DUKE. Upon mine honour, he shall never know That I had any light from thee of this. PRO. Adieu, my lord; fir Valentine is coming. Enter VALENTINE. [Exit. DUKE. Sir Valentine, whither away so fast? VAL. Please it your grace there is a meffenger That stays to bear my letters to my friends, And I am going to deliver them. DUKE. Be they of much import? VAL. The tenor of them doth but fignify My health, and happy being at your court. DUKE. Nay, then no matter; stay with me a while; I am to break with thee of fome affairs, That touch me near, wherein thou must be secret. 'Tis not unknown to thee, that I have fought To match my friend, fir Thurio, to my daughter. VAL. I know it well, my lord; and, fure, the match Were rich and honourable; befides, the gentleman Is full of virtue, bounty, worth, and qualities Befeeming fuch a wife as your fair daughter: Cannot your grace win her to fancy him? DUKE. No, truft me; fhe is peevish, fullen, froward, Proud, difobedient, stubborn, lacking duty; Neither regarding that she is my child, Nor fearing me as if I were her father: And, may I fay to thee, this pride of hers, Upon advice, hath drawn my love from her; And, where I thought the remnant of mine age Should have been cherish'd by her child-like duty, And, where] Where, in this inftance, has the power whereas. So, in Pericles, Act I. fc. i: of "Where now you're both a father and a fon." STEEVENS, I now am full refolv'd to take a wife, VAL. What would your grace have me to do in this? DUKE. There is a lady, fir, in Milan, here," Whom I affect; but fhe is nice, and coy, And nought esteems my aged eloquence: Now, therefore, would I have thee to my tutor, (For long agone I have forgot to court; Besides, the fashion of the time is chang'd;) How, and which way, bestow myself, To be regarded in her fun-bright eye. I may VAL. Win her with gifts, if fhe respect not words; Dumb jewels often, in their filent kind, More than quick words, do move a woman's mind." 7fir, in Milan, bere,] It ought to be thus, instead of-in Verona, here for the fcene apparently is in Milan, as is clear from feveral paffages in the first act, and in the beginning of the first fcene of the fourth act, A like mistake has crept into the eighth fcene of Act II, where Speed bids his fellow-fervant Launce welcome to Padua. POPE. 8 the fabion of the time. -] The modes of courtship, the acts by which men recommended themselves to ladies. JOHNSON. 9 Win her with gifts, if she refpe&t not words; Dumb jewels often, in their filent kind, More than quick words, do move a woman's mind.] So, in our author's Paffionate Pilgrim: "Spare not to fpend, "The ftrongeft caftle, tower, and town, "The golden bullet beats it down." A line of this ftanza "The ftrongest caftle, tower, and town," and two in a fucceeding ftanza, "What though the ftrive to try her strength, "And ban and brawl, and fay thee nay, remind us of the following verfes in The Hiftorie of Graunde Amoure, DUKE. But she did fcorn a prefent that I fent her.* VAL. A woman fometime fcorns what beft contents her: Send her another; never give her o'er; [fign. I 2.] written by Stephen Hawes, near a century before those of Shakspeare: "Forfake her not, though that she faye nay; "A womans guife is evermore delay. "It must yelde up, or els be won at length, Though that 'to-fore it hath bene long delayed; Another earlier writer than Shakspeare, fpeaking of women, has alfo the fame unfavourable (and, I hope, unfounded) fentiment: "'Tis wisdom to give much; a gift prevails, "When deep perfuafive oratory fails.' Marlowe's HERO AND LEANDER. MALONE. that I fent her.] To produce a more accurate rhime, we might read: Mr. M. Mafon obferves that the rhime, which was evidently here intended, requires that we should read-" what best content her." The word what may imply those which, as well as that which. STEEVENS. DUKE. But fhe I mean, is promis'd by her friends Unto a youthful gentleman of worth; And kept severely from refort of men, That no man hath access by day to her. VAL. Why then I would refort to her by night. DUKE. Ay, but the doors be lock'd, and keys kept fafe, That no man hath recourse to her by night. VAL. What lets,' but one may enter at her window? DUKE. Her chamber is aloft, far from the ground; And built so shelving, that one cannot climb it Without apparent hazard of his life. VAL. Why then, a ladder, quaintly made of cords, To caft up, with a pair of anchoring hooks, Would ferve to scale another Hero's tower, So bold Leander would adventure it. DUKE. Now, as thou art a gentleman of blood, Advise me where I may have fuch a ladder. VAL. When would you use it? pray, fir, tell me that. DUKE. This very night; for love is like a child, That longs for every thing that he can come by. VAL. By seven o'clock I'll get you fuch a ladder. DUKE. But hark thee; I will go to her alone; How shall I best convey the ladder thither? VAL. It will be light, my lord, that you may bear it Under a cloak, that is of any length. DUKE. A cloak as long as thine will serve the turn? VAL. Ay, my good lord. DUKE. Then let me fee thy cloak; 3 What lets,] i. e. what hinders. So, in Hamlet, A&t I. fc. iv: 66 By heaven I'll make a ghost of him that lets me." STEEVENS. DUKE. But she did fcorn a prefent that I fent her." VAL. A woman fometime fcorns what best contents her: you, Send her another; never give her o'er; [fign. I 2.] written by Stephen Hawes, near a century before thofe of Shakspeare: "Forfake her not, though that she faye nay; "A womans guife is evermore delay. "It must yelde up, or els be won at length, Though that 'to-fore it hath bene long delayed; "So continuance may you right well ayde: "Some womans harte can not fo harded be, Another earlier writer than Shakspeare, fpeaking of women, has Marlowe's HERO AND LEANDER. MALONE. that I fent her.] To produce a more accurate rhime, we might read: that I sent, Sir:" Mr. M. Mafon obferves that the rhime, which was evidently here intended, requires that we fhould read-"what best content her." The word what may imply those which, as well as that which. STEEVENS > |