Thu. How? Sil. What, angry, Sir Thurio? do you change colour? Thu. That hath more mind to feed on your blood, than live in your air. Val. You have said, sir. Thu. Ay, sir, and done too, for this time. Val. I know it well, sir: you always end ere you begin. Sil. Who is that, servant? Val. Yourself, sweet lady; for you gave the fire. Sir Thurio borrows his wit from your ladyship's looks, and spends what he borrows kindly in your company. Thu. Sir, if you spend word for word with me, I shall make your wit bankrupt. Val. I know it well, sir: you have an exchequer of words, and, I think, no other treasure to give your followers; for it appears by their bare liveries, that they live by your bare words. Sil. No more, gentlemen, no more. Here comes my father. Enter the Duke. Duke. Now, daughter Silvia, you are hard beset. Sir Valentine, your father's in good health: What say you to a letter from your friends, Of much good news? Val. My lord, I will be thankful Duke. Know you Don Antonio, your countryman? And not without desert so well reputed. Duke. Hath he not a son? Val. Ay, my good lord; a son, that well deserves The honour and regard of such a father. Duke. You know him well? Val. I know him, as myself; for from our infancy To clothe mine age with angel-like perfection, Duke. Beshrew me, sir, but, if he make this good, As meet to be an emperor's counsellor. With commendation from great potentates; And here he means to spend his time a while. Val. Should I have wished a thing, it had been he. Val. This is the gentleman, I told your ladyship Sil. Belike, that now she hath enfranchis'd them, [Exit Duke. Val. Nay, sure, I think, she holds them prisoners still. How could he see his way to seek out you? Val. Why, lady, Love hath twenty pair of eyes. Thu. They say, that Love hath not an eye at all. Val. To see such lovers, Thurio, as yourself; Upon a homely object, Love can wink. Enter Proteus. Sil. Have done, have done here comes the gentleman. Val. Welcome, dear Proteus !-Mistress, I beseech you, Confirm his welcome with some special favour. Sil. His worth is warrant for his welcome hither, If this be he you oft have wish'd to hear from. Val. Mistress, it is. Sweet lady, entertain him To be my fellow-servant to your ladyship. Sil. Too low a mistress for so high a servant. Val. Leave off discourse of disability,- Pro. No; That you are worthless. Enter Servant. Ser. Madam, my lord, your father, would speak with you. Sil. I wait upon his pleasure: [Exit Ser.] come, Sir Thurio, Go with me.-Once more, new servant, welcome : I'll leave you to confer of home affairs; When you have done, we look to hear from you. [Exeunt Silvia, Thurio, and Speed. Val. Now, tell me, how do all from whence you came? Pro. Your friends are well, and have them much commended. Val. How does your lady, and how thrives your love? Pro. My tales of love were wont to weary you: I know, you joy not in a love discourse. Val. Ay, Proteus, but that life is altered now: Love hath chas'd sleep from my enthralled eyes, And hath so humbled me, as, I confess, There is no woe to his correction, Nor, to his service, no such joy on earth! Now, no discourse, except it be of love; Now can I break my fast, dine, sup, and sleep, Pro. Enough: I read your fortune in your eye. Val. Even she; and is she not a heavenly saint? Val. Call her divine. Pro. I will not flatter her. Val. O flatter me, for love delights in praises. Pro. When I was sick you gave me bitter pills; And I must minister the like to you. Val. Then speak the truth by her if not divine, Yet let her be a principality, Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth. Pro. Except my mistress. Val. Pro. Have I not reason to prefer mine own? Pro. Why, Valentine, what braggardism is this Val. Pardon me, Proteus: all I can, is nothing To her, whose worth makes other worth as nothing. She is alone. Val. Not for the world. Why, man, she is mine own; And I as rich in having such a jewel, As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, Is gone with her along, and I must after; Val. Ay, and we are betroth'd; nay, more, our marriage hour, With all the cunning manner of our flight Determin'd of: how I must climb her window, Some necessaries that I needs must use, Pro. I will. Even as one heat another heat expels, Or as one nail by strength drives out another, Her true perfection, or my false transgression, [Exit Valentine. SCENE V.-THE SAME. A STREET. Enter Speed and Launce. [Exit. Speed. Launce! by mine honesty, welcome to Milan. Launce. Forswear not thyself, sweet youth, for I am not welI reckon this always-that a man is never undone, till he be hang'd; nor never welcome to a place, till some certain shot be paid, and the hostess say, welcome. come. Speed. Come on, you mad-cap; I'll to the ale-house with you presently; where for one shot of five pence thou shalt have five thousand welcomes. But, sirrah, how did thy master part with Madam Julia? 1 Acquaintance. Launce. Marry, after they clos'd in earnest, they parted very fairly in jest. Speed. But shall she marry him? Launce. No. Speed. How then? Shall he marry her? Launce. No, neither. Speed. What, are they broken? Launce. No, they are both as whole as a fish. Speed. What an ass art thou! I understand thee not. Launce. What a block art thou, that thou canst not. My staff understands me. Speed. What thou say'st? Launce. Ay, and what I do too: look thee; I'll but lean, and my staff understands me. Speed. It stands under thee, indeed. Launce. Why, stand-under and under-stand is all one. Launce. Ask my dog: if he say, ay, it will; if he say, no, it will; if he shake his tail, and say nothing, it will. Speed. The conclusion is, then, that it will. Launce. Thou shalt never get such a secret from me, but by a parable. Speed. "Tis well that I get it so. But, Launce, how say'st thou, that my master is become a notable lover? Launce. I never knew him otherwise. Speed. Than how? Launce. A notable lubber, as thou reportest him to be. Launce. Why, fool, I meant not thee; I meant thy master. Launce. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn himself in love. If thou wilt, go with me to the ale-house, so; wilt thou go? Speed. At thy service. [Exeunt. SCENE VI.-THE SAME. AN APARTMENT IN THE PALACE. Enter Proteus. Pro. To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn ; To love fair Silvia shall I be forsworn; To wrong my friend, I shall be much forsworn ; Love bade me swear, and Love bids me forswear. |