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Here if thou stay, thou can'st not see thy love;
Befides, thy staying will abridge thy life.

Enter Protheus and Launce.

Pra What feest thou?

Lan. Him we go to find: there's not an hair 15 Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that,

On 's head, but 'tis a Valentine.

Pra. Valentine?

:

Val. No.

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And manage it against despairing thoughts.
Thy letters may be here, though thou art hences
Which, being writ to me, shall be deliver'd
Even in the milk-white bosom 2 of thy love.

20 The time now serves not to expoftulate:
Come, I'll convey thee through the city-gate;
And, ere I part with thee, confer at large
Of all that may concern thy love affairs:
As thou lov'st Silvia, though not for thyself,

25 Regard thy danger, and along with me.

30

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

[Exeunt Valentine and Protheus. Laun. I am but a fool, look you; and yet I have the wit to think, my master is a kind of a knave: but that's all one, if he be but one knave 3. He lives not now, that knows me to be in love:

Val. No Valentine, indeed, for facred Silvia!- 35 yet I am in love; but a team of horse shall not

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What is your news?

pluck that from me; nor who 'tis I love, and yet 'tis a woman: but what woman, I will not tell myself, and yet 'tis a milk-maid: yet 'tis not a maid, for the hath had gossips 4: yet 'tis a maid, for

[vanish'd Laur. Sir, there's a proclamation that you are 40 she is her master's maid, and ferves for wages. Pro. That thou art banish'd, oh, that is the news, From hence, from Silvia, and from me thy friend. Val. Oh, I have fed upon this woe already, And now excess of it will make me furfeit. Doth Silvia know that I am banish'd?

Pro. Ay, ay; and the hath offer'd to the doom,
(Which unrevers'd, stands in effectual force)
A fea of melting pearl, which some call tears;
Those at her father's churlish feet the tender'd;
With them, upon her knees, her humble self;
Wringing her hands, whose whiteness so became
As if but now they waxed pale for woe: [them,
But neither bended knees, pure hands held up,
Sad fighs, deep groans, nor filver-shedding tears,
Could penetrate her uncompaffionate fire;

She hath more qualities than a water-fpanielwhich is much in a bare christians. Here is the cat-log [pulling out a paper [ of her conditions.Imprimis, She can fetch and carry. Why, a horfe 45 can do no more; nay, a horfe 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.

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* The phrase of, to fly bis doom, used here for by flying, or in flying, is a gallicism. The sense is, By avoiding the execution of his fentence I shall not éscape death. 2 Before the meaning of this address of letters to the bosom of a mistress can be understood, it should be known that women anciently had a pocket in the fore part of their stays, in which they not only carried love-letters and love-tokens, but even their money and materials for needle-work. In many parts of England the country girls ftill obferve the fame practice. 3 One knave may fignify a knave on only one occafion, a single knave. We still vie a double villain for a villain beyond the common rate of guilt. 4 Geffips not only signify those who are fponfors for a child in baptifm, but the tattling women who attend lyings-in. 5 Bare has two fenies; mere and naked. Launce uses it in both, and opposes the naked female to the water-fpaniel cover'd wich bairs of remarkabla thickness.

Da

Speede [thee? 5

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Laun. I will try thee: Tell me this: Who begot

Speed. Marry, the son of my grandfather.

Laun. O illiterate loiterer! it was the son of thy grandmother: this proves, that thou can'st not read.

Speed. Come, fool, come; try me in thy paper. Laun. There; and St. Nicholas be thy speed! Speed. Imprimis, She can milk.

Laun. Ay, that she can.

Speed. Item, Sbe brews good ale.

Laun. And therefore comes the proverb,

Bleffing of your heart, you brew good ale.

Speed. Item, She can few.

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

Laun. What need a man care for a stock with a

wench, when she can knit him a stock 3.

Speed. Item, She can wash and scour.

Laun. A special virtue; for then she need not to be wash'd and scour'd.

Speed. Item, Şbe can fpin.

Laun. Then may I set the world on wheels,

when she can spin for her living.

Speed. Item, She bath many nameless virtues.

Speed. Item, She will often praise ber liquor. Laun. If her liquor be good, she shall: if the will not, I will; for good things should be praised. Speed. Item, She is too liberals.

Laun. Of her tongue she cannot; for that's writ down, the is flow of: of her purse she shall not; for that I'll keep shut: now of another thing the may; and that I cannot help. Well, proceed.

Speed. Item, She bath more bair than wit, and more

10 faults than bairs, and more wealth than faults.

Laun. Stop there; I'll have her: she was mine, and not mine, twice or thrice in that last article : Rehearse that once more.

Speed. Item, She-bath more bair than wit 15 Laun. More hair than wit, it may be; I'll prove it: The cover of the falt 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?

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Laun. That's as much as to say, Bastard virtues; 30 Speed. For me?

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

Speed. Here follow ber vices.

Laun. Close at the heels of her virtues.

Speed. Item, She is not to be kiss'd fafting, in re-35 Spect of ber breath.

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

Speed. Item, She bath a sweet mouth4.

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

staid for a better man than thee.

Speed. And must I go to him?

Laun. Thou must run to him, for thou hast staid

so long, that going will scarce serve the turn.

Speed. Why didst not tell me sooner? pox on your love-letters!

Laun. Now will he be swing'd for reading my letter; an unmannerly slave, that will thrust him

Laun. That makes amends for her four breath. 40 felf into secrets !-I'll after, to rejoice in the boy's Speed. Item, She dotb talk in ber fleep.

Laun. It's no matter for that, so she fleep not in

her talk.

Speed. Item, She is flow in words.

correction.

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

Enter Duke and Thurio, and Protheus behind.

Laun. O villain ! that set down among her vices! 45 Duke. Sir Thurio, fear not, but that she will

To be flow in words, is a woman's only virtue: 1 pray thee, out with't; and place it for her chief virtue.

Speed. Item, She is proud.

love you,

Now Valentine is banish'd from her fight.

Thu. Since his exile she hath despised me moft, Forfworn my company, and rail'd at me,

Laun. Out with that too; it was Eve's legacy, 50 That I am defperate of obtaining her. and cannot be taken from her.

Speed. Item, She bath no teeth.

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

crufts.

Speed. Item, She is curft.

Laun. Well; the best is, the hath no teeth to

bite.

Duke. This weak impress of love is as a figure Trenched 7 in ice; which with an hour's heat Diffolves to water, and doth lose his form. A little time will melt her frozen thoughts,

55 And worthless Valentine shall be forgot. How now, fir Protheus? Is your countryman, According to our proclamation, gone?

* It is undoubtedly true that the mother only knows the legitimacy of the child. Launce probably infers, that if he could read, he must have read this well known observation. 2 St. Nicholas presided over scholars, who were therefore call'd St. Nicholas's clerks. 3 That is, a stocking. 4 Dr. Johnfon is of opinion that sweet mouth implies the fame with what is now vulgarly called a sweet tooth, a luxurious defire of dainties and sweetmeats; while Mr. Steevens believes, that by a sweet mouth is meant that the Sings fweetly. 5 Liberal, is licentious and gross in language. 6 Gracious, in old language, means graceful. 7 That is, cut, carv'd in ice.

Pra

:

4

:

Pro. Gone, my good lord.

Duke. My daughter takes his going heavily.
Pro. A little time, my lord, will kill that grief.
Duke. So I believe, but Thurio thinks not fo.-
Protheus, the good conceit I hold of thee,
(For thou hast shewn some sign of good desert)
Makes me the better to confer with thee.

Pro. Longer than I prove loyal to your grace,

Let me not live to look upon your grace. [effect

Duke. And, Protheus, we dare trust you in this
Because we know, on Valentine's report, [kind;
You are already love's firm votary,
And cannot foon revolt and change your mind.

5 Upon this warrant shall you have access,
Where you with Silvia may confer at large;
For she is lumpish, heavy, melancholy,
And, for your friend's fake, will be glad of you;
Where you may temper her, by your perfuafion,

Dukt. Thou know'st, how willingly I would 10 To hate young Valentine, and love my friend.

The match between fir Thurio and my daughter.

Pro. I do, my lord.

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

Pro. As much as I can do, I will effect:-
But you, fir Thurio, are not sharp enough;
You must lay lime 3, to tangle her defires,
By wailful fonnets, whose composed rhimes

Pro. She did, my lord, when Valentine was here. 15 Should be full fraught with serviceable vows.

Duke. Ay, and perversely she perfevers so.
What might we do to make the girl forget
The love of Valentine, and love fir Thurio?

Pro. The best way is, to slander Valentine
With falfhood, cowardice, and poor defcent;
Three things that women highly hold in hate.
Duke. Ay, but she'll think that it is spoke in hate.
Pre. Ay, if his enemy deliver it:
Therefore it must, with circumstance, be spoken
By one, whom she esteemeth as his friend.

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

Especially, against his very friend.

[him,

Duke. Ay, much is the force of heaven-bred poefy.
Pro. Say, that upon the altar of her beauty
You facrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart:
Write, till your ink be dry; and with your tears
20 Moift it again; and frame some feeling line,
That may discover such integrity :-
For Orpheus' lute was strung with poets' finews;
Whose golden touch could sosten steel and stones,
Make tygers tame, and huge leviathans
25 Forsake unfounded deeps to dance on sands.
After your dire-lamenting elegies,
Vifit by night your lady's chamber-window
With fome sweet concert: to their instruments
Tune a deploring dump+; the night's dead filence

Duke. Where your good word cannot advantage 30 Will well become such sweet complaining grievance.

Your flander never can endamage him;

Prs. You have prevail'd, my lord: if I can do it, Therefore, sweet Protheus, my direction-giver,

This, or else nothing, will inherit her 5.

[love.

Therefore the office is indifferent,

Duke. This difcipline shews thou hast been in

Being intreated to it by your friend.

Thu. And thy advice this night I'll put in practice:

By aught that I can speak in his dispraise,

35 Let us into the city presently

She shall not long continue love to him.

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

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To fort some gentlemen well skill'd in musick:
I have a fonnet, that will serve the turn;

To give the onset to thy good advice.

Duke. About it, gentlemen.

[per,

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Very is immediate. 2 The meaning of this allusion is, As you wind off her love from him, make me the bottom on which you wind it. The women's term for a ball of thread wound upon a central body, is a bottom of thread. 3 That is, birdlime. A dump was the ancient term for a mournful elegy. 5 To inberit, is here used for to obtain poffefssion of, without any idea of acquiring by inheritance. 6 That is, to chuse out. 7 That is, I will excuse you from waiting.

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My riches are these poor habiliments,

Of which if you should here disfurnish me,

You take the sum and substance that I have.

2 Out. Whither travel you?

Val. To Verona.

1 Out. Whence came you?

Val. From Milan.

3 Out. Have you long fojourn'd there?

Val. Some fixteen months; and longer might have staid,

If crooked fortune had not thwarted me.

I Out, What, were you banish'd thence?

Val. I was.

2 Out. For what offence?

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Under Silvia's apartment in Milan.
Enter Protheus.

[Exeunt.

Pro. Already have I been false to Valentine,
And now I must be as unjust to Thurio.
Under the colour of commending him,

Val. For that which now torments me to rehearse. 151 have access my own love to prefer;

I kill'd a man, whose death I much repent;
But yet I flew him manfully in fight,
Without false vantage, or base treachery.

But Silvia is too fair, too true, too holy, To be corrupted with my worthless gifts. When I protest true loyalty to her, She twits me with my falfhood to my friend; 20 When to her beauty I commend my vows, She bids me think, how I have been forsworn In breaking faith with Julia whom I lov'd: And, notwithstanding all her fudden quips 3, The least whereof would quell a lover's hope, 3 Out. By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat 25 Yet, spaniel-like, the more she spurns my love, This fellow were a king for our wild faction,

I Out. Why ne'er repent it, if it were done so:
But were you banish'd for so small a fault?
Val. I was, and held me glad of such a doom.
I Out. Have you the tongues?
Val. My youthful travel therein made me happy;
[friar,

Or else I often had been miferable.

1 Out. We'll have him: firs, a word,

Speed. Master, be one of them;

It is a kind of honourable thievery.

Val. Peace, villain!

[to? 30

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

3 Out. Know then, that some of us are gentlemen,

Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth
Thrust from the company of awful' men:
Myself was from Verona banished,
For practifing to steal away a lady,
An heir, and niece ally'd unto the duke.

2 Out. And I from Mantua, for a gentleman, Whom, in my mood, I stabb'd unto the heart.

I Out. And I, for such like petty crimes as these.
But to the purpose, -(for we cite our faults,
That they may hold excus'd our lawless lives)
And, partly, feeing you are beautify'd
With goodly shape; and by your own report
A linguist; and a man of such perfection,
As we do in our quality much want,--

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

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

confort?

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The more it grows, and fawneth on her still.
But here comes Thurio: now must we to her

window,

And give some evening music to her ear.
Enter Thurio and Musicians.

Thu. How now, fir Protheus? are you crept
before us?
[love

Pro, Ay, gentle Thurio; for, you know, that

Will creep in service where it cannot go.

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

Pro. Ay, Silvia, for your fake,

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

40 Let's tune, and to it lustily a while.

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

Jul. Marry, mine host, because I cannot be

45 merry.

Hoft. Come, we'll have you merry: I'll bring you where you shall hear music, and fee the gentleman that you afk'd for.

Jul. But shall I hear him speak?

50 Hoft. Ay, that you shall.

55

60

Jul. That will be music.
Hoft. Hark! hark!
Jul. Is he among these ?

Hoft. Ay but peace, let's hear 'em.

SONG.

Who is Silvia? what is she,

That all our frwains commend ber?

Holy, fair, and wife is she;

The beavens fuch grace did lend ber,

That she might admired be.

Reverend, worshipful, such as magistrates. 2 Quality is nature relatively confidered. 3 That is, hafty paffionate reproaches and scoffs,

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Jul. Not fo; but yet so false, that he grieves Or, at the least, in her's sepulchre thine.

Hof. How now? are you fadder than you were

before?

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

Pro. I likewise hear, that Valentine is dead.

Jal. You mistake; the musician likes me not. 15 Sil. And so, suppose, am I; for in his grave,

Haft. Why, my pretty youth?

Affure thyself, my love is buried.

Jul. He plays false, father.

Pro. Sweet lady, let me rake it from the earth.

Haf. How, out of tune on the strings?

Sil. Go to thy lady's grave, and call her's thence;

my very heart-strings.

20 Jul. [Afide.] He heard not that,

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Jul. Peace! stand afide, the company parts.

Pro. Madam, if that your heart be so obdurate,
Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love,
The picture that is hanging in your chamber;
To that I'll speak, to that I'll figh and weep;

25 For, fince the substance of your perfect self
Is else devoted, I am but a shadow:
And to your shadow will I make true love.

Jul. [Afide.] If 'twere a substance, you would,

fure, deceive it,

30 And make it but a shadow, as I am.

Sil. I am very loath to be your idol, fir; But, fince your falshood shall become you well To worship shadows, and adore false shapes, Send to me in the morning, and I'll send it: 35 And fo, good rest.

Pro. As wretches have o'er-night,

That wait for execution in the morn.

[Exeunt Protheus and Silvia.

Pro. Sir Thurio, fear not you; I will fo plead, 40 Hoft. By my hallidom, I was fast asleep.

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Jul. Host, will you go?

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Sil. You have your wish; my will is even this, 55

That presently you hie you home to bed,
Thou fubtle, perjur'd, false, disloyal man!
Think'st thou, I am so shallow, so conceitless,
To be seduced by thy flattery,

Madam, madam!

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That haft deceived so many with thy vows? Return, return, and make thy love amends.

60 According to your ladyship's impose2,

I am thus early come to know what service

• Beyond all reckoning or count. Reckonings are kept upon nicked or notched sticks or tallies. * Impose is injunction, command.

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