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Nor, to his fervice, no fuch joy on earth!
Now, no difcourfe, except it be of love;
Now can I break my faft, dine, fup, and fleep,
Upon the very naked name of love.

Pro. Enough; I read your fortune in
Was this the idol that you worship fo?

your eye:

Val. Even fhe; and is the not a heavenly faint?
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 fick, you gave me bitter pills; And I muft minifter the like to you.

Val. Then fpeak the truth of her; if not divine, Yet let her be a principality,5

Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth.

Pro. Except my mistress.

Val.
Sweet, except not any;
Except thou wilt except against my love.

Pro. Have I not reafon to prefer mine own?
Vel. And I will help thee to prefer her too:
She fhall be dignified with this high honour,-
To bear my lady's train; left the bafe earth
Should from her vefture chance to steal a kiss,
And, of fo great a favour growing proud,
Difdain to root the fummer-fwelling flower,
And make rough winter everlastingly.

Pro. Why, Valentine, what braggardifm is this?
Val. Pardon me, Proteus: all I can is nothing
To her, whofe worth makes other worthies nothing;
She is alone."

Pro. Then let her alone.

Val. Not for the world: why, man, fhe is mine own;

And

The first or principal of women. So the old writers ufe fate." She is a lady, a great state." Latymer. JOHNSON.

Mr. M. Maton thus judiciously paraphrafes the fentiment of Valentine. "If you will not acknowledge her as divine, let her at least be confidered as an angel of the first order, fuperior to every thing on earth."

STEEVENS.

6 She stands by herself. There is none to be compared to her

JOHNSON.

And I as rich in having fuch a jewel,"
As twenty feas, if all their fand were pearl,
The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.
Forgive me, that I do not dream on thee,
Because thou feeft me dote upon my love.
My foolish rival, that her father likes,
Only for his poffeffions are fo huge,
Is gone with her along; and I muft after,
For love, thou know'ft, is full of jealousy.
Pro. But she loves you?

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 muft climb her window;
The ladder made of cords; and all the means
Plotted; and 'greed on, for my happiness.
Good Proteus, go with me to my chamber,
In these affairs to aid me with thy counfel.
Pro. Go on before; I fhall enquire you forth:
I must unto the road, to disembark

Some neceffaries that I needs muft ufe;

And then I'll presently attend you.

Val. Will you make haste?

Pro. I will.

Even as one heat another heat expels,

Or as one nail by ftrength drives out another,
So the remembrance of my former love
Is by a newer object quite forgotten.

Is it mine eye, or Valentinus' praife,

8

[Exit VAL.

7 The haven, where ships ride at anchor. MALONE.
8 Is it mine eye, or Valentinus' praife] The old copy reads-

"Is is mine or Valentine's praife?" STEEVENS.

Her

Here Proteus queftions with himself, whether it is his own praife, or Valentine's that makes him fall in love with Valentine's miftrefs. But not to infift on the abfurdity of falling in love through his own praises, he had not indeed praised her any farther than giving his opinion of her in three words, when his friend afked it of him.

Proteus had just feen Valentine's mistress, whom her lover had been lavishly praifing. His encomiums therefore heightened Proteus's ideas of her at the interview, it was the lefs wonder he should be uncertain which had made the strongest impreffion, Valentine's praises, or his own view of her. WARBURTON.

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Her true perfection, or my falfe trangreffion,
That makes me, reafonless, to reason thus ?:
She's fair; and fo is Julia, that I love ;-
That I did love, for now my love is thaw'd;
Which, like a waxen image 'gainft a fire,9
Bears no impreffion of the thing it was.
Methinks, my zeal for Valentine is cold;
And that I love him not, as I was wont :
O! but I love his lady too, top much;
And that's the reafon I love him fo little.
How fhall I dote on her with more advice,2
That thus without advice begin to love her?
'Tis but her picture I have yet beheld,
And that hath dazzled my reason's light;
But when I look on her perfections,
There is no reafon but I fhall be blind.
If I can check my erring love, I will;
If not, to compafs her I'll ufe my skill.

3

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[Exit.

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 never welcome to a place, till fome certain fhot be paid, and the hoftefs fay, welcome.

Speed. Come on, you mad-cap, I'll to the alehoufe with you prefently; where, for one fhot of five pence, thou shalt have

9 Alluding to the figures made by witches, as reprefentatives of those whom they defigned to torment or deftroy. STEEVENS.

King James afcribes thefe images to the devil, in his treatise of Daemonologie. S. W.

2 With more advice, is on further knowledge, on better confideration.

3 This is evidently a flip of attention, for he has feen her in the last fcene, and in high terms offered her his fervice. JOHNSON.

I believe Proteus means, that, as yet, he had only feen her outward form, without having known her long enough to have any acquaintance with her mind. STEEVENS.

have five thousand welcomes. But, firrah, how did thy mafter part with madam Julia?

Laun. Marry, after they clofed in earneft, they parted

very fairly in jeft.

Speed. But fhall fhe marry him?

Laun. No.

Speed. How then? Shall he marry her?

Laun. No, neither.

Speed. What, are they broken?

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

Speed. Why then, how ftands 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.

and

Speed. What thou fay'ft?

Laun. Ay, and what I do too: look thee, I'll but lean,

my ftaff understands me.

Speed. It ftands under thee, indeed.

Laun. Why, ftand under and understand 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 fay nothing, it will. Speed. The conclufion 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 fay'ft thou, that my mafter is become a notable lover? 4 Laun. I never knew him otherwise.

Speed. Than how?

Laun. A notable lubber, as thou reporteft him to be. Speed. Why, thou whorfon afs, thou mistakest me. Laun. Why, fool, I meant not thee; I meant thy mafter. Speed. I tell thee, my mafter is become a hot lover. Laun. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn himfelf in love. If thou wilt go with me to the ale-house, fo;

if

4 i. e. (as Mr. M. Mafon has elsewhere obferved) What fay'st thou to this circumftance, namely, that my mafter is become a notable lover?

MALONE.

if not, thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a Chriftian.

Speed. Why?

Laun. Because thou haft not so much charity in thee, as to go to the ale with a Christian: Wilt thou go? Speed. At thy fervice.

SCENE VI."

The fame. An Apartment in the Palace.

Enter PROTEUS.

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

To wrong my friend, I fhall be much forfworn;
And even that power, which gave me first my oath,
Provokes me to this threefold perjury.

Love bade me fwear, and love bids me forfwear :
O fweet-fuggefting love, if thou haft finn'd,
Teach me, thy tempted subject, to excuse it!
At first I did adore a twinkling ftar,
But now I worship a celeftial fun.

Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken;
And he wants wit, that wants refolved will
To learn his wit to exchange the bad for better.-
Fie, fie, unreverend tongue! to call her bad,
Whofe fovereignty fo oft thou haft preferr'd
With twenty thousand foul-confirming oaths.
I cannot leave to love, and yet I do ;

[Exeunt.

But

5 Ales are merry meetings inftituted in country places. STEEVENS. 6 It is to be observed, that, in the folio edition there are no directions concerning the scenes; they have been added by the later editors, and may therefore be changed by any reader that can give more confiftency or regularity to the drama by fuch alterations. I make this remark in this place, because I know not whether the following foliloquy of Proteus is fo proper in the street. JOHNSON.

The reader will perceive that the scenery has been changed, though Dr. Johnson's observation has been continued. STEEVENS.

7 To fuggeft is to tempt, in our author's language. The fenfe is, O tempting love, if thou baft influenced me to fin, teach me to excuse it.

JOHNSON.

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