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When women cannot love, where they're belov'd.
Sil. When Protheus cannot love, where he's belov'd,
Read over Julia's heart, thy first beft love,

For whofe dear fake thou then didst rend thy faith
Into a thousand oaths; and all thofe oaths
Defcended into perjury, to love me.

Thou haft no faith left now, unless thou'dft two,
And that's far worse than none: better have none
Than plural faith, which is too much by one.
Thou counterfeit to thy true friend !

Pro. In love,
Who refpects friend ?

Sil. All men but Protheus.

Pro. Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words Can no way change you to a milder form;

I'll move you like a soldier, at arms end,

And love you 'gainst the nature of love; force ye.
Sil. Oh heav'n!

Pro. I'll force thee yield to my defire.

Val. Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch, Thou friend of an ill fashion!

Pro. Valentine!.

Val. Thou common friend, that's without faith or love; For fuch is a friend now: thou treach'rous man! Thou haft beguil'd my hopes; nought but mine eye Could have perfuaded me. Now I dare not say, I have one friend alive; thou wouldst difprove me. Who fhould be trufted now, when the right hand Is perjur'd to the bosom? Protheus,

I'm forry, I muft never truft thee more,

But count the world a stranger for thy fake.

The private wound is deepeft. Oh time, moft accurft!
'Mongft all foes, that a friend should be the worst !
Pro. My fhame and guilt confound me:
Forgive me, Valentine; if hearty forrow

Be a fufficient ransom for offence,

I tender't here; I do as truly fuffer,
As e'er I did commit.

Val. Then am paid:

And once again

receive thee honeft.

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Who by repentance is not fatisfy'd,

Is nor of heav'n, nor earth; for these are pleas'd;
By penitence th' Eternal's wrath's appeas'd.
And that my love may appear plain and free,
All, that was mine in Silvia, I give thee.
Jul. Oh me unhappy!

Pro. Look to the boy.

[Savoons.

Val. Why, boy! how now? what's the matter? look up; fpeak.

Jul. O good Sir, my mafter charg'd me to deliver a ring to Madam Silvia, which, out of my neglect, was never done.

Pro. Where is that ring, boy?
Jul. Here 'tis : this is it.

Pro. How let me fee:

This is the ring I gave to Julia.

Jul. Oh, cry you mercy, Sir, I have miftook; This is the ring you fent to Silvia.

Pro. How cam'ft thou by this ring? at my depart,

I gave this unto Julia.

Jul. And Julia herfelf did give it me.

And Julia herself hath brought it hither.
Pro. How, Julia?

Jul. Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths,
And entertain'd 'em deeply in her heart:
How oft haft thou with perjury cleft the root?
Oh Protheus, let this habit make thee blush!
Be thou afham'd, that I have took upon me
Such an immodeft rayment: if fhame live
In a difguife of love.-

It is the leffer blot, modefty finds,

Women to change their fhapes, than men their minds. Pro. Than men their minds ? 'tis true; oh heav'n!

were man

But conftant, he were perfect; that one error

Fills him with faults; makes him run through all fins:
Inconftancy falls off, ere it begins.
What is in Silvia's face, but I may fpy
More fresh in Julia's with a conftant eye?
Val. Come, come, a hand from either:

:.

Let

Let me be bleft to make this happy close;
'Twere pity, two fuch friends fhould long be foes.
Pro. Bear witness, heav'n, I have my wish for ever.
Jul. And I mine.

Enter Out-laws, with Duke and Thurio.

Out. A prize, a prize, a prize!

Val. Forbear, forbear, it is my Lord the Duke. Your Grace is welcome to a man disgrac'd,

The banish'd Valentine.

Duke. Sir Valentine?

Thu. Yonder is Silvia: and Silvia's mine.
Val. Thurio, give back; or elfe embrace thy death:
Come not within the measure of my wrath.
Do not name Silvia thine; if once again,-
Milan fhall not behold thee. Here she stands, (17)
Take but poffeffion of her with a touch;
I dare thee but to breath upon my love,

Thu. Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I.
I hold him but a fool, that will endanger
His body for a girl that loves him not.
I claim her not; and therefore fhe is thine.

Duke. The more degenerate and bafe art thou,
To make fuch means for her as thou haft done,
And leave her on fuch flight conditions.
Now, by the honour of my ancestry,
I do applaud thy fpirit, Valentine,

And think thee worthy of an emprefs' love:
Know then, I here forget all former griefs;
Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,
Plead a new ftate in thy unrival'd merit,

(17) Verona fhall not bold thee.] Thus all the editions, but, whether, thro' the mistake of the firft Editors, or the Poet's own careleffhefs, this reading is abfurdly faulty. For the threat here is to Thurie, who is a Milanefe; and has no concerns, as it appears, with Verona. Befides, the fcene is betwixt the confines of Milan, and Mantua, to which S lvia follows Valentine, having heard that he had retreated thither. And, upon thefe circumftances, I ventur'd to adjust the text, as I imagine, the Poet must have intended: i, e. Milan, thy country, shall never fee thee again: thou shalt never live to go back thither.

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To which I thus fubfcribe: Sir Valentine,
Thou art a gentleman, and well deriv'd;
Take thou thy Silvia, for thou haft deferv'd her.
Val. I thank your Grace; the gift hath made me happy
I now befeech you, for your daughter's fake,
To grant one boon that I fhall afk of you.

Duke. I grant it for thine own, whate'er it be.
Val. Thefe banish'd men, that I have kept withal,
Are men endu'd with worthy qualities:

Forgive them what they have committed here,
And let them be recall'd from their exile.
They are reformed, civil, full of good,
And fit for great employment, worthy Lord.

Duke. Thou haft prevail'd, I pardon them and thee;
Difpofe of them, as thou know'ft their deserts.
Come, let us go: we will include all jars
With triumphs, mirth, and all folemnity.

Val. And as we walk along, I dare be bold With our difcourfe to make your Grace to fmile. What think you of this page, my Lord?

Duke. I think, the boy hath grace in him; he blushes.
Val. I warrant you, my Lord, more grace than boy.
Duke. What mean you by that faying?

Val. Please you, I'll tell you as we pass along,
That you will wonder what hath fortuned.
Come, Protheus, 'tis your penance but to hear
The ftory of your loves difcovered :

yours,

That done, our day of marriage shall be
One feaft, one house, one mutual happiness.

[Exeunt omnes.

THE

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