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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 proper' man.

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 are
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.

Val. Then know, that I have little wealth to lose; Come, go with us, we'll bring thee to our crews,

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?

And show thee all the treasure we have got;
Which, with ourselves, all rest at thy dispose.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Milan. Court of the palace. EAter Proteus.

Pro. Already have I been false to Valentine, And now I must be as unjust to Thurio.

Val. Some sixteen months; and longer might Under he colour of commending him,

have staid,

If crooked fortune had not thwarted me.

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

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 vanta re, or base treachery.

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 iov'd:
And, notwithstanding all her sudden quips,
The least whereof would queil a lover's hope,

1 Out. Why ne'er repent it, if it were done so: Yet, spaniel-like, the more she spurus my love,

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 ?2

The more it grows and fawneth on her still.
But here comes Thurio; now must we to her win-
dow,

Val. My youthful travel therein made me happy; And give some evening music to her car.

Or else I often had been miserable.

3 Out. By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat

friar,

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But to the purpose-(for we cite our faults,
That they may hold excus'd our lawless lives,)
And, partly, seeing 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;

2 Out. Indeed, because you are a banish'd man, Therefore, above the rest, we parley to you: Are you content to be our general?

To make a virtue of necessity,.

And live, as we do, in this wilderness?

Out. What say'st thou wilt thou be of our

consort?

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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 be.

(5) Passionate reproaches.

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 music 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?

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 betroth'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.
Jul. He heard not that.

[Aside. Pro. Madam, if your heart be so obdúrate, Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love,

Jul. Not so; but yet so false that he grieves my The picture that is hanging in your chamber; very heart-strings.

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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,
Of en 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?

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Pro.

That I may compass yours.

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 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.

Sil. I am very loth to be your idol, sir;
But, since your falsehood shall become you well
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?

Host. By my halidom, 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.

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Egl. As many, worthy lady, to yourself.
I am thus early come, to know what service
According to your lady ship's impose,'

Sil. You have your wish; my will is even this,-It is your pleasure to command me in.
That presently you hie you home to bed.

Thou subtle, perjur'd, false, disloyal man!
Think'st thou, I am so shallow, so conceitless,
To be seduc'd by thy flattery,

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;

(1) Beyond all reckoning.
(2) Holy dame, blessed lady.
F

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
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 your heart,
As when thy lady and thy true love died,

(S) Injunction, command.

(4) Pitiful.

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,
1 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.

This evening coming.

At friar Patrick's cell,

Egl. Where shall I meet you?
sä.
Where I intend holy confession.
Egl. I will not fail your ladyship:
Good-morrow, gentle lady.

Sil. Good-morrow, kind sir Eglamour.

[Exeunt.

[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 farthingale? didst thou ever see me do such a trick?

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 whore-
son 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 offer'd 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 again, Or ne'er return again unto my sight. Away, I say: Stay'st thou to vex me here? SCENE IV.-The same. Enter Launce, with A slave, that, still an end,3 turns me to shame. his dog. [Exit Launce. Sebastian, I have entertained thee, When a man's servant shall play the cur with That can with some discretion do my business, Partly, that I have need of such a youth, him, look you, it goes hard: one that I brought up For 'tis no trusting to yon foolish lowt: of a puppy; one that I saved from drowning, when But chiefly, for thy face, and thy behaviour; three or four of his blind brothers and sisters went Which (if my augury deceive me not)

to it! I have taught him-even as one would say Witness good bringing up, fortune, and truth: precisely, Thus I would teach a dog. I was sent Therefore know thou, for this I entertain thee. to deliver him, as a present to mistress Silvia, from Go presently, and take this ring with thee, my master; and I came no sooner into the dining- Deliver it to madam Silvia:

chamber, but he steps me to her trencher, and She loved me well, delivered it to me. steals her capon's leg. O'tis a foul thing, when

Pro.

token:

Jul. Alas!

Not so; I think, she lives.

Pro. Why dost thy cry, alas!
Jul. I cannot choose but pity her.
Pro. Wherefore should'st thou pity her?
Jul. Because, methinks, that she loved you as

well

a cur cannot keep himself in all companies! I Jul. It seems you loved her not, to leave her would have, as one should say, one that takes upon She's dead, belike. 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 gentlemenlike dogs, under the duke's table: he had not been there (bless the mark) a pissing while; but all the As you do love your lady Silvia: chamber smelt him. Out with the dog, says one; She dreams on him, that has forgot her love; What cur is that? says another; Whip him out, You dote on her, that cares not for your love. says the third; Hang him up, says the duke. I,"Tis pity, love should be so contrary; having been acquainted with the smell before, And thinking on it makes me cry, alas! knew it was Crab; and goes me to the fellow that whips the dogs: Friend, quoth I, you mean to This letter;--that's her chamber.-Tell my lady, Pro. Well, give her that ring, and therewithal whip the dog? Ay, marry, do I, quoth he.. You I claim the promise for her heavenly picture. do him the more wrong, quoth I; 'twas I did the Your message done, hie home unto my chamber, thing you wot of. He makes me no more ado, Where thou shalt find me sad and solitary. 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 puddings he hath stolen, otherwise he had been executed: 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

(1) Caring. (2) Restrain. (3) In the end.

[Exit Proteus.
Jul. How many women would do such a mes-
Alas, poor Proteus! thou hast entertain'd
sage?
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 dísprais'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 coldly,
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.
Sil. O!-He sends you for a picture?
Jul. Ay, 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, fet 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 break
As easily as I do tear his paper.

Jul. Madam, he sends your ladyship this ring.
Sil. The more shame for him that he sends it me;
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

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of

As if the garment had been made for me:
Therefore, I know she is about my height.
And, at that time, I made her weep a-good,*
For I did play a lamentable part;
Madam, 'twas Ariadne, passioning
For Theseus' perjury, and unjust flight;
Which I so lively acted with my tears,
That my poor mistress, moved therewithal,
Wept bitterly; and, would I might be dead,
If I in thought felt not her very sorrow!

I

Sil. She is beholden to thee, gentle youth!-
Alas, poor lady! desolate and left!-
weep myself, to think upon thy words.
Here, youth, there is my purse; I give thee this
For thy sweet mistress' sake, because thou lov'st her.
Farewell.
[Exit Silvia.
Jul. And she shall thank you for't, if e'er you
know her.-

A virtuous gentlewoman, mild, and beautiful.
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. [Erit.

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See, where she comes: Lady, a happy evening!
Sil. Amen, amen! go on, good Eglamour!
Out at the postern by the abbey-wall;

I fear, I am attended by some spics.

Egl. Fear not: the forest is not three leagues
off;

If we recover that, we are sure enough. [Exeunt.
SCENE II.-The same. An apartment in the
Duke's palace. Enter Thurio, Proteus, and
Julia.

Thu. Sir Proteus, what says Silvia to my suit?
(3) Head-dress. (4) Respectable. (5) Safe.

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

Jul. But better, indeed, when you hold your peace.

[Aside.

Thu. What says she to my valour?
Pro. O, sir, she makes no doubt of that.
Jul. She needs not, when she knows it coward-
ice.

Thu. What says she to my birth?
Pro. That you are well deriv'd.

Jul. True; from a gentleman to a fool.
Thu. Considers she my possessions?
Pro. O, ay; and pities them.

Thu. Wherefore?

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, But Moyses, and Valerius, follow him.

Go thou with her to the west end of the wood,
There is our captain: we'll follow him that's fled;
The thicket is beset, he cannot 'scape.

1 Out. Come, I must bring you to our captain's

cave:

Fear not; he bears an honourable mind,
And will not use a woman lawlessly.
Sil. O Valentine, this I endure for thee!

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. Another part of the Forest.
Enter Valent.ne.

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,
[Aside. Tune my distresses, and record my woes.
O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless;
[Aside. 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 !-

Jul. That such an ass should owe' them. [Aside. What halloing, and what stir, is this to-day?
Pro. That they are out by lease.
Jul. Here comes the duke.

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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. [Exit.
Thu. Why, this it is to be a peevish girl,
That flies her fortune when it follows her:
I'll after; more to be reveng'd on Eglamour,
Than for the love of reckless' 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.

SCENE III-Frontiers of Mantua.
Forest. Enter Silvia, and Out-laws.
Out. Come, come:

(1) Own.

[Exit.

(2) Foolish. (3) Careless,

The

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Have some unhappy passenger in chace:
They love me well; yet I have much to do,
To keep them from uncivil outrages.
Withdraw thee, Valentine; who's this comes here?
[Steps aside.

Enter Proteus, Silvia, and Julia.

(Though you respect not aught your servant doth,)
Pro. Madam, this service I have done for you
To hazard life, and rescue you from him
That would have forc'd your honour and your
love.

Vouchsafe me, for my meed, but one fair look;
A smaller boon than this I cannot beg,
And less than this, I am sure, you cannot give.

Val. How like a dream is this I see and hear?
Love, lend me patience to forbear awhile. [Aside.
Sil. O miserable, unhappy that I am!

Pro. Unhappy, were you, madam, ere I came ;
But, by my coming, I have made you happy.
Sil. By thy approach thou mak'st me most un

happy.

Jul. And me, when he approacheth to your
presence.
[Aside.
Sil. Had I been seized by a hungry lion,
I would have been a breakfast to the beast,
Rather than have false Proteus rescue me.

heaven be judge, how I love Valentine,
Whose life's as tender to me as my soul;
And full as much (for more there cannot be,)
I do detest false perjur'd Proteus:
Therefore be gone, solicit me no more.

Pro. What dangerous action, stood it next to
death,

Would I not undergo for one calm look?

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