Speed. No, not fo much as-take this for thy pains. To testify your bounty, I thank you, you have teftern'd me ; in requital whereof, henceforth carry your letters yourfelf: and fo, fir, I'll commend you to my mafter.

Pro. Go, go, be gone, to fave your fhip from wreck; Which cannot perish, having thee aboard, Being destined to a drier death on shore :I muit go fend fome better meffenger; I fear, my Julia would not deign my lines, Receiving them from fuch a worthless poft.

The fame. Garden of Julia's house.

Enter JULIA and LUCETTA.

Jul. But fay, Lucetta, now we are alone, Would't thou then counsel me to fall in love?

[Exeunt.

Luc. Ay, madam; fo you stumble not unheedfully.
Jul. Of all the fair refort of gentlemen,

That every day with parle encounter me,

In thy opinion, which is worthieft love?

Luc. Please you, repeat their names, I'll fhew my mind According to my fhallow fimple fkill.

ful. What think'ft thou of the fair Sir Eglamour?? Luc. As of a knight well-fpoken, neat and fine; But, were I you, he never should be mine.

Jul. What think'ft thou of the rich Mercatio? Luc. Well, of his wealth; but of himself, fo, fo. Jul. What think'st thou of the gentle Protheus? Luc. Lord, lord! to fee what folly reigns in us! Jul. How now, what means this paffion at his name? Luc. Pardon, dear madam; 'tis a paffing fhame, That I, unworthy body as I am,

5-you bave teftern'd me;] You have gratified me with a tefter, tefern, or teften, that is, with a fixpence. JOHNSON.

The old reading isceffern'd. STEEVENS.

This typographical error was corrected by the editor of the second folio. MALONE.

6 Which cannot perish, &c.] The fame proverb has been already alJuded to. See p. 6. REED.

7-fair Sir Eglamour?] Sir Eglamour of Artoys is the hero of an ancient metrical romance, STEEVENS.

Should

Should cenfure thus on lovely gentlemen.
Jul. Why not on Protheus, as of all the reft?
Luc, Then thus, of many good I think him best.
Jul. Your reason ?

Luc. I have no other but a woman's reason;

I think him fo, because I think him fo.

ful. And would'st thou have me caft my love on him?
Luc. Ay, if you thought your love not caft away.
Jul. Why, he of all the reft hath never mov'd me.
Luc. Yet he of all the reft, I think, beft loves ye.
Jul. His little fpeaking fhows his love but small.
Luc. Fire, that is clofeft kept, burns most of all.
Jul. They do not love, that do not show their love.
Luc. O, they love least, that let men know their love.
Jul. I would, I knew his mind.

Luc. Perufe this paper, madam.
Jul. To Julia,-Say, from whom?
Luc. That the contents will show.
Jul. Say, fay; who gave it thee?

Luc. Sir Valentine's page; and fent, I think, from
Protheus:

He would have given it you, but I, being in the way,
Did in your name receive it; pardon the fault, I pray.
Jul. Now, by my modefty, a goodly broker!
Dare you prefume to harbour wanton lines?
To whifper and confpire against my youth?
Now, trust me, 'tis an office of great worth,
And you an officer fit for the place.

There, take the paper, fee it be return'd;
Or elfe return no more into my fight.

Luc. To plead for love deferves more fee than hate.
Jul. Will you be gone?

Luc. That you may ruminate.

[Exit.

ful. And yet, I would I had o'erlook'd the letter.

It were a fhame, to call her back again,

And pray her to a fault for which I chid her.

8 Should cenfure thus-] To cenfure, in our author's time, generally fignified to give one's judgment or opinion. MALONE.

9 - a goodly broker !] A broker was used for matchmaker, fometimes for a procurefs. JOHNSON.

VOL. I.

I

What

What fool is fhe, that knows I am a maid,
And would not force the letter to my view?
Since maids, in modefty, fay No, to that1
Which they would have the profferer conftrue, Aja
Fie, fie! how wayward is this foolish love,
That, like a tefty babe, will scratch the nurse,
And presently, all humbled, kiss the rod !
How churlishly I chid Lucetta hence,
When willingly I would have had her here!
How angrily I taught my brow to frown,
When inward joy enforc'd my heart to fmile!
My penance is, to call Lucetta back,

And afk remiffion for my folly past:-
What ho! Lucetta!

Re-enter LUCETTA.

Luc. What would your ladyfhip?

Jul. Is it near dinner-time?

Luc. I would, it were;

That you might kill your stomach on your meat,

And not upon your maid.

Jul. What is't that you

Took up fo gingerly?

Luc. Nothing.

Jul. Why didft thou ftoop then?

Luc. To take a paper up that I let fall.

Jul. And is that paper nothing?

Luc. Nothing concerning me.

Jul. Then let it lie for those that it concerns.
Luc. Madam, it will not lie where it concerns,

Unless it have a falfe interpreter.

Jul. Some love of yours hath writ to you in rhime.
Luc. That I might fing it, madam, to a tune:

Give me a note: your ladyfhip can fet.

Jul. As little by fuch toys as may be possible :

Beft fing it to the tune of Light o' love.

Luc. It is too heavy for fo light a tune.

Jul. Heavy? belike, it hath fome burden then.

I-fay No, to that &c.] A paraphrafe on the old proverb, "Maids fay nay, and take it." STEEVENS.

fiomach] was used for paffion or obftinacy. JouNsoN.

Luc.

Luc. Ay; and melodious were it, would you fing it. ful. And why not you?

Luc. I cannot reach fo high.

Jul. Let's fee your fong :-How now, minion?
Luc. Keep tune there ftill, fo you will fing it out:
And yet, methinks, I do not like this tune.
Jul. You do not?

Luc. No, madam; it is too fharp.
Jul. You, minion, are too faucy.
Luc. Nay, now you are too flat,

And mar the concord with too harsh a defcant 3:
There wanteth but a mean 4 to fill your fong.

Jul. The mean is drown'd with your unruly base.
Luc. Indeed, I bid the base for Protheus 5.
Jul. This babble fhall not henceforth trouble me.
Here is a coil with proteftation !- [Tears the letter.

Go, get you gone; and let the papers lie:
You would be fingering them, to anger me.

Luc. She makes it ftrange; but he would be beft pleas'd To be fo anger'd with another letter.

[Exit. Jul. Nay, would I were fo anger'd with the fame!

O hateful hands, to tear fuch loving words!
Injurious wafps; to feed on fuch sweet honey,
And kill the bees, that yield it, with your itings!
I'll kiss each feveral paper for amends.

Look, here is writ-kind Julia ;-unkind Julia!
As in revenge of thy ingratitude,

I throw thy name against the bruifing ftones,
Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain.
-And here is writ-love-wounded Protheus:-
Poor wounded name! my bofom, as a bed,
Shall lodge thee, till thy wound be throughly heal'd;

And 3- too barfo a defcant:] Defcant is a term in mufic. See Sir John Hawkins's note on the firft fpeech in K. Richard III. STEEVENS. 4 but a mean, &c.] The mean is the tenor in mufic. STEEVENS 5 Indeed, I bid the bafe for Protheus.] The fpeaker here turns the allufion (which her mistress employed) from the base in mufick to a country exercife, Bid the bafe: in which fome purfue, and others are made prifoners. So that Lucetta would intend, by this, to fay, Indeed I take pains to make you a captive to Protheus's paffion. WARE. Dr. Warburton is not quite accurate. The game was not called Bid

1 2

the

And thus I fearch it with a fovereign kifs.

But twice, or thrice, was Protheus written down:
Be calm, good wind, blow not a word away,
Till I have found each letter in the letter,
Except mine own name; that fome whirlwind bear
Unto a ragged, fearful, hanging rock,
And throw it thence into the raging fea!
Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ,—
Poor forlorn Protheus, paffionate Protheus,
To the feet Julia ;-that I'll tear away;
And yet I will not, fith fo prettily
He couples it to his complaining names:
Thus will I fold them one upon another;

Now kifs, embrace, contend, do what you will.
Re-enter LUCETTA.

Luc. Madam, dinner's ready, and your father ftays.
Jul. Well, let us go.

Luc. What, fhall these papers lie like tell-tales here?
Jul. If you refpect them, beft to take them up.
Luc. Nay, I was taken up for laying them down:
Yet here they fhall not lie, for catching cold.
Jul. I fee, you have a month's mind to them".
Luc. Ay, madam, you may fay what fights you fee;

I fee things too, although you judge I wink.
Jul. Come, come, will't pleafe you go?

[Exeunt.

the Bafe, but the Bafe. To bid the base means here, I believe, to cballenge to a centeft. So, in our author's Venus and Adonis:

"To bid the wind a bafe he now prepares,

"And wh'er he run, or fly, they knew not whether." MALONE. 6 I fee, you have a month's mind to them.] A month's mind was an anniversary in times of popery; or, as Mr. Ray calls it, a lefs folemnity directed by the will of the deceafed. There was alfo a year's mind, and a week's mind. See Proverbial Phrafes. GREY.

A month's mind, in the ritual fenfe, fignifies not defire or inclination, but remembrance; yet I fuppofe this is the true original of the expreffion. JoHNSON.

In Hamphire, and other weftern counties, for "I can't remember it," they fay, "I can't mind it." BLACKSTONE.

If this line was defigned for a verfe, we should read-monthes mind. So, in the Midfummer Night's Dream:

"Swifter than the moones fphere."

Both these are the Saxon genitive cafe. STEEVENS.

SCENE