Ant. Nor need'st thou much importune me to

that

Whereon this month I have been hammering.

I have consider'd well his loss of time,
And how he cannot be a perfect man,
Not being tried and tutor'd in the world:
Experience is by industry achiev'd,

And perfected by the swift course of time.
Then, tell me, whither were I best to send him?
Pan. I think your lordship is not ignorant
How his companion, youthful Valentine,
Attends the emperor in his royal court.30

Ant. I know it well.

Pan. 'Twere good, I think, your lordship sent him thither:

There shall he practise tilts and tournaments,
Hear sweet discourse, converse with noblemen,
And be in eye of every exercise

Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth.

Ant. I like thy counsel; well hast thou advis'd: And that thou mayst perceive how well I like it, The execution of it shall make known.

Even with the speediest expedition

I will dispatch him to the emperor's court.

Deliver'd by a friend that came from him.
Ant. Lend me the letter; let me see what news.
Pro. There is no news, my lord; but that he
writes,

How happily he lives, how well belov'd,
And daily graced by the emperor;

Wishing me with him, partner of his fortune.
Ant. And how stand you affected to his wish?
Pro. As one relying on your lordship's will,
And not depending on his friendly wish.

Ant. My will is something sorted with his wish. Muse not that I thus suddenly proceed;

For what I will, I will, and there an end.

I am resolv'd that thou shalt spend some time
With Valentinus in the emperor's court:
What maintenance he from his friends receives,
Like exhibition 32 thou shalt have from me.
To-morrow be in readiness to go:
Excuse it not, for I am peremptory.

Pro. My lord, I cannot be so soon provided:
Please you, deliberate a day or two.

Ant. Look, what thou want'st shall be sent after thee:

No more of stay; to-morrow thou must go.

Sweet love! sweet lines! sweet life! Here is her hand, the agent of her heart; Here is her oath for love, her honour's pawn. Oh, that our fathers would applaud our loves, To seal our happiness with their consents! Oh, heavenly Julia!

To hasten on his expedition.

[Exeunt ANT. and PAN.

Pro. Thus have 1 shunn'd the fire for fear of

burning,

And drench'd me in the sea, where I am drown'd.
I fear'd to show my father Julia's letter,
Lest he should take exceptions to my love;
And with the vantage of mine own excuse
Hath he excepted most against my love.
Oh, how this spring of love resembleth 33

The uncertain glory of an April day,
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by-and-by a cloud takes all away!
Re-enter PANTHINO.

there?

Pro. May't please your lordship, 'tis a word or

two

Of commendations sent from Valentine,

detriment, as in the French word, em péchement. Shakespeare's felicity in employing words that bear varied senses can hardly be too much insisted on, or pointed out. Until his epithets are duly weighed and examined in all their relations to the context, their excellence is hardly sufficiently estimated; and the more they are studied, appreciated, and adopted, the more will be produced largely good effect upon English style.

30. The emperor in his royal court. Some of the early German emperors held their court at Milan, as the capital of their

He is in haste; therefore, I pray you, go. Pro. Why, this it is,-my heart accords thereto, And yet a thousand times it answers, No.

[Exeunt.

Italian dominions; while the Dukes of Milan were not then sovereign princes, but merely viceroys under the imperial sway. 31. In good time. Appositely; in time fitted to the purpose. Equivalent to the French phrase, apropos. The father seeing his son approach, means to say-'Here he comes, just opportunely; and I will break the matter to him at once.'

32. Like exhibition. Similar allowance of money. "Exhibition" is still used in the universities for a stipend.

33. Resembleth. Pronounced here as a four syllable word,

Enter VALENTINE and SPEED.

Speed. Sir, your glove.

Val. Not mine; my gloves are on.

Speed. Why, then, this may be yours, for this

is but one.1

Val. Ha! let me see: ay, give it me, it's mine.Sweet ornament that decks a thing divine! Ah, Silvia, Silvia !

Speed [calling]. Madam Silvia, Madam Silvia !
Val. How now, sirrah!

Speed. She is not within hearing, sir.
Val. Why, sir, who bade you call her?
Speed. Your worship, sir; or else I mistook.
Val. Well, you'll still be too forward.

Val. Without me! they cannot.

Speed. Without you! nay, that's certain; for, without you were so simple, none else would: 5 but you are so without these follies, that these follies are within you, and shine through you like the water in a vial, that not an eye that sees you but is a physician to comment on your malady.

Val. But tell me, dost thou know my lady Silvia ?

Speed. She that you gaze on so as she sits at supper?

l'al. Hast thou observed that? even she 1

mean.

Speed. Why, sir, I know her not.

Val. Dost thou know her by my gazing on her,

Speed. She that your worship loves? Val. Why, how know you that I am in love? Speed. Marry, by these special marks: first, you have learned, like Sir Proteus, to wreathe your arms, like a malcontent; to relish a love song, like a robin-redbreast; to walk alone, like one that had the pestilence; to sigh, like a schoolboy that had lost his A B C; to weep, like a young wench that had buried her grandam; to fast, like one that takes diet; to watch, like one that fears robbing; to speak puling, like a beggar at Hallowmas. You were wont, when you laughed, to crow like a cock; when you walked, to walk like one of the lions; when you fasted, it was presently after dinner; when you looked sadly, it was for want of money: and now you are metamorphosed with a mistress, that, when I look on you, I car. hardly think you my master.

3

Speed. Is she not hard-favoured, sir?
Val. Not so fair, boy, as well-favoured.
Speed. Sir, I know that well enough.
Val. What dost thou know?

Speed. That she is not so fair as (of you) well favoured.

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? Speed. Marry, sir, so painted, to make her fair, that no man 'counts of her beauty.

Val. How estcemest thou me? I account of her beauty,

Speed. You never saw her since she was deformed.

Val. How long hath she been deformed?
Speed. Ever since you loved her.

Val. I have loved her ever since I saw her; and still I see her beautiful.

Speed. If you love her, you cannot see her.

they undertook to pray for the souls of the donors' departed friends.

4. Without. The word is played on here in its various sense of 'outside,' of 'being absent,' and of 'unless,'

5. None else would. Johnson explains this to mean, 'none else would be so simple.' But does it not rather mean, 'unless you were so simple as to let your love-tokens exteriorly appear, no one would perceive them but myself?'

6. Account of her beauty. Appreciate, esteem, value her beauty.

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. I 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. Speed. I would you were set ; so your affection would cease.

Val. Last night she enjoined 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 [aside]. Oh, excellent motion! 10 Oh, exceeding puppet! Now will he interpret to her.

Val. Madam and mistress, a thousand good

morrows.

Speed [aside]. Oh, give ye good even! here's a million of manners.

Sil. Sir Valentine and servant," to you two thousand.

Speed [aside]. He should give her interest, and she gives it him.

Val. As you enjoin'd me, I have writ your letter

Unto the secret nameless friend of yours;
Which I was much unwilling to proceed in,
But for my duty to your ladyship. [Gives a letter.

7. Ungartered. A carelessness in attire much affected by enamoured swains in Shakespeare's time; and playfully satirised here, as in "As You Like It," iii. 2.

8. Cannot see to put on your hose. It should seem that Sir Valentine has fallen into the lover-like ill-adjustment of apparel which calls forth this gibe from his serving-man, as it is probable that the word 'properly' must be understood after “hose."

9. Set. The punning Speed uses the word here in its sense of 'seated (as opposed to "stand" in the preceding speech) and of being fixed or attached firmly; as we say 'set your affections upon,' 'set your heart upon.' The concluding words, "so your affection would cease," confirm this; as, while they seem to

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 [aside]. And yet you will; and yet
another yet.

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

Sil. Yes, yes; the lines are very quaintly 13 writ; But since unwillingly, take them again; Nay, take them. [Gives back the letter. 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. Sil. And when it's writ, for my sake read it

predict the extinction of Valentine's love, they imply only cessation from moving.

10. Motion. The name given to a puppet-show, and to its puppets. The showman was called 'the interpreter. Speed seeing the lady approach, his master advance, and their mutual amenities in meeting, alludes to her as a well-dressed figure,

a doll, and to his master as the one who will supply her with speech by opening the dialogue.

11. Servant. A name formerly given to a lady's admirers or

suitors.

12. Clerkly. Like a scholar.

13. Quaintly. This word formerly bore more varied signifi

Keep this remembrance for thy Julia's sake.

[Gives him a ring. Pro. Why, then, we'll make exchange; here, take you this. [Gives her another. Jul. And seal the bargain with a holy kiss. 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! My father stays my coming; answer not; The tide is now:-nay, not thy tide of tears; That tide will stay me longer than I should : Julia, farewell! [Exit JULIA.

What, gone without a word?
Ay, so true love should do: it cannot speak;
For truth hath better deeds than words to grace it.
Enter PANTHINO.

Pan. Sir Proteus, you are stay'd for.
Pro. Go; I come, I come.-

Alas! this parting strikes poor lovers dumb.

[Exeunt.

SCENE 11I.-VERONA. A street.

Enter LAUNCE, leading a dog. Launce. Nay, 'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping; all the kind of the Launces have this very fault. I have received my proportion,

Val. I have dined.

Speed. Ay, but hearken, sir; though the cameleon Love can feed on the air, I am one that am nourished by my victuals, and would fain have meat. Oh, be not like your mistress; be moved, be moved.17 [Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Verona. The garden of JULIA's

bouse.

Enter PROTEUS and JULIA.

Pro. Have patience, gentle Julia.
Jul. I must, where is no remedy.

Pro. When possibly I can, I will return.

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 is my mother, and this my father; a vengeance on't! there 'tis: now, sir, this staff is my sister; for, look you, she is as white as a

sooner.

cation than it does now. Here it means cleverly, dexterously, ingeniously.

14. Reasoning. Sometimes used for talking, conversing, dis coursing; as ragionare in Italian. 15. Earnest. Used in opposition to "jest:" and in the sense of 'pledge,' or token of future and farther bestowal.

maid: I am the dog;-no, the dog is himself, and

16. In print. Literally, exactly. Speed pretends to quote precisely some lines he has read.

17. Be moved. Used quibblingly for 'have compassion on my hunger,' and for 'move on towards the dinner-table.'

18. Turn not. Turn not from your pledged love and faith. 19. Kind. Used for kindred.