VAL. From Milan. 3 OUT. Have you long sojourn'd there? VAL. Some sixteen months; and longer might have stay'd, If crooked fortune had not thwarted me. 1 OUT. What, were you banish'd thence? VAL. I was. 2 OUT. For what offence? VAL. For that which now torments me to rehearse: I kill'd a man, whose death I much repent; 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,a This fellow were a king for our wild faction! a Of Robin Hood's fat friar,-] Friar Tuck, the well-known associate and quasi confessor of Robin Hood, whom Scott has immortalized in his "Ivanhoe," and of whom Drayton sings in his "Polyolbion," "Of Tuck the merry friar, which many a sermon made In praise of Robin Hoode, his outlawes and his trade." 1 OUT. We'll have him; sirs, a word. It is an honourable kind of thievery. 2 OUT. Tell us this: have you anything to take to? VAL. Nothing but my fortune. 3 OUT. Know then, that some of us are gentle men, b Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth 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, b Of awful men:] Men of worth and station. "An awful man is to this day used in the North to denote a man of dignity." -THOMAS WHITE, 1793. c An heir, and near allied unto the duke.] The folio, 1623, reads, "And heire and Neece, alide vnto the Duke." The folio, 1664, corrected the first word; Theobald substituted near for neece. 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 consort ? Say, ay, and be the captain of us all: 1 OUT. But if thou scorn our courtesy, thou diest. 2 OUT. Thou shalt not live to brag what we have offer'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 show 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, She twits me with my falsehood to my friend: But here comes Thurio: now must we to her window, And give some evening music to her ear. Who is Silvia? what is she, That all our swains commend her? Holy, fair, and wise' is she, The heaven such grace did lend her, That she might admired be. Is she kind as she is fair? For beauty lives with kindness: Love doth to her eyes repair, To help him of his blindness; That Silvia is excelling ; the personal pronouns, &c. and uses one for the other (who for whom, she for her, him for he); nor was this inaccuracy peculiar to him, being very common when he wrote, even among persons of good education."-MALONE. f Holy, fair, and wise is she,-] Mr. Collier's corrector reads, wise as free; free is certainly a most inappropriate epithet applied to Silvia. Proteus had just before described her as "too fair, too true, too holy;" and true, no doubt, was the becoming term; but as the object of the serenade was to make her break faith, it would have been somewhat out of place in the song; and hence wise was substituted in its stead. HOST. How now? are you sadder than you were before? How do you, man? the music likes you not.a 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. 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." a The music likes you not.] That is, pleases you not. b Out of all nick.] Beyond all reckoning. It was the custom formerly to reckon by the nicks or notches cut upon the tallystick. Steevens, in a note to this passage, quotes a very apposite SIL. You have your wish; my will is even this,- That hast deceiv'd so many with thy vows? But she is dead. 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 PRO. I likewise hear that Valentine is dead. SIL. And so suppose am I; for in his grave Assure thyself my love is buried. 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. [Aside. 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. [Exeunt PROTEUS; and SILVIA, from above. JUL. Host, will you go? HOST. By my halidom," I was fast asleep. JUL. Pray you, where lies sir Proteus ? HOST. Marry, at my house: trust me, I think 't is almost day. • Shall become you well-] i. e. "since your falsehood shall adapt, or render you fit, to worship shadows.' Become here answers to the Latin convenire, and is used according to its genuine Saxon meaning."-DOUCE. By my halidom,-] "Halidome, or holidome, an old word used by old country women by manner of swearing; by my halidome, of the Saxon word, haligdome, ex, halig, i.e. sanctum, and dome, dominium aut judicium.”—MINSHEU's Dict., folio, 1617. EGL. This is the hour that madam Silvia Entreated me to call, and know her mind; There's some great matter she 'd employ me in.Madam, madam ! SILVIA appears above, at her window. SIL. Who calls? EGL. Your servant, and your friend; One that attends your ladyship's command. SIL. Sir Eglamour, a thousand times good morrow. d EGL. As many, worthy lady, to yourself. SIL. O Eglamour, thou art a gentleman, plagues. I do desire thee, even from a heart e Most heaviest.] The use of the double superlative is not peculiar to Shakespeare; it is found in all the authors of his time. d Your ladyship's impose,-] Impose is bidding, injunction, requirement. é Remorseful,-] Compassionate, full of pity. - he was none of those remorseful men, Gentle and affable; but fierce at all times, and mad then." G. CHAPMAN's Iliad, 1598. |