Speed. That she is not so fair, as (of you) wellfavour'd Val. I mean, that her beauty is exquisite, but her favour infinite. Speed. That's because the one is painted, and the other out of all count. Val. How painted? and how out of count? Sil. Ay, ay; you writ them, sir, at my request, But I will none of them: they are for you. Speed. Marry, sir, so painted to make her fair, that I would have had them writ more movingly. no man 'counts of her beauty. Val. How esteem'st thou me? I account of her beauty. Speed. You never saw her since she was deform'd. Val. I have loved her ever since I saw her, and still Speed. If you love her, you cannot see her. Speed. Because love is blind. O! that you had mine eyes; or your own eyes had the lights they were wont to have, when you chid at sir Proteus for going ungartered! Val. What should I see then? Speed. Your own present folly, and her passing deformity; for he, being in love, could not see to garter his hose; and you, being in love, cannot see to put on your hose. Val. Belike, boy, then you are in love; for last morning you could not see to wipe my shoes. Speed. True, sir; I was in love with my bed. thank you, you swinged me for my love, which makes me the bolder to chide you for yours. Val. In conclusion, I stand affected to her. cease. Val. Last night she enjoin'd me to write some lines to one she loves. Speed. And have you? Val. I have. Speed. Are they not lamely writ? Val. No, boy, but as well as I can do them.Peace! here she comes. Enter SILVIA. Speed. O excellent motion! O exceeding puppet! Now will be interpret to her. manners. Val. Please you, I'll write your ladyship another. Val. If it please me, madam; what then? Speed. O jest! unseen, inscrutable, invisible, My master sues to her, and she hath taught her suitor, Val. How now, sir! what, are you reasoning with yourself? Speed. Nay, I was rhyming: 't is you that have the reason. Val. To do what? Speed. To be a spokesman from madam Silvia. I Speed. To yourself. Why, she woos you by a figure. Val. Madam and mistress, a thousand good morrows. Speed. O! 'give ye good even: here's a million of [Aside. Sil. Sir Valentine and servant,' to you two thousand. Speed. He should give her interest, and she gives it him. Val. As you enjoin'd me, I have writ your letter Val. Now trust me, madam, it came hardly off; I writ at random, very doubtfully. Sil. Perchance you think too much of so much pains? Val. What figure? Speed. By a letter, I should say. Val. Why, she hath not writ to me? Speed. What need she, when she hath made you write to yourself? Why, do you not perceive the jest? Val. No, believe me. Speed. No believing you, indeed, sir: but did you perceive her earnest? Val. She gave me none, except an angry word. an end. Val. I would it were no worse! I'll warrant you, 't is as well: Her self hath taught her love himself to write unto her All this I speak in print, for in print I found it.- Val. I have dined. Speed. Ay, but hearken, sir: though the cameleon love can feed on the air, I am one that am nourish'd by my victuals, and would fain have meat. O! be not like your mistress: be moved, be moved. [Exeunt. SCENE II-Verona. A Room in JULIA's House. Enter PROTEUS and JULIA. Pro. Have patience, gentle Julia. Sil. A pretty period. Well, I guess the sequel: Jul. If you turn not, you will return the sooner. you this. Not in f. e. Pro. Here is my hand for my true constancy; Pant. Sir Proteus, you are stay'd for. Go; I come, I come.Alas! this parting strikes poor lovers dumb. [Exeunt. SCENE III-The Same. A Street. Enter LAUNCE, leading his' Dog. Launce. 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 sourestnatured 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! tle 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 iss my father; well, he weeps on. Now come I to my mother, (0, that she could speak now!) like a wild2 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 moan she 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. Enter PANTHINO. Pant. 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. Launce. It is no matter if the tied were lost; for it is the unkindest tied that ever any man tied. Pant. What's the unkindest tide? Launce. Why, he that's tied here; Crab, my dog. Pant. 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 top my mouth? Launce. For fear thou should'st lose thy tongue. Launce. In thy tale. Pant. In thy tail? Speed. Master, sir Thurio frowns on you. Val. Of my mistress, then. Speed. 'T were good you knock'd him. Val. Indeed, madam, I seem so. Thu. So do counterfeits. Thu. What seem 1 that I am not? Thu. What instance of the contrary? Thu. And how quote3 you my folly ? Thu. My jerkin is a doublet. Val. Well, then, 't will double your folly. Sil. What, angry, sir Thurio? do you change colour? Val. Give him leave, madam: he is a kind of cameleon. 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. A fine volley of words, gentlemen, and quickly shot off. Val. 'T is indeed, madam; we thank the giver. 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. Here comes my Sil. No more, gentlemen, no more. father. Enter the DUKE. Duke. Now, daughter Silvia, you are hard beset. Val. Duke. Know you Don Antonio, your countryman? Launce. Lose the tied, and the voyage, and the 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 knew 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, Duke. Beshrew me, sir, but, if he make this good, He is as worthy for an empress' love. And here he means to spend his time a-while. [Exit DUKE. Val. This is the gentleman, I told your ladyship, Had come along with me, but that his mistress 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 you out? Val. Why, lady, love hath twenty pair of eyes. Sil. Have done, have done. Here comes the gen- 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. 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.- That you are worthless. 'Re-enter THURIO. Thu. Madam, my lord, your father, would speak with you. Sil. I wait upon his pleasure: come, sir Thurio, Pro. We'll both attend upon your ladyship. I know, you joy not in a love-discourse. Val. Ay, Proteus, but that life is alter'd now: For, in revenge of my contempt of love, Love hath chas'd sleep from my enthralled eyes, And made them watchers of mine own heart's sorrow. Pro. Enough; I read your fortune in your eye. Val. Even she; and is she not a heavenly saint? 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 divino, Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth. Val. Sweet, except not any, 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 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, Val. Ay, and we are betroth'd; nay, more, our marriage hour, With all the cunning manner of our flight Even as one heat another heat expels, [Exit VALENTINE. Or as one nail by strength drives out another, Is by a newer object quite forgotten. SCENE V-The Same. A Street. Enter SPEED and LAUNCE. Speed. Launce! by mine honesty, welcome to Milan. Launce. Forswear not thyself, sweet youth, for I am not welcome. I 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. Pro. To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn; To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn; Love bad me swear, and love bids me forswear. Speed. Come on, you mad-cap, I'll to the alehouse 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? Lounce. Marry, after they closed in earnest, they parted very fairly in jest. Speed. But shall she marry him? Lance. No. Speed. How then? Shall he marry her? 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. Speed. What thou say'st? I will forget that Julia is alive, Launce. Ay, and what I do too: look thee; I'll but Now, presently I'll give her father notice lean, and my staff understands me. Speed. It stands under thee, indeed. Launce. Why, stand-under and under-stand is all one. Speed. But tell me true, will 't be a match? 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. Of their disguising, and pretended' flight; [Exit Valentinus': in f. e. • Not in f. e. 5 thou hast in fe. • in: in fo SCENE VII-Verona. A Room in JULIA's House. Jul. Counsel, Lucetta; gentle girl, assist me: Luc. Alas! the way is wearisome and long. Luc. Better forbear, till Proteus make return. Pity the dearth that I have pined in, By longing for that food so long a time. Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason. Jul. The more thou damm'st it up, the more it burns. He makes sweet music with the enamel'd stones, He overtaketh in his pilgrimage; Luc. But in what habit will you go along? Luc. Why, then your ladyship must cut your hair. With twenty odd-conceited true-love knots Jul. That fits as well, as-" tell me, good my lord, What compass will you wear your farthingale ?" Why, even what fashion thou best lik'st, Lucetta. Luc. You must needs have them with a codpiece, madam. Jul. Out, out, Lucetta! that will be ill-favour'd. Luc. A round hose, madam, now's not worth a pin Unless you have a codpiece to stick pins on. Jul. Lucetta, as thou lov'st me, let me have What thou think'st meet, and is most mannerly. But tell me, wench, how will the world repute me For undertaking so unstaid a journey? I fear me, it will make me scandaliz'd. Luc. If you think so, then stay at home, and go not. Luc. Then never dream on infamy, but go. Luc. All these are servants to deceitful men. Jul. Now, as thou lov'st me, do him not that wrong, To bear a hard opinion of his truth: Only deserve my love by loving him, And presently go with me to my chamber, To take a note of what I stand in need of, To furnish me upon my loving2 journey. All that is mine I leave at thy dispose, My goods, my lands, my reputation; Only, in lieu thereof, dispatch me hence. Come; answer not, but to it presently: I am impatient of my tarriance. ACT III. SCENE I-Milan. An Ante-chamber in the DUKE's Myself am one made privy to the plot. Palace. Enter DUKE, THURIO, and PROTEUS. Duke. Sir Thurio, give us leave, I pray, awhile: We have some secrets to confer about.-Exit THURIO. Now, tell me, Proteus, what's your will with me? Pro. My gracious lord, that which I would discover, The law of friendship bids me to conceal; But, when I call to mind your gracious favours Done to me, undeserving as I am, My duty pricks me on to utter that, Which else no worldly good should draw from me. [Exeunt I know you have determin'd to bestow her Duke. Proteus, I thank thee for thine honest care, |