Val. My lord, I will be thankful To any happy messenger from thence. Duke. Know you Don Antonio, your countryman? To be of worth, and worthy estimation, Val. Ay, my good lord; a son, that well deserves Duke. You know him well? Val. I knew him, as myself; for from our infancy We have convers'd, and spent our hours together: And though myself, have been an idle truant, Omitting the sweet benefit of time, To clothe mine age with angel-like perfection ; Duke. Beshrew me, sir, but, if he make this good, He is as worthy for an empress' love, As meet to be an emperor's counsellor. And here he means to spend his time a-while : Val. Should I have wish'd a thing, it had been he. Duke. Welcome him then according to his worth ; Silvia, I speak to you ;-and you, sir Thurio :For Valentine, I need not 'cite him to it :6 I'll send him hither to you presently. [Exit Duke Val. This is the gentleman, I told your ladyship, Had come along with me, but that his mistress Did hold his eyes lock'd in her crystal looks.. Sil. Belike, that now she hath enfranchis'd them Upon some other pawn for fealty. Val. Nay, sure, I think, she holds them prisoners still. Sil. Nay, then he should be blind; and, being blind, How could he see his way to seek out you? [6] i.e. incite him to it. 16* MALONE. VOL. 1. Val. Why, lady, love hath twenty pair of eyes. Thu. They say, that love hath not an eye at all. Val. To see such lovers, Thurio, as yourself; Upon a homely object love can wink. Enter PROTEUS. Sil. Have done, have done; here comes the gentleman. Val. Welcome,dear Proteus!-Mistress, I beseech you, Confirm his welcome with some special favour. Sil. His worth is warrant for his welcome hither, Sil. Too low a mistress for so high a servant. Val. Leave off discourse of disability :- Pro. No; that you are worthless. Enter Servant. Serv. Madam, my lord your father would speak with you. Sil. I'll wait upon his pleasure. [Exit Serv.]-Come, sir Thurio, Go with me:- -Once more, new servant, welcome: When you have done, we look to hear from you. [Exeunt SIL. THUR. and SPEED. Val. Now, tell me, how do all from whence you came? Pro. Your friends are well, and have them much commended. Val. And how do yours? Pro. I left them all in health. Val. How does your lady? and how thrives your love? Pro. My tales of love were wont to weary you; I know, you joy not in a love-discourse. Val. Ay, Proteus, but that life is alter'd now : I have done penance for contemning love; Whose high imperious thoughts have punish'd me Love hath chas'd sleep from my enthralled eyes, And made them watchers of mine own heart's sorrow. O, gentle Proteus, love's a mighty lord; And hath so humbled me, as, I confess, There is no woe to his correction, Nor, to his service, no such joy on earth! Now, no discourse, except it be of love; Now can I break my fast, dine, sup, and sleep, *Pro. Enough; I read your fortune in your eye: Was this the idol that you worship so? Val. Even she; and is she not a heavenly saint? Val. Call her divine. Pro. I will not flatter her. Val. O, flatter me; for love delights in praises. Pro. When I was sick, you gave me bitter pills; And I must minister the like to you. Val. Then speak the truth by her; if not divine, Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth. Val. Sweet, except not any; Except thou wilt except against my love. Pro. Have I not reason to prefer mine own? Val. And I will help thee to prefer her too : She shall be dignified with this high honour,To bear my lady's train; lest the base earth Should from her vesture chance to steal a kiss, And, of so great a favour growing proud, Disdain to root the summer-swelling flower, And make rough winter everlastingly. Pro. Why, Valentine, what braggardism is this? Val. Pardon me, Proteus: all I can, is nothing To her, whose worth makes other worthies nothing; She is alone.) Pro. Then let her alone. Val. Not for the world: why, man, she is mine own ; And I as rich in having such a jewel, As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold. Val. Ay, and we are betroth'd ; With all the cunning manner of our flight, Some necessaries that I needs must use; Val. Will you make haste? Pro. I will. Even as one heat another heat expels, [Exit VAL. Or as one nail by strength drives out another, Her true perfection, or my false transgression, [7] Alluding to the figures made by witches, as representatives of those whom they designed to torment or destroy. STEEV. King James ascribes these images to the devil, in his treatise of Dæmonologie: " to some others at these times he teacheth how to make pictures of waxe or claye, that by the roasting thereof the persons that they bear the name of may be continually melted, and dried away by continual sicknesse." See Servius on the 8th Eclogue of Virgil, Theocrítus Idyl, 2. 22. Hudibras, p. 2. 1.2. v. 331. S. W. That thus without advice begin to love her? [Exit. SCENE V. The same. A Street. Enter SPEED and LAUNCE. Speed. Launce! by mine honesty, welcome to Milan. Laun. Forswear not thyself, sweet youth; for I am not welcome. I reckon this always-that a man is never undone, till he be hanged; nor never welcome to a place, till some certain shot be paid, and the hostess say, welcome. Speed. Come on, you mad-cap, I'll to the alehouse with you presently; where, for one shot of five pence, thou shalt have five thousand welcomes. But, sirrah, how did thy master part with madam Julia ? ed Laun. Marry, after they closed in earnest, they partvery fairly in jest. Speed. But shall she marry him? Laun. No. Speed. How then? Shall he marry her? Laun. No, neither. Speed. What, are they broken? Laun. No, they are both as whole as a fish. Speed. Why then, how stands the matter with them? Laun. Marry, thus; when it stands well with him, it stands well with her. Speed. What an ass art thou? I understand thee not. Laun. What a block art thou, that thou canst not? My staff understands me. Speed. What thou say'st? Laun. Ay, and what I do too: look thee, I'll but lean, and my staff understands me. Speed. It stands under thee, indeed. Laun. Why, stand under and understand is all one. Speed. But tell me true, will't be a match? [8] I believe Proteus means, that, as yet, he had seen only her outward form, without having known her long enough to have any acquaintance with her mind. STEEV. |