It would be much vexation to your age.
Thus, for my duty's sake, I rather chose
To cross my friend in his intended drift
Than, by concealing it, heap on your head
A pack of sorrows, which would press you down,
Being unprevented, to your timeless1 grave.

Duke. Proteus, I thank thee for thine honest care;
Which to requite, command me while I live.

This love of theirs myself have often seen,
Haply when they have judged me fast asleep;
And oftentimes have purposed to forbid
Sir Valentine her company and my Court:
But, fearing lest my jealous aim 2 might err,
And so, unworthily, disgrace the man,-
A rashness that I ever yet have shunn'd,
I gave him gentle looks; thereby to find
That which thyself hast now disclosed to me.
And, that thou mayst perceive my fear of this,
Knowing that tender youth is soon suggested,3
I nightly lodge her in an upper tower,
The key whereof myself have ever kept;

And thence she cannot be convey'd away.

Pro. Know, noble lord, they have devised a mean

How he her chamber-window will ascend,

And with a corded ladder fetch her down;

For which the youthful lover now is gone,

And this way comes he with it presently;

1 Timeless for untimely. Repeatedly thus. So in Romeo and Juliet, v. 3: "Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end." And in Richard II., iv. 1: "Who perform'd the bloody office of his timeless end."

2 Aim, here, is guess; a common use of the word. So in Julius Cæsar, i. 2: "What you would work me to, I have some aim." And in Romeo and Juliet, i. 1: "I aim'd so near, when I supposed you loved." Also, in the next speech: "That my discovery be not aimèd at."

3 Suggested for tempted. See page 195, note I.

Where, if it please you, you may intercept him.
But, good my lord, do it so cunningly

That my discovery be not aimed at ;

For love of you, not hate unto my friend,

Hath made me publisher of this pretence.4

Duke. Upon mine honour, he shall never know

That I had any light from thee of this.

Pro. Adieu, my lord; Sir Valentine is coming.

[Exit.

Enter VALENTINE.

Duke. Sir Valentine, whither away so fast?
Val. Please it your Grace, there is a messenger
That stays to bear my letters to my friends,
And I am going to deliver them.

Duke. Be they of much import?

Val. The tenour of them doth but signify My health, and happy being at your Court.

Duke. Nay, then no matter; stay with me awhile:
I am to break with thee of some affairs

That touch me near, wherein thou must be secret.
'Tis not unknown to thee that I have sought
To match my friend Sir Thurio to my daughter.

Val. I know it well, my lord; and, sure, the match
Were rich and honourable; besides, the gentleman
Is full of virtue, bounty, worth, and qualities
Beseeming such a wife as your fair daughter :
Cannot your Grace win her to fancy him?

Duke. No, trust me; she is peevish, sullen, froward,
Proud, disobedient, stubborn, lacking duty;

Neither regarding that she is my child,

Nor fearing me as if I were her father:

And, may I say to thee, this pride of hers,

4 Pretence for purpose or design. See page 196, note 4.

Upon advice,5 hath drawn my love from her;
And, where I thought the remnant of mine age
Should have been cherish'd by her child-like duty,
I now am full resolved to take a wife,
And turn her out to who will take her in :
Then let her beauty be her wedding-dower;

For me and my possessions she esteems not.

Val. What would your Grace have me to do in this?
Duke. There is a lady in Milano here

Whom I affect; but she is nice and coy,
And nought esteems my agèd eloquence :
Now, therefore, would I have thee to my tutor,
(For long agone I have forgot to court;
Besides, the fashion of the time is changed,)
How, and which way, I may bestow myself,
To be regarded in her sun-bright eye.

Val. Win her with gifts, if she respect not words:

Dumb jewels often, in their silent kind,

More than quick words, do move a woman's mind.

Duke. But she did scorn a present that I sent her.

Val. A woman sometime scorns what best contents her:

Send her another; never give her o'er ;

For scorn at first makes after-love the more.
If she do frown, 'tis not in hate of you,
But rather to beget more love in you:

5"Upon advice" here has the sense of deliberately or after careful weighing. So in Measure for Measure, v. 1: "Yet did repent me, after more advice." And in The Merchant, iv. 2: "My Lord Bassanio, upon more advice, hath sent you here this ring." See page 192, note II.

Where was, just before Shakespeare's time, continually used for whereas. He has it thus in divers places, though the usage was fast dying out. In the next line, should for would, in accordance with the old undifferentiated use of could, should, and would.

7 The Poet repeatedly has bestow in the sense of behave. So in As You Like It, iv. 3: "The boy is fair, of female favour, but bestows himself like a right forester."

If she do chide, 'tis not to have you gone;
For why the fools are mad, if left alone.
Take no repulse, whatever she doth say;
For get you gone, she doth not mean away!
Flatter and praise, commend, extol their graces :
Though ne'er so black, say they have angels' faces.
That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man,
If with his tongue he cannot win a woman.

Duke. But she I mean is promised by her friends
Unto a youthful gentleman of worth;

And kept severely from resort of men,

That no man hath access by day to her.

Val. Why, then I would resort to her by night.

Duke. Ay, but the doors be lock'd, and keys kept safe,

That no man hath recourse to her by night.

Val. What lets9 but one may enter at her window? Duke. Her chamber is aloft, far from the ground, And built so shelving, that one cannot climb it Without apparent hazard of his life.

8 For why, as Dyce amply shows, was often used with the simple force of because or for the reason that. Shakespeare has it thus repeatedly. So also in The Troublesome Raigne of King John, 1622: “If thou art resolv'd, I will absolve thee here from all thy sinnes, for why the deed is meritorious." - White prints the passage in the text, "For why!- the fools are mad." Some others print, "For why, the fools are mad." Both evidently wrong; there should be no point after why. This reminds me that the phrase is wrongly printed in the Psalter, wherever it occurs; at least in all the editions that I have seen. Thus in Psalm xvi. 10, 11: "Wherefore my heart was glad, and my glory rejoiced: my flesh also shall rest in hope: for why? thou shalt not leave my soul in hell," &c. Here the logic clearly requires the sense of because or for; as the Bible version has it: "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell." And so the Psalter ought evidently to be printed " for why thou shalt not," &c. See page 112, note 33.

9 Here lets is the old word, now out of use, meaning to hinder. So in the Collect for the 4th Sunday in Advent: "Whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us," &c.

Val. Why, then a ladder, quaintly made of cords,

To cast up, with a pair of anchoring hooks,
Would serve to scale another Hero's tower,

So bold Leander would adventure it.

Duke. Now, as thou art a gentleman of blood,
Advise me where I may have such a ladder.

Val. When would you use it? pray, sir, tell me that.
Duke. This very night; for Love is like a child,
That longs for every thing that he can come by.
Val. By seven o'clock I'll get you such a ladder.
Duke. But, hark thee; I will go to her alone:

How shall I best convey the ladder thither?

Val. It will be light, my lord, that you may bear it
Under a cloak that is of any length.

Duke. A cloak as long as thine will serve the turn?
Val. Ay, my good lord.

Duke.

Then let me see thy cloak:

I'll get me one of such another length.

Val. Why, any cloak will serve the turn, my lord.
Duke. How shall I fashion me to wear a cloak?

To Silvia!

I pray thee, let me feel thy cloak upon me.
What letter is this same? What's here?
And here an engine fit for my proceeding!
I'll be so bold to break the seal for once.
[Reads.] My thoughts do harbour with my Silvia nightly;
And slaves they are to me, that send them flying:

O, could their master come and go as lightly,

Himself would lodge where senseless they are lying!
My herald thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them;

While I, their king, that thither them importune,

Do curse the Grace that with such grace hath bless'd them, Because myself do want my servants' fortune:

I curse myself, for they are sent by me,

That they should harbour where their lord would be.