64 Luc. I do not seek to quench your love's hot | And presently go with me to my chamber, fire; But qualify the fire's! extreme rage, Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason. The current, that with gentle murmur glides, He makes sweet music with th' enamel'd stones, And so by many winding nooks he strays, Lue. But in what habit will you go along? Jul. That fits as well, as-"tell me, good my "What compass will you wear your farthingale ?” Why, even what fashion thou best lik'st, Lucetta. Luc. You must needs have them with a codpiece, madam. Jul. Out, out, Lucetta; that will be ill favour'd. Luc. A round hose, madam, now's not worth a pin, Unless you have a cod-picce to stick pins on. Jul. Lucetta, as thou lov'st me, let me have What thou think'st meet, and is most mannerly: But tell me, wench, how will the world repute me, For undertaking so unstaid a journey? I fear it will make me scandaliz❜d. me, To take a note of what I stand in need of, ACT III. [Exeuni SCENE I.-Milan. An Anti-room in the Duke s Duke. Sir Thurio, give us leave, I pray, awhile; [Exit THURIO Now, tell me, Proteus, what's your will with me? Pro. My gracious lord, nat which I would dis cover, The law of friendship bids me to conceal: am, My duty pricks me on to utter that I know you have determin'd to bestow her Duke. Proteus, I thank thee for thine honest ca. Luc. If you think so, then stay at home, and go I gave him gentle looks; thereby to find not. Jul. Nay, that I will not. Luc. Then never dream on infamy, but go. Jul. This is the least, Lucetta, of my fear: Luc. All these are servants to deceitful men. to him! Jul. Now, as thou lov'st me, do him not that To bear a hard opinion of his truth; 1 Fire as a dissyllable, as if spelt Fier. That which thyself hast now disclos'd to me. Pro. Know, noble lord, they have devis'd a mean Enter VALENTINE. Duke. Sir Valentine, whither away so fast? Val. Please it your grace there is a messenger found the infinite of thought" in Much Ado Abort 4 Whoever wishes to be acquainted with that singu- Nothing. The text seems to me sufficiently intelligible, lar appendage to dress, a cod-piece, may consult "Bul-though we are not used to such construction. Malone wer's Artificial Changeling." Ocular instruction may be had from the armour shown as John of Gaunt's in the Tower. However offensive this language may appear to modern ears, it certainly gave none to any of the spectators in Shakspeare's days. He only used the ordinary language of his contemporaries. 5 The second folio reads as infinite of love," Malone wished to read of the infiuite of love, because he has cited an instance of infinite used for an infinity from Lord Lonsdale's Memoirs, written in 1688. 6 By her longing journey, Julia means a journey which she shall pass in longing. 7 i. e. guess. In Romeo and Juliet we have- That stays o bear my letters to my friends, And I am going to deliver them. Duke. Be they of much import? Vul. The tenor of them doth but signify My health, and happy being at your court. Duke. Nay, then no matter; stay with me a whne; I am to break with thee of some affairs, That touch me near, wherein thou must be secret. 'Tis not unknown to thee, that I have sought To match my friend, Sir Thurin, to my daughter. Val. I know it well, my lord; and, sure, the match Were rich and honourable; besides, the gentleman Is full of virtue, bounty, worth, and qualities Beseeming such a wife as your fair daughter: Cannot your grace win her to fancy him? Duke. No, trust me; she is peevish, sullen, fro- Proud, disobedient, stubborn, lacking duty; [reads. And here an engine fit for my proceeding? Himself would lodge where senseless they are lying. Because myself do want my servants' fortune: I curse myself, for they are sent by me, Val. What would your grace have me to do in That they should harbour where their lord should be. this? Duke. There is a lady, sir, in Milan, here, Whom I affect; but she is nice, and coy, And nought esteems my aged eloquence: Now, therefore, would I have thee to my tutor, (For long agone I have forgot to court: Besides, the fashion of the time is chang'd;) How, and which way, I may bestow myself, To be regarded in her sun-bright eye. Val. Win her with gifts, if she respect not words; umb jewels often, in their silent kind, More than quick words, do move a woman's mind. Duke. But she did scorn a present that I sent her. Val. A woman sometimes scorns what best con tents her: Send her another; never give her o'er; friends Unto a youthful gentleman of worth; Val. Why then I would resort to her by night. That no man hath recourse to her by night. dow? What's here? Silvia, this night I will enfranchise thee! 'Tis so; and here's the ladder for the purpose.— Will give thee time to leave our royal court, Be gone, I will not hear thy vain excuse, Val. And why not death, rather than living tro- To die, is to be banish'd from myself; Unless it be to think that she is by, win-If Duke. Her chamber is aloft, far from the ground; Val. Why then, a ladder, quaintly made of cords, Duke. Now, as thou art a gentleman of blood, I Enter PROTEUS and LAUNCE. Pro. Run, boy, run, run, and seek him out. Laun. So-ho! so-ho! Pro. What seest thou? Laun. Him we go to find; there's not a hair" on's head, but 'tis a Valentine. 4 And feed upon the shadow of perfection. Animum pictura pascit inani. Virgil. 5 i.e. by flying, or in flying. It is a Gallicism. 6 Launce is still quibbling, he is running down the hare he started when he first entered. Pro. Valentine? Val. No. Pro. Who then? his spirit? Val. Neither. Pro. What then? Val. Nothing. Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love.2 Laun. Can nothing speak? master, shall I strike? Regard thy danger, and along with me. Laun. Nothing. Pro. Villain, forbear. Laun. Why, sir, I'll strike nothing: I pray youPro. Sirrah, I say, forbear: Friend Valentine, a word. Val. My ears are stopp'd, and cannot hear good So much of bad already hath possess'd them. Val. Is Silvia dead? Pro. No, Valentine. Val. No Valentine, indeed, for sacred Silvia!Hath she forsworn me? Pro. No, Valentine. Val. I pray thee, Launce, an if thou seest my boy Bid him make haste, and meet me at the north gate Pro. Go, sirrah, find him out. Come, Valentine. Val. O my dear Silvia! hapless Valentine! [Exeunt VALENTINE and PROTEUS. Laun. I am but a fool, look you; and yet I have the wit to think, my master is a kind of a knave: but that's all one, if he be but one knave. He lives not now, that knows me to be in love: yet I am in love; but a team of horse shall not pluck that from me; nor who 'tis I love, and yet 'tis a woman: but what woman, I will not tell myself: and yet 'tis a milk-maid: yet 'tis not a maid, for she hath had gossips: yet 'tis a maid, for she is her master's maid, and serves for wages. hath more qualities than a water-spaniel,-which is She Val. No Valentine, if Silvia have forsworn me!-much in a bare christian. Here is the cate-log What is your news? Laun. Sir, there's a proclamation that you are vanish'd. Pro. That thou art banished, O, that's the news: Pro. Ay, ay; and she hath offer'd to the doom, them, As if but now they waxed pale for woe: Val. No more; unless the next word that thou Have some malignant pow'r upon my life: Pro. Cease to lament for that thou can'st not And study help for that which thou lament'st. 1 Grief. 2 So in Hamlet: "These to her excellent white bosom." To understand this mode of addressing letters, &c. it should be known that women anciently had a pocket in the forepart of their stays, in which they carried not only love letters and love tokens, but even their money, &c. In many parts of England rustic damsels still continue the practice. A very old lady informed Mr. Steevens, that when it was the fashion to wear very prominent stays it was the custom for stratagem or galJantry to drop its literary favours within the front of them. [Pulling out a paper] of her condition. Imprimis, She can fetch and carry. Why, a horse can do no more; nay, a horse cannot fetch, but only carry; therefore is she better than a jade. Item, She can milk; look you, a sweet virtue in a maid with clean hands. Enter SPEED. Speed. How now, signior Launce? what news with your mastership? Laun. With my master's ship? why it is at sea. Laun. The blackest news that ever thou heard'st. Laun. Fie on thee, jolt-head; thou can'st not Speed. Thou liest, I can. Laun. I will try thee: Tell me this; Who begot thee? Speed. Marry, the son of my grandfather. Laun. O illiterate loiterer! it was the son of thy grandmother: this proves that thou canst not read. Speed. Come, fool, come: try me in thy paper. Laun. There and saint Nicholas' be thy speed: Speed. Imprimis, She can milk. Laun. Ay, that she can. Speed. Item, She brews good ale. Laun. And therefore comes the proverb,-Bless Laun. That's as much as to say, can she so? Laun. What need a man care for a stock with a wench, when she can knit him a stock." faire." Baret. The old copy reads condition, which was changed to conditions by Rowe. 6 It is undoubtedly true that the mother only knows the legitimacy of the child. Launce infers that if Speed could read, he must have read this well known obser vation. 7 St. Nicholas presided over scholars, who were therefore called St. Nicholas' clerks; either because the legend makes this saint to have been a bishop while yet a boy, or from his having restored three young scholars to life. By a quibble between Nicholas and Old Nick highwaymen are called Nicholas' clerks in Henry IV part 1. The parish clerks of London finding that scho 3 Gossips not only signify those who answer for a child in baptism, but the tattling women who attend ly-lars, more usually termed clerks, were under the pa ings-in. The quibble is evident. 4 Bare, has two senses, mere and naked. Launce, quibbling on, uses it in both senses, and opposes the naked female to the water-spaniel covered with hairs of remarkable thickness. "Condition, honest behaviour or demeanour in living, a custume or facion. Mos. Moris, fucon de tronage of this saint, conceived that clerks of any kind might have the same right, and accordingly took him as their patron, much in the same way as the woolcombers did St. Blaise, who was martyred with an instrument like a carding comb; the nailmakers St. Clou: and the booksellers St. John Port Latin 8 i. e. stocking Speed. Item, She is slow in words. Laun. O villain, that set this down among her vices! To be slow in words, is a woman's only virtue: I pray thee, out with't; and place it for her chief virtue. Speed. Item, She is proud. Laun. Out with that too; it was Eve's legacy, and cannot be ta'en from her. Speed. Item, She hath no teeth. Speed. Why did'st not tell me sooner? 'pox of your love-letters! (Exit. Laun. Now will he be swinged for reading iny letter: An unmannerly slave, that will thrust himself into secrets! I'll after, to rejoice in the boy's correction. A Room in the Duke's Duke. Sir Thurio, fear not, but that she will love you, Now Valentine is banished from her sight. Thu. Since his exile she has despis'd me most, Duke. This weak impress of love is as a figure How now, Sir Proteus? Is your countryman, According to our proclamation, gone? Pro. Gone, my good lord. Duke. My daughter takes his going grievously. Pro. A little time, my lord, will kill that grief. Duke. So I believe; but Thurio thinks not so.. Proteus, the good conceit I hold of thee, Laun. I care not for that neither, because I love (For thou hast shown some sign of good desert,) crusts. Speed. Item, She is curst. Laun. Of her tongue she cannot; for that's writ down she is slow of: of her purse she shall not; for that I'll keep shut; now of another thing she may; and that cannot I help. Well, proceed. Speed. Item, She hath more hair than wit,3 and more faults than hairs, and more wealth than faults. Laun. Stop there; I'll have her: she was mine, and not mine, twice or thrice in that last article: Rehearse that once more. prove Speed. Item, She hath more hair than wit.Laun. More hair than wit,-it may be; I'll it: The cover of the salt hides the salt, and therefore it is more than the salt; the hair that covers the wit, is more than the wit; for the greater hides the less. What's next? Speed. And more faults than hairs.— Laun. Why, that word makes the faults gracious. Well, I'll have her: and if it be a match, as nothing is impossible, Speed. What then? Laun. Why, then will I tell thee, that thy ter stays for thee at the north-gate. Speed. For me? Laun. For thee? ay; who art thou? he staid for a better man than thee. Speed. And must I go to him? Makes me the better to confer with thee. Duke. Thou know'st, how willingly I would effect Duke. And also, I think, thou art not ignorant Pro. She did, my lord, when Valentine was here. Pro. The best way is to slander Valentine Duke. Ay, but she'll think that it is spoke in hate. Therefore it must, with circumstance," be spoken Duke. Then you must undertake to slander him. Especially against his very friend. Duke. Where your good word cannot advantage Therefore the office is indifferent, Pro. You have prevail'd, my lord: if I can do it, hath Laun. Thou must run to him, for thou hast staid so long, that going will scarce serve the turn. 1 Speed uses the term a sweet mouth in the sense of a sweet tooth; but Launce chooses to understand it in the literal and lauditory sense. Cotgrave renders Friand, A sweet-lips, daintie-mouthed, sweet-toothed," &c. 2 Liberal is licentious, free, frank, beyond honesty or decency. Thus in Othello, Desdemonda says of Iago: "is he not a most profane and liberal counsel. lor." 3 This was an old familiar proverb, of which Steevens has given many examples. I will add one from Florio: "A tisty-tosty wag feather, more haire than wit." There was but one on the dinner table, which was placed near the top, and those who sat below it were, for the most part, of inferior condition to those who sat above it. 5 Gracious was sometimes used for favoured, countenanced, like the Italian Gratiato, v. As you Like It, Act i. Sc. 2. 6 i. e. cut, carved; from the Fr. trancher. 7 i. e. with the addition of such incidental particulars as may induce belief. 8 Very, that is, true; from the Lat. verus. Massinger calls one of his plays "A Very Woman." 9 As you unwind her love from him, make me the 4 The ancient English salt-cellar was very different bottom on which you wind it. A bottom is the housefrom the modern, being a large piece of plate, generally wife's term for a ball of thread wound upon a central much orname ated, with a cover to keep the salt clean. I body Two GENTLEMEN Dube. And, Proteus, we dare trust you in this kind; | Of which if you should here disfurnish me, Because we know, on Valentine's report, You are already love's firm votary, And cannot soon revolt and change your mind. Visit by night your lady's chamber window Duke. This discipline shews thou hast been in love. To sort some gentlemen well skill'd in music: Pro. We'll wait upon your grace till after supper: ACT IV. [Exeunt. SCENE I-A Forest, near Mantua. Enter certain Out-laws. 1 Out. Fellows, stand fast; I see a passenger. with'em. Enter VALENTINE and SPEED. You take the sum and substance that I have. Val. To Verona. 1 Out. Whence came you? Val. From Milan. 3 Out. Have you long sojourned there? Val. Some sixteen months; and longer mugh If crooked fortune had not thwarted me. 1 Out. What, were you banish'd thence? 2 Out. For what offence? Val. For that which now torments me to re I kill'd a man, whose death I must repent; 1 Out. Why ne'er repent it, if it were done so, Val. My youthful travel therein made me happy, 3 Out. By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar, 8 This fellow were a king for our wild faction. It is an honourable kind of thievery. 2 Out. Tell us this: have you any thing to take to? 3 Out. Know, then, that some of us are gentlemen, 1 Out. And I, for such like petty crimes as these 2 Out. Indeed, because you are a banish'd man, 3 Out. What say'st thou? wilt thou be of our 3 Out. Stand, sir, and throw us that you have Say ay, and be the captain of us all; about you; If not, we'll make you sit, and rifle you. Speed. Sir, we are undone! these are the villains That all the travellers do fear so much. Val. My friends, 1 Out. That's not so, sir; we are your enemies. 3 Out. Ay, by my beard, will we; for he is a proper man. Val. Then know, that I have little wealth to lose; 1 i. e. birdlime. 2 i. e. sincerity, such as would be manifested by such impassioned writing. Malone suspects that a line following this has been lost. 3 The old copy has consort, which, according to Bullokar and Philips, signified "a set or company of musicians." If we print concert, as Malone would have it, the relative pronoun their has no correspondent word. It is true that Shakspeare frequently refers to words not expressed, but implied in the former part of a sentence. But the reference here is to consort, as appears by the subsequent words, "to their instruments." 4 A dump was the ancient term for a mournful degy We'll do thee homage, and be rul'd by thee, 1 Out. But if thou scorn our courtesy, thou diest. Val. I take your offer, and will live with you; 3 Out. No, we detest such vile base practices. [Exeunt. |