sins_] _all th' sins_ Ff. _all sins_ Pope.

118: _be long_] _long be_ Pope.

120: _And I mine_] _And I have mine_ Steevens (Ritson conj.).

[embracing. Capell.

121: SCENE V. Pope.

122: _Forbear, forbear, I say!_] _Forbear, I say!_ Capell.

_Forbear, forbear!_ Pope.

124: _Banished_] _The banish'd_ Pope.

129: _Verona shall not hold_] _Milan shall not behold_ Theobald.

_And Milan shall not hold_ Hanmer. _Milano shall not hold_

Collier MS. See note (VII).

143: _again,_] _again._ Steevens (Tyrwhitt conj.).

144: _unrival'd_] F1. _arrival'd_ F2 F3 F4.

160: _include_] _conclude_ Hanmer.

161: _rare_] F1. _all_ F2 F3 F4.

164: _page_] _stripling page_ Collier MS.

167: _saying?_] _saying, Valentine?_ Collier MS.

171: _loves discovered_] _love discovered_ Pope. _love's discoverer_

Collier MS.

172: _That done, our ... yours_] _Our day of marriage shall be

yours no less_ Collier MS.

NOTES.

NOTE I.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. We have followed Steevens and the later editors in

reading 'Proteus' for 'Protheus'; for though the latter form is

invariably used in the Folios, and was, in all probability, what

Shakespeare wrote, yet in choosing the name he doubtless meant to

compare the fickle mind of the lover with the changeable form of the

god. We have written 'Panthino,' not 'Panthion,' because the authority

of the first Folio preponderates in favour of the former, in itself the

more probable form of an Italian proper name. 'Panthion' occurs in F1,

among 'the names of all the actors,' and in a stage direction at the

beginning of Act II Sc. 2, but never in the text. 'Panthino' is found

twice in the text, and once in a stage direction at the beginning of Act

I. Sc. 3. The blunder 'Panthmo,' I. 3. 76, which is the reading of F1,

shows that the original MS. had 'Panthino,' not 'Panthion.'

NOTE II.

I. 1. 28 sqq. Mr Sidney Walker (_Criticisms on Shakespeare_, III. p. 9)

says we ought 'perhaps' to read

'No,

I will not, for it boots not.'

Doubtless he meant also to re-arrange the following lines, and so get

rid of the Alexandrine at 30; thus:

'_Val._ No,

I will not, for it boots not.

_Pro._ What?

_Val._ To be

In love, where scorn is bought with groans; coy looks

With heart-sore sighs; one fading moment's mirth,' &c.

NOTE III.

I. 2. 53. _What a fool is she._ The first Folio reads 'What 'foole is

she,' doubtless to indicate an ellipsis of the indefinite article,

which, for the sake of the metre, was to be slurred over in

pronunciation. As we have not followed the Folio in reading _th'_ or

_th_ for _the_ before a consonant, so we have thought it best to insert

here the omitted letter _a_, especially as the use of the apostrophe is

by modern custom much more restricted than it was in the Folio. For

example, we find _'Save for God save_ (_Tempest_, II. 1. 162), and _at

'nostrils for at's nostrils_ or _at the nostrils_ (_Id._ II. 2. 60).

NOTE IV.

II. 1. 68, 69. This passage is corrupt. The usual explanation, which

satisfies Delius, is inadmissible, because Valentine would certainly not

appear, like the Knight of La Mancha, without his hose. A rhyming

couplet was probably what the author intended. Many conjectures might be

made, as for example:

'For he, being in love, could not see to garter his hose;

And you, being in love, cannot see to beyond your nose.'

Or, 'to put spectacles on your nose.' Or possibly, 'to put on your

shoes,' the point of which remark Valentine's disordered dress might

make clear to the audience. Rosalind, when enumerating the marks of a

man in love, mentions the untied shoe as well as the ungartered hose,

_As You Like It_, Act III. Sc. 2. The same misprint, 'hose' for 'shoes,'

occurs in the first edition of Greene's _Groatsworth of Wit_. See Mr

Dyce's preface to his edition of Greene's _Dramatic Works_, p. xxviii.

NOTE V.

II. 4. 7, 95, 111. As Speed after line 7 does not say a word during the

whole of this long scene, we have sent him off the stage. It is not

likely that the clown would be kept on as a mute bystander, especially

when he had to appear in the following scene.

The Folios give line 110 to Thurio, who, if the reading be right, must

have quitted the stage during the scene. The most probable time for this

would be on Proteus' entrance, line 95. Mr Dyce however argues that

'Thurio, after what the Duke, in the presence of Silvia, had said to him

about welcoming Proteus, would hardly run off the moment Proteus

appeared.' But Thurio is not held up as a model of courtesy, and he

might as well be off the stage as on it, for any welcome he gives to

Proteus. Besides, in line 101 Valentine ignores Thurio altogether, who,

if he had been present, would not have remained silent under the slight.

On the whole, we think that the arrangement we have given is the best,

as involving no change in the original reading. The question however is

a difficult and doubtful one--indeed, far more difficult and doubtful

than it is important, or instructive.

NOTE VI.

II. 4. 192. Theobald's correction, 'mine eye,' or as Mr Spedding

suggests, 'my eye' ('my eie' in the original spelling), is supported by

a passage in the _Comedy of Errors_, III. 2. 55:

'It is a fault that springeth from your eye.'

If this were not satisfactory, another guess might be hazarded:

'Is it mine _unstaid mind_ or Valentine's praise.'

The resemblance of 'mine' and 'mind' in the printer's eye (final d and

final e being perpetually mistaken for each other) might cause the

omission of the two words. 'Valentine' is found as a dissyllable I. 2.

38. 'Sir Valentine's page, &c.': perhaps also III. 1. 191:

'There's not a hair on 's head but 'tis a Valentine,'

and, if Capell's arrangement be right, V. 2. 34.

NOTE VII.

II. 5. 1, III. 1. 81, and V. 4. 129. We have retained 'Padua' in the

first of these passages and 'Verona' in the second and third, because it

is impossible that the words can be a mere printer's, or transcriber's,

error. These inaccuracies are interesting as showing that Shakespeare

had written the whole of the play before he had finally determined where

the scene was to be laid.

* * * * *

* * * *

* * * * *

Sources:

The editors' Preface (e-text 23041) discusses the 17th- and

18th-century editions in detail; the newer (19th-century) editions

are simply listed by name. The following editions may appear in the

Notes. All inset text is quoted from the Preface.

Folios:

F1 1623; F2 (no date given); F3 1663; F4 1685.

"The five plays contained in this volume occur in the first Folio

in the same order, and ... were there printed for the first time."

Early editions:

Rowe 1709

Pope 1715

"Pope was the first to indicate the _place_ of each new scene;

as, for instance, _Tempest_, I. 1. 'On a ship at sea.' He also

subdivided the scenes as given by the Folios and Rowe, making

a fresh scene whenever a new character entered--an arrangement

followed by Hanmer, Warburton, and Johnson. For convenience of

reference to these editions, we have always recorded the

commencement of Pope's scenes."

Theobald 1733

Hanmer ("Oxford edition") 1744

Warburton 1747

Johnson 1765

Capell 1768; _also Capell's annotated copy of F2_

Steevens 1773

Malone 1790

Reed 1803

Later editions:

Singer, Knight, Cornwall, Collier, Phelps, Halliwell, Dyce, Staunton

Errors and inconsistencies:

[Text-critical notes]

II. 3. 20: _Oh, the dog is me_] [_body text punctuates "Oh! the"_]

II. 4. 58: Know] [_body text has "know", not capitalized_]

II. 5. 1: Padua] [_body text has "the same", referring back to

II. 4 "Milan"_]

IV. 4. 95: _am I_] F1 F2. _I am_ F3 F4. [F3 F3]