Left it fhould ravel, and be good to none,
You must provide to bottom it on me:
Which must be done, by praifing me as much
As you in worth difpraife fir Valentine.

DUKE. And, Proteus, we dare truft you in this kind;

Because we know, on Valentine's report,
You are already love's firm votary,

And cannot foon revolt and change your mind.
Upon this warrant fhall you have accefs,
Where you with Silvia may confer at large;
For the is lumpifh, heavy, melancholy,
And, for your friend's fake, will be glad of
Where you may temper her," by your perfuafion,
To hate young Valentine, and love my friend.

you;

PRO. As much as I can do, I will effect:But you, fir Thurio, are not fharp enough; You must lay lime," to tangle her defires, By wailful fonnets, whofe compofed 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 facrifice your tears, your fighs, your heart: Write till your ink be dry; and, with your tears

"A bottome for your filke it seems

My letters are become,

"Which oft with winding off and on

Are wafted whole and fome." STEEVENS.

you may temper her,] Mould her, like wax, to whatever shape you please. So, in King Henry IV. P. II: “I have him already tempering between my finger and my thumb; and fhortly will I feal with him." MALONE.

7

8

lime,] That is, birdlime. JOHNSON.

Ay, much the force of heaven-bred poefy.] The old copy reads:

Ay, much is, &c. RITSON.

Moift it again; and frame fome feeling line,
That may discover fuch integrity :9-

For Orpheus' lute was ftrung with poets' finews;1
Whofe golden touch could foften steel and stones,
Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans
Forfake unfounded deeps to dance on fands.
After your dire lamenting elegies,

Vifit by night your lady's chamber-window,
With fome fweet concert: to their inftruments

9 fuch integrity:] Such integrity may mean fuch ardour and fincerity as would be manifefted by practising the directions given in the four preceding lines. STEEVENS.

I fufpect that a line following this has been loft; the import of which perhaps was—

"As her obdurate heart may penetrate.'

MALONE.

For Orpheus' lute was ftrung with poets' finews;] This fhews Shakspeare's knowledge of antiquity. He here affigns Orpheus his true character of legiflator. For under that of a poet only, or lover, the quality given to his lute is unintelligible. But, confidered as a lawgiver, the thought is noble, and the imagery exquifitely beautiful. For by his lute, is to be underftood his fyftem of laws; and by the poet's finews, the power of numbers, which Orpheus actually employed in thofe laws to make them received by a fierce and barbarous people.

WARBURTON.

Proteus is defcribing to Thurio the powers of poetry; and gives no quality to the lute of Orpheus, but thofe ufually and vulgarly afcribed to it. It would be ftrange indeed if, in order to prevail upon the ignorant and ftupid Thurio to write a fonnet to his miftrefs, he should enlarge upon the legislative powers of Orpheus, which were nothing to the purpofe. Warburton's obfervations frequently tend to prove Shakipeare more profound and learned than the occafion required, and to make the Poet of Nature the moft unnatural that ever wrote, M. MASON.

2

with fome fweet concert :] The old copy has confort, which I once thought might have meant in our author's time a band or company of muficians. So, in Romeo and Juliet :

"Tyb. Mercutio, thou confort'ft with Romeo.

"Mer. Confort! what, doft thou make us minstrels ?" The fubfequent words, "To their inftruments," seem to

Tune a deploring dump ;3 the night's dead filence

favour this interpretation; but other inftances, that I have fince met with, in books of our author's age, have convinced me that confort was only the old fpelling of concert, and I have accordingly printed the latter word in the text. The epithet sweet annexed to it, feems better adapted to the mufick itself than to the band. Confort, when accented on the firft fyllable, (as here) had, I believe, the former meaning; when on the second, it fignified a company. So, in the next fcene:

"What fay'ft thou? Wilt thou be of our confort?"

MALONE.

3 Tune a deploring dump ;] A dump was the ancient term for

a mournful elegy.

Will well become fuch sweet complaining grievance. This, or else nothing, will inherit her.4

For this curiofity the reader is indebted to STAFFORD SMITH, Efq. of his Majefty's Chapel Royal. STEEVENS.

4 — will inherit her.] To inherit, is, by our author, fometimes used, as in this inftance, for to obtain poffeffion of, without any idea of acquiring by inheritance. So, in Titus Andronicus:

"He that had wit, would think that I had none,
"To bury fo much gold under a tree,

"And never after to inherit it."

This fenfe of the word was not wholly difufed in the time of

DUKE. This difcipline fhows thou hast been in love.
THU. And thy advice this night I'll put in practice:
Therefore, fweet Proteus, my direction-giver,
Let us into the city presently

To fort 5 fome gentlemen well fkill'd in mufick:
I have a fonnet, that will ferve the turn,
To give the onset to thy good advice.

DUKE. About it, gentlemen.

PRO. We'll wait upon your grace till after fupper: And afterward determine our proceedings.

DUKE. Even now about it; I will pardon you." [Exeunt.

ACT IV. SCENE I.

A Foreft, near Mantua.

Enter certain Out-laws.

1 OUT. Fellows, ftand faft; I fee a paffenger.
2 OUT. If there be ten, fhrink not, but down
with 'em.

Enter VALENTINE and SPEED.

3 OUT. Stand, fir, and throw us that you have about you;

Milton, who in his Comus has-" disinherit Chaos,"-meaning only, difpoffefs it. STEEVENS.

5 To fort-] i. e. to choose out. So, in K. Richard III : "Yet I will fort a pitchy hour for thee." STEEVENS.

6 I will pardon you.] I will excufe you from waiting.

JOHNSON,