Enter DUKE, THURIO, and PROTEUS. DUKE. Sir Thurio, give us leave, I pray, awhile; We have some secrets to confer about. [Exit THURIO. 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 : My duty pricks me on to utter that Which else no worldly good should draw from me. a My jealous aim might err,-] Aim, as Malone and Steevens remark, in this instance, implies guess, surmise, as in "Romeo and Juliet:" A pack of sorrows, which would press you down, Being unprevented, to your timeless grave. DUKE. Proteus, I thank thee for thine honest care; Which to requite, command me while I live. I PRO. Know, noble lord, they have devis'd a mean How he her chamber-window will ascend, "I aim'd so near, when I supposed you lov'd." b Soon suggested,-] See Note (a) at p. 17. And with a corded ladder fetch her down; 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. Enter VALENTINE. [Exit. DUKE. Sir Valentine, whither away so fast? VAL. Please it your grace, there is a messenger That stays to bear my letters to my friends, And I am going to deliver them. 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. "T is not unknown to thee, that I have sought To match my friend, sir Thurio, 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, froward, Proud, disobedient, stubborn, lacking duty; с And, where I thought the remnant of mine age DUKE. There is a lady, sir, in Miland here, Now, therefore, would I have thee to my tutor, VAL. Win her with gifts, if she respect not words; her. VAL. A woman sometimes scorns what best contents her: Send her another; never give her o'er; DUKE. But she I mean is promis'd by her friends 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, DUKE. Now, as thou art a gentleman of blood, DUKE. This very night; for love is like a child, That longs for everything that he can come by. VAL. By seven o'clock I'll get you such a ladder. DUKE. But, hark thee; I will go to her alone; a Be not aimed at ;] Guessed at. The word has the same meaning as in the passage referred to in Note (a), p. 20. b This pretence.] Design, device. e And, where I thought-] Where for whereas. It may be observed of these words, as also of when and whenas, that, with the writers of Shakespeare's era, they were "convertible terms." d In Milan here,-] The original reads, "There is a lady in Verona here." An error of the same kind occurs in Act II. Sc. 5, where Speed says, "Welcome to Padua," instead of Milan. The corrections were made by Pope. e What lets,-] What stops, what debars. So "Hamlet," Act I. Sc. 4, "By Heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me." f Quaintly made of cords,-] Cleverly, skilfully made of cords. How shall I best convey the ladder thither? bear it Under a cloak, that is of any length. DUKE. A cloak as long as thine will serve the turn? VAL. Ay, my good lord. Then let me see thy cloak: I'll get me one of such another length. VAL. Why, any cloak will serve the turn, my lord. DUKE. How shall I fashion me to wear a cloak?- And here an engine fit for my proceeding! My thoughts do harbour with my Silvia nightly; And slaves they are to me, that send them flying: O, could their master come and go as lightly, Himself would lodge, where senseless they are lying. My herald thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them; While I, their king, that thither them importune, Do curse the grace that with such grace hath bless'd them, Because myself do want my servants' fortune : I curse myself, for they are sent by me, That they should harbour where their lord should be. What 's here? purpose. Silvia, this night I will enfranchise thee. Thank me for this, more than for all the favours, Will give thee time to leave our royal court, a Merops' son,-] "Thou art Phaeton in thy rashness, but without his pretensions: thou art not the son of a divinity, but a terræ filius, a low-born wretch; Merops is thy true father, with whom Phaeton was falsely reproached."-JOHNSON, b I fly not death, to fly his deadly doom:] This is somewhat obscure. Mr. Singer reads : I ever bore my daughter, or thyself. To die, is to be banish'd from myself; Enter PROTEUS and LAUNCE. PRO. Run, boy, run, run, and seek him out. PRO. What seest thou? There's not a hair on 's head, but 't is a Valentine. From hence, from Silvia, and from me, thy friend. PRO. Ay, ay; and she hath offer'd to the doom (Which, unrevers'd, stands in effectual force) A sea of melting pearl, which some call tears: Those at her father's churlish feet she tender'd ; With them, upon her knees, her humble self; Wringing her hands, whose whiteness so became them, As if but now they waxed pale for woe: VAL. No more; unless the next word that thou speak'st Have some malignant power upon my life; PRO. Cease to lament for that thou canst not help, And study help for that which thou lament'st. 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 't is I love, and yet 't is a woman: but what woman, I will not tell myself; and yet 't is a milkmaid; yet 't is not a maid, for she hath had gossips: yet 't is a maid, for she is her master's maid, and serves for wages. She hath more qualities than a water-spaniel,which is much in a bare Christian. Here is the cate-log [pulling out a paper] of her conditions. 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. SPEED. Well, your old vice still; mistake the word: What news then in your paper? LAUN. The blackest news that ever thou heard'st. SPEED. Why, man, how black? SPEED. Let me read them. LAUN. Fie on thee, jolt-head! thou canst not read. 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 a If he be but one knave.] Warburton very plausibly proposed to read "if he be but one kind." Something, however, leading to Launce's love confession, appears to have been omitted. Possibly the poet wrote, "But that's all one, if he be but one in love." The second kare may have been repeated, repetition being a very common compositor's error, instead of the words in lore, which seem naturally enough to precede, "He lives not now that knows me to be in love." LAUN. And thereof comes the proverb,-Blessing of your heart, you brew good ale." SPEED. Item, She can sew. LAUN. That's as much as to say, can she so? SPEED. Item, She can knit. LAUN. What need a man care for a stock with a wench, when she can knit him a stock? SPEED. Item, She can wash and scour. LAUN. A special virtue; for then she need not be washed and scoured. SPEED. Item, She can spin. LAUN. Then may I set the world on wheels, when she can spin for her living. SPEED. Item, She hath many nameless virtues. LAUN. That's as much as to say, bastard virtues; that, indeed, know not their fathers, and therefore have no names. SPEED. Here follow her vices. LAUN. Close at the heels of her virtues. SPEED. Item, She is not to be fasting, in respect of her breath. LAUN. Well, that fault may be mended with a breakfast: Read on. SPEED. Item, She hath a sweet mouth. LAUN. That makes amends for her sour breath. SPEED. Item, She doth talk in her sleep. LAUN. It's no matter for that, so she sleep not in her talk. 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. LAUN. I care not for that neither, because I love crusts. SPEED. Item, She is curst. LAUN. Well; the best is, she hath no teeth to bite. SPEED. She will often praise her liquor. LAUN. If her liquor be good, she shall if she will not, I will; for good things should be praised. SPEED. Item, She is too liberal. 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, and more faults than hairs, and more wealth than faults. b She is not to be fasting,-] So the folio. The word kissed, which is found in the modern editions, was added by Rowe. She hath a sweet mouth.] As we now say, a liquorish tooth. d More hair than wit,-] A well-known old English proverb. Steevens has given many instances of its occurrence in the old writers. |