-Pardon me, madam, I have unadvis'd
Deliver'd you a paper that I should not;
This is the letter to your ladyship.
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;
know, they're stuft with protestations,
And full of new-found oaths; which he will break,
As eafily as I do tear his paper.
JUL. Madam, he fends your ladyfhip this ring.
SIL. The more fhame for him, that he fends it me;
For, I have heard him fay a thousand times,
His Julia gave it him at his departure:
Tho' his false finger hath profan'd the ring,
Mine fhall not do his Julia fo much wrong.
JUL. She thanks you.
JUL. I thank you, Madam, that you tender her?
Poor gentlewoman, my mafter wrongs her much.
SIL. Doft thou know her?
JUL. Almost as well, as I do know myself.
To think upon her woes, I do protest
That I have wept an hundred several times.
SIL. Belike, she thinks, that Protheus hath forfook her. JUL. I think, the doth; and that's her caufe of forrow.
SIL. Is the not paffing fair?
JUL. She hath been fairer, madam, than she is :
When she did think, my master lov'd her well,
She, in my judgment, was as fair as you.
But fince she did neglect her looking-glass,
And threw her fun-expelling mask away;
The air hath ftarv'd the roses in her cheeks,
And pinch'd the lilly-tincture of her face,
That now the is become as black as I
SIL. How tall was fhe?
JUL. About my ftature: for at Pentecoft,
When all our pageants of delight were play'd,
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 judgments,
As if the garment had been made for me;
Therefore, I know, she is about my height.
And at that time I made her weep a-good,
For I did play a lamentable part,
Madam, 'twas Ariadne, paffioning
For Thefeus perjury and unjust flight;
Which I fo lively acted with my tears,
That my poor miftrefs, moved therewithal,
Wept bitterly; and, would I might be dead,
If I in thought felt not her very forrow
SIL. She is bebolden to thee, gentle youth.
Alas, poor lady! desolate and left ?
I weep myself to think upon thy words,
Here, youth, there is my purfe; I give thee this
For thy fweet mistress' fake, because thou lov'ft her.
Farewel.
[Exit Silvia JUL. And she shall thank you for't, if e'er you know her
A virtuous gentlewoman, mild and beautiful,
I hope, my master's fuit will be but cold;
Since the respects my mistress' love so much.
Alas! how love can trifle with itself!
Here is her picture; let me fee; I think,
If I had fuch 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.
If that be all the diff'rence in his love,
I'll get me fuch a colour'd periwig.
Her eyes are grey as glass, and fo are mine;
Ay, but her forehead's low, and mine is high.
What thould it be that he respects in her,
But I can make respective in myself,
If this fond love were not a blinded god?
Come, fhadow, come; and take this fhadow up;
For 'tis thy rival. O thou fenfeless form,
Thou shalt be worship'd, kifs'd, lov'd and ador'd;
And were there fenfe in his idolatry,
My fubftance should be ftatue in thy ftead.
I'll use thee kindly for thy mistress' fake,
That us'd me fo; or else, by Jove I vow,
I should have scratch'd out your unseeing eyes,
To make my master out of love with thee.
Near the Friar's cell, in Milan.
Enter Eglamour.
EGLAMOUR, folus.
THE fun begins to gild the western sky,
And now it is about the very hour
Silvia, at Friar Patrick's cell, fhould meet me.
She will not fail; for lovers break not hours,
Unless it be to come before their time :
So much they spur their expedition.
See, where she comes. 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.
EGL. Fear not; the foreft is not three leagues off;
If we recover that, we're fure enough.
Changes to an apartment in the Duke's palace.
Enter Thurio, Protheus, and Julia.
THU. Sir Protheus, what fays Silvia to my fuit?
PRO. Oh, Sir, I find her milder than fhe was.
And yet she takes exceptions at your perfon.
THU. What, that my leg is too long?
PRO. No; that it is too little.
THU. I'll wear a boot to make it somewhat rounde
PRO. But love will not be fpurr'd to what it loaths.
THU. What fays the to my face?
PRO. She fays, it is a fair one.
Tau. Nay, then the wanton lies; my face is black.
PRO. But pearls are fair; and the old faying is,
66 Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies' eyes."
JUL. 'Tis true, fuch pearls as put out ladies' eyes;
For I had rather wink, than look on them.
THU. How likes the my difcourse ?
PRO. Ill, when you talk of war.
THU. But well, when I difcourfe of love and peace?
JUL. But better, indeed, when you hold your peace. [Afide.
PRO. Oh, Sir, fhe makes no doubt of that.
JUL. She needs not, when she knows it cowardice.' [Afide.
THU. What says she to my birth?
PRO. That you are well deriv'd.
JUL. True; from a gentleman to a fool.
DUKE. How now, Sir Protheus? how: now, Thurio?
Which of you faw Sir Eglamour of late?
DUKE. Saw you my daughter?
PRO. Neither..
DUKE. Why then
She's fled unto that peasant Valentine;
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 guefs'd that it was the;
But, being mask'd, he was not sure of it.
Befides, fhe did intend confeffion
At Patrick's cell this ev'n, and there she was not:
Thefe likelihooods confirm her flight from hence.
Therefore, I pray you, ftand not to discourse,
But mount you prefently, and meet with me
|