SILVIA appears above, at her window.

Pro. Madam, good evening to your ladyship. Sil. I thank you for your music, 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?

Pro.

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, perjured, false, disloyal man!
Think'st thou, I am so shallow, so conceitless,
To be seduced by thy flattery,

That hast deceived 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.

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 betrothed; and art thou not ashamed
To wrong him of1 thy importunacy?

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.

Jul. He heard not that.

Pro. Madam, if your heart be so obdurate,
Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love,
The picture that is hanging in your chamber;
To that I'll speak, to that I'll sigh and weep:
For, since the substance of your perfect self
Is else devoted, I am but a shadow;

And to your shadow will I make true love.

[aside.

Jul. If 'twere a substance, you would, sure, de

ceive it,

And make it but a shadow, as I am.

Sil. I am very loath to be your idol, sir;

[aside.

But, since your falshood shall become you well 2
To worship shadows, and adore false shapes,
Send to me in the morning, and I'll send it:
And so, good rest.

Pro.

As wretches have o'er night,

That wait for execution in the morn.

[Exeunt Proteus; and Silvia, from above.

Jul. Host, will you go?

1 With.

2 But, since your falshood, it shall become you well, &c.

Host. By my halidom,1 I was fast asleep.
Jul. Pray you, where lies sir Proteus ?

Host. Marry, at my house: trust me, I think, 'tis almost day.

Jul. Not so; but it hath been the longest night That e'er I watch'd, and the most heaviest.?

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

The same.

Enter EGLAMOUR.

Eg. This is the hour that madam Silvia Entreated me to call, and know her mind : There's some great matter she'd employ me in.— Madam, madam!

SILVIA appears above, at her window.

Sil. Who calls?

Eg.

Your servant, and your friend;

One that attends your ladyship's command.

Sil. Sir Eglamour, a thousand times good mor

row.

Eg. 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.

1 Holy dame.

2 This use of the double superlative is frequent in our author.

3 Injunction.

Sil. O Eglamour, thou art a gentleman,
(Think not, I flatter, for, I swear, I do not)
Valiant, wise, remorseful,1 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 loved; 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,

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 honor 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.

Eg. Madam, I pity much your grievances ;3
Which since I know they virtuously are placed,

1 Compassionate.

2 Because.

3 Sorrows.

I give consent to go along with you:
Recking1 as little what betideth me,
As much I wish all good befortune you.
When will you go?

Sil. This evening coming.

Eg. Where shall I meet you?

Sil. At friar Patrick's cell,
Where I intend holy confession.
Eg. 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.

Launce. 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 dining-chamber, but he steps me to her trencher, and steals her capon's leg. O, 'tis a foul thing, when a cur cannot keep himself in all companies! I would have, as one should say, one that takes upon him to be a dog in

'Caring.

2 Wooden plate.

3 Restrain himself.