SCENE VIII.

Changes to a street.

Enter Speed and Launce.

SPEED. Launce, by mine honefty, welcome to Milan. LAUN. Forfwear not thyfelf, fweet youth; for I am not welcome: I reckon this always, that a man is never undone, 'till he be hang'd; nor ever welcome to á place, 'till some certain shot be paid, and the hostess say, welcome.

SPEED. Come on, you mad-cap; I'll to the ale house with you presently, where, for one shot of five-pence, thou fhalt have five thousand welcomes. But, firrah, how did thy master part with madam Julia?

LAUN. Marry, after they clos'd in earnest, they parted very fairly in jeft.

SPEED. But shall she marry him?

LAUN. No.

SPEED. How then? fhall he

LAUN. No, neither.

marry

her?

SPEED. What, are they broken?

LAUN. No, they are both as whole as a fish.

SPEED. Why then how stands the matter with them ? LAUN. Marry thus: when it stands well with him, it ftands well with her.

SPEED. What an afs art thou? I understand thee not. LAUN. What a block art thou, that thou canst not? My staff understands me.

SPEED. What thou fay'ft?

LAUN. Ay, and what I do too; look thee; I'll but lean,

and my staff understands me.

SPEED. It stands under thee indeed.

LAUN. Why, ftand-under, and underftand, is all one.

SPEED. But tell me true, will't be a match?

LAUN. Afk my dog: if he fay ay, it will; if he fay no, it will; if he shake his tail, and say nothing, it will.

SPEED. The conclusion is then, that it will.

LAUN. Thou shalt never get fuch a fecret from me, but by a parable.

SPEED. 'Tis well that I get it fo. But Launce, how say'st thou, that my master is become a notable lover?

LAUN. I never knew him otherwise.

SPEED. Than how?

LAUN. A notable lubber, as thou reporteft him to be. SPEED. Why thou whorfon ass, thou mistakest me. LAUN. Why, fool, I mean not thee; I meant thy master. SPEED. I tell thee, my master is become a hot lover.

LAUN. Why, I tell thee, I care not tho' he burn himself in love: if thou wilt go with me to the alehouse, so; if not thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a Christian.

SPEED. Why?

LAUN. Because thou haft not so much charity in thee, as to go to the ale-house with a Chriftian: wilt thou go?

SPEED. At thy fervice.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IX,

Enter Protheus folus.

PRO. To leave my Julia, fhall I be forfworn;
To love fair Silvia, fhall I be forfworn;

To wrong my friend, I shall be much forfworn:
And ev'n that pow'r, which gave me first my oath,
Provokes me to this threefold perjury.

Love bad me fwear, and love bids me forfwear:

Ofweet-fuggefting love! if thou haft finn'd,
Teach me, thy tempted fubject, to excuse it.
At first I did adore a twinkling star,
But now I worship a celestial fun.
Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken;
And he wants wit, that wants refolved will
To learn his wit t'exchange the bad for better.
Fie, fie, unreverend tongue! to call her bad,
Whofe fov'reignty so oft thou haft preferr'd
With twenty thousand foul-confirming oaths.
I cannot leave to love, and yet I do :

But there I leave to love, where I should love:
Julia I lofe, and Valentine I lose :

If I keep them, I needs must lose myself:
If I lose them, this find I by their lofs,
For Valentine, myfelf; for Julia, Silvia.-
I to myself am dearer than a friend;
For love is still most precious in itself:

And Silvia, witness heav'n, that made her fair!
Shews Julia but a fwarthy Ethiope.

I will forget that Julia is alive,
Remembring that my love to her is dead:
And Valentine I'll hold an enemy,
Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend.
I cannot now prove conftant to myself,
Without fome treachery us'd to Valentine:
This night he meaneth with a corded ladder
To climb celestial Silvia's chamber-window;
Myself in counsel his competitor.

Now presently I'll give her father notice
Of their difguifing, and pretended flight;
Who, all enrag'd, will banish Valentine:

For Thurio, he intends, fhall wed his daughter.
But Valentine, being gone, I'll quickly cross,
By fome fly trick, blunt Thurio's dull proceeding.
Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift,
As thou haft lent me wit to plot this drift!

SCENE X.

Changes to Julia's house in Verona.

Enter Julia and Lucetta.

JUL. Counfel, Lucetta

-Gentle girl, affist me;

And even in kind love, I do conjure thee,
Who art the table wherein all my thoughts
Are vifibly character'd and engrav❜d,

To leffon me; and tell me fome good mean,
How with my honour I may undertake
A journey to my loving Protheus.

Luc. Alas! the way is wearifome and long.
JUL. A true-devoted pilgrim is not weary
To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps;
Much lefs fhall fhe, that hath love's wings to fly;
And when the flight is made to one fo dear,
Of fuch divine perfection, as Sir Protheus,

[Exit.

Luc. Better forbear, 'till Protheus make return.
JUL. Oh, know'ft thou not, his looks are my foul's food?

Pity the dearth, that I have pined in,

By longing for that food fo long a time.

Didft thou but know the inly touch of love,
Thou would'st as foon go kindle fire with fnow,
As feek to quench the fire of love with words.
Luc. I do not feek to quench your love's hot fire,
But qualify the fire's extream rage,

VOL. I.

Left it should burn above the bounds of reason.

JUL. The more thou damm'ft it up, the more it burns. The current, that with gentle murmur glides,

Thou know'ft, being stopp'd, impatiently doth rage;
But when his fair courfe is not hinder'd,

He makes sweet mufick with th' enamel'd ftones;
Giving a gentle kifs to every fedge

He overtaketh in his pilgrimage:
And fo by many winding nooks he strays,
With willing sport, to the wild ocean.
Then let me go, and hinder not my course;
I'll be as patient as a gentle stream,
And make a pastime of each weary step,
"Till the laft ftep have brought me to my love;
And there I'll reft, as, after much turmoil,
A blessed foul doth in Elyfium.

Luc. But in what habit will you go along?
JUL. Not like a woman; for I would prevent
The loose encounters of lafcivious men :

Gentle Lucetta, fit me with fuch weeds,

As may befeem fome well-reputed page.

Luc. Why then your Ladyship must cut your hair.
JUL. No, girl, I'll knit it up in filken strings,
With twenty odd-conceited true-love-knots :

To be fantastick, may become a youth

Of greater time than I shall fhew to be.

Luc. What fashion, madam, shall I make your breeches ? JUL. That fits as well, as" tell me, good my lord, "What compass will you wear your farthingale ?”

Why, even what fashion thou beft lik'ft, Lucetta.

Luc. You must needs have them with a cod-piece, madam.