I do deteft falfe pèrjured Protheus:...
Therefore be gone, folicit me no more.

Pro. What dangerous action, stood it next to death,
Would I not undergo for one calm look?
Oh, 'tis the curfe in love, and still approved,
When women cannot love, where they're beloved.

Sil. When Protheus cannot love where he's beRead over Julia's heart, thy first, beft love, [loved. For whofe dear fake thou then didst rend thy faith Into a thousand oaths; and all thofe oaths Defcended into perjury, to love me.

Thou haft no faith left now, unless thoud'st two, And that's far worse than none: better have none Than plural faith, which is too much by one. Thou counterfeit to thy true friend. !

Pro. In love

Who refpects friend?

Sil. AH men but Protheus..

Pro. Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words. Can no way change you to a milder form,

I'll move you like a foldier, at arm's end,

And love you 'gainst the nature of love; force ye. Sil. Oh, Heaven!

Pro. I't force thee, yield to my defire.

Val. Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch, Thou friend of an ill fathion!

Pro. Valentine !-------

Val. Thou common friend, that's without faith:

or love;

For fach is a friend now: thou treacherous man !
Thou haft beguiled my hopes; nought but mine eye
Could have perfuaded me. Now I dare not fay
I have one friend alive; thou wouldst difprøve me.
Who should be trufted now, when the right hand
Is perjured to the bofom? Protheus,

I'm forry I muit never trust thee more,

But count the world a franger for thy fake.
The private wound is deepest. Oh time most accurft!
'Mongit all foes, that a friend thould be the worst !
Pro. My fhame and guilt confound me:
Forgive me, Valentine; if hearty forrow
Be a fufficient ranfum for offence,

I tender't here; I do as truly fuffer,
As e'er I did commit.

Val. Then I am paid:

And once again I do receive thee honeft.
Who by repentance is not fatisfied,

Is nor of heaven, nor earth; for these are pleased;
By penitence th' Eternal's wrath's appeafed.

And that my love may appear plain and free,
All that was mine in Silvia I give thee.

Jul. Oh me unhappy!

• Pro. Look to the boy.

[Swoons.

Egla. Why, boy! how now? What's the matter? look up; fpeak..

Jul. O good Sir, my mafter charged me to deliver a ring to Madam Silvia, which, out of my neglect, was never done.

Pro. Where is that ring, boy?
Jul. Here 'tis: this is it.

Pro. How? let me fee:

This is the ring I gave to Julia.

Jul. Oh, cry you mercy, Sir, I have mistook;

This is the ring you fent to Silvia.

I

Pro. How cameft thou by this ring? at my depart,

gave this unto Julia.

Jul. And Julia herfelf did give it me,

And Julia herfelf hath brought it hither.

Pro. How, Julia?

Jul Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths, And entertained them deeply in her heart:

How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root ? :

Oh Protheus, let this habit make thee blush!
Be thou afhamed that I have took upon me
Such an immodeft raiment; if fhame live
In a difguife of love.

It is the lefler blot, modefty finds,

Women to change their shapes, than men their minds.

Pro. Than men their minds? 'tis true: oh Heaven!:

were man

But conftant, he were perfect; that one error
Fills him with faults; makes him run through all.
Inconftancy falls off, ere it begins.

What is in Silvia's face, but I may spy.

[fins ::

More freth in Julia's with a conftant eye?
Val. Come, come, a hand from either:
Let me be bleft to make this happy close;
'Twere pity two fuch friends fhould long be foes.
Pro. Bear witness, Heaven, I have my with for
Jul. And I mine:

[ever..

Enter Outlaws, with Duke and THURIO.

Out. A prize, a prize, a prize!

Val. Forbear, forbear, it is my Lord the Duke. Your Grace is welcome to a man disgraced,

The banithed Valentine.

Duke. Sir Valentine?

Thu. Yonder is Silvia: and Silvia's mine. Val. Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death: Come not within the measure of my wrath: Do not name Silvia thine; if once again,Milan fhall not behold thee. Here fhe ftands, (17)

(17) Verona fhall not hold thee.] Thus all the editions; but whether through the mistake of the firft editors, or the Poet's own careleffnefs, this reading is abfurdly faulty. For the threat here is to Thurio, who is a Milanefe, and has no con-cerns, as it appears, with Verona. Belides, the fcene is betwixt the confines of Milan and Mantua, to which Silvia fol

Take but poffeffion of her with a touch;
I dare thee but to breathe upon my love.-
Thu. Sir Valentine, I care not for her, L.
I hold him but a fool that will endanger
His body for a girl that loves him not.
I claim her not; and therefore she is thine...

Duke. The more degenerate and base art thou,
To make fuch means for her as thou haft done,
And leave her on fuch flight conditions.
Now, by the honour of my ancestry,
I do applaud thy fpirit, Valentine,

And think thee worthy of an emprefs' love:
Know then, I here forget all former griefs;
Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,
Plead a new ftate in thy unrival'd merit,
To which I thus fubfcribe: Sir Valentine,
Thou art a gentleman, and well derived;
Take thou thy Silvia, for thou haft deserved her.
Val I thank your Grace; the gift hath made me
I now befeech you, for your daughter's fake, [happy.
To grant one boon that I fhall ask of you.

Duke. I grant it for thine own, whate'er it be.
Val. These banished men, that I have kept withal,
Are men endued with worthy qualities:
Forgive them what they have committed here,
And let them be recalled from their exile;
They are reformed, civil, full of good,
And fit for great employment, worthy Lord.
Duke. Thou hast prevailed, I pardon them and
thee;

Difpofe of them as thou knowest their deserts.

lows Valentine, having heard that he had retreated thither. And upon thefe circumftances I ventured to adjust the text, as I imagine the Poet must have intended; i. e. Milan, thy country, fhall never fee thee again; thou shalt never live to go back thither.

Come, let us go: we will include all jars
With triumphs, mirth, and all folemnity.

Val. And as we walk along, I dare be bold With our difcourfe to make your Grace to smile. What think you of this page, my Lord?

Duke. I think the boy hath grace in him; he

blushes.

Val. I warrant you, my Lord, more grace than boy.. Duke. What mean you by that faying?

Val. Please you, I'll tell you as we pass along, That you will wonder what hath fortuned. Come, Protheus, 'tis your penance but to hear The story of your loves difcovered: That done, our day of marriage fhall be yours, One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.

[Exeunt omnes..