Pan

He wonder'd, that your lordship
Would fuffer him to spend his youth at home;
While other men, of slender reputation,4
Put forth their fons to feek preferment out:
Some, to the wars, to try their fortune there,
Some, to difcover iflands far away; 5
Some, to the ftudious univerfities.
For any, or for all these exercises,

He faid, that Proteus, your fon, was meet ;
And did request me, to impórtune you,
To let him fpend his time no more at home,
Which would be great impeachment to his age,
In having known no travel in his youth.

Ant. Nor need'ft thou much impórtune me to that
Whereon this month I have been hammering.
I have confider'd well his lofs of time;
And how he cannot be a perfect man,
Not being try'd and tutor❜d in the world:
Experience is by industry atchiev'd,

And perfected by the fwift courfe of time:

Then, tell me, whither were I beft to fend him?
Pant. I think, your lordship is not ignorant,
How his companion youthful Valentine,

Attends the emperor in his royal court.7

F3

4 i. e. who are thought flightly of, are of little confequence.

Ant.

STEEVENS.

5 In Shakspeare's time, voyages for the difcovery of the islands of America were much in vogue. And we find, in the journals of the travellers of that time, that the fons of noblemen, and of others of the beft families in England, went very frequently on these adventures. Such as the Fortefcues, Collitons, Thornhills, Farmers, Pickerings, Littletons, Willoughby's, Chefters, Hawleys, Bromleys, and others. To this prevailing fashion our poet frequently alludes, and not without high commendations of it. WARBURTON.

6 Impeachment, as Mr. M. Mason very justly observes, in this inftance fignifies reproach or imputation. STEEVENS.

7 Attends the emperor in his royal court.] Shakspeare has been guilty of no mistake in placing the emperor's court at Milan in this play. Several of the first German emperors held their courts there occafionally, it being, at that time, their immediate property, and the chief town of their Italian dominions. Some of them were crowned kings of Italy at Milan, before they received the imperial crown at Rome. Nor has the poet fallen into

any

Ant. I know it well.

Pant. 'Twere good, I think, your lordship fent him thither : There fhall he practice tilts and tournaments, Hear fweet difcourfe, converfe with noblemen;

And be in eye of every exercife,

Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth.

Ant. I like thy counfel; well haft thou advis'd: And, that thou may'ft perceive how well I like it, The execution of it fhall make known ;

Even with the fpeediest expedition

I will dispatch him to the emperor's court.

Pant. To-morrow, may it pleafe you, Don Alphonfo, With other gentlemen of good eftcem,

Are journeying to falute the emperor,

And to commend their fervice to his will.

Ant. Good company; with them fhall Proteus go :

And, in good time,

Pro. Sweet love!

now will we break with him.

Enter PROTEUS.

fweet lines! fweet life!

Here is her hand the agent of her heart;
Here is her oath for love, her honour's pawn;
O, that our fathers would applaud our loves,
To feal our happinefs with their consents !»
O heavenly Julia !

Ant.

How now? what letter are you reading there? Pro. May't pleafe your lordship, 'tis a word or two Of commendation fent from Valentine,

Deliver'd by a friend that came from him.

Ant. Lend me the letter; let me fee what news.

Pro. There is no news, my lord; but that he writes

How happily he lives, how well belov'd,

And

any contradiction by giving a duke to Milan at the fame time that the emperor held his court there. The firft dukes of that, and all the other great cities in Italy, were not fovereign princes, as they afterwards became ; but were merely governors, or viceroys, under the emperors, and removeable at their pleasure. Such was the Duke of Milan mentioned in this play. STEEVENS.

In good time was the old expreffion when fomething happened that fuited the thing in hand, as the French fay, à propos. JOHNSON. 9 That is, break the matter to him. M. MASON.

And daily graced by the emperor;
Wishing me with him, partner of his fortune.
Ant. And how ftand you affected to his wish?
Pro. As one relying on your lordship's will
And not depending on his friendly with.

Ant. My will is fomething forted with his with:
Mufe not that I thus fuddenly proceed;

For what I will, I will, and there an end.
I am refolv'd, that you shall fpend fome time
With Valentinus in the emperor's court:
What maintenance he from his friends receives,
Like exhibition 2 thou fhalt have from me.
To-morrow be in readiness to go:
Excufe it not, for I am peremptory.

Pre. My lord, I cannot be fo foon provided;

Please you, deliberate a day or two.

Ant. Look, what thou want'ft, fhall be fent after thee: No more of ftay; to-morrow thou must go.

Come on, Panthino; you fhall be employ'd

To haften on his expedition. [Exeunt ANT. and PANT.
Pro. Thus have I fhunn'd the fire, for fear of burning;
And drench'd me in the fea, where I am drown'd:

I fear'd to fhew my father Julia's letter,
Left he should take exceptions to my love;
And with the vantage of mine own excufe
Hath he excepted moft against my love.
O, how this fpring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day;
Which now fhows all the beauty of the fun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away!

Re-enter PANTHINO.

Pant. Sir Proteus, your father calls for you ; He is in hafte, therefore, I pray you, go.

Pro. Why, this it is! my heart accords thereto;

And yet a thousand times it answers, no.

2 Like exhibition- -]i. e. allowance. STEEVENS.

Exerat.

Milan. An Apartment in the Duke's Palace.

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

Ah Silvia! Silvia!

Speed. Madam Silvia! madam Silvia!
Val. How now, firrah?

Speed. She is not within hearing, fir.
Val. Why, fir, who bade you call her?
Speed. Your worship, fir; or else I mistook.

Val. Well, you'll ftill be too forward.

Speed. And yet I was laft chidden for being too flow. Val. Go to, fir; tell me, do you know madam Silvia ? Speed. She that your worship loves?

Val. Why, how know you that I am in love?

male

Speed. Marry, by thefe fpecial marks: Firft, you have learn'd, like fir Proteus, to wreath your arms like content; to relish a love-fong, like a Robin-red-breast; to walk alone, like one that had the peftilence; to figh, like a fchool-boy that had loft his A. B. C; to weep, like a young wench that had buried her grandam; to faft, like one that takes diet; 3 to watch, like one that fears robbing; to speak puling, like a beggar at Hallow mas.4 You were wont, when

you

3 To take diet was the phrase for being under regimen for a difease mentioned in Timon of Athens:

66

bring down the rofe-cheek'd youth

"To the tub-fast and the diet." STEEVENS.

4 This is about the feaft of All-Saints, when winter begins, and the life of a vagrant lefs comfortable. JOHNSON.

It is worth remarking that on All-Saints Day the poor people in Staf fordshire, and perhaps in other country places, go from parish to parish a fouling as they call it; i. e. begging and puling (or finging fmall, as Bailey's

you laugh'd, to crow like a cock; when you walk'd, to walk like one of the lions; 5 when you fafted, it was presently after dinner; when you look'd fadly, it was for want of money and now you are metamorphos'd with a mistress, that, when I lock on you, I can hardly think you my master. Val. Are all these things perceived in me?

Speed. They are all perceived without you.
Val. Without me? they cannot.

Speed. Without you? nay, that's certain; for, without you were fo fimple, none elfe would: 6 but you are fo without thefe follies, that these follies are within you, and shine through you like the water in an urinal; that not an eye, that fees you, but is a phyfician to comment on your malady. Val. But, tell me, doft thou know my lady Silvia ? Speed. She, that you gaze on fo, as fhe fits at fupper? Val. Haft thou obferved that? even the I mean.

Speed. Why, fir, I know her not.

Val. Doft thou know her by my gazing on her, and yet know'ft her not?

Speed. Is the not hard-favour'd, fir?

Val. Not fo fair, boy, as well-favour'd.
Speed. Sir, I know that well enough.

Val. What doft thou know?

Speed. That fhe is not fo fair, as (of you) well favoured. Val. I mean, that her beauty is exquifite, 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, fir, fo painted, to make her fair, that no man counts of her beauty.

Val. How efteemeft thou me? I account of her beauty. Speed. You never faw her fince she was deformed.

F 5

Val.

The

Dict. explains puling) for foul-cakes, or any good thing to make them merry. This cuftom is mentioned by Peck, and feems a remnant of Popish fuperftition to pray for departed fouls, particularly those of friends. fouler's fong in Staffordshire, is different from that which Mr. Peck mentions, and is by no means worthy publication. TOLLET.

5 If our author had not been thinking of the lions in the Tower, he would have written-" to walk like a lion." RITSON. • None else would be fa fimple. JOHNSON.