Pant.

He wonder'd, that your lordship
Would suffer him to spend his youth at home;
While other men, of slender reputation,"

Put forth their sons to seek preferment out:
Some, to the wars, to try their fortune there;
Some, to discover islands far away;"
Some, to the studious universities.
For any, or for all, these exercises,

He said, that Proteus, your son, was meet,
And did request me, to impórtune you
To let him spend his time no more at home,
Which would be great impeachment to his age,7
In having known no travel in his youth:

Ant. Nor need'st thou much impórtune me to that,
Wheron this month I have been hammering.
I have consider'd well his loss of time;
And how he cannot be a perfect man,
Not being try'd and tutor❜d in the world:
Experience is by industry achiev'd,

And perfected by the swift course of time:
Then, tell me, whither were I best to send him?
Pant. I think, your lordship is not ignorant,

How his companion, youthful Valentine,
Attends the emperor, in his royal court.

5

of slender reputation,] i. e. who are thought slightly of, are of little consequence. Steevens.

6 Some, to discover islands far away;] In Shakspeare's time, voy. ages for the discovery of the islands of America were much in vogue. And we find, in the journals of the travellers of that time, that the sons of noblemen, and of others of the best families in England, went very frequently on these adventures. Such as the Fortescues, Collitons, Thornhills, Farmers, Pickerings, Littletons, Willoughbys, Chesters, Hawleys, Bromleys, and others. To this prevailing fashion our poet frequently alludes, and not without high commendations of it. Warburton.

7 -great impeachment to his age,] Impeachment, as Mr. M. Mason very justly observes, in this instance signifies reproach or imputation. So, Demetrius says to Helena, in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

"You do impeach your modesty too much,

"To leave the city, and commit yourself

"Into the hands of one, that loves you not." Steevens.

8 Attends the emperor, in his royal court.] Shakspeare has been guilty of no mistake, in placing the emperor's court at Milan, in

Ant. I know it well.

Pant. 'Twere good, I think, your lordship sent him thither:

There shall he practise tilts and tournaments,
Hear sweet discourse, converse with noblemen;
And be in eye of every exercise,

Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth.

Ant. I like thy counsel; well hast thou advis'd: And, that thou may'st perceive how well I like it, The execution of it shall make known;

Even with the speediest execution

I will despatch him to the emperor's court.

Pant. To-morrow, may it please you, Don Alphonso, With other gentlemen of good esteem,

Are journeying to salute the emperor,

And to commend their service to his will.

Ant. Good company; with them shall Proteus go: And, in good time,9. -now will we break with him.1 Enter PROTEUS.

Pro. Sweet love! sweet lines! sweet life!

Here is her hand, the agent of her heart;
Here is her oath for love, her honour's pawn:

this play. Several of the first German emperors held their courts there occasionally, it being, at that time, their immediate property, and the chief town of their Italian dominions. Some of them were crowned kings of Italy at Milan, before they received the imperial crown at Rome. Nor has the poet fallen into any contradiction by giving a duke to Milan, at the same time that the emperor held his court there.. The first dukes of that, and all the other great cities in Italy, were not sovereign princes, as they afterwards became; but were merely governors, or viceroys, under the emperors, and removeable at their pleasure. Such was the Duke of Milan, mentioned in this play. Mr. M. Mason adds, that "during the wars in Italy, between Francis I, and Charles V, the latter frequently resided at Milan." Steevens.

9 -in good time,] In good time was the old expression, when something happened, that suited the thing in hand, as the French say, à propos. Johnson.

So, in Richard III:

1

"And, in good time, here comes the sweating lord."

Steevens.

— now will we break with him.] That is, break the matter to him. The same phrase occurs, in Much Ado About Nothing, Act I. sc. i. M. Mason.

O, that our fathers would applaud our loves,
To seal our happiness, with their consents!
O heavenly Julia!

Ant. How now! what letter are you reading there? Pro. May't please your lordship, 'tis a word or two Of commendation, sent from Valentine,

Deliver❜d by a friend, that came from him.

Ant. Lend me the letter; let me see what news. Pro. There is no news, my lord: but that he writes How happily he lives, how well belov'd,

And daily graced by the emperor;

Wishing me with him, partner of his fortune.
Ant. And how stand you affected to his wish?
Pro. As one, relying on your lordship's will,
And not depending on his friendly wish.

Ant. My will is something sorted with his wish:
Muse not, that I thus suddenly proceed;
For what I will, I will, and there an end.
I am resolv'd, that thou shalt spend some time
With Valentinus in the emperor's court:
What maintenance he from his friends receives,
Like exhibition2 thou shalt have from me.
To-morrow, be in readiness to go:

Excuse it not, for I am peremptory.

Pro. My lord, I cannot be so soon provided:

Please you, deliberate a day or two.

Ant. Look, what thou want'st shall be sent after thee: No more of stay; to morrow thou must go.

Come on, Panthino; you shall be employ'd

To hasten on his expedition. [Exeunt ANT. and PANT.
Pro. Thus have I shunn'd the fire, for fear of burning;
And drench'd me in the sea, where I am drown'd:

I fear'd to shew my father Julia's letter,
Lest he should take exceptions to my love;
And, with the vantage of mine own excuse,
Hath he excepted most against my love.

2 Like exhibition -] i. e. allowance. So, in Othello:

"Due reference of place and exhibition." Again, in the Devil's Law Case, 1623:

in his riot, does far exceed the exhibition I allowed him." Steevens.

O, how this spring of love resembleth3
The uncertain glory of an April day;
Which now shews all the beauty of the sun,
And, by and by, a cloud takes all away!

30, how this spring of love resembleth-] At the end of this verse there is wanting a syllable, for the speech apparently ends in a quatrain. I find nothing that will rhyme to sun, and, therefore, shall leave it to some happier critic. But I suspect that the author might write thus:

O how this spring of love resembleth right,
The uncertain glory of an April day;
Which now shews all the glory of the light,
And, by and by, a cloud takes all away!

Light was, either by negligence or affectation, changed to sun, which, considered without the rhyme, is indeed better. The next transcriber, finding that the word right did not rhyme to sun, supposed it erroneously written, and left it out. Johnson.

It was not always the custom, among our early writers, to make the first and third lines rhyme to each other; and when a word was not long enough to complete the measure, they occasionally extended it. Thus Spenser, in his Fairy Queen, B. III. ch. 12: "Formerly grounded and fast setteled."

Again, in B. II. ch. 12:

"The while sweet Zephirus loud whisteled
"His treble, a strange kind of harmony;
"Which Guyon's senses softly tickeled," &c.

From this practice, I suppose, our author wrote resembeleth, which, though it affords no jingle, completes the verse. Many poems have been written in this measure, where the second and fourth lines only rhyme. Steevens.

Resembleth is here used as a quadrisyllable, as if it was written resembeleth. See Comedy of Errors, Act V. sc. the last: "And these two Dromios, one in semblance."

As you like it, Act II. sc. ii:

"The parts and graces of the wrestler."

And it should be observed, that Shakspeare takes the same liberty with many other words, in which , or r, is subjoined to another consonant. See Comedy of Errors, next verse but one to that cited above:

"These are the parents to these children." where some editors, being unnecessarily alarmed for the metre, have endeavoured to help it by a word of their own:

"These plainly are the parents to these children." Tyrwhitt Thus much I had thought sufficient to say upon this point, in the edition of these plays, published by Mr. Steevens in 1778. Since which the author of Remarks, &c. on that edition, has been pleased to assert, p. 7: "that Shakspeare does not appear, from the above instances at least, to have taken the smallest liberty in extending his words: neither has the incident of 1, or r, being

Re-enter PANTHINO.

Pant. Sir Proteus, your father calls for He is in haste; therefore, I pray you, go.

you;

subjoined to another consonant, any thing to do in the matter.". "The truth is," he goes on to say, "that every verb, in the English language, gains an additional syllable, by its termination in est, eth, ed, ing, or (when formed into a substantive) in er; and the above words, when rightly printed, are not only unexceptionable, but most just. Thus, resemble makes resemble-eth; wrestle, wrestle-er; and settle, whistle, tickle, make settle-ed, whistle-ed, tickle-ed."

As to this supposed Canon of the English language, it would be easy to shew, that it is quite fanciful and unfounded; and what he calls the right method of printing the above words, is such as, I believe, was never adopted before by any mortal, in writing them, nor can be followed in the pronunciation of them, without the help of an entirely new system of spelling. But any further discussion of this matter is unnecessary; because the hypothesis, though allowed in its utmost extent, will not prove either of the points to which it is applied. It will neither prove that Shakspeare has not taken a liberty, in extending certain words, nor that he has not taken that liberty chiefly with words, in which 7, or r, is subjoined to another consonant. The following are all instances of nouns, substantive or adjective, which can receive no support from the supposed Canon. That Shakspeare has taken a liberty, in extending these words, is evident, from the consideration, that the same words are more frequently used, by his contemporaries and by himself, without the additional syllable. Why he has taken this liberty, chiefly with words in which l, or r, is subjoined to another consonant, must be obvious to any one who can pronounce the language.

Country, trisyllable.

T. N. Act I. sc. ii. The like of him. Know'st thou this
country 2
Coriol. Act I. sc. iii. Die nobly for their country, than one.
Remembrance, quadrisyllable.

T. N. Act I. sc. i. And lasting in her sad remembrance.
W. T. Act IV. sc. iv. Grace and remembrance be to you both.
Angry, trisyllable.

Timon. Act III. sc. v. But who is man, that is not angry?
Henry, trisyllable.

Rich. III. Act II. sc. iii. So stood the state, when Henry the Sixth -2 H. VI. Act II. sc. ii. Crown'd by the name of Henry the Fourth. And so in many other passages.

Monstrous, trisyllable.

Macb. Act IV. sc. vi. Who cannot want the thought how mon-. strous. Othello, Act II. sc. iii. 'Tis monstrous. Iago, who began it? Assembly, quadrisyllable.

M. A. A. N. Act V. sc. last. Good morrow to this fair assembly. Douglas, trisyllable.

1 H. IV. Act V. sc. ii. Lord Douglas go you and tell him so.

P