Thu. And thy advice this night I'll put in practice: Therefore, sweet Proteus, my direction-giver, To sort some gentlemen well skill'd in music: 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. 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. That all the travellers do fear so much. 1 Out. That's not so, Sir; we are your enemies. 2 Out. Peace; we'll hear him. 3 Out. Ay, by my beard, will we; For he's a propert man. [lose; Val. Then know, that I have little wealth to 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 sojourned there? If crooked fortune had not thwarted me. 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 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? Val. My youthful travel therein made me Or else I often had been miserable. [happy; 3 Out. By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar, This fellow were a king for our wild faction. It is an honourable kind of thievery, | Thrust from the company of awful men: 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 ungovern'd youth, * Choose out + Well-looking. + Languages. 2 Out. And I from Mantua, for a gentleman, Whom, in my mood,t I stabb'd unto the heart. 1 Out. And I, for such like petty crimes as these. But to the purpose,―(for we cite our faults, 2 Out. Indeed, because you are a banish'd man, Therefore, above the rest, we parley to you: And live, as we do, in this wilderness? 3 Out. What say'st thou? wilt thou be of our consórt? Say, ay, and be the captain of us all: Pro. Already have I been false to Valentine, When to her beauty I commend my vows, And give some evening music 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. here. Pro. Sir, but I do; or else I would be hence. Thu. Whom? Silvia? Pro. Ay, Silvia,-for your sake. Thu. 1 thank you for your own. Now, genLet's tune, and to it lustily a while. [tlemen, • Lawful † Anger, resentment. ‡ Passionate reproaches, Who is Silvia? What is she, That all our swains commend her? The heavens such grace did lend her For beauty lives with kindness: To help him of his blindness; That Silvia is excelling; Host. How now? are you sadder than you were before? How do you, man? the music likes you not. 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 music. Jul. Not a whit, when it jars so. Host. Hark, what fine change is in the music! 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.* 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. [Exeunt THURIO and Musicians. Pro, One, lady, if you knew his pure heart's truth, You'd quickly learn to know him by his voice. * Beyond all reckoning. servant. Sil. What is your will? Pro. That I may compass yours. Sil. You have your wish; my will is even That presently you hie you home to bed. That hast deceiv'd so many with thy vows? Jul. "Twere false if I should speak it; [lady; [Aside. Sil. Say, that she be; yet Valentine, thy friend, Survives; to whom, thyself art witness, I am betroth'd: And art thou not asham'd 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 hers thence; Or, at the least, in hers sepulchre thine. Jul. He heard not that. [Aside. Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love, And to your shadow I will make true love. Jul. If 'twere a substance, you would, sure, deceive it, And make it but a shadow, as I am. [Aside. To worship shadows, and adore false shapes, That wait for execution in the morn. [Exeunt PROTEUS; and SILVIA from above. Jul. Host, will you go? Host. By my hallidom, I was fast asleep. Jul. Pray you, where lies Sir Proteus? think, 'tis almost day. Host. Marry, at my house: Trust me, I Jul. Not so; but it hath been the longest That e'er I watch'd, and the most heaviest. night SCENE III.-The sume. Enter EGLAMOUR. [Exeunt. Egl. This is the hour that madam Silvia SILVIA appears above, at her window. *Holy dame, blessed lady. Egl. 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,* 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, remorseful,† 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 I do desire thee, even from a heart Egl. Madam, I pity much your grievances; Sil. This evening coming. Sil. At friar Patrick's cell, 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. Laun. 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 keeps 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: you shall judge. He thrusts me himself into the company of three or four gentleman-like dogs, under the duke's table: he had not been there (bless the mark) a pissing while; but all the chamber smelt him. Out with the dog, says one; What cur is that? says another; Whip him out, says the third; Hang him up, says the duke. I, having been acquainted with the smell before, knew it was Crab; and goes me to the fellow that whips the dogs: Friend, quoth I, you mean to whip the dog? Ay, marry, do I, quoth he. You do him the more wrong, quoth I; 'twas I did the thing you wot of. He makes me no more ado, but whips me out of the chamber. How many masters would do this for their servant? Nay, I'll be sworn, I have sat in the stocks for pud. dings he hath stolen, otherwise he had been executed: I have stood on the pillory for geese he hath killed, otherwise he had suffered for't: thou think'st not of this now!-Nay, I remember the trick you served me, when I took my leave of madam Silvia; did not I bid thee still mark me, and do as I do? When didst thou see me heave up my leg, and make water against a gentlewoman's fartingale? didst thou ever see me do such a trick? Enter PROTEUS and JULIA. 1 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 whoreson 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. Pro. What, didst thou offer her this from me? Laun. Ay, Sir; the other squirrel was stolen from me by the hangman's boys in the marketplace: and then I offered her mine own; who is a dog as big as ten of yours, and therefore the gift the greater. Pro. Go, get thee hence, and find my dog Or ne'er return again into my sight. [again, Away, I say: Stay'st thou to vex me here? A slave, that, still an end, turns me to shame. [Exit LAUNCE. Sebastian, I have entertained thee, Partly, that I have need of such a youth, That can with some discretion do my business, For 'tis no trusting to yon foolish lowt; But, chiefly, for thy face, and thy behaviour; Which (if my augury deceive me not) Witness good bringing up, fortune, and truth: Therefore know thou, for this I entertain thee. Go presently, and take this ring with thee, Deliver it to madam Silvia: She loved me well, deliver'd it to me. Jul. It seems, you loved her not, to leave her She's dead, belike. [token: Pro. Not so; I think she lives. Pro. Why dost thou cry, alas? Pro. Well, give her that ring, and therewithal L * In the end. This letter;-that's her chamber.-Tell my lady, Alas, poor Proteus! thou hast entertain'd When she did think my master lov'd her well, Sil. How tall was she? Jul. About my stature: for, at Pentecost, When all our pageants of delight were play'd Our youth got me to play the woman's part, And I was trimm'd in madam Julia's gown; Which served me as fit, by all men's judgement, This ring I gave him, when he parted from me, As if the garment had been made for me; To bind him to remember my good will: To plead for that, which I would not obtain; I am my master's true confirmed love; mean Enter SILVIA, attended. Gentlewoman, good day! I pray you, be my [via. To bring me where to speak with madam SilSil. 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. Sil. Ursula, bring my picture there. [Picture brought. Go, give your master this: tell him from me, One Julia, that his changing thoughts forget, Would better fit his chamber than this shadow. Jul. Madam, please you peruse this letter. Pardon me, madam; I have unadvis'd Delivered you a paper that I should not; This is the letter to your ladyship. Sil. I pray thee, let me look on that again. Jul. It may not be; good madam, pardon me, Sil. There, hold. I will not look upon your master's lines: I know, they are stuff'd with protestations, And full of new-found oaths; which he will As easily as I do tear his paper. [break Jul. Madam, he sends your ladyship this ring. [me; Sil. The more shame for him that he sends it For, I have heard him say a thousand times, His Julia gave it him at his departure: Though his false finger hath profan'd the ring, Mine shall not do his Julia so much wrong. Jul. She thanks you. Sil. What say'st thou? Jul. I thank you, madam, that you tender her: Poor gentlewoman! my master wrongs her much. Sil. Dost thou know her? Jul. Almost as well as I do know myself: To think upon her woes, I do protest, That I have wept a hundred several times. Sil. Belike, she thinks that Proteus hath forsook her. Jul. I think she doth, and that's her cause of sorrow. Sil. Is she not passing fair? Jul. She hath been fairer, madam, than she is: Therefore, I know she is about my height. Sil. She is beholden to thee, gentle youth!Alas, poor lady! desolate and left! I weep myself, to think upon thy words. this [her Forthy sweet mistress' sake, because thou lov's. Farewell. [Exit SILVIA. A Jul. And she shall thank you for't, if e'er you know her. virtuous gentlewoman, mild, and beautiful. And, were there sense in his idolatry, ACT V. SCENE I.-The same.-An Abbey. Enter EGLAMour. [Exit. Egl. The sun begins to gild the western sky; And now, it is about the very hour That Silvia, at Patrick's cell, should meet me. Enter SILVIA. See, where she comes: Lady, a happy evening! Sil. Amen, amen! go on, good Eglamour! Witsuntide. +In good earnest. + Head-dress. Respectable. Out at the postern by the abbey wall; Enter THURIO, PROTEUS, and JULIA. 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' Pro. Neither. ant Valentine; SCENE III.—Frontiers of Mantua -The Forest. Be patient, we must bing you to our captain. 1 Out. Where is the gentleman that was with her? 3 Out. Being nimble footed, he hath outrun But Moyses, and Valerius, follow him. [us, Go thou with her to the west end of the wood, There is our captain: we'll follow him that's The thicket is beset, he cannot 'scape. [fled; 1 Out. Come, I must bring you to our captain's cave: Fear not; he bears an honourable mind, [Exeunt. SCENE IV.-Another part of the Forest. Enter VALENTINE, Val. How use doth breed a habit in a man! This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, I better brook than flourishing peopled towns: Here can I sit alone, unseen of any, And, to the nightingale's complaining notes, Tune my distresses, and record my woes. O thou that dost inhabit in my breast, Leave not the mansion so long tenantless; Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall, And leave no memory of what it was! Repair me with thy presence, Silvia; Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain!What halloing, and what stir, is this to-day? These are my mates, that make their wills their law, Have some unhappy passenger in chase: here? Enter PROTEUS, SILVIA, and JULIA. Pro. Madam, this service I have done for you, [doth,) Duke. Why, then she's fled unto that peas- (Though you respect not aught your servant And Eglamour is in her company. "Tis true; for friar Laurence met them both, • Safe. Vouchsafe me, for my meed, but one fair look; Sil. O miserable, unhappy that I am! unhappy. Jul. And me, when he approacheth to your presence. [Aside. |