PRO. What, faid fhe nothing?

SPEED. No, not fo much as-take this for thy pains. To teftify your bounty, I thank you, you have testern'd me; 9 in requital whereof, henceforth carry your letters yourself: and fo, fir, I'll commend you to my master.

PRO. Go, go, be gone, to fave your ship from wreck;

Which cannot perish, having thee aboard,
Being deftin'd to a drier death on fhore:-
I must go fend fome better meffenger;
I fear, my Julia would not deign my lines,
Receiving them from fuch a worthless post.
[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The fame. Garden of Julia's house.

Enter JULIA and LUCETTA.

JUL. But fay, Lucetta, now we are alone, Would't thou then counsel me to fall in love? Luc. Ay, madam; fo you stumble not unheedfully.

9 -you have teftern'd me;] You have gratified me with a efter, teftern, or teften, that is, with a fixpence. JOHNSON,

By the fucceeding quotation from the Fruitful Sermons preached by Hugh Latimer, 1584. fol. 94. it appears that a tefter was of greater value than our fixpence: They brought him a denari, a piece of their current coyne that was worth ten of our usual pence, fuch another piece as our tefterne." HOLT WHITE,

The old reading is ceftern'd. This typographical error was corrected by the editor of the fecond folio. MALONE.

2 Which cannot perish, &c.] The fame proverb has already been alluded to in the first and laft fcenes of The Tempest. REED.

JUL. Of all the fair refort of gentlemen,
That every day with parle encounter me,
In thy opinion, which is worthieft love?

Luc. Please you, repeat their names, I'll fhew my mind

According to my shallow fimple skill.

JUL. What think'st thou of the fair Sir Eglamour ? 3

Luc. As of a knight well-spoken, neat and fine; But, were I you, he never should be mine.*

JUL. What think'st thou of the rich Mercatio? Luc. Well, of his wealth; but of himself, so, so. JUL. What think'ft thou of the gentle Proteus? Luc. Lord, lord! to fee what folly reigns in us! JUL. How now! what means this paffion at his name?

Luc. Pardon, dear madam; 'tis a passing shame, That I, unworthy body as I am,

Should cenfure thus on lovely gentlemen.'

3 What think'st thou of the fair Sir Eglamour?] This Sir Egla mour must not be confounded with the perfona dramatis of the fame name. The latter lived at Milan, and had vowed “ pure chastity" upon the death of his " true love." RITSON.

4-be [Sir Eglamour] never should be mine.] Perhaps Sir Eglamour was once the common cant term for an infignificant inamorato. So, in Decker's Satiromaftix :

"Adieu, fir Eglamour; adieu lute-ftring, curtain-rod, goofequill," &c. Sir Eglamour of Artoys indeed is the hero of an ancient metrical romance, 66 Imprinted at London, in Foster-lane, at the fygne of the Hartefhorne, by John Walley," bl. 1. no date.

STEEVENS.

s Should cenfure thus, &c.] To cenfure means, in this place, to pafs fentence. So, in Hinde's Eliofto Libidinofo, 1606: Eliofto and Cleodora were astonished at fuch a hard cenfure, and went to limbo most willingly." STEEVENS.

To cenfure, in our author's time, generally fignified to give one's judgement or opinion. MALONE.

JUL. Why not on Proteus, as of all the reft?

Luc. Then thus,-of many good I think him beft.

JUL. Your reafon?

Luc. I have no other but a woman's reafon; I think him fo, because I think him fo.

JUL. And would'st thou have me caft my love on him?

Luc. Ay, if you thought your love not caft away. JUL. Why, he of all the reft hath never mov'd me. Luc. Yet he of all the reft, I think, beft loves ye. JUL. His little fpeaking fhows his love but fmall.

Luc. Fire, that is closest kept, burns most of all. JUL. They do not love, that do not fhow their

love.

Luc. O, they love leaft, that let men know their

JUL. Say, fay; who gave it thee?

Luc. Sir Valentine's page; and sent, I think,
from Proteus:

He would have given it you, but I, being in the way,
Did in your name receive it; pardon the fault, I pray.
JUL. Now, by my modefty, a goodly broker!"
Dare you prefume to harbour wanton lines?
To whisper and confpire against my youth?

a goodly broker!] A broker was used for matchmaker, fometimes for a procurefs. JOHNSON.

Now, trust me, 'tis an office of great worth,
And you an officer fit for the place.
There, take the paper, fee it be return'd;
Or elfe return no more into my fight.

Luc. To plead for love deferves more fee than

It were a fhame, to call her back again,
And pray her to a fault for which I chid her.
What fool is fhe, that knows I am a maid,
And would not force the letter to my view?
Since maids, in modefty, fay No, to that"
Which they would have the profferer conftrue, Ay.
Fie, fie! how wayward is this foolish love,
That, like a tefty babe, will fcratch the nurse,
And presently, all humbled, kiss the rod!
How churlishly I chid Lucetta hence,
When willingly I would have had her here!
How angerly I taught my brow to frown,
When inward joy enforc'd my heart to smile!
My penance is, to call Lucetta back,
And ask remiffion for my folly past:-
What ho! Lucetta!

So, in Daniel's Complaint of Rofamond, 1599:
"And flie (o flie) these bed-brokers unclean,
"The monsters of our fex," &c.

STEEVENS.

-fay No, to that, &c.] A paraphrafe on the old proverb,

"Maids fay nay, and take it."

STEEVENS.

.

That you might kill your ftomach on your meat,

And not upon your maid.

Luc. To take a paper up that I let fall.

JUL. And is that paper nothing?

Luc.

Nothing concerning me. JUL. Then let it lie for those that it concerns. Luc. Madam, it will not lie where it concerns, Unless it have a false interpreter.

JUL. Some love of yours hath writ to you in rhime.

Luc. That I might fing it, madam, to a tune: Give me a note: your ladyship can fet.

JUL. As little by fuch toys as may be possible: Best fing it to the tune of Light o' love."

8

Luc. It is too heavy for fo light a tune.

JUL. Heavy? belike, it hath some burden then. Luc. Ay; and melodious were it, would you fing it.

JUL. And why not you?

ftomach on your meat,] Stomach was used for paffion or obftinacy. JOHNSON.

9 Light o' love.] This tune is given in a note on Much ado about Nothing, A&t III. fc. iv. STEEVENS.