Speed. You mistook, sir; I say, she did nod: and you ask me if she did nod; and I say, Ay.

Pro. And that set together is-noddy.

Speed. Now you have taken the pains to set it together, take it for your pains.

Pro. No, no; you shall have it for bearing the letter. Speed. Well, I perceive I must be fain to bear with you. Pro. Why, sir, how do you bear with me?

Speed. Marry, sir, the letter very orderly; having nothing but the word noddy for my pains.

Pro. Beshrew me, but you have a quick wit.

Speed. And yet it cannot overtake your slow purse.

Pro. Come, come, open the matter in brief; what said she?

Speed. Open your purse, that the money and the matter may be both at once deliver'd.

Pro. Well, sir, here is for your pains. [Giving him money.] What said she?

Speed. Truly, sir, I think you'll hardly win her.

Pro. Why, couldst thou perceive so much from her? Speed. Sir, I could perceive nothing at all from her; no, not so much as a ducat for delivering your letter: and, being so hard to me that brought your mind, I fear she'll prove as hard to you in telling your mind.11 Give her no token but stones; for she's as hard as steel.

Pro. What, said she nothing?

Speed. No, not so much as Take this for thy pains. To testify your bounty, I thank you, you have testern'd me; 12

11 The meaning appears to be, "Since she has been so hard to me, the bearer of your mind, I fear she will be equally hard to you, whose mind I bore, when you address her in person." The antithesis, as Malone observes, is between brought and telling.

12 "You have given me a testern." Testern or tester was the name of a coin of sixpence value, so called from having a teste, head, stamped on it.

in requital whereof, henceforth carry your letters yourself:

and so, sir, I'll commend you to my master.

Pro. Go, go, be gone, to save your ship from wreck,
Which cannot perish having thee aboard,
Being destined to a drier death on shore.
I must go send some better messenger:
I fear my Julia would not deign my lines,
Receiving them from such a worthless post.

[Exit SPEED.

[Exit.

SCENE II. The Same. The Garden of JULIA's House.

Enter JULIA and LUCETTA.

Jul. But say, Lucetta, now we are alone,

Wouldst thou, then, counsel me to fall in love?

Luc. Ay, madam; so you stumble not unheedfully.

Jul. Of all the fair resort of gentlemen

1

That every day with parle 1 encounter me,

In thy opinion which is worthiest love?

Luc. Please you repeat their names, I'll show According to my shallow-simple skill.

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

;

Jul. What think'st thou of the rich Mercatio?
Luc. Well of his wealth; but, of himself, so-so.
Jul. What think'st thou of the gentle Proteus?
Luc. Lord, Lord! to see what folly reigns in us!
Jul. How now! what means this passion at his name?
Luc. Pardon, dear madam: 'tis a passing shame

That I, unworthy body as I am,

1 Parle is parley, that is, talk. The Poet has it repeatedly; as in Hamlet, i. 1: "So frowned he once, when, in an angry parle, he smote the sledded Polacks," &c.

Should censure 2 thus on lovely gentlemen.

Jul. Why not on Proteus, as of all the rest?

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 so, because I think him so.

Jul. And wouldst thou have me cast my love on him?
Luc. Ay, if you thought your love not cast away.
Jul. Why, he, of all the rest, hath never moved me.
Luc. Yet he, of all the rest, I think, best loves ye.
Jul. His little speaking shows his love but small.
Luc. Fire 3 that's closest 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. Peruse this paper, madam.

[Gives a letter.

Jul. [Reads.] To Julia. — Say, from whom?

Luc. That the contents will show.

Jul. Say, say, who gave it thee?

Luc. Sir Valentine's page; and sent, I think, from Pro

teus.

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 modesty, a goodly broker!4
Dare you presume to harbour wanton lines?
To whisper and conspire against my youth?
Now, trust me, 'tis an office of great worth;

2 Censure was continually used thus in the sense of judging or passing judgment. The next line gives an instance of on and of used interchangeably. The Poet has many such.

3 Fire is here a dissyllable. This and various other words, as hour, power, flower, dower, your, towards, &c., are used by the Poet as one or two syllables indifferently, to suit his verse.

4 Broker was often used for a match-maker or go-between; one that broke the ice between bashful lovers.

t

And you an officer fit for the place!

There, take the paper: see it be return'd;

Or else return no more into my sight.

Luc. To plead for love deserves more fee than hate.
Jul. Will ye be gone?

Luc.

That you may ruminate.

Jul. And yet I would I had o'erlook'd the letter:

It were a shame to call her back again,

And pray her to a fault for which I chid her.
What fool is she,5 that knows I am a maid,

And would not force the letter to my view!
Since maids, in modesty, say No to that
Which they would have the profferer construe Ay.
Fie, fie, how wayward is this foolish love,
That, like a testy 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 enforced my heart to smile!
My penance is, to call Lucetta back,
And ask remission for my folly past.—
What, ho! Lucetta !

[Exit.

5 To express the sense of this passage, we should say, "What a fool she is!" The Poet repeatedly omits the article in such exclamative clauses. So in Twelfth Night, ii. 5: "What dish o' poison has she dress'd him!" And in Julius Cæsar, i. 3: "Cassius, what night is this!" Sometimes, as in the text, the original marks such omissions with an apostrophe, thus: "What' fool is she!"

on your meat,

That

you might kill your stomach 6

And not upon your maid.

Jul. What is't that you took up so gingerly?7

Luc. Nothing.

Jul. Why didst thou stoop, 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 lies where it concerns,
Unless it have a false interpreter.

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

Give me a note: your ladyship can set.9

Jul. As little by such toys as may be possible.

Best sing it to the tune of Light o' Love.

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

Jul. Heavy! belike it hath some burden, then?
Luc. Ay; and melodious were it, would you sing it.
Jul. And why not you?

Luc.

I cannot reach so high.

Jul. Let's see your song [Taking the letter]. Why, how

Luc. Keep tune there still, so you will sing it out:

And yet methinks I do not like this tune.

Jul. You do not?

Luc.

No, madam; it is too sharp.

6 Stomach in the double sense of hunger and anger. and resentment are also among the meanings of stomach.

Pride, courage,

7 Gingerly is nicely, cautiously. To touch a thing gingerly, is to touch it as if it burnt the fingers.

8 A quibble upon lie, which is here used in the sense of speaking falsely.

9 Meaning set it to music. In the next line, Julia plays upon the word, taking it in the sense of set by or make account of. In reference to what follows, about Light o' Love, see Much Ado, iii. 4.