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VAL. No, madam; so it stead you, I will write, Please you command, a thousand times as much : And yet,

SIL. A pretty period! Well, I guess the sequel; And yet I will not name it;-and yet-I care

not;

And yet-take this again;-and yet-I thank you; Meaning henceforth to trouble you no more.

SPEED. And yet you will; and yet another yet. [Aside.

VAL. What means your ladyship? do you not like it?

SIL. Yes, yes; the lines are very quaintly writ:
But since unwillingly, take them again;
Nay, take them.

VAL. Madam, they are for you.
SIL. Ay, ay, you writ them, sir, at my request;

But I will none of them; they are for you :
I would have had them writ more movingly.

VAL. Please you, I'll write your ladyship

another.

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And if it please you, so; if not, why, so.

VAL. If it please me, madam! what then?
SIL. Why, if it please you, take it for your
labour.

And so good morrow, servant. [Exit SILVIA.
SPEED. O jest unseen, inscrutable, invisible,
As a nose on a man's face, or a weathercock on
a steeple !

My master sues to her; and she hath taught her suitor,

He being her pupil, to become her tutor.
O excellent device! was there ever heard a better,
That my master, being scribe, to himself should

write the letter?

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SPEED. No believing you, indeed, sir: but did you perccive her earnest?

VAL. She gave me none, except an angry word. SPEED. Why, she hath given you a letter. VAL. That's the letter I writ to her friend. SPEED. And that letter hath she delivered, and there an end.

VAL. I would it were no worse.

SPEED. I'll warrant you 't is as well.

For often have you writ to her, and she, in modesty,

Or else for want of idle time, could not again reply;

Or fearing else some messenger, that might her mind discover,

Herself hath taught her love himself, to write unto her lover.

All this I speak in print, for in print I found it.Why muse you, sir? 'tis dinner-time.

VAL. I have dined.

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Keep this remembrance for thy Julia's sake.

[Giving a ring.

PRO. Why, then we'll make exchange; here, take you this.

JUL. And seal the bargain with a holy kiss. (3) PRO. Here is my hand for my true constancy; And when that hour o'erslips me in the day, Wherein I sigh not, Julia, for thy sake, The next ensuing hour some foul mischance Torment me for my love's forgetfulness! The tide is now: nay, not thy tide of tears; My father stays my coming; answer not; That tide will stay me longer than I should: [Exit JULIA.

Julia, farewell. What! gone without a word?

The cameleon Love can feed on the air.] "Oh Palmerin, Palmerin, how cheaply dost thou furnish out thy table of love! Canst feed upon a thought! live upon hopes! feast upon a lock! fatten upon a smile! and surfeit and die upon a kiss! What a Cameleon lover is a Platonick!"-The World in the Moon, 1697. d If you turn not,-] If you remain constant to your love.

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Enter PANTHINO.

PAN. Launce, away, away, aboard; thy master is shipped, and thou art to post after with oars. What's the matter? why weep'st thou, man? Away, ass; you'll lose the tide if you tarry any longer.

LAUN. Nay, 't will be this hour ere I have done weeping; all the kind of the Launces have this very fault: I have received my proportion, like the prodigious son, and am going with sir Proteus to the imperial's court. I think Crab my dog be the sourest-natured dog that lives: my mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister crying, our maid howling, our cat wringing her hands, and all our house in a great perplexity, yet did not this cruel-hearted cur shed one tear: he is a stone, a very pebble-stone, and has no more pity in him than a dog: a Jew would have wept to have seen our parting; why, my grandam, having no eyes, look you, wept herself blind at my parting. Nay, I'll show you the manner of it: This shoe is my father ;-no, this left shoe is my father; no, no, this left shoe is my mother ;-nay, that cannot be so neither :-yes, it is so, it is so; it hath the worser sole. This shoe, with the hole in it, is my mother, and this my father. A vengeance on 't! there 't is: now, sir, this staff is my sister; for, look you, she is as white as a lily, and as small as a wand: this hat is Nan, our maid; I am the dog:-no, the dog is himself, and I am the dog,-O, the dog is me, and I am myself; ay, so, so. Now come I to my father; Father, your blessing; now should not the shoe speak a word for weeping; now should I kiss my father; well, he weeps on:-now come I to my mother, (O, that shoe could speak now, like a wood woman;") well, I kiss her ;-why, there 't is; here 's my mother's breath up and down; now come I to my sister; mark the makes: now the dog all this while sheds not a tear, nor speaks a word; but see how I lay the dust with my tears.

LAUN. It is no matter if the tied were lost;° for it is the unkindest tied that ever man tied. PAN. What's the unkindest tide?

LAUN. Why, he that's tied here; Crab, my dog.

PAN. Tut, man, I mean thou 'lt lose the flood ; and, in losing the flood, lose thy voyage; and, in losing thy voyage, lose thy master; and, in losing thy master, lose thy service; and, in losing thy service,-Why dost thou stop my mouth?

LAUN. For fear thou shouldst lose thy tongue.
PAN. Where should I lose my tongue?
LAUN. In thy tale.

PAN. In thy tail?

LAUN. Lose the tide, and the voyage, and the master, and the service, and the tied! Why, man, if the river were dry, I am able to fill it with my tears; if the wind were down, I could drive the boat with my sighs.

PAN. Come, come away, man; I was sent to call thee.

LAUN. Sir, call me what thou darest.
PAN. Wilt thou go?
LAUN. Well, I will go.

SCENE IV.-Milan.

[Exeunt.

A Room in the Duke's Palace.

Enter VALENTINE, SILVIA, THURIO, and SPEED.

SIL. Servant!
VAL. Mistress.

SPEED. Master, sir Thurio frowns on you.
VAL. Ay, boy, it's for love.
SPEED. Not of you.

VAL. Of my mistress then.
SPEED. 'T were good you knocked him.
SIL. Servant, you are sad.

VAL. Indeed, madam, I seem so.
THU. Seem you that you are not?
VAL. Haply I do.
THU. So do counterfeits.
VAL. So do you.

moan she

* Like a wood woman;) The folio, 1623, reads - "like a would woman." Theobald suggested the reading in the text. Wood means mad, crazed, wild.

The alteration of she to shoe in the same line was proposed by Blackstone, and after "now should not the shoe speak a word for weeping," seems a legitimate correction.

b Up and down;] An expression of the time, implying exactly, as we say "for all the world," or "all the world over." It occurs

THU. What seem I that I am not?
VAL. Wise.

again in "Much Ado about Nothing," Act II. Sc. 1:-
"Here's his dry hand up and down."

If the tied were lost;] A similar quibble is quoted by Steevens from Chapman's "Andromeda." It is found also as early as Heywood's "Epigrams."

"The tyde taryeth no man, but here to scan
Thou art tyed so that thou taryest every man."
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THU. What instance of the contrary?

VAL. Your folly.

THU. And how quote you my folly?

VAL. I quote it in your jerkin.

THU. My jerkin is a doublet.

VAL. Well, then, I'll double your folly.

THU. How?

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you begin.

VAL. I know* him, as myself; for from our

infancy

We have convers'd and spent our hours together :
And though myself have been an idle truant,
Omitting the sweet benefit of time

To clothe mine age with angel-like perfection,
Yet hath sir Proteus, for that 's his name,
Made use and fair advantage of his days;
His years but young, but his experience old;
His head unmellow'd, but his judgment ripe;
And, in a word, (for far behind his worth
Come all the praises that I now bestow,)
He is complete in feature and in mind,
With all good grace, to grace a gentleman.
DUKE. Beshrew me, sir, but if he make this
good,

He is as worthy for an empress' love,

SIL. A fine volley of words, gentlemen, and | As meet to be an emperor's counsellor. quickly shot off.

VAL. 'T is indeed, madam; we thank the giver.
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 DUKE.

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With commendation from great potentates;
Well, sir; this gentleman is come to me,
I think 't is no unwelcome news to you.
And here he means to spend his time awhile:

VAL. Should I have wish'd a thing, it had
been he.

DUKE. Welcome him then according to his
worth;

Silvia, I speak to you: and you, sir Thurio :-
For Valentine, I need not 'cite him to it:
I will send him hither to you presently.

[Exit DUKE.
Had come along with me, but that his mistress
VAL. This is the gentleman I told your ladyship,
Did hold his eyes lock'd in her crystal looks.

SIL. Belike, that now she hath enfranchis'd them,

Upon some other pawn for fealty.

VAL. Nay, sure I think she holds them prisoners still.

SIL. Nay, then he should be blind; and, being
blind,

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-
Upon a homely object love can wink.
VAL. To see such lovers, Thurio, as yourself;

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.

a I quote it in your jerkin.] A quibble springing from quote and coat; the former being pronounced and often spelt cote, in the time of our author.

b He is complete in feature and in mind,

With all good grace, to grace a gentleman.] Feature of old expressed both beauty of countenance and comeliness of person. Thus Spenser:

"Which the fair feature of her limbs did hide."
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(*) First folio, knew.

The punctuation I have adopted in this passage, though at
variance with that of all the Editors, is fully authorized by the
following one in " Henry VIII.," Act III. Sc. 2:-

"She is a gallant creature, and complete
In mind and feature."

SIL. His worth is warrant for his welcome | And hath so humbled me, as, I confess,

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.
PRO. Not so, sweet lady; but too mean a

servant

To have a look of such a worthy mistress.
VAL. Leave off discourse of disability :-
Sweet lady, entertain him for your servant.
PRO. My duty will I boast of, nothing else.
SIL. And duty never yet did want his meed;
Servant, you are welcome to a worthless mistress.
PRO. I'll die on him that says so, but yourself.
SIL. That you are welcome?
PRO.

That you are worthless.

Enter SERVANT.

SER. Madam, my lord your father would speak
with you.
SIL. I wait upon his pleasure. [Exit SERVANT.
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.
PRO. We'll both attend upon your ladyship.

[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. And how do yours?
PRO.

I left them all in health. 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 alter'd now :
I have done penance for contemning love;
Whose high imperious thoughts have punish'd me
With bitter fasts, with penitential groans,
With nightly tears, and daily heart-sore sighs;
For, in revenge of my contempt of love,

Love hath chas'd sleep from my enthrall'd eyes,
And made them watchers of mine own heart's

sorrow.

O, gentle Proteus, Love 's a mighty lord;

The first folio assigns this to Thurio. b Whose high imperious thoughts-] Dr. Johnson proposed to read "Those high imperious thoughts;" conceiving the sense to be, "I have contemned love, and am punished." The misprint, if there is any, I rather take to be in the word thoughts, which our author has never elsewhere adopted to express behests, dictates,

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,
Upon the very naked name of love.

PRO. Enough; I read your fortune in your eye;

Was this the idol that you worship so?

VAL. Even she; and is she not a heavenly saint?

PRO. No; but she is an earthly paragon,

VAL. Call her divine.

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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.

d

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.

Sweet, except not any;
Except thou wilt except against my love.
PRO. Have I not reason to prefer mine own?
VAL. And I will help thee to prefer her too :
She shall be dignified with this high honour:
To bear my lady's train; lest the base earth
Should from her vesture chance to steal a kiss,
And, of so great a favour growing proud,
Disdain to root the summer-swelling flower,
And make rough winter everlastingly.

PRO. Why, Valentine, what braggardism is this?
VAL. Pardon me, Proteus: all I can is nothing
To her, whose worth makes other worthies nothing;
She is alone.

PRO. Then let her 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,
The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.
Forgive me, that I do not dream on thee,
Because thou seest me dote upon my love.
My foolish rival, that her father likes,
Only for his possessions are so huge,
Is gone with her along; and I must after,
For love, thou know'st, is full of jealousy.
PRO. But she loves you?
VAL. Ay, and we are betroth'd: Nay, more,
our marriage hour,

commands, &c.

e There is no woe to his correction,-] No sorrow equal to the punishment he inflicts. A very common idiom of the time.

"There is no comfort in the world,

To women that are kind."-Cupid's Whirligig.

An analogous ellipsis occurs in the very next line

"Nor to his service no such joy on earth,"

i. e. "Nor, compared to his service," &c.

d Yet let her be a principality,-) If not a divinity, admit she is celestial. "The first he calleth Seraphim, the second, Cherubim, the third, thrones, the fourth, denominations, the fifth, virtues, the sixth, powers, the seventh, principalities, the eighth, archangels, the ninth and inferior sort, he calleth angels." Scor's Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584, p. 500.

• The summer-swelling flower,-] Mr. Collier's old corrector changes this fine epithet to summer-smelling. Steevens also says, "I once thought that our poet had written summer-smelling; but the epithet which stands in the text, I have since met with in the translation of Lucan by Sir Arthur Gorges, 1614, b. viii. p. 354." diadem once dazzling the eye, The day too darke to see affinitie."

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[Exit VAL.

Even as one heat another heat expels,
Or as one nail by strength drives out another,
So the remembrance of my former love
Is by a newer object quite forgotten.
Is it her mien, or Valentinus' praise,
Her true perfection, or my false transgression,
That makes me, reasonless, to reason thus?
She is fair; and so is Julia, that I love ;-
That I did love, for now my love is thaw'd;
Which, like a waxen image 'gainst a fire, (4)
Bears no impression of the thing it was.
Methinks, my zeal to Valentine is cold;
And that I love him not, as I was wont:
O! but I love his lady too-too much;
And that's the reason I love him so little.
How shall I dote on her with more advice,
That thus without advice begin to love her!
'T is but her pictured I have yet beheld,
And that hath dazzled my reason's light;
But when I look on her perfections,
There is no reason but I shall be blind.

If I can check my erring love, I will;

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SPEED. 'T is well that I get it so. But,

If not, to compass her I'll use my skill. [Exit. Launce, how say'st thou, that my master has

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become a notable lover?

LAUN. I never knew him otherwise.

SPEED. Than how?

LAUN. A notable lubber, as thou reportest him

to be.

SPEED. Why, thou whoreson ass, thou mistakest me.

LAUN. Why, fool, I meant not thee, I meant thy master.

lover. SPEED. I tell thee, my master is become a hot

burn himself in love. If thou wilt, go with me to LAUN. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he

genuine compound Archaism, used both as an adjective and an adverb, meaning excessive or excessively."

d 'Tis but her picture I have yet beheld, -] He has seen but her exterior yet, and that has dazzled his "reason's light;" when he looks upon her intellectual endowments, they will blind him quite. So in "Cymbeline," Act I. Sc. 7:

"All of her that is out of door, most rich!
If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare,
She is alone the Arabian bird:-&c."

• Dazzled-] This word must be read here as a trisyllable dazzeled; so in the quotation Malone adduces from Drayton:

"A

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