Page images
PDF
EPUB

SCENE I. Milan.

ACT II.

An Apartment in the Duke's Palace.
Enter VALENTINE and SPEED.

Speed. Sir, your glove.

Val. Not mine; my gloves are on. Speed. Why then this may be your's, for this is but one [mine:Val. Ha! let me see: ay, give it me, it's Sweet ornament that decks a thing divine! Ah Silvia! Silvia!

Speed. Madam Silvia! madam Silvia !
Val. How now, sirrah?

Speed. She is not within hearing, sir."
Val. Why, sir, who bade you call her?
Sp. Your worship, sir; or else I mistook.
Val. Well, you'll still be too forward.
Speed. And yet I was last chidden for being
too slow.

Val. Go to, sir; tell me, do you know madam Silvia?

Speed. She that your worship loves? Val. Why, how know you that I am in love? Speed. Marry, by these special marks: First, you have learned, like sir Proteus, to wreath your arms like a male content; to relish a love-song, like a robin-red-breast; to walk alone, like one that had the pestilence; to sigh, like a school-boy that had lost his A. B. C.; to weep, like a young wench that had buried her grandam; to fast, like one that takes diet*; to watch, like one that fears robbing; to speak paling, like a beggar at Hallowmast. You were wont, when you laugh'd, to crow like a cock; when you walked, to walk like one of the lions; when you fasted, it was presently after dinner; when you looked sadly, it was for want of money and now you are metamorphosed with a mistress, that, when I look on you, I can hardly think you my master. Val. Are all these things perceived in me? Speed. They are all perceived without you. Val. Without me? They cannot....

Speed. Without you? nay, that's certain, for, without you were so simple, none else would: but you are so without these follies, that these follies are within you, and shine through you like the water in an urinal; that not an eye, that sees you, but is a physician to comment on your malady.

Val. But, tell me, dost thou know my lady Silvia?

Speed. She, that you gaze on so, as she sits at supper? Val. Hast thou observed that? even she I

mean.

Speed. Why, sir, I know her not. Val. Dost thou know her by any gazing on her, and yet know'st her not.

Speed. Is she not hard favoured, sir?
Val. Not so fair, boy, as well favoured.
Speed. Sir, I know that well enough.
Vul. What dost thou know?

• Under a regimen. ́ ́† Allhallowmas.

Spred. That she is not so fair, as (of you) well favoured.

Val. I mean, that her beauty is exquisite, but her favour infinite.

Speed. That's because the one is painted, and the other out of all count.

Val. How painted? and how out of count! Speed. Marry, sir, so painted, to make her fair, that no man counts of her beauty.

Val. How esteemest thou me? I account of her beauty..

Speed. You never saw her since she was deformed.

Val. How long hath she been deformed? Speed. Ever since you loved her.

Val. I have loved her ever since I saw her; and still I see her beautiful.

Speed. If you love her, you cannot see her. Val. Why?

Speed. Because love is blind. O, that you had mine eyes; or your own had the lights they were wont to have, when you chid at sir Proteus for going ungartered!

Val. What should I see then? Speed. Your own present folly, and her passing deformity: for he, being in love, could not see to garter his hose; and yon, being in love, cannot see to put on your hose.

Val. Belike, boy, then you are in love; for last morning you could not see to wipe my shoes.

Speed. True, sir; I was in love with my bed: I thank you, you swinged me for my love, which makes me the bolder to chide you for yours.

Val. In conclusion, I stand affected to her. Speed. I would you were set; so, your af fection would cease.

Val. Last night she enjoined me to write some lines to one she loves. Speed. And have you?

Val. I have.

Speed. Are they not lamely writ? Val. No, boy, but as well as I can do them :-Peace, here she comes.

Enter SILVIA.

Speed. O excellent motions! O exceeding puppet! now will he interpret to her. Val. Madam and mistress, a thousand goodmorrows.

Speed. O, give you good even! here's a million of manners. [Aside. Sil. Sir Valentine and servant, to you two thousand.

Speed. He should give her interest; and she gives it him. [letter,

Val. As you enjoin'd me, I have writ your Unto the secret nameless friend of yours; Which I was much unwilling to proceed in, But for my duty to your ladyship,

Sil. I thank you, gentle servant: 'tis very clerkly done.

Whipped. A puppet-show. Like a scholar.

modesty,

Val. Now trust me, madam, it came hardly | For often you have writ to her; and she, in For, being ignorant to whom it goes, [off; [again reply, I writ at random, very doubtfully... Or else for want of idle time, could not Sil. Perchance you think too much of so Or fearing else some messenger, that might much pains?, [write, her mind discover, [untoher lover. Val. No, madam; so it stead you, I will Herself hath taught her love himself to write Please you command, a thousand times as All this I speak in print; for in print I found And yet,[much: Why muse you, sir? 'tis dinner-time. [it.— Sil. A pretty period! Well, I guess the sequel;" Val. I have dined. And yet I will not name it: and yet I care not;

And yet take this again;-and yet I thank you;
Meaning henceforth to trouble you no more.
Speed. And yet you will; and yet another
yet.
[Aside.
Val. What means your ladyship? do you
not like it?

Sil. Yes, yes; the lines are very quaintly writ:
But since unwillingly, take them again:
Nay, take them.

Val. Madam, they are for you.

Sil. Ay, ay; youwrit them, sir, at my request:
But I will none of them; they are for you:
I would have had them writ more movingly.
Val. Please you, I'll write your ladyship
[it over:

another.

Sil. And, when it's writ, for my sake read
And, if it please you, so; if not, why, so.
Val. If it please me, madam! what then?
Sit. Why, if it please you, take it for your
labour;

And so good-morrow, servant. [Exit SILVIA.
Speed. O jest unseen, inscrutable, invisible,
As a nose on a man's face, or a weathercock
on a steeple!

My master sues to her; and she hath taught
her suitor,

He being her pupil, to become her tutor.
O excellent device! was there ever heard a
better?
[write the letter?
That my master, being scribe, to himself should
Val. How now, sir? what are you reason-
ing with yourself?

Speed. Nay, I was rhyming; 'tis you that have the reason.

[blocks in formation]

Speed. Ay, but hearken, sir: though the cameleon Love can feed on the air, I am one that am nourished by my victuals, and would fain have meat: 0, be not like your mistress; be moved, be moved. [Exeunt.

[blocks in formation]

take you this.

Jul. And seal the bargain with a holy kiss.
Pro. Here is my hand for my true constancy;
And when that hour o'er slips me in the day,
Wherein I sigh not, Julia, for thy sake,
The next ensuing hour some foul mischance
Torment me for my love's forgetfulness!
My father stays my coming; answer not;
The tide is now: nay, not the tide of tears;
That tide will stay me longer than I should;
[Exit JULIA.

Julia, farewell.-What! gone without a word?
Ay, so true love should do: it cannot speak;
For truth hath better deeds, than words, to
grace it.

Enter PANTHINO.

Pan. Sir Proteus, you are staid for.
Pro. Go; I come, I come:-

Alas! this parting strikes poor lovers dumb.
[Exeunt.

SCENE III. The same. A Street.

Enter LAUNCK, leading a dog. Laun. Nay, 'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping; all the kind of the Launces have this very fault: I have received my proportion, like the prodigious son, and am going with sir Proteus to the Imperial's court. think Crab my dog be the sourest-natured dog that lives: my mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister crying, our maid howling, our cat wringing her hands, and all our house in a great perplexity, yet did not this cruelhearted cur shed one tear: he is a stone, a very pebble-stone, and has no more pity in him than a dog: a Jew would have wept to have seen our parting; why, my grandam having no eyes, look you, wept herself blind at my parting. Nay, I'll show you the manner of it: + Kindred.

This shoe is my father;-no, this left shoe is my father;-no, no, this left shoe is my mother;-nay, that cannot be so neither;-yes, it is so, it is so; it hath the worser sole; This shoe, with the hole in it, is my mother, and this my father; A vengeance on't! there 'tis : now, sir, this staff is my sister; for, look you, she is as white as a lily, and as small as a wand: this hat is Nan, our maid; I am the dog:-no, the dog is himself, and I am the dog,-0, the dog is me, and I am myself; ay, 50, 50. Now come I to my father; Father, your blessing; now should not the shoe speak a word for weeping; now should I kiss my father; well, he weeps on:-now come I to my mother, (0, that she could speak now!) like a wood woman;-well, I kiss her; why there 'tis; here's my mother's breath up and down: now come I to my sister; mark the moan she makes: now the dog all this while sheds not a tear, nor speaks a word; but see how I lay the dust with my tears.

Enter PANTHINO.

Pan. Launce, away, away, aboard; thy master is shipped, and thou art to post after with oars. What's the matter? why weepest thon, man? Away, ass; you will lose the tide, if you tarry any longer.

it

La. It is no matter if the ty'd were lost; for is the unkindest ty'd that ever any man ty❜d. Pan. What's the unkindest tide? La. Why, he that's ty'd here; Crab, my dog: Pan. Tut, man, I mean thou'lt lose the flood; and, in losing the flood, lose thy voyage; and, in losing thy voyage, lose thy master; and,in losing thy master, lose thy service; and, in losing thy service-Why dost thou stop my mouth? La. For fear thou should'st lose thy tongue. Pan. Where should I lose my tongue? Laun. In thy tale.

Pan. In thy tail?

Laun. Lose the tide, and the voyage, and the master, and the service? The tide!-Why, man, if the river were dry, I am able to fill it with my tears; if the wind were down, I could drive the boat with my sighs.

Pan. Come, come away, man; I was sent

to call thee.

Laun. Sir, call me what thou darest.

Pan. Wilt thou go?

Laun. Well, will go.

SCENE IV.

[Exeunt.

Milan. An Apartment in the Duke's Palace. Enter VALENTINE, SILVIA, THURIO, and SPEED.

Sil. Servant

Val. Mistress?

T

Speed. Master, sir Thurio frowns on you. Val. Ay, boy, it's for love.

Speed. Not of

you.

Val. Of my mistress then.

Speed. 'Twere good, you knocked him.
Sil. Servant, you are sad t.
Val. Indeed, madam, I seem so.

• Crazy, distracted

[blocks in formation]

+ Serious.

me, I shall make your wit bankrupt. Thu. Sir, if you spend word for word with

chequer of words, and, I think, no other treaVal. I know it well, sir: you have an exsure to give your followers; for it appears by their bare liveries, that they live by your

bare words.

[blocks in formation]

Val. My lord, I will be thankful To any happy messenger from thence. Duke. Know you Don Antonio, your countryman?

Val.Ay, my good lord, I know the gentleman To be of worth, and worthy estimation, And not without desert so well reputed.. Duke. Hath he not a son?

Val. Ay, my good lord; a son, that well deThe honour and regard of such a father, [serves Duke. You know him well? [infancy

Val. I knew him as myself; for from our We have convers'd,and spent our hourstogether: And though myself have been an idle truant, Omitting the sweet benefit of time,

To clothe mine age with angel-like perfection;
Yet hath sir Proteus, for that's his name,
Made use and fair advantage of his days;
His years but young, but his experience old;
Observe.

+ Perhaps.

His head unmellow'd, but his judgment ripe;
And, in a word, (for far behind his worth
Come all the praises that I now bestow,)
He is complete in feature, and in mind,
With all good grace to grace a gentleman.

Duke. Beshrew* me, sir, but, if he make
He is as worthy for an empress' love, [this good,
As meet to be an emperor's counsellor.
Well, sir; this gentleman is come to me,
With commendation from great potentates;
And here he means to spend his time a-while :
I think, 'tis no unwelcome news to you.
Val. Should I have wish'd a thing, it had
been he.
[worth;
Duke. Welcome him then according to his
Silvia, I speak to you; and you, sir Thurio:-
For Valentine, I need not 'citet him to it:
I'll send him hither to you presently.

[Exit Duke. Val. This is the gentleman, I told your ladyship [tress Had come along with me, but that his misDid hold his eyes lock'd in her crystal looks. Sil. Belike, that now she hath enfranchis'd Upon some other pawn for fealty. [them Val. Nay, sure, I think, she holds them prisoners still. [being blind, Si. Nay, then he should be blind; and, How could he see his way to seek out you? Val. Why, lady, love hath twenty pair of eyes. [all.

Thu. They say, that love hath not an eye at Val. To see such lovers, Thurio, as yourself; Upon a homely object love can wink.

Enter PROTEUS.

Sil. Have done, have done; here comes the
gentleman.
[beseech you,
Val. Welcome, dear Protens!- Mistress, I
Confirm his welcome with some special favour.
Sil. His worth is warrant for his welcome
hither,

If this be he you oft have wish'd to hear from.
Val. Mistress, it is: sweet lady, entertain him
To be my fellow-servant to your ladyship.

Sil. Too low a mistress for so high a servant..
Pro. Not so, sweet lady; but too mean a
servant

To have a look of such a worthy mistress.
Val. Leave off discourse of disability:-
Sweet lady, entertain him for your servant.
Pro. My duty will I boast of, nothing else.
Sil. And duty never yet did want his meed;
Servant, you are welcome to a worthless mis-

tress.

Pro. I'll die on him that says so, but yourself.
Sil. That you are welcome?
Pro.

No; that you are worthless.
Enter Servant.

| I'll leave you to confer of home-affairs;
When you have done,we look to hear from you.
Pro. We'll both attend upon your ladyship.
[Exeunt SILVIA, THURIO, and SPEED.
Vul. Now, tell me, how do all from whence
you came?
[much commended.
Pro. Your friends are well, and have them
Val. And how do yours?
Pro.
I left them all in health.
Val. How does your lady? and how thrives
your love?

Ser. Madam, my lord your father would speak with yon.

Sil. I'll wait upon his pleasure. [Exit Serv. Come, sir Thurio, Go with me:-Once more, new servant, wel

come:

Ill betide.

Pro. My tales of love were wont to weary you;

I know, you joy not in a love-discourse.

Val. Ay, Proteus,but that life is alter'd now: I have done penance for contemning love; Whose high imperious thoughts have punish'd With bitter fasts, with penitential groans, [me With nightly tears, and daily heart sore sighs; For, in revenge of my contempt of love, Love hath chac'd sleep from my enthralled eyes, [sorrow. And made them watchers of mine own heart's O, gentle Proteus, love's a mighty lord; And hath so humbled me, as I confess, There is no woe to his correction, Nor, to his service, no such joy on earth! Now, no discourse, except it be of love; Now can I break my fast, dine, sup, and sleep, Upon the very naked name of love. [eye:

Pro. Enough; I read your fortune in your
Was this the idol that you worship so?
Val. Even she; and is she not a heavenly
saint?

Pro. No; but she is an earthly paragon.
Val. Call her divine.
Pro.

I will not flatter her. Val. O, flatter me; for love delights in praises.

[pills; Pro. When I was sick, you gave me bitter And I must minister the like to you.

Val. Then speak the truth by her; if not Yet let her be a principality, [divine, Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth. Pro. Except my mistress.

Val. Sweet, except not any; Except thou wilt except against my love. Pro. Have I not reason to prefer mine own! Val. And I will help thee to prefer her too: She shall be dignified with this high honour,To bear my lady's train; lest the base earth Should from her vesture chance to steal a kiss, And, of so great a favour growing proud, Disdain to root the summer-swelling Bower, And make rough winter everlastingly. Pro. Why, Valentine, what braggardism is this? [nothing Val. Pardon me, Proteus: all I can, is To her, whose worth makes other worthies She is alone. [nothing; Pro. Then let her alone. [mine own; Val. Not for the world: why, man, she is And I as rich in having such a jewel, As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold. Forgive me, that I do not dream on thee,

↑ Incite.

Because thou seest me dote upon my love.
My foolish rival, that her father likes,
Only for his possessions are so huge,
Is gone with her along; and I must after,
For love, thou know'st, is full of jealousy.
Pro. But she loves you?

Val.
Ay, and we are betroth'd;
Nay, more, our marriage hour,
With all the cunning manner of our flight,
Determin'd of: how I must climb her window;
The ladder made of cords; and all the means
Plotted; and 'greed on, for my happiness.
Good Proteus, go with me to my chamber,
In these affairs to aid me with thy counsel.
Pro. Go on before; I shall inquire you
I must unto the road, to disembark
Some necessaries that I needs must use;
And then I'll presently attend you.
Val. Will you make haste?
Pro. I will.-

[forth:

[Exit VAL.

Even as one heat another heat expels,

Or as one nail by strength drives out another,
So the remembrance of my former love
Is by a newer object quite forgotten.
Is it mine eye, or Valentinns' praise,
Her true perfection, or my false transgression,
That makes me, reasonless, to reason thus?
She's fair; and so is Julia, that I love;-
That I did love, for now my love is thaw'd;
Which, like a waxen image 'gainst a fire,
Bears no impression of the thing it was.
Methinks my zeal to Valentine is cold;
And that I love him not, as I was wont :
O! but I love his lady too, too much;
And that's the reason I love him so little.
How shall I dote on her with more advice*,
That thus without advice begin to love her?
'Tis but her picture I have yet beheld,
And that hath dazzled my reason's light;
But when I look on her perfections,
There is no reason but I shall be blind.
If I can check my erring love, I will;
If not, to compass her I'll use my skill. [Exit.

SCENE V. The same. A street.

Enter SPEED and LAUNCE. Spred. Launce! by mine honesty, welcome to Milan.

Speed. Why, then, how stands the matter with them?

Laun. Marry, thus; when it stands well with him, it stands well with her.

Speed. What an ass art thou! I understand thee not.

Laun. What a block art thou, that thou
canst not! My staff understands me.
Speed. What thou sayst?

Laun. Ay, and what I do too: look thee,
I'll but lean, and my staff understands me.
Speed. It stands under thee, indeed.
Laun. Why, stand under and understand is

all one.

Speed. But tell me true, will't be a match? Laun. Ask my dog: if he say, ay, it will; if he say, no, it will; if he shake his tail, and say nothing, it will.

Speed. The conclusion is, then, that it will. Laun. Thou shalt never get such a secret from me, but by a parable.

But,

Speed. 'Tis well that I get it so. Launce, how say'st thou, that thy master is be come a notable lover?

Laun. I never knew him otherwise.
Speed. Than how?

Laun. A notable lubber, as thou reportest him to be.

*

Speed. Why, thou whoreson ass, thou mistakest me.

Laun. Why, fool, I meant not thee; I meant thy master.

Speed. I tell thee, my master is become a hot lover.

Laun. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn himself in love. If thou wilt go with me to the ale-house, so; if not, thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a Christian.

[blocks in formation]

The same. An Apartment in the Palace.

Enter PROTEUS.

Laun. Forswear not thyself, sweet youth; Pro. To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn; for I am not welcome. I reckon this always-To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn; that a man is never undone, till he be hanged; nor never welcome to a place, till some certain shot be paid, and the hostess say, welcome. Speed. Come on, you mad-cap, I'll to the alehouse with you presently; where, for one shot of five pence, thou shalt have five thousand welcomes. But, sirrah, how did thy master part with madam Julia?

Laun. Marry, after they closed in earnest, they parted very fairly in jest.

Speed. But shall she marry him?
Laun. No.

Speed. How then? Shall he marry her?
Laun. No, neither.

Speed. What, are they broken?

To wrong my friend, I shall be much forsworn;
And even that power which gave me first my
Provokes me to this threefold perjury. [oath,
Love bade me swear,and love bids me forswear:
O sweet-suggesting † love, if thou hast sinn'd,
Teach me, thy tempted subject, to excuse it.
At first I did adore a twinkling star,
But now I worship a celestial sun.
Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken;
And he wants wit, that wants resolved will
To learn his wit to exchange the bad for better.-
Fie, fie, unreverend tongue! to call her bad,
Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferr'd
With twenty thousand soul-confirming oaths.
Icannot leave to love, and yet I do ;

Laun. No, they are both as whole as a fish. But there I leave to love, where I should love.

• On further knowledge.

+ Tempting.

« PreviousContinue »