صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

Pro. Oh! ay; and pities them.

Thu. Wherefore ?

Jul. [Aside.] That such an ass should owe them.
Pro. That they are out by lease*.

Jul. Here comes the duke.

Enter DUKE, angrily.

Duke. How now, sir Proteus! how now, Thurio!

Which of you saw sir Eglamour of late '?

Thu. Not I.

Pro. Nor I.

Duke. Saw you my daughter?

Pro. Neither.

Duke. Why, then

She's fled unto that peasant Valentine,

And Eglamour is in her company.

'Tis true; for friar Laurence met them both,

As he in penance wander'd through the forest:
Him he knew well; and guess'd that it was she,
But, being mask'd, he was not sure of it":
Besides, she did intend confession

At Patrick's cell this even, and there she was not.
These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence:
Therefore, I pray you, stand not to discourse,
But mount you presently; and meet with me
Upon the rising of the mountain-foot,

That leads towards Mantua, whither they are fled.
Dispatch, sweet gentlemen, and follow me.

[Exit in haste.

That they are out by lease.] Lord Hailes was of opinion that Thurio and Proteus meant different things by the word "possessions;" Thurio referring to his lands, and Proteus to his mental endowments. If so, the point of the answer of Proteus seems to be, that as Thurio's mental endowments were "out by lease," he had none of them in his own keeping. This interpretation seems rather overstrained, and the meaning of Proteus may be only, that Thurio's possessions were let (as Steevens says) on disadvantageous terms. Neither explanation satisfies us, for no reason is assigned for pitying Thurio's possessions: he was rather to be pitied than they, which would, in some degree, support Lord Hailes' view of the subject. › Which of you saw sir Eglamour of late?] The second folio reads, "Which of you, say, saw sir Eglamour of late?" an attempt to mend the line of the folio, 1623, which only makes bad worse. The correct reading doubtless was,

"Which of you saw sir Eglamour of late?"

6 he was not sure of IT:] "Sure of her " says the corr. fo. 1632, but there seems no reason for the change. Above, on the entrance of the Duke, "angrily " (spelt angerly) is from the same authority. Lower down, "in haste," when the Duke makes his exit, was likewise added by the old annotator.

Thu. Why, this it is to be a peevish girl',
That flies her fortune when it follows her.
I'll after, more to be reveng'd on Eglamour,
Than for the love of reckless Silvia.

[Exit.

Pro. And I will follow, more for Silvia's love, Than hate of Eglamour, that goes with her.

[Exit.

Jul. And I will follow, more to cross that love, Than hate for Silvia, that is gone for love.

[Exit.

SCENE III.

The Forest.

Enter SILVIA, and Outlaws.

1 Out. Come, come; be patient, we must bring you to our

captain.

[Dragging her in.

Sil. A thousand more mischances than this one Have learn'd me how to brook this patiently.

2 Out. Come, bring her away.

1 Out. Where is the gentleman that was with her? 3 Out. Being nimble-footed, he hath outrun us;

But Moyses and Valerius follow him.

Go thou with her to the west end of the wood;

There is our captain. We'll follow him that's fled:

The thicket is beset; he cannot 'scape.

1 Out. Come, I must bring you to our captain's cave". Fear not; he bears an honourable mind,

And will not use a woman lawlessly.

Sil. Oh Valentine! this I endure for thee.

[Exeunt.

7 — & PEEVISH girl,] "Peevish" is equivalent to silly, or foolish: see also Vol. ii. p. 660; Vol. iii. pp. 375. 595. 729; Vol. iv. pp. 208. 330. 581; Vol. v. p. 178, &c. Stephen Gosson, in his "School of Abuse," 1579, reprinted for the Shakespeare Society in 1841, says, "We have infant poets and pipers, and such peevishe cattell among us in Englande."

Come, I must bring you to our captain's CAVE.] This line shows, that "cave" in the third Outlaw's speech, p. 139, ought, as here, to be in the singular; unless we suppose Valentine to have occupied one cave, and his followers another, which seems not very likely.

SCENE IV.

Another Part of the Forest.

Enter VALENTINE.

Val. How use doth breed a habit in a man!
These shadowy, desert, unfrequented woods",
I better brook than flourishing peopled towns.
Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,
And to the nightingale's complaining notes
Tune my distresses, and record my woes 10.
Oh! thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless,
Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall,
And leave no memory of what it was!
Repair me with thy presence, Silvia!

Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain !—
What halloing, and what stir, is this to-day?

[Shouts.

These my rude mates', that make their wills their law,

Have some unhappy passenger in chase.

They love me well; yet I have much to do,

To keep them from uncivil outrages.

Withdraw thee, Valentine: who's this comes here ?

Enter PROTEUS, SILVIA, and JULIA.

[Stands apart.

Pro. Madam, this service I have done for you',

THESE shadowy, desert, unfrequented woods,] This is the line in the corr. fo. 1632, and much preferable to

"This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods"

of the old copies. Mr. Singer adopts, and what is more, openly acknowledges, this emendation, and he would be heartily welcome to all on the same fair terms.

10

and RECORD my woes.] To "record" is to sing. In the novel of Apollonius of Tyre" (on which Shakespeare founded "Pericles") it is said of Tharsia, when she comes to sing before her father, "Then began she to record in verses, and therewithal to sing so sweetly," &c. Shakespeare's Library," Vol. i. p. 233. To "record was usually applied to the singing of birds.

[ocr errors]

66

1 These my RUDE mates,] "These are my mates" in the folios, but amended to our text in the corr. fo. 1632. Valentine might well call them "rude," when he added that "they made their wills their law."

2 Madam, this service I HAVE done for you,] A change is here proposed in the corr. fo. 1632: viz.

"Madam, this service having done for you;"

(Though you respect not aught your servant doth) To hazard life, and rescue you from him

me, for

That would have forc'd your honour and your love.
Vouchsafe
my meed, but one fair look:
A smaller boon than this I cannot beg,
And less than this, I am sure, you cannot give.
Val. How like a dream is this, I see, and hear!
Love, lend me patience to forbear awhile.

Sil. Oh, miserable! unhappy that I am!
Pro. Unhappy were you, madam, erę I came;

But by my coming I have made you happy.

[ocr errors]

[Aside.

Sil. By thy approach thou mak'st me most unhappy.

Jul. [Aside.] And me, when he approaches to your

presence.

Sil. Had I been seized by a hungry lion,

I would have been a breakfast to the beast,
Rather than have false Proteus rescue me.
Oh, heaven! be judge, how I love Valentine,
Whose life's as tender to me as my soul;
And full as much (for more there cannot be)
I do detest false, perjur'd Proteus :
Therefore be gone: solicit me no more.

Pro. What dangerous action, stood it next to death,
Would I not undergo for one calm look.

Oh! 'tis the curse in love, and still approv'd',
When women cannot love, where they're belov'd.

Sil. When Proteus cannot love, where he's belov'd.
Read over Julia's heart, thy first best love,
For whose dear sake thou didst then rend thy faith
Into a thousand oaths; and all those oaths
Descended into perjury to love me.

Thou hast no faith left now', unless thou'dst 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.

Who respects friend ?

In love

but, as we make as few alterations as possible in the original text, and as the

meaning of the poet is there quite evident, we leave it untouched.

3 — and still APPROV'D,] i. e.

still called "an approver."

Thou hast no faith left Now,]

Proved: a witness in Scottish courts of law is

"

Mr. Singer states that " now has been here "supplied in the folio of 1632." This is surely an error: we have examined four copies of the folio, 1623, and find "now

" in all of them.

Sil.

All men but Proteus.

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

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

And love you 'gainst the nature of love: force you.
Sil. Oh heaven!

Pro.

I'll force thee yield to my desire.

Val. [Coming forward.] 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 such is a friend now) treacherous man!

Thou hast beguil'd my hopes: nought but mine eye
Could have persuaded me. Now I dare not say,
I have one friend alive: thou wouldst disprove me.
Who should be trusted now, when one's right hand'
Is perjur'd to the bosom? Proteus,

I

[ocr errors]

am sorry I must never trust thee more, But count the world a stranger for thy sake.

The private wound is deep'st. Oh time accurst!

'Mongst all my foes, a friend should be the worst!

Pro. My shame and desperate guilt at once confound me.-Forgive me, Valentine. If hearty sorrow

Be a sufficient ransom for offence,

I tender 't here: I do as truly suffer,

As e'er I did commit.

[blocks in formation]

And once again I do receive thee honest.

Who by repentance is not satisfied

Is nor of heaven, nor earth, for these are pleas'd;

• Who should be trusted Now, when one's right hand] This is the reading of the folio of 1632: the folio of 1623 omits "now," and probably Mr. Singer alludes to this place. "Now" seems the proper word (for Valentine is speaking of the degeneracy of friendship at that time) and not own, which was inserted by Sir T. Hanmer, without authority, and adopted by Malone.

Oh time accurst!

'Mongst all My foes, a friend should be the worst!] This is the reading of the corr. fo. 1632, and we can readily believe that the old text is corrupt, for it thus injures both meaning and metre:

"The private wound is deepest. Oh time most accurst!
'Mongst all foes, that a friend should be the worst!"

[ocr errors]

In the next line "desperate" and "at once (not indeed necessary to the sense, but to the measure) are also from the corr. fo. 1632. The whole of this part of the scene is thus made sufficiently regular.

« السابقةمتابعة »