1 Out. Why ne'er repent it, if it were done so : But were you banish'd for so small a fault?

Val. I was, and held me glad of such a doom. 1 Out. Have you the tongues?

Val. My youthful travel therein made me happy; Or else I often had been miserable.

3 Out. By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar,7 This fellow were a king for our wild faction.

1 Out. We'll have him: sirs, a word.

Speed. Master, be one of them;

It is an honourable kind of thievery.
Val. Peace, villain !

2 Out. Tell us this: Have you any thing to take to? Val. Nothing, but my fortune.

3 Out. Know then, that some of us are gentlemen,
Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth
Thrust from the company of awful men :
Myself was from Verona banished,
For practising to steal away a lady,

An heir, and near allied unto the duke.

2 Out. And I from Mantua, for a gentleman, Whom, in my mood," I stabb'd unto the heart.

1 Out. And I, for such like petty crimes as these.
But to the purpose,-(for we cite our faults,
That they may hold excus'd our lawless lives,)
And, partly, seeing you are beautified
With goodly shape; and by your own report
A linguist; and a man of such perfection,

As we do in our quality much want ;

2 Out. Indeed, because you are a banish'd man, Therefore, above the rest, we parley to you: Are you content to be our general?

To make a virtue of necessity,

And live, as we do, in this wilderness?

3 Out. What say'st thou wilt thou be of our consórt? Say, ay, and be the captain of us all :

We'll do thee homage, and be rul'd by thee,

Love thee as our commander, and our king.

[7] Robin Hood was captain of a band of robbers, and was much inclined to rob churchmen.

JOHNSON.

Dr. Johnson seems to have misunderstood this passage. The speaker does not swear by the scalp of some churchman who had been plundered, but by the shaven crown of Robin Hood's chaplain." We will live and die together, (says a per sonage in Feele's Edward I. 1593.) like Robin Hood, little John, friar Tucke, and Maide Marian." MALONE. [8] Mood is anger or resentment.

MALONE

1 Out. But if thou scorn our courtesy, thou diest.

2 Out. Thou shalt not live to brag what we have of

fer'd.

Val. I take your offer, and will live with you; Provided that you do no outrages

On silly women, or poor passengers."

3 Out. No, we detest such vile, base practices. Come, go with us, we'll bring thee to our crews, And shew thee all the treasure we have got;

Which, with ourselves, all rest at thy dispose. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Milan. Court of the Palace. Enter PROTEUS
Pro. Already have I been false to Valentine,
And now I must be as unjust to Thurio,
Under the colour of commending him,
I have access my own love to prefer;
But Silvia is too fair, too true, too holy,
To be corrupted with my worthless gifts?
When I protest true loyalty to her,

She twits me with my falsehood to my friend;
When to her beauty I commend my vows,
She bids me think, how I have been forsworn
In breaking faith with Julia whom I lov'd:
And, notwithstanding all her sudden quips,
The least whereof would quell a lover's hope,
Yet, spaniel-like, the more she spurns my love,
The more it grows, and fawneth on her still.

But here comes Thurio: now must we to her window,
And give some evening music to her ear.

Enter THURIO, and Musicians.

Thu. How now, sir Proteus? are you crept before us? Pro. Ay, gentle Thurio; for, you know, that love

Will creep in service where it cannot go.

Thu. Ay, but, I hope, sir, that you love not here
Pro. Sir, but I do; or else I would be hence.

Thu. Whom? Silvia ?

Pro. Ay, Silvia,-for your sake.

Thu. I thank you for your own.-Now, gentlemen, Let's tune, and to it lustily awhile.

[9] This was one of the rules of Robin Hood's government.

STEEV.

Enter Host, at a distance; and JULIA in boy's clothes. Host. Now, my young guest! methinks you're allycholly; I pray you, why is it?

Jul. Marry, mine host, because I cannot be merry.

Host. Come, we'll have you merry: I'll bring you where you shall hear music, and see the gentleman that you ask'd for.

Jul. But shall I hear him speak?
Host. Ay, that you shall.

Jul. That will be music.

Host. Hark! hark!

Jul. Is he among these?

Host. Ay: but peace, let's hear 'em.

[Music plays.

Host How now ? are you sadder than you were before? How do you, man? the music likes you not.

Jul. You mistake; the musician likes me not.

Host. Why, my pretty youth?

Jul. He plays false, father.

Host. How? out of tune on the strings?

Jul. Not so; but yet so false that he grieves my very heart-strings.

Host. You have a quick ear.

Jul. Ay, I would I were deaf! it makes me have a slow heart.

Host. I perceive, you delight not in music.
Jul. Not a whit, when it jars so.

Host. Hark, what fine change is in the music!
Jul. Ay; that change is the spite.

Host. You would have them always play but one thing?
Jul. I would always have one play but one thing.

But, host, doth this sir Proteus, that we talk on, often resort unto this gentlewoman?

Host. I tell you what Launce, his man, told me, he loved her out of all nick.'

Jul. Where is Launce?

Host. Gope to seek his dog; which, to-morrow, by his master's command, he must carry for a present to his lady. Jul. Peace! stand aside! the company parts.

Pro. Sir Thurio, fear not you! I will so plead, That you shall say, my cunning drift excels.

Thu. Where meet we?

Pro. At saint Gregory's well.

Thu. Farewell.

[Exe. THURIO and musicians.

SILVIA appears above at her window.

Pro. Madam, good even to your ladyship.

Sil. I thank you for your music, gentlemen: Who is

that, that spake ?

Pro. One, lady, if you knew his pure heart's truth, You'd quickly learn to know him by his voice.

Sil. Sir Proteus, as I take it.

Pro. Sir Proteus, gentle lady, and your servant.
Sil. What is your will?

Pro. That I may compass yours.

Sil. You have your wish; my will is even this, i

That presently you hie you home to bed.

Thou subtle, perjur'd, false, disloyal man!
Think'st thou, I am so shallow, so conceitless,
To be seduced by thy flattery,

That hast deceiv'd so many with thy vows?
Return, return, and make thy love amends.
For me, by this pale queen of night I swear,
I am so far from granting thy request,
That I despise thee for thy wrongful suit,
And by and by intend to chide myself,

Even for this time I spend in talking to thee.

Pro. I grant, sweet love, that I did love a lady;

[1] Beyond all reckoning or count. Reckonings are kept upon nicked or notched sticks or tallies. WARBURTON.

But she is dead.

Jul. 'Twere false, if I should speak it ;

For, I am sure, she is not buried.

Sil. Say, that she be; yet Valentine, thy friend,
Survives; to whom, thyself art witness,

I am betroth'd: And art thou not asham'd
To wrong him with thy importúnacy?

Pro. I likewise hear, that Valentine is dead.
Sil. And so, suppose, am I ; for in his grave
Assure thyself, my love is buried.

[Aside.

Pro. Sweet lady, let me rake it from the earth. Sil. Go to thy lady's grave, and call hers thence; Or, at the least, in hers sepulchre thine.

Jul. He heard not that.

Pro. Madam, if your heart be so obdúrate, Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love, The picture that is hanging in your chamber ; To that I'll speak, to that I'll sigh and weep: For, since the substance of your perfect self Is else devoted, I am but a shadow;

And to your shadow I will make true love.

[Aside.

Jul. If 'twere a substance, you would, sure, deceive it, And make it but a shadow, as I am.

Sil. I am very loth to be your idol, sir;

But, since your falsehood shall become you well
To worship shadows, and adore false shapes,
Send to me in the morning, and I'll send it:

And so, good rest.

Pro. As wretches have o'er-night,

That wait for execution in the morn.

[Aside.

[Exeunt PROTEUS; and SILVIA, from above.

Jul. Host, will you go?

Host. By my hallidom, I was fast asleep.

Jul. Pray you, where lies sir Proteus?

Host. Marry, at my house: Trust me, I think, 'tis

almost day.

Jul. Not so; but it hath been the longest night That e'er I watch'd, and the most heaviest.

SCENE III.

The same. Enter EGLAMOUR.

Egl. This is the hour that madam Silvia Entreated me to call, and know her mind;

[Exeunt