Val. So do you. Thu. What seem I, that I am not? Thu. What instance of the contrary? Thu. And how quote you my folly?6 Thu. My jerkin is a doublet. Val. Well then, I'll double your folly. Sil. What, angry, sir Thurio? do you change colour? Val. Give him leave, madam; he is a kind of cameleon. Thu. That hath more mind to feed on your blood, than live in your air. Val. You have said, sir. Thu. Ay, sir, and done too, for this time. Val. I know it well, sir; you always end, ere you begin. Sil. A fine volley of words, gentlemen, and quickly shot off. Val. 'Tis indeed, madam; we thank the giver. Val. Yourself, sweet lady; for you gave the fire: sir Thurio borrows his wit from your ladyship's looks, and spends what he borrows, kindly, in your company. Thu. Sir, if you spend word for word with me, I shall make your wit bankrupt. Val. I know it well, sir: you have an exchequer of words, and, I think, no other treasure to give your followers: for it appears by their bare liveries, that they live by your bare words. Sil. No more, gentlemen, no more; here comes my father. 6— Hamlet: how quote you my folly?] To quote is to observe. So, in "I am sorry that with better heed and judgment "I had not quoted him." Steevens. Valentine, in his answer, plays upon the word, which was pronounced as if written coat. So, in The Rape of Lucrece, 1594: -the illiterate, that know not how 66 "To cipher what is writ in learned books, "Will cote my loathsome trespass in my looks." In our poet's time, words were thus frequently spelt by the ear. Malone. Enter DUKE. Duke. Now, daughter Silvia, you are hard beset. Val. My lord, I will be thankful To any happy messenger from thence. Duke. Know you Don Antonio, your countryman?? Val. Ay, my good lord, I know the gentleman To be of "worth, and worthy estimation, wealth. ms.1632, And not without desert so well reputed. Duke. Hath he not a son? Val. Ay, my good lord; a son, that well deserves, The honour and regard of such a father. Duke. You know him well? Val. I knew him, as myself; for, from our infancy, To clothe mine age with angel-like perfection: Duke. Beshrew me, sir, but if he make this good, As meet to be an emperor's counsellor. Well, sir; this gentleman is come to me, 7 Know you Don Antonio, your countryman?] The word Don should be omitted; as, besides the injury it does to the metre, the characters are Italians, not Spaniards. Had the measure admitted it, Shakspeare would have written Signor. And yet, after making this remark, I noticed Don Alphonso in a preceding scene. But for all that, the remark may be just. Ritson. 8 not without desert-] And not dignified with so much reputation without proportionate merit. Johnson. I think, 'tis no unwelcome news to you. Val. Should I have wish'd a thing, it had been he. Duke. Welcome him then, according to his worth; Silvia, I speak to you; and you, sir Thurio:For Valentine, I need not 'cite him to it:9 I'll send him hither to you presently. [Exit DUKE. Val. This is the gentleman, I told your ladyship, Had come along with me, but that his mistress Did hold his eyes lock'd in her crystal looks. Sil. Belike, that now she hath enfranchis'd them Upon some other pawn for fealty. Val. Nay, sure, I think, she holds them prisoners still. Sil. Nay, then he should be blind; and, being blind, How could he see his way to seek out you? Val. Why, lady, love hath twenty pair of eyes. Thu. They say, that love hath not an eye at all. Val. To see such lovers, Thurio, as yourself: Upon a homely object love can wink. Enter PROTEUS. Sil. Have done, have done; here comes the gentleman. Val. Welcome, dear Proteus! Mistress, I beseech you, Confirm his welcome with some special favour. Sil. His worth is warrant for his welcome hither, To be my fellow-servant to your ladyship. Sil. Too low a mistress for so high a servant. Val. Leave off discourse of disability :— Pro. No; that you are worthless.1 9 I need not 'cite him to it:] i. e. incite him to it. Malone. 1 No; that you are worthless.] I have inserted the particle no, to fill up the measure. Johnson. Perhaps the particle supplied is unnecessary. Worthless was, I believe, used as a trisyllable. See Mr. Tyrwhitt's note, page 160. Malone. Enter Servant. Ser. Madam, my lord your father2 would speak with you. Sil. I'll wait upon his pleasure. [Exit Ser. Come, Sir Thurio, - When you have done, we look to hear from you. [Exeunt SIL. THU. and SPEED. Val. Now, tell me, how do all from whence you came? Pro. Your friends are well, and have them much com mended. Val. And how do yours? Pro. I left them all in health. Val. How does your lady? and how thrives your love? Pro. My tales of love were wont to weary you; I know, you joy not in a love-discourse. Val. Ay, Proteus; but that life is alter'd now : I have done penance for contemning love; Whose high imperious3 thoughts have punish'd me, With nightly tears, and daily heart-sore sighs; Is worthless a trisyllable, in the preceding speech of Silvia? Is there any instance of the licence recommended, respecting the adjective worthless, to be found in Shakspeare, or any other writer? Steevens. 2 Ser. Madam, my lord your father -] This speech, in all the editions, is assigned, improperly, to Thurio; but he has been all 'along upon the stage, and could not know, that the duke wanted his daughter. Besides, the first line and half of Silvia's answer, is evidently addressed to two persons. A servant, therefore, must come in, and deliver the message; and then, Silvia goes out with Thurio. Theobald. 3 Whose high imperious -] For whose I read those. I have contemned love and am punished. Those high thoughts, by which I exalted myself above the human passions or frailties, have brought upon me fasts and groans. Johnson. I believe the old copy is right. Imperious is an epithet very frequently applied to love, by Shakspeare and his contemporaries. So, in The Famous Historie of George Lord Faukonbridge, 4to. 1616, p. 15: "Such an imperious god is love, and so commanding." A few lines lower, Valentine observes, that-" love's a mighty lord." Malone. For, in revenge of my contempt of love, Love hath chac'd sleep from my enthralled eyes, And made them watchers of mine own heart's sorrow. O, gentle Proteus! love 's a mighty lord; And hath so humbled me, as, I confess, There is no woe to his correction,^ Nor, to his service, no such joy on earth! Pro. Enough; I read your fortune in your eye: Val. Even she; and is she not a heavenly saint? Val. Call her divine. Pro. I will not flatter her. Val. O, flatter me; for love delights in praises. Pro. When I was sick, you gave me bitter pills; And I must minister the like to you. Val. Then speak the truth by her; if not divine, Yet let her be a principality," Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth. Pro. Except my mistress. Val. Sweet, except not any; Except thou wilt except against my love. 4 no woe to his correction,] No misery that can be compared to the punishment inflicted by love. Herbert called for the prayers of the liturgy a little before his death, saying, None to them, none to them. Johnson. The same idiom occurs in an old ballad quoted in Cupid's Whirligig, 1616: 5 "There is no comfort in the world Malone. — a principality,] The first or principal of women. So the old writers use state. "She is a lady, a great state." Latymer. "This look is called in states warlie, in others otherwise." Sir T. More. Johnson. There is a similar sense of this word in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, viii. 38:-" nor angels nor principalities." Mr. M. Mason thus judiciously paraphrases the sentiment of Valentine. "If you will not acknowledge her as divine, let her at least be considered as an angel of the first order, superior to every thing on earth." Steevens. |