Enter PROTEUS. Sil. Have done, have done. Here comes the gentleman. [Exit THURIO. Val. Welcome, dear Proteus!—Mistress, I beseech 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.— Pro. That you are worthless. 1Re-enter THURIO. Thu. Madam, my lord, your father, would speak with you. Sil. I wait upon his pleasure: come, sir Thurio, [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 nightly tears, and daily heart-sore sighs; 1 Enter: in f.e For, in revenge of my contempt of love, Love hath chas'd sleep from my enthralled eyes, And hath so humbled me, as, I confess, There is no woe to his correction, Nor, to his service, no such joy on earth; Now can I break my fast, dine, sup, and sleep, Pro. Enough; I read your fortune in your eye. Val. Even she; and is she not a heavenly saint? Pro. No, but she is an earthly paragon. Val. Call her divine. 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 divine, Yet let her be a principality, Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth. 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-smelling1 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. 1 swelling in f. e. Forgive me, that I do not dream on thee, Val. Ay, and we are betroth'd; nay, more, our marriage hour, With all the cunning manner of our flight Determin'd of: how I must climb her window, Pro. I will. [Exit VALENTINE. Even as one heat another heat expels, There is no reason but I shall be blind. 1 Not in f. e. 2 eye : in f. e. Knight reads, "her mien." 3 Valentinus': in f. e. 4 Not in f. e. If I can check my erring love, I will; SCENE V.-The Same. A Street. Enter SPEED and LAUNCE. [Exit. 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. 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 ? Launce. Marry, after they closed in earnest, they parted very fairly in jest. Speed. But shall she marry him? Launce. No. Speed. How then? Shall he marry her? Launce. No, neither. Speed. What, are they broken? Launce. No, they are both as whole as a fish. Speed. Why then, how stands the matter with them? Launce. Marry, thus: when it stands well with him it stands well with her. Speed. What an ass art thou? I understand thee not. Launce. What a block art thou, that thou canst not. My staff understands me. Speed. What thou say'st? Launce. Ay, and what I do too: look thee; I'll but 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. Speed. The conclusion is, then, that it will. Launce. Thou shalt never get such a secret from me, but by a parable.. Speed. 'Tis well that I get it so. But, Launce, how say'st thou, that my master is become a notable lover? Launce. I never knew him otherwise. Speed. Than how? Launce. A notable lubber, as thou reportest him to be. Speed. Why, thou whoreson ass, thou mistak'st me. Launce. Why, fool, I meant not thee; I meant thy master. Speed. I tell thee, my master is become a hot lover. Launce. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn himself in love, if thou wilt go with me to the alehouse if not, thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a Christian. Speed. Why? Launce. Because thou hast not so much charity in thee, as to go to the ale with a Christian. Wilt thou go? Speed. At thy service. SCENE VI.-The Same. [Exeunt. An Apartment in the Palace. Enter PROTEUS. Pro. To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn; To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn; To wrong my friend, I shall be much forsworn; Love bad me swear, and love bids me forswear. But there I leave to love, where I should love. If I keep them, I needs must lose myself; 1 thou hast in f. e. 2 in in f. e. |