Ser. Madam, my lord your with you."

father would speak

Sil. I wait upon his pleasure. [Exit Servant.
Come, sir Thurio,

Go with me:-Once more, new servant, welcome:
I'll leave you to confer of home affairs;
When you have done, we look to hear from you.
Pro. We'll both attend upon your ladyship.

[Exeunt SILVIA, THURIO, and SPEED.

Val. Now, tell me, how do all from whence you came?

Pro. Your friends are well, and have them much commended.

Val. And how do yours?
Pro.
I left them all in health.
Val. How does your lady? and how thrives

your love?

Pro. My tales of love were wont to weary you; I know you joy not in a love-discourse.

Val. Ay, Proteus, but that life is alter'd now: I have done penance for contemning love; Whose high imperious thoughts have punish'd mc With bitter fasts, with penitential groans, With nightly tears, and daily heart-sore sighs; For, in revenge of my contempt of love, Love hath chas'd sleep from my enthralled eyes, And made them watchers of mine own heart's

sorrow.

O, gentle Proteus, love's a mighty lord;
And hath so humbled me, as, I confess,
There is no woe to his correction,b
Nor to his service no such joy on earth!
Now, no discourse, except it be of love;
Now can I break my fast, dine, sup, and sleep,
Upon the very naked name of love.

Pro. Enough; I read your fortune in your eye: Was this the idol that you worship so?

Val. Even she; and is she not a heavenly saint?
Pro. No; but she is an earthly paragon.
Val. Call her divine.

I will not flatter her.

Pro.
Val. O, flatter me; for love delights in praises.
Pro. When I was sick, you gave me bitter
pills;

And I must minister the like to you.

Val. Then speak the truth by her; if not
divine,

Yet let her be a principality,
Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth.

This speech is given to Thurio in the folio. Theobald assigned it to a servant. Mr. White says Thurio is right, as in the poorly-appointed stage of Shakspere's time Thurio might act as a messenger.

b There is no woe compared to his correction. D 2

Pro. Except my mistress.

Val.

Sweet, except not any; Except thou will except against my love.

Pro. Have I not reason to prefer mine own? Val. And I will help thee to prefer her too : She shall be dignified with this high honour,To bear my lady's train; lest the base earth Should from her vesture chance to steal a kiss, And, of so great a favour growing proud, Disdain to root the summer-swelling flower, And make rough winter everlastingly.

Pro. Why, Valentine, what braggardism is this?

Val. Pardon me, Proteus: all I can is nothing To her, whose worth makes other worthies" nothing;

She is alone.

Pro. Then let her alone.

Val. Not for the world: why, man, she is mine own;

And I as rich in having such a jewel,
As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl,
The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.
Forgive me, that I do not dream on thee,
Because thou seest me dote upon my love.
My foolish rival, that her father likes,
Only for his possessions are so huge,
Is gone
with her along; and I must after,
For love, thou know'st, is full of jealousy.
Pro. But she loves you?
Val.

Ay, and we are betroth'd; Nay, more, our marriage hour,

With all the cunning manner of our flight,
Determin'd of: how I must climb her window;
The ladder made of cords; and all the means
Plotted, and 'greed on, for my happiness.
Good Proteus, go with me to my chamber,
In these affairs to aid me with thy counsel.

Pro. Go on before; I shall inquire you forth:
I must unto the road, to disembark
Some necessaries that I needs must use;
And then I'll presently attend you.
Val. Will you make haste?

Pro. I will.

[Exit VAL

Her true perfection, or my false transgression,
That makes me reasonless, to reason thus?
She's fair; and so is Julia, that I love ;-
That I did love, for now my love is thaw'd;
Which, like a waxen image 'gainst a fire,
Bears no impression of the thing it was.
Methinks, my zeal to Valentine is cold;
And that I love him not, as I was wont :
O! but I love his lady too, too much;
And that's the reason I love him so little.
How shall I dote on her with more advice,
That thus without advice begin to love her?
"Tis but her picture I have yet beheld,
And that hath dazzled my reason's light;
But when I look on her perfections,
There is no reason but I shall be blind.
If I can check my erring love, I will;

If not, to compass her I'll use my skill. [Exit.

SCENE V.-The same. A Street.

Enter SPEED and LAUNCE.

Speed. Launce! by mine honesty, welcome to Milan.c

Laun. 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.

Speed. Come on, you mad-cap, I'll to the ale-house 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 ?

Laun. Marry, after they closed in earnest, they parted very fairly in jest.

Speed. But shall she marry him?

Laun. No.

Speed. What thou say'st?

Laun. Ay, and what I do, too: look thee, I'll but lean, and my staff understands me. Speed. It stands under thee, indeed.

Laun. Why, stand under and understand is all one.

Speed. But tell me true, wil 't be a match? Laun. Ask my dog: if he say, ay, it will; if he say, no, it will; if he shake his tail, and say nothing, it will.

Speed. The conclusion is then, that it will. Laun. Thou shalt never get such a secret from me but by a parable.

Speed. 'Tis well that I get it so. But, Launce, how say'st thou, that my master is become a notable lover?

Laun. I never knew him otherwise.
Speed. Than how?

Laun. A notable lubber, as thou reportest him to be.

Speed. Why, thou whoreson ass, thou mistakest me.

Laun. Why, fool, I meant not thee, I meant thy master.

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

Laun. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn himself in love. If thou wilt, go with me to the ale-house; if not, thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a Christian.

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.
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.
Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken;
And he wants wit, that wants resolved will

Ale. A rural festival, oftentimes connected with the holidays of the Church, as a Whitson-ale. Launce calls Speed a Jew because he will not go to the Ale (the Church feast) with a Christian.

To learn his wit to exchange the bad for better. Fye, fye, unreverend tongue! to call her bad, Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferr'd 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;
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!
Shews Julia but a swarthy Ethiope.
I will forget that Julia is alive,
Rememb'ring that my love to her is dead;
And Valentine I'll hold an enemy,
Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend.
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:
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,
By some sly trick, blunt Thurio's dull pro-
ceeding.

Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift,
As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift! [Exit.

SCENE VII.-Verona. A Room in 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 engrav'd,—9 To lesson me; and tell me some good mean, 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 pilgrim1o is not weary To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps; 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?

• Pretended, intended.

| 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 would'st as soon go kindle fire with snow, As seek to quench the fire of love with words. 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, Thou know'st, being stopp'd, impatiently doth

rage;

But, when his fair course is not hindered,
He makes sweet music with the enamel'd stones,
Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge
He overtaketh in his pilgrimage;
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,
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
The loose encounters of lascivious men :
Gentle Lucetta, fit me with such weeds
As may beseem some well-reputed page."1
Luc. Why then your ladyship must cut your
hair.

Jul. No, girl; I'll knit it up in silken strings, With twenty odd-conceited true-love knots: 12 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 ? -"tell me, good my

Jul. That fits as well, as

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, No matter who's displeased, when you are gone: I fear me, he will scarce be pleas'd withal.

Jul. That is the least, Lucetta, of my fear: A thousand oaths, an ocean of his tears, And instances of infinite" of love, 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!

"Infinite,-infinity. The same form of expression occurs in Chaucer:-"although the life of it be stretched with infinite of time."-The reading we give is that of the first folio. The common reading is that of the second folio:"Instances as infinite."

His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles;
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 lov'st me, do him not that wrong,

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.
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.

1 SCENE I.-" Sir, your glove."

GLOVES finely perfumed were brought from Italy as presents in the sixteenth century. "A pair of sweet gloves" is mentioned in an inventory of apparel at Hampton Court, temp. Henry VIII.

2 SCENE I." Beggar at Hallowmas." If we were to look only at the severe statutes against mendicancy, we might suppose that, at the period when Shakspere thus described what he must have commonly seen, there were no beggars in the land but the licensed beggars, which these statutes permitted. Unlicensed beggars were, by the statute of 1572, to be punished, in the first instance, by grievous whipping, and burning through the gristle of the right ear; and for second and third offences they were to suffer death as felons. It is clear that these penal laws were almost wholly inoperative; and Harrison, in his Description of Britain, prefixed to Holinshed,

shews the lamentable extent of vagrancy amongst the "thriftless poor." In our notes upon King

"Poor

Lear, where Edgar describes himself as Tom, who is whipped from tything to ty thing, and stock'd, punish'd, and imprison'd," this subject is noticed more at length. Of the "valiant beggar"-the compound of beggar and thief,-Shakspere has given a perfect picture in his Autolycus," which also furnishes an interesting annotation. In the mean time we give a curious representation of the Beggarman and Beggarwoman, from a manuscript of the Roman de la Rose, in the Harleian Collection (No 4425). The date of the MS. is somewhat earlier than this play, and these beggars are French; but the costume of rags is not a subject for very nice distinctions either of time or place.

3 SCENE I." He, being in love, could not see to garter his hose."

We shall have frequent occasions of mentioning the costly garters of the sixteenth century, and the various fashion of wearing them. Shakspere is here speaking of those of his own time, but at the period to which we have confined the costume of this play, garters of great magnificence appeared round the large slashed hose, both above and below the knee. To go ungartered was the common trick of a fantastic lover, who thereby implied he was too much occupied by his passion to pay attention to his dress.

4 SCENE I.-"Sir Valentine and servant."

Sir J. Hawkins says, "Here Silvia calls her lover servant, and again her gentle servant. This was the common language of ladies to their lovers, at the time when Shakspere wrote." Steevens gives several examples of this. Henry James Pye, in his "Comments on the Commentators," mentions that, "in the Noble Gentlemen of Beaumont and Fletcher, the lady's gallant has no other name in the dramatis person than servant," and that "mistress and servant are always used for lovers in Dryden's plays." It is clear to us, however, that Shakspere here uses the words in a much more general sense than that which expresses the relations between two lovers. At the very moment that Valentine calls Silvia mistress, he says that he has written for her a letter,-"some lines to one she loves,"-unto a "secret nameless friend;" and what is still stronger evidence that the word "servant" had not the full meaning of lover, but meant a much more general admirer, Valentine, introducing Proteus to Silvia, says,

"Sweet lady, entertain him

To be my fellow-servant to your ladyship;" and Silvia, consenting, says to Proteus,

"Servant, you are welcome to a worthless mistress."