Val. I was, and held me glad of such a doom. 1 Out. Have you the tongues? Val. My youthful travel therein made me happy; Or else I often had been miserable. 3 Out. By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar, 2) This fellow were a king for our wild faction. 1 Out. We'll have him: sirs, a word. Speed. Master, be one of them; It is an honourable kind of thievery. Val. Peace, villain! 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 Thrust from the company of awful men: 3) 2 Out. And I from Mantua, for a gentleman, Whom, in my mood, 4) 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, That they may hold excus'd our lawless lives,) And, partly seeing you are beautified With goodly shape; and by your own report 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? 3 Out. What say'st thou? wilt thou be of our consórt?) Say, ay, and be the captain of us all: 1 Out. But if thou scorn our courtesy, thou diest. 2 Out. Thou shalt not live to brag what we have 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. Come, go with us, we'll bring thee to our crews, And show thee all the treasure we have got; Which, with ourselves, all rest at thy dispose. SCENE II. Milan. Court of the Palace. Enter PROTEUS. [Exeunt. Pro. Already have I been false to Valentine, She twits me with my falshood to my friend: 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. 6) Thu. Ay, but I hope, sir, that you love not here. Pro. Sir, but I do; or else I would be hence. Thu. Whom? ") Silvia? Pro. Ay, Silvia, for your sake. Thu. I thank you for your own. Now, gentlemen, Let's tune, and to it lustily a while. Enter Host, at a distance; and JULIA in boy's clothes. Host. Now, my young guest! methinks you're allycholly; I pray you, why is it? Jul. Marry, mine host, because I cannot be merry. Host. Come, we'll have you merry: I'll bring you where you shall hear musick, and see the gentleman that you ask for. Jul. But shall I hear him speak? Who is Silvia? what is she, [Musick plays. That all our swains commend her? Holy, fair, and wise is she; The heavens such grace did lend her, For beauty lives with kindness: To help him of his blindness; That Silvia is excelling; Upon the dull earth dwelling: Host. How now? are you sadder than you were Jul. He plays false, father. 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 musick. Host. Hark, what fine change is in the musick! 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. 10) 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. Thu. Farewell. [Exeunt THURIO and Musicians. SILVIA appears above, at her window. Pro. Madam, good even to your ladyship. Pro. One, lady, if you knew his pure heart's truth, Pro. Sir Proteus, gentle lady, and your servant. That I may compass yours. That hast deceiv'd so many with thy vows? Jul. "Twere false, if I should speak it; [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. [Aside. 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. Pro. Madam, if your heart be so obdúrate, Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love, The picture that is hanging in your chamber; 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 falshood shall become you well 11) 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 hallidom, 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. 12) SCENE III. The same. Enter EGLAMOUR. [Exeunt. Egl. This is the hour that madam Silvia Entreated me to call, and know her mind; There's some great matter she'd employ me in. Madam, madam! Sil. SILVIA appears above, at her window. Egl. I am thus early come, to know what service Sil. O Eglamour, thou art a gentleman, I bear unto the banish'd Valentine; To Mantua, where, I hear, he makes abode; I do desire thee, even from a heart Egl. Madam, I pity much your grievances; 16) Sil. This evening coming. At friar Patrick's cell, Where I intend holy confession. Sil. Good-morrow, kind sir Eglamour. SCENE IV. The same. Enter LAUNCE, with his Dog. [Exeunt. 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 inaster; 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 keep himself 18) 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) Tell my lady, a pissing while;19) but all the chamber smelt him. || This letter; — that's her chamber. Out with the dog, says one: What cur is that? I claim the promise for her heavenly picture. says another; Whip him out, says a third; Hang Your message done, hie home unto my chamber, him up, says the duke. I, having been acquainted|| Where thou shalt find me sad and solitary. with the smell before, knew it was Crab; and goes me to the fellow that whips the dogs; 20) 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 21 servant? Nay, I'll be sworn, I have sat in the stocks for puddings 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 did'st 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 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. [Exit PROTEUS, Jul. From my master, sir Proteus, madam. Sil. Ursula, bring my picture there. [Picture brought. Go, give your master this: tell him from me, Pro. What, didst thou offer her this from me? as ten of yours, and therefore the gift the greater. 23 Away, I say: Stay'st thou to vex me here? Sebastian, I have entertained thee, She loved me well, deliver'd it to me. 25) Pro. Jul. Alas! Not so; I think, she lives. This is the letter to your ladyship. Sil. I pray thee, let me look on that again. I will not look upon your master's lines: Jul. Madam, he sends your ladyship this ring. Sil. What say'st thou? Jul. I thank you, madam, that you tender her: Jul. Almost as well as I do know myself: Sil. Belike, she thinks that Proteus hath forsook her. Jul. She hath been fairer, madam, than she is: And pinch'd the lily-tincture of her face, Sil. How tall was she?29) Jul. About my stature: for, at Pentecost, Sil. She is beholden to thee, gentle youth! I weep myself, to think upon thy words. Jul. And she shall thank you for't, if e'er you know her. My substance should be statue in thy stead. 37) ACT V. SCENE I. The same. An Abbey. Enter EGLAMOUR, [Exit. 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? Pro. O, sic, 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 loathes. 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. 3) 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. Duke. Why, then she's fled unto that peasant Valentine; And Eglamour is in her company. 'Tis true; for friar Lawrence met them both, At Patrick's cell this even; and there she was not: That leads towards Mantua, whither they are fled. SCENE III. Frontiers of Mantua. The Forest. 1 Out. Come, come; Be patient, we must bring you to our captain. [Exit. 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, 1 Out. Come, I must bring you to our captain's cave; SCENE IV. Another part of the Forest. I'll force thee yield to my desire. Val. Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch; Sil. O Valentine, this I endure for thee. [Exeunt. Thou friend of an ill fashion! Enter VALBntine. Val. How use doth breed a habit in a man! Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain! Enter PROTEUS, SILVIA, and JULIA. sence. [Aside. [Aside. Sil. Had I been seized by a hungry lion, Thou hast no faith left now, unless thou hadst two, I am sorry, I must never trust thee more, Be a sufficient ransom for offence, I tender it here; I do as truly suffer, Then I am paid; I [Shows another ring. Pro. But, how cam'st thou by this ring? at my depart, gave this unto Julia. Jul. And Julia herself did give it me; And Julia herself hath brought it hither. Jul. Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths, 15) It is the lesser blot, modesty finds, were man But constant, he were perfect: that one error |