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 What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by?

What is your news?

Pro. Ay, ay; and she hath offer'd to the doom
(Which, unrevers'd, stands in effectual force)
A sea of melting pearl, which some call tears:
Those at her father's churlish feet she tender'd;
With them, upon her knees, her humble self;
Wringing her hands, whose whiteness so became

But neither bended knees, pure hands held up,
As if but now they waxed pale for wo
Sad sighs, deep groans, nor silver-shedding tears,
Could penetrate her uncompassionate sire;
But Valentine, if he be ta'en, must die.

Besides, her intercession chaf'd him so,
When she for thy repeal was suppliant,
That to close prison he commanded her,

With many bitter threats of 'biding there.

Igrandmother: this proves, that thou canst not read.

Speed. Come, fool, come: try me in thy paper. Laun. There; and Saint Nicholas be thy speed!

Val. No more; unless the next word that thou Speed. Item, She brews good ale.

speak'st,

Have some malignant power upon my life:
If so, I pray thee, breathe it in mine ear,

As ending anthem of my endless dolour.

Pro. Cease to lament for that thou canst not

help,

And study help for that which thou lament'st.
Time is the nurse and breeder of all good.
Here if thou stay, thou canst not see thy love;
Besides, thy staying will abridge thy life.
Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that,
And manage it against despairing thoughts.
Thy letters may be here, though thou art hence;
Which, being writ to me, shall be deliver'd
Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love.
The time now serves not to expostulate:
Come, I'll convey thee through the city-gate;
And, ere I part with thee, confer at large
Of all that may concern thy love-affairs:
As thou lov'st Silvia, though not for thyself,
Regard thy danger, and along with me.

Val. I pray thee, Launce, an if thou seest my

boy,

Bid him make haste, and meet me at the north gate.
Pro. Go, sirrah, find him out. Come, Valentine.
Val. O my dear Silvia! hapless Valentine!

[Exeunt Valentine and Proteus.

Laun. And thereof comes the proverb, -Blessing of your heart, you brew good ale.

Speed. Item, She can sew.

Laun. That's as much as to say, Can she so?
Speed. Item, She can knit.

Laun. What need a man care for a stock with

a wench, when she can knit him a stock?
Speed. Item, She can wash and scour.

Laun. A special virtue; for then she need not

be washed and scoured.

Speed. Item, She can spin.

Laun. Then may I set the world on wheels when she can spin for her living.

Speed. Item, She hath many namelees virtues. Laun. That's as much as to say, bastard virtues; that, indeed, know not their fathers, and therefore have no names.

Speed. Here follow her vices.

Laun. Close at the heels of her virtues.
Speed. Item, She is not to be kissed fasting, in

respect of her breath.

Laun. Well, that fault may be mended with a breakfast: read on.

Speed. Item, She hath a sweet mouth.
Laun. That makes amends for her sour breath.
Speed. Item, She doth talk in her sleep.

Laun. It's no matter for that, so she sleep not in

her talk.

Speed. Item, She is slow in words. Laun. O villain, that set this down among her vices! To be slow in words, is a woman's only virtue: I pray thee, out with't; and place it for her chief virtue.

Speed. Item, She is proud. Laun. Out with that too; it was Eve's legacy, and cannot be ta'en from her.

Laun. I am but a fool, look you; and yet I have the wit to think, my master is a kind of knave: but that's all one, if he be but one knave. He lives not now, that knows me to be in love: yet I am in love; but a team of horse shall not pluck that from me; nor who 'tis I love, and yet 'tis a woman: but that woman, I will not tell myself; and yet 'tis a milk-maid: yet 'tis not a maid, for she hath had gossips: yet 'tis a maid, for she is her master's maid, and serves for wages. She hath more qualities than a water-spaniel, which is much in a bare Christian. Here is the cat-log [pulling out a paper] of her conditions. Imprimis, She can fetch and carry. Why, a horse can do no more; nay, a horse cannot fetch, but only car- bite. ry; therefore, is she better than a jade. Item, She can milk; look you, a sweet virtue in a maid with clean hands.

Speed. Item, She hath no teeth.

Laun. I care not for that neither, because I love

crusts.

Speed. Item, She is curst.

Laun. Well; the best is, she hath no teeth to

Speed. Item, She will often praise her liqur. Laun. If her liquor be good, she shall: if she will not, I will; for good things should be praised. Speed. Item, She is too liberal.3

Laun. Of her tongue she cannot; for that's writ down she is slow of: of her purse she shall not; for that I'll keep shut: now, of another thing she may, and that I cannot help. Well, proceed.

Speed. Item, She hath more hair than wit, and more faults than hairs, and more wealth than faults.

Laun. Stop there; I'll have her: she was mine, and not mine, twice or thrice in that last article:

rehearse that once more.

Speed. Item, She hath more hair than wit,Laun. More hair than wit, -it may be; I'll prove it: the cover of the salt hides the salt, and therefore it is more than the salt; the hair that covers the wit, is more than the wit; for the greater hides the less. What's next?

Speed. And more faults than hairs,-
Laun. That's monstrous: O, that that were out!
Speed. And more wealth than faults.

Laun. Why, that word makes the faults gra

(3) Licentious in language.

By aught that I can speak in his dispraise,
She shall not long continue love to him.
But say, this weed her love from Valentine,

cious: well, I'll have her: and if it be a match, as By nothing is impossible,

Speed. What then?

Laun. Why, then I will tell thee, that thy It follows not that she will love sir Thurio. master stays for thee at the north gate.

Speed. For me?

Thu. Therefore, as you unwind her love from

him,

Laun. For thee? ay; wno art thou? he hath Lest it should ravel, and be good to none, staid for a better man than thee.

Speed. And must I go to him? Laun. Thou must run to him, for thou hast staid so long, that going will scarce serve the turn.

Speed. Why didst not tell me sooner? 'pox of your love-letters!

You must provide to bottom it on me:
Which must be done, by praising me as much
As you in worth dispraise sir Valentine.
Duke. And, Proteus, we dare trust you in this
kind;

[Erit. Because we know, on Valentine's report, Laun. Now will he be swinged for reading my You are already love's firm votary, Jetter: an unmannerly slave, that will thrust him- And cannot soon revolt and change your mind. self into secrets!-I'll after, to rejoice in the boy's Upon this warrant shall you have access, correction.

[Exit. Where you with Silvia may confer at large; For she is lumpish, heavy, melancholy, And, for your friend's sake, will be glad of you; SCENE II. The same. A room in the Duke's Where you may temper her, by your persuasion, palace. Enter Duke and Thurio; Proteus be- To hate young Valentine, and love my friend. Pro. As much as I can do, I will effect:But you, sir Thurio, are not sharp enough; Duke. Sir Thurio, fear not, but that she will love You must lay lime, to tangle her desires, you, By wailful sonnets, whose composed rhymes Now Valentine is banish'd from her sight. Should be full fraught with serviceable vows.

hind.

Thu. Since his exile she hath despis'd me most, Duke. Ay, much the force of heaven-bred poesy.

Forsworn my company, and rail'd at me,
That I am desperate of obtaining her.

Duke. This weak impress of love is as a figure
Trench'd in ice; which with an hour's heat
Dissolves to water, and doth lose his form.
A little time will melt her frozen thoughts,
And worthless Valentine shall be forgot.-
How now, sir Proteus? Is your countryman,
According to our proclamation, gone?

Pro. Gone, my good lord.

Duke. My daughter takes his going grievously.
Pro. A little time, my lord, will kill that grief.
Duke. So I believe; but Thurio thinks not so. -
Proteus, the good conceit I hold of thee
(For thou hast shown some sign of good desert,)
Makes me the better to confer with thee.

Pro. Longer than I prove loyal to your grace,
Let me not live to look upon your grace.

Duke. Thou know'st, how willingly I would effect The match between sir Thurio and my daughter. Pro. I do, my lord.

Duke. And also, I think, thou art not ignorant
How she opposes her against my will.

Pro. She did, my lord, when Valentine was here.
Dake. Ay, and perversely she perseveres so.
What might we do, to make the girl forget
The love of Valentine, and love sir Thurio?
Pro. The best way is to slander Valentine
With falsehood, cowardice, and poor descent;
Three things that women highly hold in hate.
Duke. Ay, but she'll think, that it is spoke in
hate.

Pro. Ay, if his enemy deliver it:
Therefore it must, with circumstance, be spoken
By one, whom she esteemeth as his friend.

Duke. Then you must undertake to slander him.
Pro. And that, my lord, I shall be loth to do.
'Tis an ill office for a gentleman;
Especially, against his very friend.

Duke. Where your good word cannot advantage

him,

Your slander never can endamage him;
Therefore the office is indifferent,
Being entreated to it by your friend.

Pro. You have prevail'd, my lord: if I can do it,

Pro. Say, that upon the altar of her beauty
You sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart:
Write till your ink be dry; and with your tears
Moist it again; and frame some feeling line,
That may discover such integrity:-
For Orpheus' lute was strung with poet's sinews;
Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones,
Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans

Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands.
After your dire-lamenting elegies,
Visit by night your lady's chamber-window
With some sweet concert: to their instruments
Tune a deploring dump; the night's dead silence
Will well become such sweet complaining griev-

ance.

This, or else nothing, will inherit her.
Duke. This discipline shows thou hast been in
love.

Thu. And thy advice this night I'll put in prac-
tice:

Therefore, sweet Proteus, my direction-giver,
Let us into the city presently
To sort some gentlemen well skill'd in music
I have a sonnet, that will serve the turn,
To give the onset to thy good advice.

Dake. About it, gentlemen.

Pro. We'll wait upon your grace till after supper, And afterward determine our proceedings.

Duke. Even now about it; I will pardon you.

[Exeunt.

Enter

If not, we'll make you sit, and rifle you.
Love thee as our commander, and our king.
Speed. Sir, we are undone! these are the villains 1 Out. But if thou scorn our courtesy, thou diest,
That all the travellers do fear so much.

2 Out. Thou shalt not live to brag what we aave

SCENE II.-Milan. Court of the palace. Enter Proteus.

Pro. Already have I been false to Valentine,

And now I must be as unjust to Thurio.
commending him,

Val. Some sixteen months; and longer might Under the colour of

I have access my own love to prefer;
But Silvia is too fair, too true, too holy,
To be corrupted with my worthless gifts.
When I protest true loyalty to her,

She twits me with my falsehood to my friend;
When to her beauty I commend my vows,
She bids me think, how I have been forsworn
In breaking faith with Julia whom I iov'd:
And, notwithstanding all her sudden quips,
The least whereof would quell a lover's hope,
Yet, spaniel-like, the more she spurns my love,
The more it grows and fawneth on her still.
But here comes Thurio: now must we to her win-
dow,

Val. My youthful travel therein made me happy; And give some evening music to her ear.

Thu. How now, sir Proteus? are you crept before us?

Pro. Ay, gentle Thurio; for, you know, that love

Will creep in service where it cannot go.

Thu. Ay, but, I hope, sir, that you love not here.
Pro. Sir, but I do; or else I would be hence.
Thu. Whom? Silvia?

$ Out. Know then, that some of us are gentle- Pro. Ay, Silvia for your sake.

Thu. I thank you for your own. Now, gentle

Host. Now, my young guest! methinks you're

1 Out. And I, for such like petty crimes as allycholly; I pray you, why is it?

Who is Silvia? What is she,

That all our swains commend her ?

Holy, fair, and wise is she;

The heavens such grace did lend her,

That she might admired be.

(5) Passionate reproaches.

And, being help'd, inhabits there.

Then to Silvia let us sing,

That Silvia is excelling;

She excels each mortal thing,

Upon the dull earth dwelling.

To her let

us garlands bring.

For, I am sure, she is not buried.

[Aside,

Sil. Say, that she be; yet Valentine, thy friend,

Survives; to whom, thyself art witness,
I am betroth'd: And art thou not asham'd
To wrong him with thy importúnacy?

Pro. I likewise hear, that Valentine is dead.

Sil. And so, suppose, am I; for in his grave,

Host. How now? are you sadder than you were Assure thyself, my love is buried.

Pro. Sweet lady, let me rake it from the earth.

before?

How do you, man? the music likes you not.

Sil. Go to thy lady's grave, and call her's thence; /

Jul. You mistake; the musician likes me not.

Or, at the least, in her's sepulchre thine.

Host. Why, my pretty youth?

Jul. He heard not that.

[Aside.

Jul. He plays false, father.

Pro. Madam, if your heart be so obdúrate,

Host. How? out of tune on the strings?

Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love,

Jul. Not so; but yet so false that he grieves my The picture that is hanging in your chamber;

very heart-strings.

To that I'll speak, to that I'll sigh and weep;

Host. You have a quick ear.

For, since the substance of your perfect self

Jul. Ay, I would I were deaf! it makes me have Is else devoted, I am but a shadow; a slow heart.

Host. I perceive, you delight not in music.

Jul. Not a whit, when it jars so.

Host. Hark, what fine change is in the music!
Jul. Ay, that change is the spite.

Host. You would have them always, play but one thing?

Jul. I would always have one play but one
thing.

But, host, doth this sir Proteus, that we talk on,
Often resort unto this gentlewoman?

Host. I tell you what Launce, his man, told me, he loved her out of all nick.

You'd quickly learn to know him by his voice.

Sil. Sir Proteus, as I take it.
Pro. Sir Proteus, gentle lady, and your servant.
Sil. What is your will?
Pro.

That I may compass yours.
Sil. You have your wish; my will is even this,
That presently you hie you home to bed.
Thou subtle, perjur'd, false, disloyal man!
Think'st thou, I am so shallow, so conceitless,
To be seduc'd by thy flattery,

That hast deceiv'd so many with thy vows?
Return, return, and make thy love amends.
For me, by this pale queen of night I swear,
I am so far from granting thy request,

That I despise thee for thy wrongful suit;

(1) Beyond all reckoning.
(2) Holy dame, blessed lady

F

1

And make it but a shadow, as I am.

Sil. I am very loth to be your idol, sir;
But, since your falsehood shall become you well
To worship shadows, and adore false shapes,
Send to me in the morning, and I'll send it :
And so good rest.
Pro.

As wretches have o'er-night,

That wait for execution in the morn.

[Exeunt Proteus; and Silvia, from above.

Jul. Host, will you go?
Host. By my halidom, I was fast asleep.
Jul. Pray you, where lies sir Proteus?

Host. Marry, at my house: Trust me, I think

Egl. As many, worthy lady, to yourself.
According to your ladyship's impose,
I am thus early come, to know what service
It is your pleasure to command me in.

swear,

Sil. O Eglamour, thou art a gentleman
(Think not, I flatter, for, I I do not,
Valiant, wise, remorseful, well accomplish'd.
Thou art not ignorant, what dear good will
I bear unto the banish'd Valentine;
Nor how my father would enforce me marry
Vain Thurio, whom my very soul abhorr'd.
Thyself hast lov'd; and I have heard thee say,
No grief did ever come so near your heart,
As when thy lady and thy true love died,

(S) Injunction, command.

(4) Pitiful.