Only, in lieu thereof, despatch me hence: [Exeunt. ACT III.....SCENE I. Milan. An Anti-room, in the Duke's Palace. Enter DUKE, THURIO, and PROTEUS. Duke. Sir Thurio, give us leave, I pray, awhile; We have some secrets to confer about.- [Exit THU. Now, tell me, Proteus, what's your will with me? Pro. My gracious lord, that which I would discover, The law of friendship bids me to conceal: But, when I call to mind your gracious favours, My duty pricks me on to utter that, Which else no worldly good should draw from me. I know you have determin'd to bestow her Duke. Proteus, I thank thee for thine honest care; 1 Jealous aim-] Aim is guess, in this instance, as in the following. So, in Romeo and Juliet: "I aim'd so near when I suppos'd you lov'd." Steevens. And so, unworthily, disgrace the man, Pro. Know, noble lord, they have devis'd a mean, For, love of you, not hate unto my friend, Duke. Upon mine honour, he shall never know That I had any light from thee of this. Pro. Adieu, my lord; sir Valentine is coming. [Exit. Duke. Sir Valentine, whither away so fast? Duke. Be they of much import? Val. The tenor of them doth but signify My health, and happy being at your court. Duke. Nay, then no matter; stay with me a while; I am to break with thee of some affairs, That touch me near, wherein thou must be secret.. 2 be not aimed at;] Be not guessed. Johnson. 3 of this pretence.] Of this claim made to your daughter. Johnson. Pretence is design. So, in K. Lear: "-to feel my affection to your honour, and no other pretence of danger." Again, in the same play: "-pretence and purpose of unkindSteevens. ness." Val. I know it well, my lord; and, sure, the match Duke. No, trust me; she is peevish, sullen, froward, And turn her out to who will take her in: Then let her beauty be her wedding dower; For me and my possessions she esteems not. Val. What would your grace have me to do in this? Whom I affect; but she is nice and coy, (For long agone I have forgot to court: Val. Win her with gifts, if she respect not words; More than quick words, do move a woman's mind.7 4 And, where] Where, in this instance, has the power of whereas. So, in Pericles, Act I, sc. i: "Where now you're both a father and a son." Steevens. 5 - sir, in Milan, here,] It ought to be thus, instead of-in Verona, here-for the scene apparently is in Milan, as is clear from several passages in the first act, and in the beginning of the first scene of the fourth act. A like mistake has crept into the eighth scene of Act II, where Speed bids his fellow-servant, Launce, welcome to Padua. Pope. 6— the fashion of the time-] The modes of courtship, the acts by which men recommended themselves to ladies. Johnson. 7 Win her with gifts, if she respect not words; Dumb jewels often, in their silent kind, More than quick words, do move a woman's mind. R 2 5. The word "sir" is an interpolation of Popes to make up the syttable lost in changing Verona to Milan. The ms. fol. dets it all right. Duke. But she did scorn a present that I sent her." So, in our author's Passionate Pilgrim: "Spare not to spend,— "The strongest castle, tower, and town, A line of this stanza "The strongest castle, tower, and town," and two in a succeeding stanza "What though she strive to try her strength, "And ban an brawl, and say thee nay,” remind us of the following verses in The Historie of Graunde Amoure, [sign. I 2] written by Stephen Hawes, near a century before those of Shakspeare: "Forsake her not, though that she saye nay: Another earlier writer than Shakspeare, speaking of women, has also the same unfavourable (and, I hope, unfounded) senti ment: ""Tis wisdom to give much! a gift prevails, Marlowe's Hero and Leander. Malone. Again, in the First Part of Feronimo, 1605, though written much earlier: let his protestations be "Fashioned with rich jewels, for in love "Great gifts and gold have the best tongues to move. "Let him not spare an oath without a jewel "To bind it fast: oh, I know womens hearts "What stuff they are made of, my lord; gifts and giving "Will melt the chastest seeming female living." The same rude sentiment was soon after adopted by Beaumont and Fletcher in The Woman Hater, 1607, Act IV, sc. ii: 8 66 your offers must "Be full of bounty; velvets to furnish a gown, silks "Some little compliment! If she deny this courtesy, that I sent her.] To produce a more accurate rhyme, we might read: that I sent, Sir." Val. A woman sometimes scorns what best contents her: Send her another; never give her o'er; For scorn at first makes after-love the more. Duke. But she, I mean, is promis'd by her friends Unto a youthful gentleman of worth; And kept severely from resort of men, That no man hath access, by day, to her. Val. Why, then, I would resort to her, by night. Duke. Ay, but the doors be lock'd, and keys kept safe, That no man hath recourse to her, by night. Val. What lets, but one may enter at her window? Duke. Her chamber is aloft, far from the ground; And built so shelving that one cannot climb it, Without apparent hazard of his life. Val. Why, then, a ladder, quaintly made of cords, To cast up with a pair of anchoring hooks, Would serve to scale another Hero's tower, So bold Leander would adventure it. Duke. Now, as thou art a gentleman of blood, Advise me where I may have such a ladder. Val. When would you use it? pray, sir, tell me that. Duke. This very night; for love is like a child, That longs for every thing, that he can come by. Val. By seven o'clock I'll get you such a ladder. Mr. M. Mason observes, that the rhyme, which was evidently here intended, requires that we should read-"what best content her." The word what may imply those which, as well as that which. Steevens. 9 What lets,] i. e. what hinders. So, in Hamlet, Act I. sc. iv: “By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me." Steevens. |