Speed. He fhould give her intereft; and fhe gives it him. Val. As you enjoin'd me, I have writ your letter, Unto the fecret-nameless friend of yours; Which I was much unwilling to proceed in, But for my duty to your ladyfhip. Sil. I thank you, gentle fervant: 'tis very clerkly done'. Val. Now truft 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 fo much pains? Val. No, madam; fo it ftead you, I will write, Please you command, a thousand times as much : And yet, Sil. A pretty period! Well, I guess the fequel; And I will not name it and yet I care not ;yet 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. [Afide Val. What means your ladyship? do you not like it ? Sil. Yes, yes! the lines are very quaintly writ: But fince unwillingly, take them again; Nay, take them. So in Marston's What you will, 1607: "Sweet fifter, let's fit in judgment a little; faith upon my fervant Monfieur Laverdure. Mel Troth, well for a fervant, but for a husband!" Again, in Ben Jonfon's Every Man out of his Humour : 1 "Every man was not born with my servant Brifk's fea-. tures. STEEVENS. 'tis very clerkly done.] i. e. like a scholar. So in the Merry Wives of Windfor: 2 "Thou art clerkly, fir John, clerkly." STEEVENS. -it came hardly off;] A fimilar phrafe occurs in Timon, act I. fc. i: "This comes off well and excellent." STEEVENS. Kal. › Val. Madam, they are for you. Sil. Ay, ay; you writ them, fir, at my requeft; But I will none of them; they are for you : I would have had them writ more movingly. Val. Pleafe you, I'll write your ladyship another. Sil. And, when it's writ, for my fake read it over : And, if it pleafe you, fo; if not, why, fo. Val. If it pleafe me, madam? what then? Sil. Why, if it please you, take it for your labour; And fo good-morrow, fervant. [Exit. Speed. O jeft unfeen, infcrutable, invifible, As a nofe on a man's face, or a weathercock on a steeple ! My mafter fues to her; and the hath taught her fuitor, He being her pupil, to become her tutor. O excellent device! was there ever heard a better? That my mafter, being the fcribe, to himself should write the letter? Val. How now, fir? what are you reafoning with yourself? Speed. Nay, I was rhiming; 'tis you that have the reason. Val. To do what? Speed. To be a fpokefman from madam Silvia. Val. To whom? Speed. To yourself: why, the wooes you by a figure." Val. What figure? Speed. By a letter, I fhould fay. Val. Why, the hath not writ to me? Speed. What need fhe, when fhe made you write to yourself? Why, do you not perceive the jeft? Val. No, believe me. Speed. No believing you indeed, fir: But did you perceive her earnest? 3 Val. She gave me none, except an angry word. reafoning with yourself] That is, difcourfing, talking An Italianifm. JOHNSON. Val. That's the letter I writ to her friend. Speed. And that letter hath fhe deliver'd, and there an end 4. Val. I would, it were no worfe Speed. I'll warrant you, 'tis as well: For often you have writ to her; and she, in modefty, cover, Herfelf hath taught her love himself to write unto her lover. All this I fpeak in prints; for in print I found it.Why mufe you, fir? 'tis dinner time. Val. I have din'd. 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. Enter Protheus and Julia. Pro. Have patience, gentle Julia. [Exeunt. -and there an end.] i. e. there's the conclufion of the matter. So in Macbeth: "That when the brains were out, the man would die, All this I Speak in print ;] In print means with exactness. not a hair "About his bulk, but it stands in print." STEEVENS. ful. If you turn not, you will return the sooner s Keep this remembrance for thy Julia's fake. [Giving a ring Pro. Why then we'll make exchange; here, take you this. Ful. And feal the bargain with a holy kifs. [Exit Julia Enter Panthino. Pan. Sir Protheus, you are ftaid for. Alas! this parting ftrikes poor lovers dumb. [Exeunt. Laun. Nay, 'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping; all the kind of the Launces have this very fault: I have receiv'd my proportion, like the prodigious fon, and am going with fir Protheus to the imperial's court. I think, Crab my dog be the foureft natur'd dog that lives: my mother weeping, my father wailing, my fifter crying, our maid howling, howling, our cat wringing her hands, and all our house in a great perplexity, yet did not this cruelhearted cur fhed one tear: he is a ftone, 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 fhow you the manner of it: This fhoe is my father; no, this left fhoe is my father;-no, no, this left fhoe is my mother;-nay, that cannot be fo neither;-yes, it is fo, it is fo; it hath the worfer fole: This fhoe, with the hole in it, is my mother, and this my father; A vengeance on't! there 'tis : now, fir, this staff is my fifter; for, look you, fhe is as white as a lilly, and as fmall 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, fo, fo. Now come I to my father; Father, your bleffing; now fhould not the fhoe speak a word for weeping; now fhould I kifs my father; well, he weeps on: now come I to my mother; oh that she could fpeak now like a wood woman! 6 8 -I am the dog :-&c.] A fimilar thought occurs in a play of elder date than this. See A Chriftian 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 prefents himself." STEEVENS. 7 -I am the dog, &c.] This paffage is much confufed, and of confufion the prefent 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 myfelf. This certainly is more reafonable, but I know not how much reason the author intended to bestow on Launce's foliloquy. JOHNSON. firft folios agree in myftery to Mr. Pope, But it must be writ, crazy, frantic with The word is very writ swood, fome 8 - like a wood woman! -] The would-woman; for which, because it was a he has unmeaningly fubítituted ould woman. or at least underfood, wood woman, i. e. grief; or diftracted, from any other caufe. frequently ufed in Chaucer; and fometimes times wode. THEOBALD. |