Speed. He Tould give her interest; and the gives it him. Val. As you enjoin'd me, I have writ your letter, Unto the secret -nameless friend of yours ; Which I was much unwilling to proceed in, But for my duty to your lady thip. Sil. I thank you, gentle servant : 'tis very clerkly done '. Val. Now trust me, madam, it came hardly off“; For, being ignorant to whom it goes, I writ at random, very doubtfully. Sil. Perchance you think too much of so much pains ? Val. No, madam; fo it stead you, I will write, Please you command, a thousand times as much : And yet, Sil. A pretty period ! Well, I guess the sequel ; And yet I will not name it :-and yet I care not ; And yet take this again ;- and yet I thank you; Meaning henceforth to trouble you no more. Speed. And yet you will; and yet another yet. [Alide. Val. What means your ladyship? do you not like . its Sil. Yes, yes! the lines are very quaintly writ: But since unwillingly, take them again; Nay; take them. So in Marston's What you will, 1604 : “ Sweet sister, let's fit in judgment a little ; faith upon my fervant Monsieur Laverdure. Meli Troth, well for a fervant, but for a husband !" Again, in Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour : " Every man was not born with my servant Brisk's fea-, tures.” STEEVENS. i- 'tis very clerkly done.) i. e, like a scholar. So in the Merry Wives of Windsor : " Thou art clerkly, fir John, clerkly." STEEVENS. 2 - it came hardly off;] A similar phrase occurs in Timon, act I. sc. i: “ This comes off well and excellent." STEEVENS. Vol. 1. Fall · Val. Madam, they are for you.' : : Sil. Ay, ay; you writ them, sir, at my request; But I will none of them; they are for you: I would have had them writ more movingly. Val. Please you, I'll write your ladyship another." Sil. And, when it's writ, for my fake read it over :And, if it please you, fo; if not, why, fo. : Val. If it please me, madam ? what then? i Sil: Why, if it please you, take it for your labour; And so good-morrow, servant. . [Exit. Speed. O jest unseen, inscrutable, invisible, As a nose on a man's face, or a weathercock on a steeple! My master sues to her; and she hath taught her suitor, He being her pupil, to become her tutor, O excellent device was there ever heard a better? That my master, being the scribe, to himself should write the letter ? Vol. How now, fir? what are you reafoning with yourself? Speed. Nay, I was thiming ; 'tis you that have the reason. Val. To do what? Speed. By a letter, I should say. Speed. What need the, when she made you write to yourself? Why, do you not perceive the jest?, - Val. No, believe me. Speed. No believing you indeed, fir : But did you perceive her earnest? Val. She gave inc none, except an angry word. · Speed. Why, she hath given you a letter. 3 reasoning with yourself?] That is, discoursing, talkingi An Ita! anism. JOHNSON. Pal. . · Val. That's the letter I writ to her friend. Speed. And that letter hath she deliver'd, and there an end 4. Val. I would, it were no worsei . Speed. I'll warrant you, 'tis as well : cover, lover.All this I speak in prints; for in print I found it.Why muse you, fir ? 'tis dinner time. Val. I have dind. ,Speed. Ay, but hearken, fir : though the cameleon love can feed on the air, I am one that am nourish'd by my victuals, and would fain have meat : Oh be not like your mistress; be moved, be moved. [Exeunt SC E NÉ II. Julid's house at Verona. Enter Protheus and Julia. 4- and there an end.) i. e. there's the conclusion of the mat. cer. So in Macbeth : - a time has been " And there an end." STEEVENS. s6 not a hair Jul. Ful. If you turn not, you will return the soonet $ · Keep this remembrance for thy Julia's sake. [Giving a ring. Pro. Why then we'll make exchange; here, take you this. Pro. Here is my hand for my true constancy; [Exit Juliu. Julia, farewell.-What ! gone without a word? Ay, so true love should do : it cannot speak; -For truth hath better deeds, than words, to grace its Enter Panthino. Pro. Go; I come, I come :- SC EN E III. . A street. Enter Launce, leading a dog, Laun. Nay, 'twill be this hoúr ere I have done weeping; all the kind of the Launces have this very fault: I have receiv'd my proportion, like the prodigious son, and am going with fir Protheus to the imperial's court. I think, Crab my dog be the fourest natur’d dog that lives : my mother weeping, my father wailing, ny fister crying, our maid howling, howling, our cat wringing her hands, and all our house in a great perplexity, yet did not this cruelhearted cur shed one tear : he is a stone, a very pebble-stone, and has no more pity in him than a dog : a Jew would have wept to have feen our parting; why, my grandam having no eyes, look you, wept herself blind at my parting. Nay, I'll show you the manner of it : This fhoe is my father ;no, this left shoe is my father ;-no, no, this left shoe is my mother ;---nay, that cannot be fo neither ;-yes, it is so, it is so ; it hath the worser fole : This fhoe, with the hole in it, is my mother, and this my father; A vengeance on't! there 'tis : now, sir, this staff is my fifter; for, look you, The is as white as a lilly, and as small as a wand : this hat is Nan, our maid; “I am the dog :no, the dog is himself, and ? I am the dog -oh, the dog is me; and I am myself; ay, so, so. Now come I to my father ; Father, your blessing; now should not the shoe speak a word for weeping ; now should I kiss my father ; well, he weeps on : now come I to my inother ;-oh that she could speak now 8 like a wood woman ! o l am the dog :-&c.] A fimilar thought occurs in a play of elder date than this. See A Christian turn'd Turk, 1612: “ you shall stand for the lady, you for her dog, and I the page; you and the dog looking one upon another : the page presents himself." STEEVENS. ? I am the dog, &c.] This passage is much confused, and of confusion the present reading makes no end. Sir T. Hanmer reads, I am the dog, no, the dog is himself and I am me, the dog is the dog, and I am myself. This certainly is more reasonable, but I know not how much reason the author intended to bestow on Launce's soliloquy. Johnson. s l ike a zood woman! --.] The first folios agree in would-rvoman; for which, because it was a mystery to Mr. Pope, he has unmeaningly subítituted ould woman. But it must be writ, or at least understood, wood coman, i. e. crazy, frantic with grief; or distracted, from any other cause. The word is very frequently used in Chaucer; and sometimes writ suood, fometimes wode, THEOBALD. |