do this for their servant?? Nay, I'll be sworn, I have fat in the stocks for puddings he hath stolen, otherwife he had been executed: I have stood on the pillory for geefe he hath kill'd, otherwise he had fuffer'd for't: thou think'st not of this now!-Nay, I remember the trick you served me, when I took my leave of madam Silvia; did not I bid thee still mark me, and do as I do? When didit thou see me heave up my leg, and make water against a gentlewoman's farthingale? didit thou ever fee me do such / a trick?

Enter PROTEUS aud JULIA.

PRO. Sebastian is thy name? I like thee well, And will employ thee in some service presently. JUL. In what you please; - I will do what I can, PRO. I hope thou wilt.-How now, you whore[To LAUNCE. Where have you been these two days loitering? LAUN. Marry, fir, I carry'd mistress Silvia the dog you bade me.

fon peasant?

? --their fervant?) The old copy reads - his fervant?

Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

8

STEEVENS.

madam Silvia:] Perhaps we should read of madam Julia, It was Julia only of whom a formal leave could have been taken.

STEEVENS.

Dr. Warburton, without any neceffity I think, reads Julia; alluding to the leave his master and he took when they left Verona." But it appears from a former scene, (as Mr. Heath has observed,) that Launce was not present when Proteus and Julia parted. Launce on the other hand has just taken leave of, i. e. parted from, (for that is all that is meant) madam Silvia.

MALONE.

Though Launce was not present when Julia and Proteus parted, it by no means follows that he and Crab had not likewife their audience of leave. RITSON,

PRO. And what says she to my little jewel? LAUN. Marry, she says, your dog was a cur; and tells you, currish thanks is good enough for fuch a present.

PRO. But the receiv'd my dog?

LAUN. No, indeed, she did not: here have I brought him back again.

PRO. What, didit thou offer her this from me? LAUN. Ay, fir; the other squirrel was stolen from me by the hangman's boys in the market-place: and then I offer'd her mine own; who is a dog as big as ten of yours, and therefore the gift the greater.

PRO. Go, get thee hence, and find my dog again, Or ne'er return again into my fight. Away, I say; Stay'st thou to vex me here? A flave, that still an end, turns me to shame

2

[Exit LAUNCE.

Sebastian, I have entertained thee,
Partly, that I have need of such a youth,
That can with some difcretion do my business,
For 'tis no trusting to yon foolish lowt;

9the other squirrel, &c.] Sir T. Hanmer reads - "the other, Squirrel," &c. and consequently makes Squirrel the proper name of the beast. Perhaps Launce only speaks of it as a diminutive animal, more resembling a squirrel in size, than a dog.

STEEVENS.

The subsequent words, --who is a dog as big as ten of yours," shew that Mr. Steevens's interpretation is the true one. MALONE. an end,] i. e. in the end, at the conclusion of every bufiness he undertakes. STEEVENS.

2

Still an end, and most an end, are vulgar expressions, and mean commonly, generally. So, in Maffinger's Very Woman, a Citizen asks the Master, who had flaves to fell, What will that girl do?" To which he replies :

But, chiefly, for thy face, and thy behaviour;
Which (if my augury deceive me not,)
Witness good bringing up, fortune, and truth:
Therefore know thou, for this I entertain thee.

3

Go presently, and take this ring with thee,

Deliver it to madam Silvia :

1

She lov'd me well, deliver'd it to me."

JUL. It seems you lov'd her not, to leave her

3-know thou,] The old copy has - thee. The emendation was made by the editor of the second folio. MALONE.

4 She lov'd me well deliver'd it to me.] i. e. She, who deliver'd it to me, lov'd me well. MALONE.

It seems, you lov'd her not, to leave her token:] Proteus does not properly leave his lady's token, he gives it away. The old edition has it:

"It seems you lov'd her not, not leave her token." I should correct it thus:

" It seems you lov'd her not, nor love her token."

JOHNSON,

The emendation was made in the second folio. MALONE. Johnfon, not recollecting the force of the word leave, proposes an amendment of this paffage, but that is unnecessary; for, in the language of the time, to leave means to part with, or give away. Thus, in The Merchant of Venice, Portia, speaking of the ring the gave Baffanio, fays,

66

and here he stands;

" I dare be sworn for him, he would not leave it,
" Or pluck it from his finger, for the wealth
"That the world masters."

And Bassanio fays, in a subsequent scene :

" If you did know to whom I gave the ring, &c.
" And how unwillingly I left the ring,

"You would abate the strength of your difpleasure."

M. MASON,

To leave, is used with equal licence, in a former scene, for to "I leave to be," &c. MALONE.

scafe.

6 She's dead, belike. This is faid in reference to what Proteus had afferted to Silvia in a former scene; viz, that both Julia and Valentine were dead, STEEVENS,

PRO.

JUL. Alas!

Not fo; I think, she lives.

PRO. Why doft thou cry, alas?

JUL. I cannot choose but pity her.

PRO. Wherefore should'st thou pity her?

JUL. Because, methinks, that she lov'd you as well

As you do love your lady Silvia :

She dreams on him, that has forgot her love;
You dote on her, that cares not for your love.
'Tis pity, love should be fo contrary;
And thinking on it makes me cry, alas!

PRO. Well, give her that ring, and therewithal
This letter; that's her chamber.-Tell my lady,
I claim the promise for her heavenly picture.
Your message done, hic home unto my chamber,
Where thou shalt find me fad and folitary.

[Exit PROTEUS.

JUL. How many women would do such a message?
Alas, poor Proteus! thou hast entertain'd
A fox, to be the shepherd of thy lambs:
Alas, poor fool! why do I pity him
That with his very heart despiseth me?
Because he loves her, he despiseth me;
Because I love him, I must pity him.
This ring I gave him, when he parted from me,
To bind him to remember my good will:
And now am I (unhappy meffenger)

To plead for that, which I would not obtain;
To carry that, which I would have refus'd;
To praife his faith, which I would have disprais'd."

7 To carry that, which I would have refus'd; &c.] The sense is, to go and present that which I wish to be not accepted, to praise him whom I wish to be dispraised. JOHNSON,

1

I am my master's true confirmed love;
But cannot be true servant to my master,
Unless I prove false traitor to myself.
Yet will I woo for him; but yet so coldly,
As, heaven it knows, I would not have him speed.

Enter SILVIA, attended.

Gentlewoman, good day! I pray you, be my mean
To bring me where to speak with madam Silvia.
SIL. What would you with her, if that I be she?
JUL. If you be she, I do entreat your patience

To hear me speak the message I am fent on.
SIL. From whom?

JUL. From my master, fir Proteus, madam.
SIL. O!-he sends you for a picture?

JUL. Ay, madam.

SIL. Urfula, bring my picture there.

[Picture brought.

Go, give your master this: tell him from me,
One Julia, that his changing thoughts forget,
Would better fit his chamber, than this shadow.
JUL. Madam, please you peruse this letter.
Pardon me, madam; I have unadvis'd
Deliver'd you a paper that I should not;
This is the letter to your ladyship.

SIL. I pray thee, let me look on that again.
JUL. It may not be; good madam, pardon me.
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 fends your ladyship this ring.