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Pro. And that, my lord, I shall be loth to do:
'Tis an ill office for a gentleman;
Especially, against his very friend.

Duke. Where your good word cannot advantage him,
Your slander never can endamage him;
Therefore the office is indifferent,
Being entreated to it by your friend.

By wailful sonnets, whose composed rhymes
Should be full fraught with serviceable vows.

Duke. Ay, much the force of heaven-bred poesy. Pro. Say, that upon the altar of her beauty You sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart: Write till your ink be dry; and with your tears Moist it again; and frame some feeling line,

Pro. You have prevail'd, my lord: if I can do it, That may discover such integrity:

By aught that I can speak in his dispraise,
She shall not long continue love to him.
But say, this weed her love from Valentine,

It follows not that she will love sir Thurio.

For Orpheus' lute was strung with poets' sinews;
Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones,
Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans
Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands.

Thu. Therefore, as you unwind her love from him, After your dire lamenting elegies,

Lest it should ravel, and be good to none,
You must provide to bottom it on me:
Which must be done, by praising me as much
As you in worth dispraise sir Valentine.
Duke. And, Proteus, we dare trust you in this kind;
Because we know, on Valentine's report,
You are already love's firm votary,

And cannot soon revolt and change your mind.
Upon this warrant shall you have access,
Where you with Silvia may confer at large;
For she is lumpish, heavy, melancholy,
And, for your friend's sake, will be glad of you;
Where you may temper her, by your persuasion,
To hate young Valentine, and love my friend.

Pro. As much as I can do, I will effect: -
But you, sir Thurio, are not sharp enough;
You must lay lime, to tangle her desires,

Visit by night your lady's chamber-window
With some sweet concert: to their instruments
Tune a deploring dump 6; the night's dead silence
Will well become such sweet complaining grievance.
This, or else nothing, will inherit her.

Duke. This discipline shows thou hast been in love.
Thu. And thy advice this night I'll put in practice.
Therefore, sweet Proteus, my direction-giver,
Let us into the city presently

To sort 7 some gentlemen well skill'd in musick :
I have a sonnet, that will serve the turn,
To give the onset to thy good advice.
Duke. About it, gentlemen.

Pro. We'll wait upon your grace till after supper:
And afterward determine our proceedings.
Duke. Even now about it: I will pardon you.
[Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I..

- A Forest near Mantua.

Enter certain Out-laws.

1 Out. Fellows, stand fast; I see a passenger.
2 Out. If there be ten, shrink not, but down
with 'em.

Enter VALENTINE and Speed.

3 Out. Stand, sir, and throw us that you have

about you;

If not, we'll make you sit, and rifle you.

2 Out. For what offence?

Val. For that which now torments me to rehearse:
I kill'd a man, whose death I much repent;
But yet I slew him manfully in fight,
Without false vantage, or base treachery.

1 Out. Why ne'er repent it, if it were done so
But were you banish'd for so small a fault?
Val. I was, and held me glad of such a doom.
1 Out. Have you the tongues ? 8

Val. My youthful travel therein made me happy;

Speed. Sir, we are undone ! these are the villains Or else I often had been miserable.

That all the travellers do fear so much.

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Val. Then know, that I have little wealth to lose ;
A man I am, cross'd with adversity:
My riches are these poor habiliments,
Of which if you should here disfurnish me,
You take the sum and substance that I have.
2 Out. Whither travel you?

Val. To Verona.

1 Out. Whence came you?

Val. From Milan.

3 Out. Have you long sojourn'd there?

3 Out. By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar, This fellow were a king for our wild faction.

1 Out. We'll have him: sirs, a word.
Speed. Master, be one of them;

It is an honourable kind of thievery.
Val. Peace, villain!

2 Out. Tell us this: Have you any thing to take
to?

Val. Nothing, but my fortune.

3 Out. Know then, that some of us are gentlemen, Such as the fury of ungoverned youth Thrust from the company of awful 9 men.

1 Out. But to the purpose,

you are beautified
With goodly shape; and by your own report
A linguist; and a man of such perfection,
As we do in our quality much want; -

Val. Some sixteen months; and longer might Therefore, above the rest, we parley to you:

2 Out. Indeed, because you are a banish'd man,

have staid,

If crooked fortune had not thwarted me.

1 Out. What, were you banish'd thence? Val. I was.

Are you content to be our general?
To make a virtue of necessity,

And live, as we do, in this wilderness?

4 Birdlime.

6 Mournful elegy.

Well looking.

• Languages.

7 Choose out. 9 Lawful.

D

3 Out. What say'st thou? wilt thou be of our
consort?

Say, ay, and be the captain of us all :
We'll do thee homage, and be rul'd by thee,
Love thee as our commander, and our king.

1 Out. But if thou scorn our courtesy, thou diest.
2 Out. Thou shalt not live to brag what we have
offer'd.

Val. I take your offer, and will live with you;
Provided that you do no outrages
On silly women, or poor passengers.

3 Out. No, we detest such vile base practices.
Come, go with us, we'll bring thee to our crews,
And shew thee all the treasure we have got;
Which, with ourselves, all rest at thy dispose.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. - Milan. Court of the Palace.
Enter PROTeus.

Pro. Already have I been false to Valentine,
And now I must be as unjust to Thurio.
Under the colour of commending him,
I have access my own love to prefer:
But Silvia is too fair, too true, too holy,
To be corrupted with my worthless gifts.
When I protest true loyalty to her,
She twits me with my falsehood to my friend :,
When to her beauty I commend my vows,
She bids me think, how I have been forsworn
In breaking faith with Julia whom I lov'd:
And, notwithstanding all her sudden quips9,
The least whereof would quell a lover's hope,
Yet, spaniel-like, the more she spurns my love,
The more it grows and fawneth on her still.
But here comes Thurio: now must we to her window,
And give some evening musick to her ear.

Enter THURIO, and Musicians.

Thu. How now, sir Proteus? are you crept before us?

Pro. Ay, gentle Thurio; for you know, that love
Will creep in service where it cannot go.

Thu. Ay, but I hope, sir, that you love not here.
Pro. Sir, but I do; or else I would be hence.
Thu. Whom? Silvia?

Pro. Ay, Silvia, - for your sake.

1

Thu. I thank you for your own. Now, gentlemen, Let's tune, and to it lustily a while.

Enter HOST, at a distance; and JULIA in boy's clothes. Host. Now, my young guest! methinks you're allycholly; I pray you, why is it?

Jul. Marry, mine host, because I cannot be merry. Host. Come, we'll have you merry: I'll bring you where you shall hear musick, and see the gentleman that you ask'd for.

Jul. But shall I hear him speak?
Host. Ay, that you shall.

Jul. That will be musick.
Host. Hark! hark!

Jul. Is he among these?

Is she kind, as she is fair?

For beauty lives with kindness:
Love doth to her eyes repair,

To help him of his blindness;
And, being help'd, inhabits there.
Then to Silvia let us sing,

That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing,

Upon the dull earth dwelling;
To her let us garlands bring.

Host. How now? are you sadder than you were
before?

How do you, man? the musick likes you not.
Jul. You mistake; the musician likes me not.
Host. Why, my pretty youth?

Jul. He plays false, father.

Host. How? out of tune on the strings?

Jul. Not so; but yet so false that he grieves my very heart-strings.

Host. You have a quick ear.

Jul. Ay, I would I were deaf! it makes me have a slow heart.

Host. I perceive you delight not in musick.
Jul. Not a whit, when it jars so.

Host. Hark, what fine change is in the musick!
Jul. Ay; that change is the spite.

Host. You would have them always play but one thing?

Jul. I would always have one play but one thing. But, host, doth this sir Proteus, that we talk on, often resort unto this gentlewoman?

Host. I tell you what Launce, his man, told me, he loved her out of all nick. 1

Jul. Where is Launce?

Host. Gone to seek his dog; which, to-morrow, by his master's command, he must carry for a present to his lady.

Jul. Peace! stand aside! the company parts.
Pro. Sir Thurio, fear not you! I will so plead,
That you shall say, my cunning drift excels.
Thu. Where meet we?

Pro. At saint Gregory's well.

Thu. Farewell. [Exeunt THURIO and Musicians.

SILVIA appears above, at her window.
Pro. Madam, good even to your ladyship.
Sil. I thank you for your musick, gentlemen:
Who is that, that spake?

Pro. One, lady, if you knew his pure heart's truth,
You'd quickly learn to know him by his voice.
Sil. Sir Proteus, as I take it.

Pro. Sir Proteus, gentle lady, and your servant.
Sil. What is your will?

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That I may compass yours.
Sil. You have your wish; my will is even this,-
That presently you hie you home to bed.
Thou subtle, perjur'd, false, disloyal man!
[Musick plays. Think'st thou, I am so shallow, so conceitless,
To be seduced by thy flattery,

Host. Ay: but peace, let's hear 'em.

SONG.

Who is Silvia? What is she?

That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;

The heavens such grace did lend her,
That she might admired he.

Passionate reproaches.

That hast deceiv'd so many with thy vows?
Return, return, and make thy love amends.
For me,
- by this pale queen of night I swear,
I am so far from granting thy request,
That I despise thee for thy wrongful suit;
And by and by intend to chide myself,
Even for this time I spend in talking to thee.
Pro. I grant, sweet love, that I did love a lady
But she is dead.

1 Beyond all reckoning.

Jul.

'Twere false, if I should speak it; For I am sure, she is not buried. [Aside. Sil. Say that she be; yet Valentine, thy friend, Survives; to whom, thyself art witness, I am bethroth'd: And art thou not asham'd To wrong him with thy importúnacy?

Pro. I likewise hear, that Valentine is dead. Sil. And so, suppose, am I; for in his grave Assure thyself my love is buried.

Pro. Sweet lady, let me rake it from the earth. Sil. Go to thy lady's grave, and call her's thence; Or, at the least, in her's sepulchre thine.

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Sil.

Egl.

SILVIA appears above, at her window.

Who calls?

Your servant, and your friend;
One that attends your ladyship's command.
Sil. Sir Eglamour, a thousand times good-morrow.
Egl. As many, worthy lady to yourself.
According to your ladyship's impose 3,
I am thus early come, to know what service
It is your pleasure to command me in.

Sil. O Eglamour, thou art a gentleman,
(Think not I flatter, for, I swear, I do not,)
Valiant, wise, remorseful1, well accomplish'd.
Thou art not ignorant, what dear good will
I bear unto the banish'd Valentine;
Nor how my father would enforce me marry
Vain Thurio, whom my very soul abhorr'd.
Thyself hast lov'd; and I have heard thee say,
No grief did ever come so near thy heart,
As when thy lady and thy true love died,
Upon whose grave thou vow'dst pure chastity.
Sir Eglamour, I would to Valentine,

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To Mantua, where, I hear, he makes abode;
And, for the ways are dangerous to pass,
I do desire thy worthy company,
Upon whose faith and honour I repose.
Urge not my father's anger, Eglamour,
But think upon my grief, a lady's grief;
And on the justice of my flying hence,
To keep me from a most unholy match,
Which heaven and fortune still reward with plagues.
I do desire thee, even from a heart
As full of sorrows as the sea of sands,
To bear me company, and go with me:
If not, to hide what I have said to thee,
That I may venture to depart alone.

Egl. Madam, I pity much your grievances.
Which since I know they virtuously are plac'd,
I give consent to go along with you;
Recking as little what betideth me,
As much I wish all good befortune you.
When will you go?

Sil.
Egl. Where shall I meet you?

This evening coming.

At friar Patrick's cell,

Sil.
Where I intend holy confession.
Egl. I will not fail your ladyship:
Good-morrow, gentle lady.

Sil. Good-morrow, kind sir Eglamour. [Exeunt.
SCENE IV. The same.

Enter LAUNCE, with his dog.

When a man's servant shall play the cur with him, look you, it goes hard: one that I brought up of a puppy; one that I saved from drowning, when three or four of his blind brothers and sisters went to it! I have taught him -even as one would say precisely, Thus I would teach a dog. I was sent to deliver him, as a present to mistress Silvia, from my master; and I came no sooner into the diningchamber, but he steps me to her trencher, and steals her capon's leg. O, 'tis a foul thing, when a cur cannot keep 6 himself in all companies! I would have, as one should say, one that takes upon him to be a dog indeed, to be, as it were, a dog at all things. If I had not had more wit than he, to take a fault upon me that he did, I think verily he had been hanged for't; sure as I live, he had suffered for't. I have sat in the stocks for puddings he hath stolen, otherwise he had been executed: I have stood on the pillory for geese he hath killed, other

wise he had suffered for't: thou think'st not of this now!

Enter PROTEUS and JULIA.

Pro. Sebastian is thy name? I like thee well, And will employ thee in some service presently. Jul. In what you please; I will do what I can. Pro. I hope thou wilt. How now, you idle peasant? [To LAUNCE. Where have you been these two days loitering? Laun. Marry, sir, I carried mistress Silvia the dog you bade me.

Pro. And what says she to my little jewel? Laun. Marry, she says, your dog was a cur; and tells you, currish thanks is good enough for such a present.

Pro. But she received my dog?

Laun. No, indeed, she did not: here have I brought him back again.

5 Caring.

6 Restrain.

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Jul. Ay, madam.
Sil. Ursula, bring my picture there
[P

Go, give your master this: tell him f
One Julia, that his changing thought
Would better fit his chamber than thi

Jul. Madam, please you peruse thi Pardon me, madam; I have unadvis Deliver'd you a paper that I should This is the letter to your ladyship.

Sil. I pray thee, let me look on tha
Jul. It may not be; good madam,
Sil. There, hold.

I will not look upon your master's lin
I know they are stuff'd with protestat
And full of new-found oaths; which
As easily as I do tear his paper.

Jul. Madam, he sends your ladyshi Sil. The more shame for him that h For I have heard him say a thousand His Julia gave it him at his departure

Pro. Why dost thou cry, alas?

Jul. I cannot choose but pity her.

Pro. Wherefore should'st thou pity her?

Jul. Because, methinks, that she lov'd you as well

As you do love your lady Silvia:

She dreams on him, that has forgot her love;
You dote on her, that cares not for your love.
'Tis pity, love should be so contrary;
And thinking on it makes me cry, alas!

Pro. Well, give her that ring, and therewithal
This letter;- That's her chamber. Tell my lady
I claim the promise for her heavenly picture.
Your message done, hie home unto my chamber,
Where thou shalt find me sad and solitary.

[Exit PROTEUS.
Jul. How many women would do such a message?
Alas, poor Proteus! thou hast entertain'd
A fox, to be the shepherd of thy lambs:
Alas, poor fool! why do I pity him
That with his very heart despiseth me?
Because he loves her, he despiseth me;
Because I love him, I must pity him.

This ring I gave him, when he parted from me,
To bind him to remember my good will:
And now am I (unhappy messenger)
To plead for that which I would not obtain;
To carry that which I would have refus'd;
To praise his faith, which I would have disprais'd.
I am my master's true confirmed love;
But cannot be true servant to my master,
Unless I prove false traitor to myself.
Yet I will woo for him; but yet so coldy,
As, heaven it knows, I would not have him speed.
Enter SILVIA attended.

Gentlewoman, good day! I pray you, be my mean
To bring me where to speak with madam Silvia.
Sil. What would you with her, if that I be she?
Jul. If you be she, I do entreat your patience
To hear me speak the message I am sent on.
Sil. From whom?

Jul. From my master, sir Proteus, madam.

Mine shall not do his Julia so much v

Sil. What say'st thou?

Jul. I thank you, madam, that you Poor gentlewoman! my master wrong Sil. Dost thou know her?

Jul. Almost as well as I do know To think upon her woes, I do protest That I have wept an hundred several

Sil. Belike, she thinks that Proteus ha Jul. I think she doth, and that's

Sil. Is she not passing fair?

Jul. She hath been fairer, madam, When she did think my master lov'd She, in my judgment, was as fair as y But since she did neglect her looking And threw her sun-expelling mask av The air hath starv'd the roses in her c And pinch'd the lily-tincture of her fa That now she is become as black as I Sil. How tall was she?

Jul. About my stature: for at Per When all our pageants of delight wer Our youth got me to play the woman And I was trimm'd in madam Julia's Which serv'd me as fit, by all men's ju As if the garment had been made for Therefore I know she is about my hei And, at that time, I made her weep a For I did play a lamentable part: Madam, 'twas Ariadne, passioning For Theseus' perjury, and unjust fligh Which I so lively acted with my tears That my poor mistress, moved therew Wept bitterly; and, would I might be If I in thought felt not her very sorro

Sil. She is beholden to thee, gentle Alas, poor lady! desolate and left! I weep myself to think upon thy word Here, youth, there is my purse; I giv For thy sweet mistress' sake, because th Farewell.

Jul. And she shall thank you for know her.

A virtuous gentlewoman, mild, and be

I hope my master's suit will be but cold,
Since she respects my mistress' love so much.
Alas, how love can trifle with itself!
Here is her picture: Let me see; I think,
If I had such a tire', this face of mine
Were full as lovely as is this of hers:
And yet the painter flatter'd her a little,
Unless I flatter with myself too much.
Her hair is auburn, mine is perfect yellow :
If that be all the difference in his love,
I'll get me such a colour'd periwig.
Her eyes are grey as glass; and so are mine:
Ay, but her forehead's low, and mine's as high.

What should it be, that he respects in her,
But I can make respective in myself,
If this fond love were not a blinded god?
Come, shadow, come, and take this shadow up,
For 'tis thy rival. O thou senseless form,
Thou shalt be worshipp'd, kiss'd, lov'd, and ador'd;
And, were there sense in his idolatry,
My substance should be statue in thy stead.
I'll use thee kindly for thy mistress' sake,
That us'd me so; or else, by Jove I vow,

I should have scratch'd out your unseeing eyes,
To make my master out of love with thee.

[Exit.

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Enter THURIO, PROTEUS, and JULIA.
Thu. Sir Proteus, what says Silvia to my suit?
Pro. O, sir, I find her milder than she was;
And yet she takes exceptions at your person.
Thu. What, that my leg is too long?
Pro. No; that it is too little.

Thu. I'll wear a boot to make it somewhat rounder.
Pro. But love will not be spurr'd to what it loaths.
Thu. What says she to my face?
Pro. She says, it is a fair one.

Thu. Nay, then, the wanton lies; my face is black. Pro. But pearls are fair; and the old saying is, Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies' eyes.

Jul. 'Tis true; such pearls as put out ladies' eyes; For I had rather wink than look on them. [Aside. Thu. How likes she my discourse?

Pro. Ill, when you talk of war.

Thu. Considers she my possessions?

Pro. O, ay; and pities them.

Thu. Wherefore?

Jul. That such an ass should owe them. [Aside. Pro. That they are out by lease.

Jul. Here comes the duke.

Enter DUKE.

Duke. How now, sir Proteus? how now, Thurio? Which of you saw sir Eglamour of late? Thu. Not I.

Pro. Duke.

Pro.

Nor I.

Saw you my daughter? Neither. Duke. Why, then, she's fled unto that peasant Valentine;

And Eglamour is in her company.

'Tis true; for friar Laurence met them both,
As he in penance wander'd through the forest:
Him he knew well, and guess'd that it was she;
But, being mask'd, he was not sure of it:
Besides, she did intend confession

At Patrick's cell this even; and there she was not:
These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence.
Therefore, I pray you, stand not to discourse,
But mount you presently; and meet with me
Upon the rising of the mountain foot
That leads towards Mantua, whither they are fled :
Despatch, sweet gentlemen, and follow me. [Erit.
Thu. Why, this it is to be a peevish girl,
That flies her fortune when it follows her:
I'll after; more to be revenged on Eglamour,
Than for the love of reckless 3 Silvia.

[Exit.

Pro. And I will follow, more for Silvia's love, Than hate of Eglamour, that goes with her. [Erit. Jul. And I will follow, more to cross that love, Than hate for Silvia, that is gone for love. [Exit.

Thu. But well, when I discourse of love, and SCENE III.peace?

Jul. But better, indeed, when you hold your

peace.

Thu. What says she to my valour?

[Aside.

Pro. O, sir, she makes no doubt of that.
Jul. She needs not, when she knows it cowardice.

Thu. What says she to my birth?

Pro. That you are well deriv'd.

[Aside.

Frontiers of Mantua. The Forest.

Enter SILVIA and Outlaws.

Out. Come, come;

Be patient, we must bring you to our captain.
Sil. A thousand more mischances than this one
Have learn'd me how to brook this patiently.
2 Out. Come, bring her away.

1 Out. Where is the gentleman that was with her?
3 Out. Being nimble-footed, he hath out-run us,

Jul. True; from a gentleman to a fool. [Aside. But Moyses, and Valerius, follow him.

1 Head-dress.

2 Own.

3 Careless.

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