By penitence th' Eternal's wrath's appeas'd: And, that my love may appear plain and free, Jul. Oh me unhappy! Pro. Look to the boy. Val. Why, boy! why, wag! how now! what's the matter? look up; speak. Jul. Oh good sir! my master 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 see. Why, this is the ring I gave to Julia. Jul. Oh! cry you mercy, sir; I have mistook : This is the ring you sent to Silvia. [Showing another ring. Pro. But, how cam'st thou by this ring? At my depart I gave this unto Julia. Jul. And Julia herself did give it me; And Julia herself hath brought it hither. Pro. How? Julia! [Discovering herself. Jul. Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths", 7 All that was mine in Silvia I give thee.] Pope thought it " very odd for Valentine to give up his mistress at once, without any reason alleged ;" and there are difficulties in reconciling the words to the situation, and the situation to the words: we therefore willingly quote the following from Lamb's "Tales from Shakespeare," edit. 1831, p. 104:-"Proteus was courting Silvia, and he was so much ashamed of being caught by his friend, that he was all at once seized with penitence and remorse; and he expressed such a lively sorrow for the injuries that he had done to Valentine, that Valentine, whose nature was noble and generous, even to a romantic degree, not only forgave him and restored him to his former place in his friendship, but in a sudden flight of heroism he said, 'I freely do forgive you; and all the interest I have in Silvia, I give it up to you.' Julia, who was standing beside her master as a page, hearing this strange offer, and fearing Proteus would not be able with his new-found virtue to refuse Silvia, fainted, and they were all employed in recovering her: else would Silvia have been offended at being thus made over to Proteus, though she could scarcely think that Valentine would long persevere in this overstrained and too generous act of friendship." There is, at least, plausibility (as the Rev. Mr. Dyce urges in his " Remarks," p. 13) in thus getting over an admitted difficulty. • Behold her that GAVE AIM to all thy oaths,] To "give aim" is technical in archery, and was equivalent to to direct. See also Vol. iii. p. 140, and Vol. v. p. 87, for the distinction between "give aim" and " cry aim.” Be thou asham'd, that I have took upon me In a disguise of love'. It is the lesser blot, modesty finds, Women to change their shapes, than men their minds. Pro. Than men their minds: 'tis true. Oh heaven! were man But constant, he were perfect: that one error Fills him with faults; makes him run through all the sins: Inconstancy falls off, ere it begins. What is in Silvia's face, but I may spy More fresh in Julia's, with a constant eye? Let me be blest to make this happy close: 'Twere pity two such friends should be long foes. Pro. Bear witness, heaven, I have my wish for ever. Enter Outlaws, with DUKE and THURIO. Out. A prize! a prize! a prize! Val. Forbear: forbear, I say; it is my lord the duke.— Your grace is welcome to a man disgrac'd, Thu. Yonder is Silvia; and Silvia's mine. Val. Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death. Come not within the measure of my wrath: Do not name Silvia thine; if once again, Milano shall not hold thee'. Here she stands : I dare thee but to breathe upon my love. Thu. Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I. 9 - if shame live, &c.] The meaning, of course, is, if it be any shame to wear a disguise for the purposes of love. MILANO shall not hold thee.] Here we have the same necessary emendation as in a former part of this play (A. iii. sc. 1, p. 125). The old annotator upon the folio, 1632, here, as there, substitutes “Milano" for Verona of the old copies; and it is all that is necessary, without patching up the line as was so unsatisfactorily done by Theobald, "Milan shall not behold thee. Here she stands." This is doubly objectionable, because "hold thee" does not mean behold thee, but "thou shalt find no safe shelter in Milan, but be expelled from it." All that the old corrector does, is to give to Milan the Italian termination; and it is surprising that this mode of overcoming the difficulty never before presented itself. I hold him but a fool, that will endanger Duke. The more degenerate and base art thou, Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserv'd her. Val. I thank your grace; the gift hath made me happy. I now beseech you, for your daughter's sake, To grant one boon that I shall ask of you. Duke. I grant it for thine own, whate'er it be. Val. These banish'd men, that I have kept withal', Are men endued 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 hast prevail'd; I pardon them, and thee: Val. And as we walk along, I dare be bold that I have kept WITHAL,] i. e. With whom I have been living-that I have remained with. 3 we will CONCLUDE all jars] It is include in the folios, but amended to "conclude" in the corr. fo. 1632, and it agrees with the word printed by Sir T. Hanmer. We formerly adhered to the old copies, include, in the sense of shut up, or finish, and we are not by any means sure that the emendation represents more than a change in recitation, the older word having been relinquished. In the next line "rare solemnity" of the folio, 1623, is altered to "all solemnity" in the second folio; but the original language of the poet was restored in the margin by the old corrector of that impression, What think you of this STRIPLING page, my lord?] "Stripling" is from the corr. fo. 1632, and is clearly necessary for the line.. We have often had in VOL. I. M Duke. I think the boy hath grace in him: he blushes. That done, our day of marriage shall be your's; [Exeunt. stances of words that escaped in the process of typography (see particularly, p. 158), and this seems one of them. In the Duke's next speech but one, “What mean you by that saying, Valentine?" the name is from the same authority, and is under precisely the same circumstances. 5 One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.] The corr. fo. 1632 makes the play end with a pair of couplets, thus: "Come, Proteus; 'tis your penance, but to hear The story of your loves discoverer : Our day of marriage shall be your's no less; One feast, one house, one mutual happiness." Such may have been the most ancient conclusion of a play, written while rhyme was still popular on the stage, but afterwards altered by the poet himself, to suit the improved taste of the time. We therefore present it to our readers in both forms, without here doing needless violence to the received text. Mr. W. W. Williams suggests that the two concluding lines belong properly to the Duke; and he alleges that "all Shakespeare's Dukes have the last words in the plays in which they appear: so have his monarchs and chief personages." This may be true; but in order to adapt the last lines to the Duke, a still farther change must be made in them, and as no alteration of the kind is hinted at by the old corrector of the folio, 1632, we must leave the matter as it stands, and as it has stood for more than two centuries. |