O, 'tis the curse in love, and still approv'd,' When women cannot love where they're belov'd.

Pro. How! Julia!

Read over Julia's heart, thy first best love,"

How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root !3 O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush!

Could have persuaded me: Now I dare not say
I have one friend alive; thou would'st disprove me.
Who should be trusted now, when one's right hand
Is perjur'd to the bosom? Proteus,

I am sorry, I must never trust thee more,
But count the world a stranger for thy sake.
The private wound is deepest: O time, most curst!
Mongst all foes, that a friend should be the worst!
Pro. My shame and guilt confounds me.
Forgive me, Valentine: if hearty sorrow
Be a sufficient ransom for offence,
I tender it here; I do as truly suffer,
As e'er I did commit.

Val.

Then I am paid;
And once again I do receive thee honest.
Who by repentance is not satisfied,

Is nor of heaven, nor earth; for these are pleas'd;
By penitence the Eternal's wrath's appeas'd:-
And, that my love may appear plain and free,
All that was mine in Silvia, I give thee.
Jul. O me, unhappy!

Pro. Look to the boy.

[Faints.

Val. Why, boy! why, wag! how now? what

is the matter?

Look up; speak.

Jul.

Such an immodest raiment; if shame live
In a disguise of love:

It is the lesser blot, modesty finds,

Women to change their shapes, than men their minds.

Pro. Than men their minds? 'tis true: 0 heaven! were man

But constant, he were perfect: that one error
Fills him with faults; makes him run through all
sins:

Inconstancy falls off, ere it begins:
What is in Silvia's face, but I may spy
More fresh in Julia's with a constant eye?

Val. Come, come, a hand from either:
Let me be blest to make this happy close;
'Twere pity two such friends should be long foes.
Pro. Bear witness, heaven, I have my wish for

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 shall not behold thee. Here she stands,
Take but possession of her with a touch!-
I dare thee but to breathe upon my love.-
Thu. Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I;
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 such means for her as thou hast done,
And leave her on such slight conditions.—
Now, by the honour of my ancestry,

I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine,
And think thee worthy of an empress' love.
Know then, I here forget all former griefs,
Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again.-
Plead a new state in thy unrivall'd merit,
To which I thus subscribe,-sir Valentine,

Which, out of my neglect, was never done. Pro. Where is that ring, boy?

Jul.

Here 'tis: this is it. [Gives a ring. Pro. How! let me see:

Why this is the ring I gave to Julia. Jul. O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook; This is the ring you sent to Silvia. [Shows another ring. Pro. But, how cam'st thou by this ring? at my depart,

I gave this unto Julia.

Jul. And Julia herself did give it me; And Julia herself hath brought it hither,

(1) Felt, experienced. (2) Direction, (3) An allusion to cleaving the pin in archery,

Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserv'd her. Val. I thank your grace; the gift hath made me

I

happy.

now beseech you, for your daughter's sake, To grant one boon that I shall ask of you.

Duke. I grant it, for thine own, whate'er it be. Val. These banish'd men, that I have kept

withal,

Are men endued with worthy qualities;
And let them be recall'd from their exile:
Forgive them what they have committed here,
They are reformed, civil, full of good,
And fit for great employment, worthy lord.
Duke. Thou hast prevail'd': I pardon them and

thee;

Dispose of them, as thou know'st their deserts,

(4) Length of my sword,

(5) Interest,

With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity.
Come, let us go; we will include all jars.
Val. And, as we walk along, I dare be bold
With our discourse 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 saying? Val. Please you, I'll tell you as we pass along, That you will wonder what hath fortun'd.Come, Proteus; 'tis your penance, but to hear The story of your loves discovered:

That done, our day of marriage shall be yours; One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.

[Exeunt.

In this play there is a strange mixture of know ledge and ignorance, of care and negligence. The versification is often excellent, the allusions are learned and just; but the author conveys his heroes by sea from one inland town to another in the same country: he places the emperor at Milan, and sends his young men to attend him, but never mentions him more; he makes Proteus, after an interview with Silvia, say he has only seen her picture: and, if we may credit the old copies, he has, by mistaking places, left his scenery inextricable. The reason of all this confusion seems to be, that he took his story from a novel which he sometimes followed and sometimes forsook; sometimes rcmembered, and sometimes forgot.

That this play is rightly attributed to Shakspeare, I have little doubt. If it be taken from him, to whom shall it be given? This question may be asked of all the disputed plays, except Titus Andronicus; and it will be found more credible, that Shakspeare might sometimes sink below his highest flights, than that any other should rise up to his lowest, JOHNSON.