I pray thee, out with't, and place it for her chief

virtue.

Speed. Item," She is proud."

Launce. Out with that too: it was Eve's legacy, and cannot be ta'en from her.

Speed. Item, "She hath no teeth."

Launce. I care not for that neither, because I love crusts.

Speed. Item, "She is curst."

Launce. Well; the best is, she hath no teeth to bite. Speed. Item, "She will often praise her liquor"." Launce. If her liquor be good, she shall: if she will not, I will; for good things should be praised.

Speed. Item, "She is too liberal."

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

Speed. Item, "She hath more hair than wit, and more faults than hairs, and more wealth than faults." Launce. 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 hath more hair than wit,"

Launce. More hair than wit,-it may be; I'll prove it the cover of the salt 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?

Speed. "And more faults than hairs,”

Launce. That's monstrous: O, that that were out!

2 praise her liquor.] i. e. by often taking occasion to taste it.

3 the COVER of the salt hides the salt,] Malone observes, "The ancient English salt cellar was very different from the modern, being a large piece of plate generally much ornamented, with a cover, to keep the salt clean. There was but one salt cellar on the dinner table, which was placed near the top of the table; and those who sat below the salt were, for the most part, of an inferior condition to those who sat above it."

Speed. "And more wealth than faults."

Launce. Why, that word makes the faults gracious. Well, I'll have her; and if it be a match, as nothing is impossible,

Speed. What then?

Launce. Why, then will I tell thee,-that thy master stays for thee at the north-gate.

Speed. For me?

Launce. For thee? ay; who art thou? he hath stay'd for a better man than thee.

Speed. And must I go to him?

Launce. Thou must run to him, for thou hast stay'd so long, that going will scarce serve the turn.

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

[Exit.

Launce. Now will he be swing'd for reading my letter. An unmannerly slave, that will thrust himself into secrets. I'll after, to rejoice in the boy's correction. [Exit.

SCENE II.

The same. An apartment in the DUKE's Palace.

Enter DUKE and THURIO; PROTEUS behind.

Duke. Sir Thurio, fear not but that she will love you,

Now Valentine is banish'd from her sight.

Thu. Since his exile she hath despis'd me most;
Forsworn my company, and rail'd at me,
That I am desperate of obtaining her.

Duke. This weak impress of love is as a figure
Trenched in ice, which with an hour's heat
Dissolves to water, and doth lose his form.
A little time will melt her frozen thoughts,
And worthless Valentine shall be forgot.-

How now, sir Proteus! Is your countryman,
According to our proclamation, gone?
Pro. Gone, my good lord.

Duke. My daughter takes his going grievously.
Pro. A little time, my lord, will kill that grief.
Duke. So I believe; but Thurio thinks not so.
Proteus, the good conceit I hold of thee,

(For thou hast shown 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.

Duke. Thou know'st how willingly I would effect The match between sir Thurio and my daughter. Pro. I do, my lord.

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

Pro. She did, my lord, when Valentine was here.
Duke. Ay, and perversely she persevers so1.
What might we do to make the girl forget
The love of Valentine, and love sir Thurio?

Pro. The best way is, to slander Valentine
With falsehood, cowardice, and poor descent;
Three things that women highly hold in hate.
Duke. Ay, but she'll think that it is spoke in hate.
Pro. 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.

Duke. Where your good word cannot advantage him, Your slander never can endamage him :

Therefore, the office is indifferent,

she PERSEVERS so.] This was the old mode of accenting the word, as many instances might be produced to establish. Milton was one of the first to write, and to pronounce it, persevere.

Being entreated to it by your friend.

Pro. You have prevail'd, my lord. If I can do it, By aught that I can speak in his dispraise, She shall not long continue love to him. But say, this weed her love from Valentine, It follows not that she will love sir Thurio. Thu. Therefore, as you unwind her love from him, Lest it should ravel and be good to none, You must provide to bottom it on me;

Which must be done, by praising me as much

As you in worth dispraise sir Valentine.

Duke. And, Proteus, we dare trust you in this kind, Because we know, on Valentine's report,

You are already love's firm votary,

And cannot soon revolt, and change your mind.
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 sake will be glad of you,
Where you may temper her, by your persuasion,
To hate young Valentine, and love my friend.
Pro. As much as I can do I will effect.
But you, sir Thurio, are not sharp enough;
You must lay limes to tangle her desires
By wailful sonnets, whose composed rhymes
Should be full fraught with serviceable vows.
Duke. Ay, much is the force of heaven-bred poesy.
Pro. Say, that upon the altar of her beauty

You sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart.
Write, till your ink be dry, and with your tears
Moist it again; and frame some feeling line,
That may discover such integrity":

For Orpheus' lute was strung with poets' sinews,

5 lime,] i. e. birdlime. See Vol. viii. p. 418, for the verb.

That may discover such integrity:] Malone "suspected" that a line following the above had been accidentally omitted; but any addition seems needless. Valentine alludes to the "integrity" of sir Thurio's passion-"such integrity," as he may be supposed to have expressed in his sonnets.

Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones,
Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans
Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands.
After your dire-lamenting elegies,

Visit by night your lady's chamber window
With some sweet consort": to their instruments
Tune a deploring dump'; the night's dead silence
Will well become such sweet complaining grievance.
This, or else nothing, will inherit her.

Duke. This discipline shows thou hast been in love. Thu. And thy advice this night I'll put in practice. Therefore, sweet Proteus, my direction-giver, Let us into the city presently,

To sort some gentlemen well skill'd in music'.

I have a sonnet that will serve the turn

To give the onset to thy good advice.

Duke. About it, gentlemen.

Pro. We'll wait upon your grace till after supper,

And afterward determine our proceedings.

Duke. Even now about it: I will pardon you'.

[Exeunt.

7 With some sweet CONSORT:] Malone remarks, that he "once thought consort might have meant, in our author's time, a band or company of musicians." There can be no doubt that it did, and the substitution of concert is a modern corruption of the text. In Ecclesiasticus, ch. xxxii. v. 5. we meet with the expression, "consort of music," and many proofs might be added to show that "consort" meant both the players and the music they performed.

• Tune a deploring DUMP ;] A "dump" was a melancholy poem or piece of music. See Vol. vi. p. 478, and Vol. viii. p. 447.

9 TO SORT some gentlemen well skill'd in music.] To "sort," is to choose out or select. See Vol. v. p. 335. When" sorted" they would form a "consort.” I will pardon you.] i. e. I will pardon, or excuse, your attendance, as I wish you to set about it immediately.