Sil. There, hold.

I will not look upon your master's lines:
I know they are stuff'd with protestations,

And full of new-found oaths; which he will break As easily as I do tear his paper.

Jul. Madam, he sends your ladyship this ring.

Sil. The more shame for him that he sends

it me;

For, I have heard him say a thousand times,
His Julia gave it him at his departure:
Though his false finger hath profan'd the ring,
Mine shall not do his Julia so much wrong.
Jul. She thanks you.

Sil. What say'st thou ?

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

Jul. Almost as well as I do know myself; To think upon her woes, I do protest,

That I have wept a hundred several times.

Sil. Belike, she thinks that Proteus hath forsook her.

Jul. I think she doth, and that's her cause of

sorrow.

Sil. Is she not passing fair?

Jul. She hath been fairer, madam, than she is: When she did think my master lov'd her well, She, in my judgment, was as fair as you; But since she did neglect her looking-glass, And threw her sun-expelling mask away, The air hath starv'd the roses in her cheeks, And pinch'd the lily-tincture of her face, That now she is become as black as I. Sil. How tall was she?

Jul. About my stature: for, at Pentecost, 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 served me as fit, by all men's judgment, As if the garment had been made for me;

Therefore, I know she is about my height.
And, at that time, I made her weep a good 3,
For I did play a lamentable part:
Madam, 'twas Ariadne, passioning 4
For Theseus' perjury, and unjust flight;
Which I so lively acted with my tears,
That my poor mistress, moved therewithal,
Wept bitterly; and, would I might be dead,
If I in thought felt not her very sorrow!
Sil. She is beholden to thee, gentle youth!-
Alas, poor lady! desolate and left!—

I weep myself, to think upon thy words.

Here, youth, there is my purse; I give thee this For thy sweet mistress' sake, because thou lov'st

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 my master's suit will be but cold,
Since she respects my mistress' love so much.
Alas, how love can trifle with itself!
Here is her picture: Let me see; I think,
If I had such 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 such a colour'd periwig5.
Her eyes are grey as glass 6; and so are mine :

3 i. e. in good earnest, tout de bon.

4 To passion was used as a verb formerly.

False hair was worn by the ladies long before wigs were in fashion. So, in Northward Hoe," 1607, "There is a new trade come up for cast gentlewomen of periwig making." Perwickes are mentioned by Churchyard in one of his earliest poems. And Barnabe Rich, in "The Honestie of this Age," 1615, has a philippic against this folly.

6 By grey eyes were meant what we now call blue eyes. Grey, when applied to the eyes is rendered by Coles, in his Dictionary, 1679, Ceruleus, glaucus.

Ay, but her forehead's low, and mine's as high.
What should it be, that he respects in her,
But I can make respectives in myself,

If this fond love were not a blinded god?
Come, shadow, come, and take this shadow up,
For 'tis thy rival. O thou senseless form,
Thou shalt be worship'd, kiss'd, lov'd, and ador'd;
And, were there sense in this idolatry,
My substance should be statue 9 in thy stead.
I'll use thee kindly for thy mistress' sake,
That us'd me so; or else by Jove I vow,

I should have scratch'd out your unseeing eyes,
To make my master out of love with thee.

[Exit.

ACT V.

SCENE I. The same. An Abbey.

Enter EGLAMOUR.

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

That Silvia, at friar Patrick's cell, should meet

me.

She will not fail; for lovers break not hours,
Unless it be to come before their time;

So much they spur their expedition.

A high forehead was then accounted a feature eminently beautiful. Our author, in The Tempest, shows that low foreheads were in disesteem.

with foreheads villanous low.

8 Respective, i. e. considerative, regardful, v. Merchant of Venice, Act. v. Sc. 1.

9 The word statue was formerly used to express a portrait, and sometimes a statue was called a picture. Stowe says (speaking of Elizabeth's funeral), that when the people beheld "her statue or picture lying upon the coffin, there was a general sighing." Thus in the City Madam, by Massinger, Sir John Frugal desires that his daughters may take leave of their lovers' statues, though he had previously described them as pictures, which they evidently were.

Enter SILVIA.

See, where she comes: Lady, a happy evening!
Sil. Amen, amen! go on, good Eglamour!
Out at the postern by the abbey wall;

I fear I am attended by some spies.

Egl. Fear not: the forest is not three leagues off; If we recover that, we are sure enough. [Exeunt.

The same.

SCENE II.

A Room in the Duke's Palace.

Enter THURIO, PROTEUS, and Julia.

Thu. Sir Proteus, what says Silvia to my suit"? Pro. O, sir, I find her milder than she was; And yet she takes exceptions at your person. Thu. What, that my leg is too long?

Pro. No; that it is too little.

Thu. I'll wear a boot, to make it somewhat rounder. Pro. But love will not be spurr'd to what it loaths 1. Thu. What says she to my face?

Pro. She says it is a fair one.

Thu. Nay, then the wanton lies; my face is black. Pro. But pearls are fair; and the old saying is, Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies' eyes. Jul. "Tis true; such pearls as put out ladies' eyes; For I had rather wink than look on them. [Aside. Thu. How likes she my discourse?

Pro. Ill, when you talk of war.

Thu. But well, when I discourse of love and peace? Jul. But better indeed, when you hold your peace.

Thu. What says she to my valour?
Pro. O, sir, she makes no doubt of that.

[Aside.

1 Mr. Boswell thought that this line should be given to Julia, as well as a subsequent one, and that they were meant to bo spoken aside. They are exactly in the style of her other sarcastic specches; and Proteus, who is playing on Thurio's credulify, would hardly represent him as an object of loathing to Silvia.

Jul. She needs not, when she knows it cowardice?

[Aside.

Thu. What says she to my birth?

Pro. That you are well deriv'd.

Jul. True, from a gentleman to a fool.

[Aside.

Thu. Considers she my possessions?

Pro. O, ay; and pities them.

Thu. Wherefore?

Jul. That such an ass should owe? them. [Aside. Pro. That they are out by lease 3.

Jul. Here comes the duke.

Enter DUKE.

Duke. How now, Sir Proteus? how now, Thurio? Which of you saw Sir Eglamour of late?

Duke. Why, then she's fled unto that peasant Valentine;

And Eglamour is in her company.

"Tis true;

for friar Laurence met them both, As he in penance wander'd through the forest: Him he knew well, and guess'd that it was she; But, being mask'd, he was not sure of it: Besides, she did intend confession

At Patrick's cell this even: and there she was not: These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence. Therefore, I pray you, stand not to discourse, But mount you presently; and meet with me Upon the rising of the mountain foot

That leads towards Mantua, whither they are fled: Despatch, sweet gentlemen, and follow me. [Exit.

2 i. e. possess them, own them.

3 By Thurio's possessions he himself understands his lands. But Proteus chooses to take the word likewise in a figurative sense, as signifying his mental endowments: and when he says they are out by lease, he means, that they are no longer enjoyed by their master (who is a fool), but are leased out to another. Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1786.