That can with fome difcretion do my business,
For 'tis no trufting to yon foolish lowt;
But, chiefly, for thy face, and thy behaviour;
Which (if my augury deceive me not,)
Witnefs good bringing up, fortune, and truth:
Therefore know thou, for this I entertain thee.
Go prefently, and take this ring with thee,
Deliver it to madam Silvia:

She lov'd me well, deliver'd it to me.2

Jul. It feems, you lov'd her not, to leave her token :3 She's dead, belike.+

Pro.

Jul. Alas!

Not fo; I think, fhe lives.

Pro. Why doft thou cry, alas?

Jul. I cannot choose but pity her.

Pro. Wherefore fhould'ft thou pity her?

Jul. Becaufe, methinks, that the lov'd you as well
As you do love your lady Silvia :

She dreams on him, that has forgot her love;
You dote on her, that cares not for your love.
'Tis pity, love fhould be fo contrary;
And thinking on it makes me cry, alas!

Pr. Well, give her that ring, and therewithal
This letter;-that's her chamber.-Tell my lady,
I claim the promife for her heavenly picture.
Your meffage done, hie home unto my chamber,
Where thou fhalt find me fad and folitary. [Exit PROTEUS.
Jul. How many women would do fuch a message ?
Alas, poor Proteus! thou haft entertain'd
A fox, to be the fhepherd of thy lambs :
Alas, poor fool! why do I pity him
That with his very heart defpifeth me?
Because he loves her, he defpifeth me;

H 4

Becaufe

2 i. e. She, who delivered it to me, lov'd me well. MALONE.
3. Proteus does not properly leave his lady's token, he gives it away.

JOHNSON, To leave, is ufed with equal licence, in a former fcene, for to cease. "I leave to be," &c. MALONE.

4. This is faid in reference to what Proteus had afferted to Silvia in a former fcene; viz, that both Julia and Valentine were dead.

STEEVENS.

་

Becaufe I love him, I muft pity him.

This ring I gave him, when he parted from me,
To bind him to remember my good will:
And now am I (unhappy meffenger)

To plead for that, which I would not obtain ;
To carry that which I would have refus'd;

To praife his faith, which I would have difprais'd.s
I am my mafter's true confirmed love;

But cannot be true fervant to my mafter,
Unless I prove falfe traitor to myself.
Yet will I woo for him; but yet fo coldly,
As, heaven it knows, I would not have him speed.
Enter SILVIA, attended.

Gentlewoman, good day! I pray you, be my mean
To bring me where to fpeak with madam Silvia.
Sil. What would you with her, if that I be she?
Jul. If you be the, I do entreat your patience
To hear me fpeak the meffage I am fent on.
Sil. From whom?

Jul. From my mafter, fir Proteus, madam.
Sil. O!-he fends you for a picture?
Jul. Ay, madam.

[Picture rowght.

Sil. Urfula, bring my picture there.
Go, give your mafter this: tell him from me,
One Julia, that his changing thoughts forget,
Would better fit his chamber, than this fhadow.
Jul. Madam, please you perufe this letter.-.
Pardon me, madam; I have unadvis'd
Deliver'd you a paper that I fhould not;
This is the letter to your ladyfhip.

Sil. I pray thee, let me look on that again.

Jul. It may not be; good madam, pardon me.

Sil. There, hold.

I will not look upon your mafter's lines:

1 know, they are ftuff'd with proteftations,

And full of new-found oaths; which he will break,

As eafily as I do tear his paper.

Jul.

The fenfe is, to go and prefent that which I wish to be not accepted,

to praise him whom I wish to be difpraised. JOHNSON.

Jul. Madam, he fends your ladyship this ring.
Sil. The more fhame for him that he fends it ine;
For, I have heard him fay a thousand times,
His Julia gave it him at his departure:
Though his falfe finger hath profan'd the ring,
Mine shall not do his Julia fo much wrong.
Jul. She thanks you.

Sil. What fay'ft thou?

Jul. I thank you, madam, that you tender her: Poor gentlewoman! my mafter wrongs her much. Sil. Doft thou know her?

Jl. Almoft as well as I do know myfelf: To think upon her woes, I do protest,

That I have wept an hundred feveral times.

Sil. Belike, the thinks that Proteus hath forfook her.

ful. I think he doth; and that's her cause of sorrow.
Sil. Is the not paffing fair?

Jul. She hath been fairer, madam, than she is :
When she did think my mafter lov'd her well,
She, in my judgement, was as fair as you;
But fince the did neglect her looking-glafs,
And threw her fun-expelling mask away,
The air hath ftarv'd the rofes in her cheeks,
And pinch'd the lily-tincture of her face,"
That now fhe is become as black as I.
Sil. How tall was fhe ? 7

ful. About my ftature: for, at Pentecoft,
When all our pageants of delight were play'd,
Our youth got me to play the woman's part,
And I was trimm'd in madam Julia's gown;
Which ferved me as fit, by all men's judgement,
As if the garment had been made for me:
Therefore, I know fhe is about my height.
And, at that time, I made her weep a good,8

H 5

For

The colour of a part pinched, is livid, as it is commonly termed, black and blue. The weather may therefore be justly faid to pinch when it produces the fame vifible effect. I believe this is the reason why the cold is faid to pinch. JOHNSON.

7 We should read "How tall is fhe "For that is evidently the ques tion which Silvia means to afk. RITSON.

i. c. in good earnest, Tout de bon. Fr. STEVENS.

.

For I did play a lamentable part:
Madam, 'twas Ariadne, paffioning
For 'Thefeus' perjury, and unjust flight;
Which I fo lively acted with my tears,
That my poor miftrefs, moved therewithal,
Wept bitterly; and, would I might be dead,
If I in thought felt not her very forrow!

Sil. She is beholden to thee, gentle youth!
Alas, poor lady! defolate and left!—
I weep myself, to think upon thy words.
Here, youth, there is my purfe; I give thee this
For thy fweet mistress' fake, because thou lov'ft her.
Farewell.

[Exit SILVIA.. Jul. And she shall thank you for't, if e'er you know

her.

A virtuous gentlewoman, mild, and beautiful..

I hope

9 The history of this twice.deferted lady is too well known to need an introduction here; nor is the reader interrupted on the business of Shakfpeare: but I find it difficult to refrain from making a note the vehicle for a conjecture which I may have no better opportunity of communica ting to the public. The fubje&t of a picture of Guido (commonly supposed to be Ariadne deferted by Thefeus and courted by Bacchus) may poffibly have been hitherto mistaken. Whoever will examine the fabulous hiftory critically, as well as the performance itself, will acquiefce in the truth.of the remark. Ovid, in his Fafti, iii. 465. tells us, that Bacchus (who left Ariadne to go on his Indian expedition) found too many charms in the daughter of one of the kings of that country.

In this picture he appears as if juft returned from India, bringing with. him his new favourite, who hangs on his arm, and whofe prefence only caufes thofe emotions fo visible in the countenance of Ariadne, who had been hitherto represented on this occafion :

as paffioning

"For Thefeus' perjury and unjust flight.”

From this painting a plate was engraved by Giacomo Freij, which is geneTM rally a companion to the Aurora of the fame master. The print is fo com→ mon, that the curious may eafily fatisfy themselves concerning the propriety of a remark which has intruded itself among the notes on Shakfpeare.

To paffion is used as a verb, by writers contemporary with Shakspeare. In The Blind Beggar of Alexandria, printed 1598, we meet with the fame expreffion. STEEVENS.

On her being deserted by Thefeus in the night, and left on the island af Naxos.. MALONE,

Fhope, my master's fuit will be but cold,
Since the refpects my miftrefs love fo much.
Alas, how love can trifle with itself!
Here is her picture: Let me fee; I think,
If I had fuch a tire, this face of mine
Were full as lovely as is this of hers:
And yet the painter flatter'd her a little,
Unless I flatter with myself too much.
Her hair is auburn, mine is perfect yellow :
If that be all the difference in his love,
I'll get me fuch a colour'd periwig.2
Her eyes are grey as glafs; and fo are mine:
Ay, but her forehead's low,3 and mine's as high.
What should it be, that he respects in her,
But I can make refpective 4 in myself,
If this fond love were not a blinded god?
Come, fhadow, come, and take this fhadow up,
For 'tis thy rival. O thou senseless form,

Thou shalt be worship'd, kiss'd, lov'd, and ador'd;
And, were there fenfe in his idolatry,
My fubftance fhould be ftatue in thy ftead.
Eli ufe thee kindly for thy miftrefs' fake,
That us'd me fo; or elfe, by Jove I vow,
Ifhould have fcratch'd out your unfeeing eyes,
To make my mafter out of love with thee.

ACT V. SCENE I.

The fame. An Abbey.

Enter EGLAMOUR.

Egy. The fun begins to gild the western sky; And now it is about the very hour

H 6

[Exit,

That

2 It. fhould be remembered, that false hair was worn by the ladies, long before wigs were in fashion. Thefe falfe coverings, however, were called periwigs. So, in Northward Hoe, 1607: "There is a new trade come up for caft gentlewomen, of perriwig-making: let your wife fet up in the Strand." "Perwickes," however, are mentioned by Churchyard in one of his earliest poems. STEEVENS

3 A high forehead was in our author's time accounted a feature emi« nently beautiful. JOHNSON.

-respective ] i. e. respectable,. STIEVENS,