Two Gentlemen of Verona

ACT 1

Scene 1

Enter Valentine and Proteus .

VALENTINE

Cease to persuade , my loving Proteus .

Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits .

Were ’t not affection chains thy tender days

To the sweet glances of thy honored love ,

I rather would entreat thy company

To see the wonders of the world abroad

Than , living dully sluggardized at home ,

Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness .

But since thou lov’st , love still and thrive therein ,

Even as I would when I to love begin .

PROTEUS

Wilt thou be gone ? Sweet Valentine , adieu .

Think on thy Proteus when thou haply seest

Some rare noteworthy object in thy travel .

Wish me partaker in thy happiness

When thou dost meet good hap ; and in thy danger ,

If ever danger do environ thee ,

Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers ,

For I will be thy beadsman , Valentine .

VALENTINE

And on a love-book pray for my success ?

PROTEUS

Upon some book I love I’ll pray for thee .

VALENTINE

That’s on some shallow story of deep love ,

How young Leander crossed the Hellespont .

PROTEUS

That’s a deep story of a deeper love ,

For he was more than over shoes in love .

VALENTINE

’Tis true , for you are over boots in love ,

And yet you never swam the Hellespont .

PROTEUS

Over the boots ? Nay , give me not the boots .

VALENTINE

No , I will not , for it boots thee not .

PROTEUS

What ?

VALENTINE

To be in love , where scorn is bought with groans ,

Coy looks with heart-sore sighs , one fading moment’s mirth

With twenty watchful , weary , tedious nights ;

If haply won , perhaps a hapless gain ;

If lost , why then a grievous labor won ;

How ever , but a folly bought with wit ,

Or else a wit by folly vanquishèd .

PROTEUS

So , by your circumstance , you call me fool .

VALENTINE

So , by your circumstance , I fear you’ll prove .

PROTEUS

’Tis love you cavil at ; I am not Love .

VALENTINE

Love is your master , for he masters you ;

And he that is so yokèd by a fool

Methinks should not be chronicled for wise .

PROTEUS

Yet writers say : as in the sweetest bud

The eating canker dwells , so eating love

Inhabits in the finest wits of all .

VALENTINE

And writers say : as the most forward bud

Is eaten by the canker ere it blow ,

Even so by love the young and tender wit

Is turned to folly , blasting in the bud ,

Losing his verdure , even in the prime ,

And all the fair effects of future hopes .

But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee

That art a votary to fond desire ?

Once more adieu . My father at the road

Expects my coming , there to see me shipped .

PROTEUS

And thither will I bring thee , Valentine .

VALENTINE

Sweet Proteus , no . Now let us take our leave .

To Milan let me hear from thee by letters

Of thy success in love , and what news else

Betideth here in absence of thy friend .

And I likewise will visit thee with mine .

PROTEUS

All happiness bechance to thee in Milan .

VALENTINE

As much to you at home . And so farewell .

He exits .

PROTEUS

He after honor hunts , I after love .

He leaves his friends , to dignify them more ;

I leave myself , my friends , and all , for love .

Thou , Julia , thou hast metamorphosed me ,

Made me neglect my studies , lose my time ,

War with good counsel , set the world at nought ;

Made wit with musing weak , heart sick with thought .

Enter Speed .

SPEED

Sir Proteus , ’save you . Saw you my master ?

PROTEUS

But now he parted hence to embark for Milan .

SPEED

Twenty to one , then , he is shipped already ,

And I have played the sheep in losing him .

PROTEUS

Indeed a sheep doth very often stray ,

An if the shepherd be awhile away .

SPEED

You conclude that my master is a shepherd ,

then , and I a sheep ?

PROTEUS

I do .

SPEED

Why , then my horns are his horns , whether I

wake or sleep .

PROTEUS

A silly answer , and fitting well a sheep .

SPEED

This proves me still a sheep .

PROTEUS

True , and thy master a shepherd .

SPEED

Nay , that I can deny by a circumstance .

PROTEUS

It shall go hard but I’ll prove it by another .

SPEED

The shepherd seeks the sheep , and not the

sheep the shepherd ; but I seek my master , and my

master seeks not me . Therefore I am no sheep .

PROTEUS

The sheep for fodder follow the shepherd ; the

shepherd for food follows not the sheep . Thou for

wages followest thy master ; thy master for wages

follows not thee . Therefore thou art a sheep .

SPEED

Such another proof will make me cry “ baa . ”

PROTEUS

But dost thou hear ? Gav’st thou my letter to

Julia ?

SPEED

Ay , sir . I , a lost mutton , gave your letter to her , a

laced mutton , and she , a laced mutton , gave me , a

lost mutton , nothing for my labor .

PROTEUS

Here’s too small a pasture for such store of

muttons .

SPEED

If the ground be overcharged , you were best

stick her .

PROTEUS

Nay , in that you are astray ; ’twere best pound

you .

SPEED

Nay , sir , less than a pound shall serve me for

carrying your letter .

PROTEUS

You mistake ; I mean the pound , a pinfold .

SPEED

From a pound to a pin ? Fold it over and over ,

’Tis threefold too little for carrying a letter to your lover .

PROTEUS

But what said she ?

SPEED , nodding

Ay .

PROTEUS

Nod — “ Ay . ” Why , that’s “ noddy . ”

SPEED

You mistook , sir . I say she did nod , and you ask

me if she did nod , and I say “ ay . ”

PROTEUS

And that set together is “ noddy . ”

SPEED

Now you have taken the pains to set it together ,

take it for your pains .

PROTEUS

No , no , you shall have it for bearing the letter .

SPEED

Well , I perceive I must be fain to bear with you .

PROTEUS

Why , sir , how do you bear with me ?

SPEED

Marry , sir , the letter , very orderly , having nothing

but the word “ noddy ” for my pains .

PROTEUS

Beshrew me , but you have a quick wit .

SPEED

And yet it cannot overtake your slow purse .

PROTEUS

Come , come , open the matter in brief . What

said she ?

SPEED

Open your purse , that the money and the matter

may be both at once delivered .

PROTEUS , giving money

Well , sir , here is for your

pains . What said she ?

SPEED , looking at the money

Truly , sir , I think you’ll

hardly win her .

PROTEUS

Why ? Couldst thou perceive so much from

her ?

SPEED

Sir , I could perceive nothing at all from her , no ,

not so much as a ducat for delivering your letter .

And being so hard to me that brought your mind , I

fear she’ll prove as hard to you in telling your mind .

Give her no token but stones , for she’s as hard as

steel .

PROTEUS

What said she ? Nothing ?

SPEED

No , not so much as “ Take this for thy pains . ”

To testify your bounty , I thank you , you have

testerned me . In requital whereof , henceforth

carry your letters yourself . And so , sir , I’ll commend

you to my master .

PROTEUS

Go , go , begone , to save your ship from wrack ,

Which cannot perish having thee aboard ,

Being destined to a drier death on shore .

Speed exits .

I must go send some better messenger .

I fear my Julia would not deign my lines ,

Receiving them from such a worthless post .

He exits .

Scene 2

Enter Julia and Lucetta .

JULIA

But say , Lucetta , now we are alone ,

Wouldst thou then counsel me to fall in love ?

LUCETTA

Ay , madam , so you stumble not unheedfully .

JULIA

Of all the fair resort of gentlemen

That every day with parle encounter me ,

In thy opinion which is worthiest love ?

LUCETTA

Please you repeat their names , I’ll show my mind

According to my shallow simple skill .

JULIA

What think’st thou of the fair Sir Eglamour ?

LUCETTA

As of a knight well-spoken , neat , and fine ;

But , were I you , he never should be mine .

JULIA

What think’st thou of the rich Mercatio ?

LUCETTA

Well of his wealth , but of himself so-so .

JULIA

What think’st thou of the gentle Proteus ?

LUCETTA

Lord , Lord , to see what folly reigns in us !

JULIA

How now ? What means this passion at his name ?

LUCETTA

Pardon , dear madam , ’tis a passing shame

That I , unworthy body as I am ,

Should censure thus on lovely gentlemen .

JULIA

Why not on Proteus , as of all the rest ?

LUCETTA

Then thus : of many good , I think him best .

JULIA

Your reason ?

LUCETTA

I have no other but a woman’s reason :

I think him so because I think him so .

JULIA

And wouldst thou have me cast my love on him ?

LUCETTA

Ay , if you thought your love not cast away .

JULIA

Why , he of all the rest hath never moved me .

LUCETTA

Yet he of all the rest I think best loves you .

JULIA

His little speaking shows his love but small .

LUCETTA

Fire that’s closest kept burns most of all .

JULIA

They do not love that do not show their love .

LUCETTA

O , they love least that let men know their love .

JULIA

I would I knew his mind .

LUCETTA , handing her a paper

Peruse this paper , madam .

JULIA reads

“ To Julia . ” — Say from whom .

LUCETTA

That the contents will show .

JULIA

Say , say who gave it thee .

LUCETTA

Sir Valentine’s page ; and sent , I think , from Proteus .

He would have given it you , but I , being in the way ,

Did in your name receive it . Pardon the fault , I pray .

JULIA

Now , by my modesty , a goodly broker !

Dare you presume to harbor wanton lines ?

To whisper and conspire against my youth ?

Now trust me , ’tis an office of great worth ,

And you an officer fit for the place .

There , take the paper ; see it be returned ,

Or else return no more into my sight .

LUCETTA , taking the paper

To plead for love deserves more fee than hate .

JULIA

Will you be gone ?

LUCETTA

That you may ruminate .

She exits .

JULIA

And yet I would I had o’erlooked the letter .

It were a shame to call her back again

And pray her to a fault for which I chid her .

What fool is she that knows I am a maid

And would not force the letter to my view ,

Since maids in modesty say “ no ” to that

Which they would have the profferer construe “ ay ” !

Fie , fie , how wayward is this foolish love

That like a testy babe will scratch the nurse

And presently , all humbled , kiss the rod !

How churlishly I chid Lucetta hence ,

When willingly I would have had her here !

How angerly I taught my brow to frown ,

When inward joy enforced my heart to smile !

My penance is to call Lucetta back

And ask remission for my folly past . —

What ho , Lucetta !

Enter Lucetta .

LUCETTA

What would your Ladyship ?

JULIA

Is ’t near dinner time ?

LUCETTA

I would it were ,

That you might kill your stomach on your meat

And not upon your maid .

She drops a paper and then retrieves it .

JULIA

What is ’t that you took up so gingerly ?

LUCETTA

Nothing .

JULIA

Why didst thou stoop , then ?

LUCETTA

To take a paper up that I let fall .

JULIA

And is that paper nothing ?

LUCETTA

Nothing concerning me .

JULIA

Then let it lie for those that it concerns .

LUCETTA

Madam , it will not lie where it concerns

Unless it have a false interpreter .

JULIA

Some love of yours hath writ to you in rhyme .

LUCETTA

That I might sing it , madam , to a tune ,

Give me a note . Your Ladyship can set —

JULIA

As little by such toys as may be possible .

Best sing it to the tune of “ Light o’ Love . ”

LUCETTA

It is too heavy for so light a tune .

JULIA

Heavy ? Belike it hath some burden then ?

LUCETTA

Ay , and melodious were it , would you sing it .

JULIA

And why not you ?

LUCETTA

I cannot reach so high .

JULIA , taking the paper

Let’s see your song . How now , minion !

LUCETTA

Keep tune there still , so you will sing it out .

And yet methinks I do not like this tune .

JULIA

You do not ?

LUCETTA

No , madam , ’tis too sharp .

JULIA

You , minion , are too saucy .

LUCETTA

Nay , now you are too flat

And mar the concord with too harsh a descant .

There wanteth but a mean to fill your song .

JULIA

The mean is drowned with your unruly bass .

LUCETTA

Indeed , I bid the base for Proteus .

JULIA

This babble shall not henceforth trouble me .

Here is a coil with protestation .

She rips up the paper . Lucetta begins to pick up the pieces .

Go , get you gone , and let the papers lie .

You would be fing’ring them to anger me .

LUCETTA

She makes it strange , but she would be best pleased

To be so angered with another letter .

She exits .

JULIA

Nay , would I were so angered with the same !

O hateful hands , to tear such loving words !

Injurious wasps , to feed on such sweet honey

And kill the bees that yield it with your stings !

I’ll kiss each several paper for amends .

She picks up some pieces .

Look , here is writ “ kind Julia . ” Unkind Julia ,

As in revenge of thy ingratitude ,

I throw thy name against the bruising stones ,

Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain .

And here is writ “ love-wounded Proteus . ”

Poor wounded name , my bosom as a bed

Shall lodge thee till thy wound be throughly healed ,

And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss .

But twice or thrice was “ Proteus ” written down .

Be calm , good wind . Blow not a word away

Till I have found each letter in the letter

Except mine own name . That some whirlwind bear

Unto a ragged , fearful , hanging rock

And throw it thence into the raging sea .

Lo , here in one line is his name twice writ :

“ Poor forlorn Proteus , passionate Proteus ,

To the sweet Julia . ” That I’ll tear away —

And yet I will not , sith so prettily

He couples it to his complaining names .

Thus will I fold them one upon another .

Now kiss , embrace , contend , do what you will .

Enter Lucetta .

LUCETTA

Madam , dinner is ready , and your father stays .

JULIA

Well , let us go .

LUCETTA

What , shall these papers lie like telltales here ?

JULIA

If you respect them , best to take them up .

LUCETTA

Nay , I was taken up for laying them down .

Yet here they shall not lie , for catching cold .

She picks up the rest of the pieces .

JULIA

I see you have a month’s mind to them .

LUCETTA

Ay , madam , you may say what sights you see ;

I see things too , although you judge I wink .

JULIA

Come , come , will ’t please you go ?

They exit .

Scene 3

Enter Antonio and Pantino .

ANTONIO

Tell me , Pantino , what sad talk was that

Wherewith my brother held you in the cloister ?

PANTINO

’Twas of his nephew Proteus , your son .

ANTONIO

Why , what of him ?

PANTINO

He wondered that your Lordship

Would suffer him to spend his youth at home

While other men , of slender reputation ,

Put forth their sons to seek preferment out :

Some to the wars to try their fortune there ,

Some to discover islands far away ,

Some to the studious universities .

For any or for all these exercises

He said that Proteus your son was meet ,

And did request me to importune you

To let him spend his time no more at home ,

Which would be great impeachment to his age

In having known no travel in his youth .

ANTONIO

Nor need’st thou much importune me to that

Whereon this month I have been hammering .

I have considered well his loss of time

And how he cannot be a perfect man ,

Not being tried and tutored in the world .

Experience is by industry achieved

And perfected by the swift course of time .

Then tell me whither were I best to send him .

PANTINO

I think your Lordship is not ignorant

How his companion , youthful Valentine ,

Attends the Emperor in his royal court .

ANTONIO

I know it well .

PANTINO

’Twere good , I think , your Lordship sent him thither .

There shall he practice tilts and tournaments ,

Hear sweet discourse , converse with noblemen ,

And be in eye of every exercise

Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth .

ANTONIO

I like thy counsel . Well hast thou advised ,

And that thou mayst perceive how well I like it ,

The execution of it shall make known .

Even with the speediest expedition

I will dispatch him to the Emperor’s court .

PANTINO

Tomorrow , may it please you , Don Alphonso ,

With other gentlemen of good esteem ,

Are journeying to salute the Emperor

And to commend their service to his will .

ANTONIO

Good company . With them shall Proteus go .

Enter Proteus reading .

And in good time ! Now will we break with him .

PROTEUS , to himself

Sweet love , sweet lines , sweet life !

Here is her hand , the agent of her heart ;

Here is her oath for love , her honor’s pawn .

O , that our fathers would applaud our loves

To seal our happiness with their consents .

O heavenly Julia !

ANTONIO

How now ? What letter are you reading there ?

PROTEUS

May ’t please your Lordship , ’tis a word or two

Of commendations sent from Valentine ,

Delivered by a friend that came from him .

ANTONIO

Lend me the letter . Let me see what news .

PROTEUS

There is no news , my lord , but that he writes

How happily he lives , how well beloved

And daily gracèd by the Emperor ,

Wishing me with him , partner of his fortune .

ANTONIO

And how stand you affected to his wish ?

PROTEUS

As one relying on your Lordship’s will ,

And not depending on his friendly wish .

ANTONIO

My will is something sorted with his wish .

Muse not that I thus suddenly proceed ,

For what I will , I will , and there an end .

I am resolved that thou shalt spend some time

With Valentinus in the Emperor’s court .

What maintenance he from his friends receives ,

Like exhibition thou shalt have from me .

Tomorrow be in readiness to go .

Excuse it not , for I am peremptory .

PROTEUS

My lord , I cannot be so soon provided .

Please you deliberate a day or two .

ANTONIO

Look what thou want’st shall be sent after thee .

No more of stay . Tomorrow thou must go . —

Come on , Pantino ; you shall be employed

To hasten on his expedition .

Antonio and Pantino exit .

PROTEUS

Thus have I shunned the fire for fear of burning

And drenched me in the sea , where I am drowned .

I feared to show my father Julia’s letter

Lest he should take exceptions to my love ,

And with the vantage of mine own excuse

Hath he excepted most against my love .

O , how this spring of love resembleth

The uncertain glory of an April day ,

Which now shows all the beauty of the sun ,

And by and by a cloud takes all away .

Enter Pantino .

PANTINO

Sir Proteus , your father calls for you .

He is in haste . Therefore , I pray you , go .

PROTEUS

Why , this it is : my heart accords thereto .

Aside .

And yet a thousand times it answers “ no . ”

They exit .

ACT 2

Scene 1

Enter Valentine and Speed , carrying a glove .

SPEED

Sir , your glove .

VALENTINE

Not mine . My gloves are on .

SPEED

Why , then , this may be yours , for this is but one .

VALENTINE

Ha ? Let me see . Ay , give it me , it’s mine .

Sweet ornament that decks a thing divine !

Ah , Sylvia , Sylvia !

SPEED , calling

Madam Sylvia ! Madam Sylvia !

VALENTINE

How now , sirrah ?

SPEED

She is not within hearing , sir .

VALENTINE

Why , sir , who bade you call her ?

SPEED

Your Worship , sir , or else I mistook .

VALENTINE

Well , you’ll still be too forward .

SPEED

And yet I was last chidden for being too slow .

VALENTINE

Go to , sir . Tell me , do you know Madam

Sylvia ?

SPEED

She that your Worship loves ?

VALENTINE

Why , how know you that I am in love ?

SPEED

Marry , by these special marks : first , you have

learned , like Sir Proteus , to wreathe your arms like

a malcontent ; to relish a love song like a robin

redbreast ; to walk alone like one that had the

pestilence ; to sigh like a schoolboy that had lost his

ABC ; to weep like a young wench that had buried

her grandam ; to fast like one that takes diet ; to

watch like one that fears robbing ; to speak puling

like a beggar at Hallowmas . You were wont , when

you laughed , to crow like a cock ; when you walked ,

to walk like one of the lions . When you fasted , it was

presently after dinner ; when you looked sadly , it

was for want of money . And now you are metamorphosed

with a mistress , that when I look on you , I

can hardly think you my master .

VALENTINE

Are all these things perceived in me ?

SPEED

They are all perceived without you .

VALENTINE

Without me ? They cannot .

SPEED

Without you ? Nay , that’s certain , for without

you were so simple , none else would . But you are so

without these follies , that these follies are within

you and shine through you like the water in an

urinal , that not an eye that sees you but is a

physician to comment on your malady .

VALENTINE

But tell me , dost thou know my Lady

Sylvia ?

SPEED

She that you gaze on so as she sits at supper ?

VALENTINE

Hast thou observed that ? Even she I mean .

SPEED

Why , sir , I know her not .

VALENTINE

Dost thou know her by my gazing on her

and yet know’st her not ?

SPEED

Is she not hard-favored , sir ?

VALENTINE

Not so fair , boy , as well-favored .

SPEED

Sir , I know that well enough .

VALENTINE

What dost thou know ?

SPEED

That she is not so fair as , of you , well-favored .

VALENTINE

I mean that her beauty is exquisite but her

favor infinite .

SPEED

That’s because the one is painted , and the other

out of all count .

VALENTINE

How painted ? And how out of count ?

SPEED

Marry , sir , so painted to make her fair , that no

man counts of her beauty .

VALENTINE

How esteem’st thou me ? I account of her

beauty .

SPEED

You never saw her since she was deformed .

VALENTINE

How long hath she been deformed ?

SPEED

Ever since you loved her .

VALENTINE

I have loved her ever since I saw her , and

still I see her beautiful .

SPEED

If you love her , you cannot see her .

VALENTINE

Why ?

SPEED

Because love is blind . O , that you had mine eyes ,

or your own eyes had the lights they were wont to

have when you chid at Sir Proteus for going

ungartered !

VALENTINE

What should I see then ?

SPEED

Your own present folly and her passing deformity ;

for he , being in love , could not see to garter his

hose , and you , being in love , cannot see to put on

your hose .

VALENTINE

Belike , boy , then you are in love , for last

morning you could not see to wipe my shoes .

SPEED

True , sir , I was in love with my bed . I thank you ,

you swinged me for my love , which makes me the

bolder to chide you for yours .

VALENTINE

In conclusion , I stand affected to her .

SPEED

I would you were set , so your affection would

cease .

VALENTINE

Last night she enjoined me to write some

lines to one she loves .

SPEED

And have you ?

VALENTINE

I have .

SPEED

Are they not lamely writ ?

VALENTINE

No , boy , but as well as I can do them .

Peace , here she comes .

Enter Sylvia .

SPEED , aside

O excellent motion ! O exceeding puppet !

Now will he interpret to her .

VALENTINE

Madam and mistress , a thousand

good-morrows .

SPEED , aside

O , give ye good ev’n ! Here’s a million of

manners .

SYLVIA

Sir Valentine , and servant , to you two

thousand .

SPEED , aside

He should give her interest , and she

gives it him .

VALENTINE

As you enjoined me , I have writ your letter

Unto the secret , nameless friend of yours ,

Which I was much unwilling to proceed in

But for my duty to your Ladyship .

He gives her a paper .

SYLVIA

I thank you , gentle servant , ’tis very clerkly done .

VALENTINE

Now trust me , madam , it came hardly off ,

For , being ignorant to whom it goes ,

I writ at random , very doubtfully .

SYLVIA

Perchance you think too much of so much pains ?

VALENTINE

No , madam . So it stead you , I will write ,

Please you command , a thousand times as much ,

And yet —

SYLVIA

A pretty period . Well , I guess the sequel ;

And yet I will not name it And yet I care not .

And yet take this again .

She holds out the paper .

And yet I thank you ,

Meaning henceforth to trouble you no more .

SPEED , aside

And yet you will ; and yet another “ yet . ”

VALENTINE

What means your Ladyship ? Do you not like it ?

SYLVIA

Yes , yes , the lines are very quaintly writ ,

But , since unwillingly , take them again .

Nay , take them .

She again offers him the paper .

VALENTINE

Madam , they are for you .

SYLVIA

Ay , ay . You writ them , sir , at my request ,

But I will none of them . They are for you .

I would have had them writ more movingly .

VALENTINE , taking the paper

Please you , I’ll write your Ladyship another .

SYLVIA

And when it’s writ , for my sake read it over ,

And if it please you , so ; if not , why , so .

VALENTINE

If it please me , madam ? What then ?

SYLVIA

Why , if it please you , take it for your labor .

And so good-morrow , servant .

Sylvia exits .

SPEED , aside

O jest unseen , inscrutable , invisible

As a nose on a man’s face , or a weathercock on a steeple !

My master sues to her , and she hath taught her suitor ,

He being her pupil , to become her tutor .

O excellent device ! Was there ever heard a better ?

That my master , being scribe , to himself should write the letter ?

VALENTINE

How now , sir ? What , are you reasoning

with yourself ?

SPEED

Nay , I was rhyming . ’Tis you that have the

reason .

VALENTINE

To do what ?

SPEED

To be a spokesman from Madam Sylvia .

VALENTINE

To whom ?

SPEED

To yourself . Why , she woos you by a figure .

VALENTINE

What figure ?

SPEED

By a letter , I should say .

VALENTINE

Why , she hath not writ to me !

SPEED

What need she when she hath made you write

to yourself ? Why , do you not perceive the jest ?

VALENTINE

No , believe me .

SPEED

No believing you indeed , sir . But did you perceive

her earnest ?

VALENTINE

She gave me none , except an angry word .

SPEED

Why , she hath given you a letter .

VALENTINE

That’s the letter I writ to her friend .

SPEED

And that letter hath she delivered , and there an

end .

VALENTINE

I would it were no worse .

SPEED

I’ll warrant you , ’tis as well .

For often have you writ to her , and she , in modesty

Or else for want of idle time , could not again reply ,

Or fearing else some messenger that might her mind discover ,

Herself hath taught her love himself to write unto her lover .

All this I speak in print , for in print I found it . Why

muse you , sir ? ’Tis dinnertime .

VALENTINE

I have dined .

SPEED

Ay , but hearken , sir , though the chameleon love

can feed on the air , I am one that am nourished by

my victuals and would fain have meat . O , be not like

your mistress ! Be moved , be moved .

They exit .

Scene 2

Enter Proteus and Julia .

PROTEUS

Have patience , gentle Julia .

JULIA

I must where is no remedy .

PROTEUS

When possibly I can , I will return .

JULIA

If you turn not , you will return the sooner .

Keep this remembrance for thy Julia’s sake .

She gives him a ring .

PROTEUS , giving her a ring

Why , then we’ll make exchange . Here , take you this .

JULIA

And seal the bargain with a holy kiss .

PROTEUS

Here is my hand for my true constancy .

And when that hour o’erslips me in the day

Wherein I sigh not , Julia , for thy sake ,

The next ensuing hour some foul mischance

Torment me for my love’s forgetfulness .

My father stays my coming . Answer not .

The tide is now — nay , not thy tide of tears ;

That tide will stay me longer than I should .

Julia , farewell .

Julia exits .

What , gone without a word ?

Ay , so true love should do . It cannot speak ,

For truth hath better deeds than words to grace it .

Enter Pantino .

PANTINO

Sir Proteus , you are stayed for .

PROTEUS

Go . I come , I come .

Aside .

Alas , this parting strikes poor lovers dumb .

They exit .

Scene 3

Enter Lance , weeping , with his dog , Crab .

LANCE

Nay , ’twill be this hour ere I have done weeping .

All the kind of the Lances have this very fault . I have

received my proportion like the Prodigious Son and

am going with Sir Proteus to the Imperial’s court . I

think Crab my dog be the sourest-natured dog that

lives : my mother weeping , my father wailing , my

sister crying , our maid howling , our cat wringing

her hands , and all our house in a great perplexity ,

yet did not this cruel-hearted cur shed one tear . He

is a stone , a very pibble stone , and has no more pity

in him than a dog . A Jew would have wept to have

seen our parting . Why , my grandam , having no

eyes , look you , wept herself blind at my parting .

Nay , I’ll show you the manner of it .

He takes off his shoes .

This shoe is my father . No , this left shoe is

my father ; no , no , this left shoe is my mother . Nay ,

that cannot be so neither . Yes , it is so , it is so ; it hath

the worser sole . This shoe with the hole in it is my

mother ; and this my father . A vengeance on ’t , there

’tis ! Now sir , this staff is my sister , for , look you , she

is as white as a lily and as small as a wand . This hat

is Nan , our maid . I am the dog . No , the dog is

himself , and I am the dog . O , the dog is me , and I

am myself . Ay , so , so . Now come I to my father :

“ Father , your blessing . ” Now should not the shoe

speak a word for weeping . Now should I kiss my

father .

He kisses one shoe .

Well , he weeps on . Now

come I to my mother . O , that she could speak now

like a wold woman ! Well , I kiss her .

He kisses the other shoe .

Why , there ’tis ; here’s my mother’s

breath up and down . Now come I to my sister . Mark

the moan she makes ! Now the dog all this while

sheds not a tear nor speaks a word . But see how I

lay the dust with my tears .

Enter Pantino .

PANTINO

Lance , away , away ! Aboard . Thy master is

shipped , and thou art to post after with oars . What’s

the matter ? Why weep’st thou , man ? Away , ass .

You’ll lose the tide if you tarry any longer .

LANCE

It is no matter if the tied were lost , for it is the

unkindest tied that ever any man tied .

PANTINO

What’s the unkindest tide ?

LANCE

Why , he that’s tied here , Crab my dog .

PANTINO

Tut , man . I mean thou ’lt lose the flood and , in

losing the flood , lose thy voyage and , in losing thy

voyage , lose thy master and , in losing thy master ,

lose thy service and , in losing thy service —

Lance covers Pantino’s mouth .

Why dost thou stop my

mouth ?

LANCE

For fear thou shouldst lose thy tongue .

PANTINO

Where should I lose my tongue ?

LANCE

In thy tale .

PANTINO

In thy tail !

LANCE

Lose the tide , and the voyage , and the master ,

and the service , and the tied . Why , man , if the river

were dry , I am able to fill it with my tears ; if the

wind were down , I could drive the boat with my

sighs .

PANTINO

Come . Come away , man . I was sent to call

thee .

LANCE

Sir , call me what thou dar’st .

PANTINO

Wilt thou go ?

LANCE

Well , I will go .

They exit .

Scene 4

Enter Valentine , Sylvia , Thurio , and Speed .

SYLVIA

Servant !

VALENTINE

Mistress ?

SPEED

Master , Sir Thurio frowns on you .

VALENTINE

Ay , boy , it’s for love .

SPEED

Not of you .

VALENTINE

Of my mistress , then .

SPEED

’Twere good you knocked him .

SYLVIA , to Valentine

Servant , you are sad .

VALENTINE

Indeed , madam , I seem so .

THURIO

Seem you that you are not ?

VALENTINE

Haply I do .

THURIO

So do counterfeits .

VALENTINE

So do you .

THURIO

What seem I that I am not ?

VALENTINE

Wise .

THURIO

What instance of the contrary ?

VALENTINE

Your folly .

THURIO

And how quote you my folly ?

VALENTINE

I quote it in your jerkin .

THURIO

My “ jerkin ” is a doublet .

VALENTINE

Well , then , I’ll double your folly .

THURIO

How !

SYLVIA

What , angry , Sir Thurio ? Do you change color ?

VALENTINE

Give him leave , madam . He is a kind of

chameleon .

THURIO

That hath more mind to feed on your blood

than live in your air .

VALENTINE

You have said , sir .

THURIO

Ay , sir , and done too for this time .

VALENTINE

I know it well , sir . You always end ere you

begin .

SYLVIA

A fine volley of words , gentlemen , and quickly

shot off .

VALENTINE

’Tis indeed , madam . We thank the giver .

SYLVIA

Who is that , servant ?

VALENTINE

Yourself , sweet lady , for you gave the fire .

Sir Thurio borrows his wit from your Ladyship’s

looks and spends what he borrows kindly in your

company .

THURIO

Sir , if you spend word for word with me , I shall

make your wit bankrupt .

VALENTINE

I know it well , sir . You have an exchequer

of words and , I think , no other treasure to give your

followers , for it appears by their bare liveries that

they live by your bare words .

SYLVIA

No more , gentlemen , no more . Here comes my father .

Enter Duke .

DUKE

Now , daughter Sylvia , you are hard beset . —

Sir Valentine , your father is in good health .

What say you to a letter from your friends

Of much good news ?

VALENTINE

My lord , I will be thankful

To any happy messenger from thence .

DUKE

Know you Don Antonio , your countryman ?

VALENTINE

Ay , my good lord , I know the gentleman

To be of worth and worthy estimation ,

And not without desert so well reputed .

DUKE

Hath he not a son ?

VALENTINE

Ay , my good lord , a son that well deserves

The honor and regard of such a father .

DUKE

You know him well ?

VALENTINE

I knew him as myself , for from our infancy

We have conversed 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 ,

Yet hath Sir Proteus — for that’s his name —

Made use and fair advantage of his days :

His years but young , but his experience old ;

His head unmellowed , but his judgment ripe ;

And in a word — for far behind his worth

Comes all the praises that I now bestow —

He is complete in feature and in mind ,

With all good grace to grace a gentleman .

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 counselor .

Well , sir , this gentleman is come to me

With commendation from great potentates ,

And here he means to spend his time awhile .

I think ’tis no unwelcome news to you .

VALENTINE

Should I have wished a thing , it had been he .

DUKE

Welcome him then according to his worth .

Sylvia , I speak to you — and you , Sir Thurio .

For Valentine , I need not cite him to it .

I will send him hither to you presently .

Duke exits .

VALENTINE

This is the gentleman I told your Ladyship

Had come along with me but that his mistress

Did hold his eyes locked in her crystal looks .

SYLVIA

Belike that now she hath enfranchised them

Upon some other pawn for fealty .

VALENTINE

Nay , sure , I think she holds them prisoners still .

SYLVIA

Nay , then , he should be blind , and being blind

How could he see his way to seek out you ?

VALENTINE

Why , lady , love hath twenty pair of eyes .

THURIO

They say that Love hath not an eye at all .

VALENTINE

To see such lovers , Thurio , as yourself .

Upon a homely object , Love can wink .

SYLVIA

Have done , have done . Here comes the gentleman .

Enter Proteus .

VALENTINE

Welcome , dear Proteus . — Mistress , I beseech you

Confirm his welcome with some special favor .

SYLVIA

His worth is warrant for his welcome hither ,

If this be he you oft have wished to hear from .

VALENTINE

Mistress , it is . Sweet lady , entertain him

To be my fellow-servant to your Ladyship .

SYLVIA

Too low a mistress for so high a servant .

PROTEUS

Not so , sweet lady , but too mean a servant

To have a look of such a worthy mistress .

VALENTINE

Leave off discourse of disability .

Sweet lady , entertain him for your servant .

PROTEUS

My duty will I boast of , nothing else .

SYLVIA

And duty never yet did want his meed .

Servant , you are welcome to a worthless mistress .

PROTEUS

I’ll die on him that says so but yourself .

SYLVIA

That you are welcome ?

PROTEUS

That you are worthless .

Enter Servant .

SERVANT

Madam , my lord your father would speak with you .

SYLVIA

I wait upon his pleasure .

Servant exits .

Come , Sir Thurio ,

Go with me . — Once more , new servant , welcome .

I’ll leave you to confer of home affairs .

When you have done , we look to hear from you .

PROTEUS

We’ll both attend upon your Ladyship .

Sylvia and Thurio exit .

VALENTINE

Now tell me , how do all from whence you came ?

PROTEUS

Your friends are well and have them much commended .

VALENTINE

And how do yours ?

PROTEUS

I left them all in health .

VALENTINE

How does your lady ? And how thrives your love ?

PROTEUS

My tales of love were wont to weary you .

I know you joy not in a love discourse .

VALENTINE

Ay , Proteus , but that life is altered now .

I have done penance for contemning Love ,

Whose high imperious thoughts have punished me

With bitter fasts , with penitential groans ,

With nightly tears , and daily heartsore sighs ,

For in revenge of my contempt of love ,

Love hath chased sleep from my enthrallèd 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

Upon the very naked name of Love .

PROTEUS

Enough ; I read your fortune in your eye .

Was this the idol that you worship so ?

VALENTINE

Even she . And is she not a heavenly saint ?

PROTEUS

No , but she is an earthly paragon .

VALENTINE

Call her divine .

PROTEUS

I will not flatter her .

VALENTINE

O , flatter me , for love delights in praises .

PROTEUS

When I was sick , you gave me bitter pills ,

And I must minister the like to you .

VALENTINE

Then speak the truth by her ; if not divine ,

Yet let her be a principality ,

Sovereign to all the creatures on the Earth .

PROTEUS

Except my mistress .

VALENTINE

Sweet , except not any ,

Except thou wilt except against my love .

PROTEUS

Have I not reason to prefer mine own ?

VALENTINE

And I will help thee to prefer her too :

She shall be dignified with this high honor —

To bear my lady’s train , lest the base earth

Should from her vesture chance to steal a kiss

And , of so great a favor growing proud ,

Disdain to root the summer-swelling flower

And make rough winter everlastingly .

PROTEUS

Why , Valentine , what braggartism is this ?

VALENTINE

Pardon me , Proteus , all I can is nothing

To her whose worth makes other worthies nothing .

She is alone —

PROTEUS

Then let her alone .

VALENTINE

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 .

Forgive me that I do not dream on thee ,

Because thou seest me dote upon my love .

My foolish rival , that her father likes

Only for his possessions are so huge ,

Is gone with her along , and I must after ,

For love , thou know’st , is full of jealousy .

PROTEUS

But she loves you ?

VALENTINE

Ay , and we are betrothed ; nay more , our marriage hour ,

With all the cunning manner of our flight

Determined of : how I must climb her window ,

The ladder made of cords , and all the means

Plotted and ’greed on for my happiness .

Good Proteus , go with me to my chamber ,

In these affairs to aid me with thy counsel .

PROTEUS

Go on before . I shall inquire you forth .

I must unto the road to disembark

Some necessaries that I needs must use ,

And then I’ll presently attend you .

VALENTINE

Will you make haste ?

PROTEUS

I will .

Valentine and Speed exit .

Even as one heat another heat expels ,

Or as one nail by strength drives out another ,

So the remembrance of my former love

Is by a newer object quite forgotten .

Is it mine eye , or Valentine’s praise ,

Her true perfection , or my false transgression ,

That makes me reasonless to reason thus ?

She is fair , and so is Julia that I love —

That I did love , for now my love is thawed ,

Which like a waxen image ’gainst a fire

Bears no impression of the thing it was .

Methinks my zeal to Valentine is cold ,

And that I love him not as I was wont .

O , but I love his lady too too much ,

And that’s the reason I love him so little .

How shall I dote on her with more advice

That thus without advice begin to love her ?

’Tis but her picture I have yet beheld ,

And that hath dazzled my reason’s light ;

But when I look on her perfections ,

There is no reason but I shall be blind .

If I can check my erring love , I will ;

If not , to compass her I’ll use my skill .

He exits .

Scene 5

Enter Speed and Lance , with his dog , Crab .

SPEED

Lance , by mine honesty , welcome to Padua .

LANCE

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 madcap . 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 ?

LANCE

Marry , after they closed in earnest , they parted

very fairly in jest .

SPEED

But shall she marry him ?

LANCE

No .

SPEED

How then ? Shall he marry her ?

LANCE

No , neither .

SPEED

What , are they broken ?

LANCE

No , they are both as whole as a fish .

SPEED

Why then , how stands the matter with them ?

LANCE

Marry , thus : when it stands well with him , it

stands well with her .

SPEED

What an ass art thou ! I understand thee not .

LANCE

What a block art thou that thou canst not ! My

staff understands me .

SPEED

What thou sayst ?

LANCE

Ay , and what I do too . Look thee , I’ll but lean ,

and my staff understands me .

SPEED

It stands under thee indeed .

LANCE

Why , “ stand under ” and “ understand ” is all

one .

SPEED

But tell me true , will ’t be a match ?

LANCE

Ask my dog . If he say “ Ay , ” it will ; if he say

“ No , ” it will ; if he shake his tail and say nothing , it

will .

SPEED

The conclusion is , then , that it will .

LANCE

Thou shalt never get such a secret from me but

by a parable .

SPEED

’Tis well that I get it so . But , Lance , how sayst

thou that my master is become a notable lover ?

LANCE

I never knew him otherwise .

SPEED

Than how ?

LANCE

A notable lubber , as thou reportest him to be .

SPEED

Why , thou whoreson ass , thou mistak’st me .

LANCE

Why , fool , I meant not thee ; I meant thy master .

SPEED

I tell thee , my master is become a hot lover .

LANCE

Why , I tell thee , I care not though he burn

himself in love . If thou wilt , go with me to the

alehouse ; if not , thou art an Hebrew , a Jew , and not

worth the name of a Christian .

SPEED

Why ?

LANCE

Because thou hast not so much charity in thee

as to go to the ale with a Christian . Wilt thou go ?

SPEED

At thy service .

They exit .

Scene 6

Enter Proteus alone .

PROTEUS

To leave my Julia , shall I be forsworn .

To love fair Sylvia , shall I be forsworn .

To wrong my friend , I shall be much forsworn .

And ev’n that power which gave me first my oath

Provokes me to this threefold perjury .

Love bade me swear , and love bids me forswear .

O sweet-suggesting Love , if thou hast sinned ,

Teach me , thy tempted subject , to excuse it .

At first I did adore a twinkling star ,

But now I worship a celestial sun ;

Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken ,

And he wants wit that wants resolvèd will

To learn his wit t’ exchange the bad for better .

Fie , fie , unreverend tongue , to call her bad

Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferred

With twenty thousand soul-confirming oaths .

I cannot leave to love , and yet I do .

But there I leave to love where I should love .

Julia I lose , and Valentine I lose ;

If I keep them , I needs must lose myself ;

If I lose them , thus find I by their loss :

For Valentine , myself ; for Julia , Sylvia .

I to myself am dearer than a friend ,

For love is still most precious in itself ,

And Sylvia — witness heaven that made her fair —

Shows Julia but a swarthy Ethiope .

I will forget that Julia is alive ,

Rememb’ring that my love to her is dead ;

And Valentine I’ll hold an enemy ,

Aiming at Sylvia as a sweeter friend .

I cannot now prove constant to myself

Without some treachery used to Valentine .

This night he meaneth with a corded ladder

To climb celestial Sylvia’s chamber window ,

Myself in counsel his competitor .

Now presently I’ll give her father notice

Of their disguising and pretended flight ,

Who , all enraged , will banish Valentine ,

For Thurio he intends shall wed his daughter .

But Valentine being gone , I’ll quickly cross

By some sly trick blunt Thurio’s dull proceeding .

Love , lend me wings to make my purpose swift ,

As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift .

He exits .

Scene 7

Enter Julia and Lucetta .

JULIA

Counsel , Lucetta . Gentle girl , assist me ;

And ev’n in kind love I do conjure thee —

Who art the table wherein all my thoughts

Are visibly charactered and engraved —

To lesson me and tell me some good mean

How with my honor I may undertake

A journey to my loving Proteus .

LUCETTA

Alas , the way is wearisome and long .

JULIA

A true-devoted pilgrim is not weary

To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps ;

Much less shall she that hath Love’s wings to fly ,

And when the flight is made to one so dear ,

Of such divine perfection , as Sir Proteus .

LUCETTA

Better forbear till Proteus make return .

JULIA

O , know’st thou not his looks are my soul’s food ?

Pity the dearth that I have pinèd in

By longing for that food so long a time .

Didst thou but know the inly touch of love ,

Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow

As seek to quench the fire of love with words .

LUCETTA

I do not seek to quench your love’s hot fire ,

But qualify the fire’s extreme rage ,

Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason .

JULIA

The more thou damm’st it up , the more it burns .

The current that with gentle murmur glides ,

Thou know’st , being stopped , impatiently doth rage ,

But when his fair course is not hinderèd ,

He makes sweet music with th’ enameled stones ,

Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge

He overtaketh in his pilgrimage ;

And so by many winding nooks he strays

With willing sport to the wild ocean .

Then let me go and hinder not my course .

I’ll be as patient as a gentle stream

And make a pastime of each weary step

Till the last step have brought me to my love ,

And there I’ll rest as after much turmoil

A blessèd soul doth in Elysium .

LUCETTA

But in what habit will you go along ?

JULIA

Not like a woman , for I would prevent

The loose encounters of lascivious men .

Gentle Lucetta , fit me with such weeds

As may beseem some well-reputed page .

LUCETTA

Why , then , your Ladyship must cut your hair .

JULIA

No , girl , I’ll knit it up in silken strings

With twenty odd-conceited true-love knots .

To be fantastic may become a youth

Of greater time than I shall show to be .

LUCETTA

What fashion , madam , shall I make your breeches ?

JULIA

That fits as well as “ Tell me , good my lord ,

What compass will you wear your farthingale ? ”

Why , ev’n what fashion thou best likes , Lucetta .

LUCETTA

You must needs have them with a codpiece , madam .

JULIA

Out , out , Lucetta . That will be ill-favored .

LUCETTA

A round hose , madam , now’s not worth a pin

Unless you have a codpiece to stick pins on .

JULIA

Lucetta , as thou lov’st me , let me have

What thou think’st meet and is most mannerly .

But tell me , wench , how will the world repute me

For undertaking so unstaid a journey ?

I fear me it will make me scandalized .

LUCETTA

If you think so , then stay at home and go not .

JULIA

Nay , that I will not .

LUCETTA

Then never dream on infamy , but go .

If Proteus like your journey when you come ,

No matter who’s displeased when you are gone .

I fear me he will scarce be pleased withal .

JULIA

That is the least , Lucetta , of my fear .

A thousand oaths , an ocean of his tears ,

And instances of infinite of love

Warrant me welcome to my Proteus .

LUCETTA

All these are servants to deceitful men .

JULIA

Base men that use them to so base effect !

But truer stars did govern Proteus’ birth .

His words are bonds , his oaths are oracles ,

His love sincere , his thoughts immaculate ,

His tears pure messengers sent from his heart ,

His heart as far from fraud as heaven from Earth .

LUCETTA

Pray heav’n he prove so when you come to him .

JULIA

Now , as thou lov’st me , do him not that wrong

To bear a hard opinion of his truth .

Only deserve my love by loving him .

And presently go with me to my chamber

To take a note of what I stand in need of

To furnish me upon my longing journey .

All that is mine I leave at thy dispose ,

My goods , my lands , my reputation .

Only , in lieu thereof , dispatch me hence .

Come , answer not , but to it presently .

I am impatient of my tarriance .

They exit .

ACT 3

Scene 1

Enter Duke , Thurio , and Proteus .

DUKE

Sir Thurio , give us leave , I pray , awhile ;

We have some secrets to confer about .

Thurio exits .

Now tell me , Proteus , what’s your will with me ?

PROTEUS

My gracious lord , that which I would discover

The law of friendship bids me to conceal ,

But when I call to mind your gracious favors

Done to me , undeserving as I am ,

My duty pricks me on to utter that

Which else no worldly good should draw from me .

Know , worthy prince , Sir Valentine my friend

This night intends to steal away your daughter ;

Myself am one made privy to the plot .

I know you have determined to bestow her

On Thurio , whom your gentle daughter hates ,

And should she thus be stol’n away from you ,

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 timeless 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 might err

And so , unworthily , disgrace the man —

A rashness that I ever yet have shunned —

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 ,

I nightly lodge her in an upper tower ,

The key whereof myself have ever kept ,

And thence she cannot be conveyed away .

PROTEUS

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 ,

Where , if it please you , you may intercept him .

But , good my lord , do it so cunningly

That my discovery be not aimèd at ;

For love of you , not hate unto my friend ,

Hath made me publisher of this pretense .

DUKE

Upon mine honor , he shall never know

That I had any light from thee of this .

PROTEUS

Adieu , my lord . Sir Valentine is coming .

Proteus exits .

Enter Valentine .

DUKE

Sir Valentine , whither away so fast ?

VALENTINE

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 ?

VALENTINE

The tenor 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 .

VALENTINE

I know it well , my lord , and sure the match

Were rich and honorable . 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 ,

Upon advice , hath drawn my love from her ,

And where I thought the remnant of mine age

Should have been cherished by her childlike 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 .

VALENTINE

What would your Grace have me to do in this ?

DUKE

There is a lady in Verona 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 .

VALENTINE

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 .

VALENTINE

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 .

If she do chide , ’tis not to have you gone ,

Forwhy 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 .

VALENTINE

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

DUKE

Ay , but the doors be locked and keys kept safe ,

That no man hath recourse to her by night .

VALENTINE

What lets 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 .

VALENTINE

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 .

VALENTINE

When would you use it ? Pray sir , tell me that .

DUKE

This very night ; for love is like a child

That longs for everything that he can come by .

VALENTINE

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 ?

VALENTINE

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 ?

VALENTINE

Ay , my good lord .

DUKE

Then let me see thy cloak ;

I’ll get me one of such another length .

VALENTINE

Why , any cloak will serve the turn , my lord .

DUKE

How shall I fashion me to wear a cloak ?

I pray thee , let me feel thy cloak upon me .

Pulling off the cloak , he reveals a rope ladder and a paper .

What letter is this same ? What’s here ?

( Reads . )

To Sylvia .

And here an engine fit for my proceeding .

I’ll be so bold to break the seal for once .

( Reads . )

My thoughts do harbor with my Sylvia 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 blest them ,

Because myself do want my servants’ fortune .

I curse myself , for they are sent by me ,

That they should harbor where their lord should be .

What’s here ?

( Reads . )

Sylvia , this night I will enfranchise thee .

’Tis so . And here’s the ladder for the purpose .

Why , Phaëton — for thou art Merops’ son —

Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car

And with thy daring folly burn the world ?

Wilt thou reach stars because they shine on thee ?

Go , base intruder , overweening slave ,

Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates

And think my patience , more than thy desert ,

Is privilege for thy departure hence .

Thank me for this more than for all the favors

Which all too much I have bestowed on thee .

But if thou linger in my territories

Longer than swiftest expedition

Will give thee time to leave our royal court ,

By heaven , my wrath shall far exceed the love

I ever bore my daughter or thyself .

Begone . I will not hear thy vain excuse ,

But , as thou lov’st thy life , make speed from hence .

He exits .

VALENTINE

And why not death , rather than living torment ?

To die is to be banished from myself ,

And Sylvia is myself ; banished from her

Is self from self — a deadly banishment .

What light is light if Sylvia be not seen ?

What joy is joy if Sylvia be not by —

Unless it be to think that she is by

And feed upon the shadow of perfection ?

Except I be by Sylvia in the night ,

There is no music in the nightingale .

Unless I look on Sylvia in the day ,

There is no day for me to look upon .

She is my essence , and I leave to be

If I be not by her fair influence

Fostered , illumined , cherished , kept alive .

I fly not death , to fly his deadly doom ;

Tarry I here , I but attend on death ,

But fly I hence , I fly away from life .

Enter Proteus and Lance .

PROTEUS

Run , boy , run , run , and seek him out .

LANCE

So-ho , so-ho !

PROTEUS

What seest thou ?

LANCE

Him we go to find . There’s not a hair on ’s head

but ’tis a Valentine .

PROTEUS

Valentine ?

VALENTINE

No .

PROTEUS

Who then ? His spirit ?

VALENTINE

Neither .

PROTEUS

What then ?

VALENTINE

Nothing .

LANCE

Can nothing speak ? Master , shall I strike ?

PROTEUS

Who wouldst thou strike ?

LANCE

Nothing .

PROTEUS

Villain , forbear .

LANCE

Why , sir , I’ll strike nothing . I pray you —

PROTEUS

Sirrah , I say forbear . — Friend Valentine , a word .

VALENTINE

My ears are stopped and cannot hear good news ,

So much of bad already hath possessed them .

PROTEUS

Then in dumb silence will I bury mine ,

For they are harsh , untunable , and bad .

VALENTINE

Is Sylvia dead ?

PROTEUS

No , Valentine .

VALENTINE

No Valentine indeed for sacred Sylvia .

Hath she forsworn me ?

PROTEUS

No , Valentine .

VALENTINE

No Valentine if Sylvia have forsworn me .

What is your news ?

LANCE

Sir , there is a proclamation that you are

vanished .

PROTEUS

That thou art banishèd — O , that’s the news —

From hence , from Sylvia , and from me thy friend .

VALENTINE

O , I have fed upon this woe already ,

And now excess of it will make me surfeit .

Doth Sylvia know that I am banishèd ?

PROTEUS

Ay , ay , and she hath offered to the doom —

Which unreversed stands in effectual force —

A sea of melting pearl , which some call tears ;

Those at her father’s churlish feet she tendered ,

With them , upon her knees , her humble self ,

Wringing her hands , whose whiteness so became them

As if but now they waxèd pale for woe .

But neither bended knees , pure hands held up ,

Sad sighs , deep groans , nor silver-shedding tears

Could penetrate her uncompassionate sire ;

But Valentine , if he be ta’en , must die .

Besides , her intercession chafed him so ,

When she for thy repeal was suppliant ,

That to close prison he commanded her

With many bitter threats of biding there .

VALENTINE

No more , unless the next word that thou speak’st

Have some malignant power upon my life .

If so , I pray thee breathe it in mine ear

As ending anthem of my endless dolor .

PROTEUS

Cease to lament for that thou canst not help ,

And study help for that which thou lament’st .

Time is the nurse and breeder of all good .

Here , if thou stay , thou canst not see thy love ;

Besides , thy staying will abridge thy life .

Hope is a lover’s staff ; walk hence with that

And manage it against despairing thoughts .

Thy letters may be here , though thou art hence ,

Which , being writ to me , shall be delivered

Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love .

The time now serves not to expostulate .

Come , I’ll convey thee through the city gate

And , ere I part with thee , confer at large

Of all that may concern thy love affairs .

As thou lov’st Sylvia , though not for thyself ,

Regard thy danger , and along with me .

VALENTINE

I pray thee , Lance , an if thou seest my boy ,

Bid him make haste and meet me at the North Gate .

PROTEUS

Go , sirrah , find him out . — Come , Valentine .

VALENTINE

O , my dear Sylvia ! Hapless Valentine !

Valentine and Proteus exit .

LANCE

I am but a fool , look you , and yet I have the wit

to think my master is a kind of a knave , but that’s all

one if he be but one knave . He lives not now that

knows me to be in love , yet I am in love , but a team

of horse shall not pluck that from me , nor who ’tis I

love ; and yet ’tis a woman , but what woman I will

not tell myself ; and yet ’tis a milk-maid ; yet ’tis not a

maid , for she hath had gossips ; yet ’tis a maid , for

she is her master’s maid and serves for wages . She

hath more qualities than a water spaniel , which is

much in a bare Christian .

He takes out a piece of paper .

Here is the catalog of her condition .

( Reads . )

Imprimis , She can fetch and carry . Why , a

horse can do no more ; nay , a horse cannot fetch but

only carry ; therefore is she better than a jade .

( Reads . )

Item , She can milk .

Look you , a sweet

virtue in a maid with clean hands .

Enter Speed .

SPEED

How now , Signior Lance ? What news with your

Mastership ?

LANCE

With my master’s ship ? Why , it is at sea .

SPEED

Well , your old vice still : mistake the word . What

news , then , in your paper ?

LANCE

The black’st news that ever thou heard’st .

SPEED

Why , man ? How black ?

LANCE

Why , as black as ink .

SPEED

Let me read them .

LANCE

Fie on thee , jolt-head , thou canst not read .

SPEED

Thou liest . I can .

LANCE

I will try thee . Tell me this , who begot thee ?

SPEED

Marry , the son of my grandfather .

LANCE

O , illiterate loiterer , it was the son of thy grandmother .

This proves that thou canst not read .

SPEED

Come , fool , come . Try me in thy paper .

LANCE , giving him the paper

There , and Saint Nicholas

be thy speed .

SPEED reads

Imprimis , She can milk .

LANCE

Ay , that she can .

SPEED

Item , She brews good ale .

LANCE

And thereof comes the proverb : “ Blessing of

your heart , you brew good ale . ”

SPEED

Item , She can sew .

LANCE

That’s as much as to say “ Can she so ? ”

SPEED

Item , She can knit .

LANCE

What need a man care for a stock with a wench ,

when she can knit him a stock ?

SPEED

Item , She can wash and scour .

LANCE

A special virtue , for then she need not be

washed and scoured .

SPEED

Item , She can spin .

LANCE

Then may I set the world on wheels , when she

can spin for her living .

SPEED

Item , She hath many nameless virtues .

LANCE

That’s as much as to say “ bastard virtues , ” that

indeed know not their fathers and therefore have no

names .

SPEED

Here follow her vices .

LANCE

Close at the heels of her virtues .

SPEED

Item , She is not to be kissed fasting in respect of her breath .

LANCE

Well , that fault may be mended with a breakfast .

Read on .

SPEED

Item , She hath a sweet mouth .

LANCE

That makes amends for her sour breath .

SPEED

Item , She doth talk in her sleep .

LANCE

It’s no matter for that , so she sleep not in her

talk .

SPEED

Item , She is slow in words .

LANCE

O villain , that set this down among her vices ! To

be slow in words is a woman’s only virtue . I pray

thee , out with ’t , and place it for her chief virtue .

SPEED

Item , She is proud .

LANCE

Out with that too ; it was Eve’s legacy and

cannot be ta’en from her .

SPEED

Item , She hath no teeth .

LANCE

I care not for that neither , because I love crusts .

SPEED

Item , She is curst .

LANCE

Well , the best is , she hath no teeth to bite .

SPEED

Item , She will often praise her liquor .

LANCE

If her liquor be good , she shall ; if she will not , I

will , for good things should be praised .

SPEED

Item , She is too liberal .

LANCE

Of her tongue she cannot , for that’s writ down

she is slow of ; of her purse she shall not , for that I’ll

keep shut ; now , of another thing she may , and that

cannot I help . Well , proceed .

SPEED

Item , She hath more hair than wit , and more faults than hairs , and more wealth than faults .

LANCE

Stop there . I’ll have her . She was mine and not

mine twice or thrice in that last article . Rehearse

that once more .

SPEED

Item , She hath more hair than wit .

LANCE

“ More hair than wit ”

? It may be ; I’ll prove it :

the cover of the salt hides the salt , and therefore it is

more than the salt ; the hair that covers the wit is

more than the wit , for the greater hides the less .

What’s next ?

SPEED

And more faults than hairs .

LANCE

That’s monstrous ! O , that that were out !

SPEED

And more wealth than faults .

LANCE

Why , that word makes the faults gracious . Well ,

I’ll have her , and if it be a match , as nothing is

impossible —

SPEED

What then ?

LANCE

Why , then will I tell thee that thy master stays

for thee at the North Gate .

SPEED

For me ?

LANCE

For thee ? Ay , who art thou ? He hath stayed for a

better man than thee .

SPEED

And must I go to him ?

LANCE

Thou must run to him , for thou hast stayed so

long that going will scarce serve the turn .

SPEED , handing him the paper

Why didst not tell me

sooner ? Pox of your love letters !

He exits .

LANCE

Now will he be swinged for reading my letter ;

an unmannerly slave , that will thrust himself into

secrets . I’ll after , to rejoice in the boy’s correction .

He exits .

Scene 2

Enter Duke and Thurio .

DUKE

Sir Thurio , fear not but that she will love you

Now Valentine is banished from her sight .

THURIO

Since his exile she hath despised me most ,

Forsworn my company and railed at me ,

That I am desperate of obtaining her .

DUKE

This weak impress of love is as a figure

Trenchèd in ice , which with an hour’s heat

Dissolves to water and doth lose his form .

A little time will melt her frozen thoughts ,

And worthless Valentine shall be forgot .

Enter Proteus .

How now , Sir Proteus ? Is your countryman ,

According to our proclamation , gone ?

PROTEUS

Gone , my good lord .

DUKE

My daughter takes his going grievously .

PROTEUS

A little time , my lord , will kill that grief .

DUKE

So I believe , but Thurio thinks not so .

Proteus , the good conceit I hold of thee ,

For thou hast shown some sign of good desert ,

Makes me the better to confer with thee .

PROTEUS

Longer than I prove loyal to your Grace

Let me not live to look upon your Grace .

DUKE

Thou know’st how willingly I would effect

The match between Sir Thurio and my daughter ?

PROTEUS

I do , my lord .

DUKE

And also , I think , thou art not ignorant

How she opposes her against my will ?

PROTEUS

She did , my lord , when Valentine was here .

DUKE

Ay , and perversely she persevers so .

What might we do to make the girl forget

The love of Valentine , and love Sir Thurio ?

PROTEUS

The best way is to slander Valentine

With falsehood , cowardice , and poor descent ,

Three things that women highly hold in hate .

DUKE

Ay , but she’ll think that it is spoke in hate .

PROTEUS

Ay , if his enemy deliver it .

Therefore it must with circumstance be spoken

By one whom she esteemeth as his friend .

DUKE

Then you must undertake to slander him .

PROTEUS

And that , my lord , I shall be loath to do .

’Tis an ill office for a gentleman ,

Especially against his very friend .

DUKE

Where your good word cannot advantage him ,

Your slander never can endamage him ;

Therefore the office is indifferent ,

Being entreated to it by your friend .

PROTEUS

You have prevailed , my lord . If I can do it

By aught that I can speak in his dispraise ,

She shall not long continue love to him .

But say this weed her love from Valentine ,

It follows not that she will love Sir Thurio .

THURIO

Therefore , as you unwind her love from him ,

Lest it should ravel and be good to none ,

You must provide to bottom it on me ,

Which must be done by praising me as much

As you in worth dispraise Sir Valentine .

DUKE

And , Proteus , we dare trust you in this kind

Because we know , on Valentine’s report ,

You are already Love’s firm votary

And cannot soon revolt and change your mind .

Upon this warrant shall you have access

Where you with Sylvia may confer at large —

For she is lumpish , heavy , melancholy ,

And , for your friend’s sake , will be glad of you —

Where you may temper her by your persuasion

To hate young Valentine and love my friend .

PROTEUS

As much as I can do I will effect . —

But you , Sir Thurio , are not sharp enough .

You must lay lime to tangle her desires

By wailful sonnets , whose composèd rhymes

Should be full-fraught with serviceable vows .

DUKE

Ay , much is the force of heaven-bred poesy .

PROTEUS

Say that upon the altar of her beauty

You sacrifice your tears , your sighs , your heart .

Write till your ink be dry , and with your tears

Moist it again , and frame some feeling line

That may discover such integrity .

For Orpheus’ lute was strung with poets’ sinews ,

Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones ,

Make tigers tame , and huge leviathans

Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands .

After your dire-lamenting elegies ,

Visit by night your lady’s chamber window

With some sweet consort ; to their instruments

Tune a deploring dump ; the night’s dead silence

Will well become such sweet complaining grievance .

This , or else nothing , will inherit her .

DUKE

This discipline shows thou hast been in love .

THURIO , to Proteus

And thy advice this night I’ll put in practice .

Therefore , sweet Proteus , my direction-giver ,

Let us into the city presently

To sort some gentlemen well-skilled in music .

I have a sonnet that will serve the turn

To give the onset to thy good advice .

DUKE

About it , gentlemen .

PROTEUS

We’ll wait upon your Grace till after supper

And afterward determine our proceedings .

DUKE

Even now about it ! I will pardon you .

They exit .

ACT 4

Scene 1

Enter certain Outlaws .

FIRST OUTLAW

Fellows , stand fast . I see a passenger .

SECOND OUTLAW

If there be ten , shrink not , but down with ’em .

Enter Valentine and Speed .

THIRD OUTLAW

Stand , sir , and throw us that you have about you .

If not , we’ll make you sit , and rifle you .

SPEED , to Valentine

Sir , we are undone ; these are the villains

That all the travelers do fear so much .

VALENTINE

My friends —

FIRST OUTLAW

That’s not so , sir . We are your enemies .

SECOND OUTLAW

Peace . We’ll hear him .

THIRD OUTLAW

Ay , by my beard , will we , for he is a proper man .

VALENTINE

Then know that I have little wealth to lose .

A man I am crossed 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 .

SECOND OUTLAW

Whither travel you ?

VALENTINE

To Verona .

FIRST OUTLAW

Whence came you ?

VALENTINE

From Milan .

THIRD OUTLAW

Have you long sojourned there ?

VALENTINE

Some sixteen months , and longer might have stayed

If crooked fortune had not thwarted me .

FIRST OUTLAW

What , were you banished thence ?

VALENTINE

I was .

SECOND OUTLAW

For what offense ?

VALENTINE

For that which now torments me to rehearse ;

I killed a man , whose death I much repent ,

But yet I slew him manfully in fight

Without false vantage or base treachery .

FIRST OUTLAW

Why , ne’er repent it if it were done so ;

But were you banished for so small a fault ?

VALENTINE

I was , and held me glad of such a doom .

SECOND OUTLAW

Have you the tongues ?

VALENTINE

My youthful travel therein made me happy ,

Or else I often had been miserable .

THIRD OUTLAW

By the bare scalp of Robin Hood’s fat friar ,

This fellow were a king for our wild faction .

FIRST OUTLAW

We’ll have him . — Sirs , a word .

The Outlaws step aside to talk .

SPEED

Master , be one of them . It’s an honorable kind

of thievery .

VALENTINE

Peace , villain .

SECOND OUTLAW , advancing

Tell us this : have you anything to take to ?

VALENTINE

Nothing but my fortune .

THIRD OUTLAW

Know then that some of us are gentlemen ,

Such as the fury of ungoverned youth

Thrust from the company of awful men .

Myself was from Verona banishèd

For practicing to steal away a lady ,

An heir and near allied unto the Duke .

SECOND OUTLAW

And I from Mantua , for a gentleman

Who , in my mood , I stabbed unto the heart .

FIRST OUTLAW

And I for such like petty crimes as these .

But to the purpose : for we cite our faults

That they may hold excused 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 —

SECOND OUTLAW

Indeed because you are a banished 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 ?

THIRD OUTLAW

What sayst thou ? Wilt thou be of our consort ?

Say ay , and be the captain of us all ;

We’ll do thee homage and be ruled by thee ,

Love thee as our commander and our king .

FIRST OUTLAW

But if thou scorn our courtesy , thou diest .

SECOND OUTLAW

Thou shalt not live to brag what we have offered .

VALENTINE

I take your offer and will live with you ,

Provided that you do no outrages

On silly women or poor passengers .

THIRD OUTLAW

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 .

They exit .

Scene 2

Enter Proteus .

PROTEUS

Already have I been false to Valentine ,

And now I must be as unjust to Thurio .

Under the color of commending him ,

I have access my own love to prefer .

But Sylvia 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 loved ;

And notwithstanding all her sudden quips ,

The least whereof would quell a lover’s hope ,

Yet , spaniel-like , the more she spurns my love ,

The more it grows and fawneth on her still .

But here comes Thurio . Now must we to her window

And give some evening music to her ear .

Enter Thurio and Musicians .

THURIO

How now , Sir Proteus , are you crept before us ?

PROTEUS

Ay , gentle Thurio , for you know that love

Will creep in service where it cannot go .

THURIO

Ay , but I hope , sir , that you love not here .

PROTEUS

Sir , but I do , or else I would be hence .

THURIO

Who , Sylvia ?

PROTEUS

Ay , Sylvia , for your sake .

THURIO

I thank you for your own . — Now , gentlemen ,

Let’s tune , and to it lustily awhile .

Enter Host of the inn , and Julia , disguised as a page , Sebastian . They stand at a distance and talk .

HOST

Now , my young guest , methinks you’re allycholly .

I pray you , why is it ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

Marry , mine host , because I

cannot be merry .

HOST

Come , we’ll have you merry . I’ll bring you where

you shall hear music and see the gentleman that you

asked for .

JULIA , as Sebastian

But shall I hear him speak ?

HOST

Ay , that you shall .

JULIA , as Sebastian

That will be music .

HOST

Hark , hark .

Music plays .

JULIA , as Sebastian

Is he among these ?

HOST

Ay . But peace ; let’s hear ’em .

Song .

PROTEUS

Who is Sylvia ? What is she ,

That all our swains commend her ?

Holy , fair , and wise is she ;

The heaven such grace did lend her

That she might admirèd be .

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 helped , inhabits there .

Then to Sylvia let us sing ,

That Sylvia 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 .

JULIA , as Sebastian

You mistake . The musician likes me

not .

HOST

Why , my pretty youth ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

He plays false , father .

HOST

How , out of tune on the strings ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

Not so ; but yet so false that he

grieves my very heart-strings .

HOST

You have a quick ear .

JULIA , as Sebastian

Ay , I would I were deaf ; it makes

me have a slow heart .

HOST

I perceive you delight not in music .

JULIA , as Sebastian

Not a whit when it jars so .

HOST

Hark , what fine change is in the music !

JULIA , as Sebastian

Ay ; that change is the spite .

HOST

You would have them always play but one

thing ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

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 Lance his man told me : he loved

her out of all nick .

JULIA , as Sebastian

Where is Lance ?

HOST

Gone to seek his dog , which tomorrow , by his

master’s command , he must carry for a present to

his lady .

Music ends .

JULIA , as Sebastian

Peace . Stand aside . The company

parts .

Host and Julia move away .

PROTEUS

Sir Thurio , fear not you . I will so plead

That you shall say my cunning drift excels .

THURIO

Where meet we ?

PROTEUS

At Saint Gregory’s well .

THURIO

Farewell .

Thurio and the Musicians exit .

Enter Sylvia , above .

PROTEUS

Madam , good even to your Ladyship .

SYLVIA

I thank you for your music , gentlemen .

Who is that that spake ?

PROTEUS

One , lady , if you knew his pure heart’s truth ,

You would quickly learn to know him by his voice .

SYLVIA

Sir Proteus , as I take it .

PROTEUS

Sir Proteus , gentle lady , and your servant .

SYLVIA

What’s your will ?

PROTEUS

That I may compass yours .

SYLVIA

You have your wish : my will is even this ,

That presently you hie you home to bed .

Thou subtle , perjured , false , disloyal man ,

Think’st thou I am so shallow , so conceitless ,

To be seducèd by thy flattery ,

That hast deceived 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

And by and by intend to chide myself

Even for this time I spend in talking to thee .

PROTEUS

I grant , sweet love , that I did love a lady ,

But she is dead .

JULIA , aside

’Twere false if I should speak it ,

For I am sure she is not burièd .

SYLVIA

Say that she be ; yet Valentine thy friend

Survives , to whom , thyself art witness ,

I am betrothed . And art thou not ashamed

To wrong him with thy importunacy ?

PROTEUS

I likewise hear that Valentine is dead .

SYLVIA

And so suppose am I , for in his grave ,

Assure thyself , my love is burièd .

PROTEUS

Sweet lady , let me rake it from the earth .

SYLVIA

Go to thy lady’s grave and call hers thence ,

Or , at the least , in hers sepulcher thine .

JULIA , aside

He heard not that .

PROTEUS

Madam , if your heart be so obdurate ,

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 will I make true love .

JULIA , aside

If ’twere a substance you would sure deceive it

And make it but a shadow , as I am .

SYLVIA

I am very loath 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 .

Sylvia exits .

PROTEUS

As wretches have o’ernight

That wait for execution in the morn .

Proteus exits .

JULIA , as Sebastian

Host , will you go ?

HOST

By my halidom , I was fast asleep .

JULIA , as Sebastian

Pray you , where lies Sir Proteus ?

HOST

Marry , at my house . Trust me , I think ’tis almost

day .

JULIA , as Sebastian

Not so ; but it hath been the longest night

That e’er I watched , and the most heaviest .

They exit .

Scene 3

Enter Eglamour .

EGLAMOUR

This is the hour that Madam Sylvia

Entreated me to call and know her mind ;

There’s some great matter she’d employ me in .

Madam , madam !

Enter Sylvia , above .

SYLVIA

Who calls ?

EGLAMOUR

Your servant , and your friend ,

One that attends your Ladyship’s command .

SYLVIA

Sir Eglamour , a thousand times good morrow .

EGLAMOUR

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 .

SYLVIA

O Eglamour , thou art a gentleman —

Think not I flatter , for I swear I do not —

Valiant , wise , remorseful , well accomplished .

Thou art not ignorant what dear good will

I bear unto the banished Valentine ,

Nor how my father would enforce me marry

Vain Thurio , whom my very soul abhorred .

Thyself hast loved , and I have heard thee say

No grief did ever come so near thy heart

As when thy lady and thy true love died ,

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 ,

I do desire thy worthy company ,

Upon whose faith and honor 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 rewards 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 .

EGLAMOUR

Madam , I pity much your grievances ,

Which , since I know they virtuously are placed ,

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 ?

SYLVIA

This evening coming .

EGLAMOUR

Where shall I meet you ?

SYLVIA

At Friar Patrick’s cell ,

Where I intend holy confession .

EGLAMOUR

I will not fail your Ladyship . Good morrow , gentle lady .

SYLVIA

Good morrow , kind Sir Eglamour .

They exit .

Scene 4

Enter Lance , with his dog , Crab .

LANCE

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 Sylvia 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 keep 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 gentlemanlike 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 his 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 .

To Crab .

Thou think’st

not of this now . Nay , I remember the trick you

served me when I took my leave of Madam Sylvia .

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 disguised as Sebastian .

PROTEUS

Sebastian is thy name ? I like thee well

And will employ thee in some service presently .

JULIA , as Sebastian

In what you please . I’ll do what I can .

PROTEUS

I hope thou wilt .

To Lance .

How now , you whoreson peasant ?

Where have you been these two days loitering ?

LANCE

Marry , sir , I carried Mistress Sylvia the dog you

bade me .

PROTEUS

And what says she to my little jewel ?

LANCE

Marry , she says your dog was a cur , and tells

you currish thanks is good enough for such a

present .

PROTEUS

But she received my dog ?

LANCE

No , indeed , did she not . Here have I brought

him back again .

PROTEUS

What , didst thou offer her this from me ?

LANCE

Ay , sir . The other squirrel was stolen from me

by the hangman’s boys in the market-place , and

then I offered her mine own , who is a dog as big as

ten of yours , and therefore the gift the greater .

PROTEUS

Go , get thee hence , and find my dog again ,

Or ne’er return again into my sight .

Away , I say . Stayest thou to vex me here ?

Lance exits with Crab .

A slave that still an end turns me to shame .

Sebastian , I have entertainèd thee ,

Partly that I have need of such a youth

That can with some discretion do my business —

For ’tis no trusting to yond foolish lout —

But chiefly for thy face and thy behavior ,

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 Sylvia .

She loved me well delivered it to me .

He gives her a ring .

JULIA , as Sebastian

It seems you loved not her , to leave her token .

She is dead belike ?

PROTEUS

Not so ; I think she lives .

JULIA , as Sebastian

Alas !

PROTEUS

Why dost thou cry “ Alas ” ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

I cannot choose but pity her .

PROTEUS

Wherefore shouldst thou pity her ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

Because methinks that she loved you as well

As you do love your lady Sylvia .

She dreams on him that has forgot her love ;

You dote on her that cares not for your love .

’Tis pity love should be so contrary ,

And thinking on it makes me cry “ Alas . ”

PROTEUS

Well , give her that ring and therewithal

This letter .

He gives her a paper .

That’s her chamber . Tell my lady

I claim the promise for her heavenly picture .

Your message done , hie home unto my chamber ,

Where thou shalt find me sad and solitary .

Proteus exits .

JULIA

How many women would do such a message ?

Alas , poor Proteus , thou hast entertained

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 refused ,

To praise his faith , which I would have dispraised .

I am my master’s true confirmèd love ,

But cannot be true servant to my master

Unless I prove false traitor to myself .

Yet will I woo for him , but yet so coldly

As — Heaven it knows ! — I would not have him speed .

Enter Sylvia .

As Sebastian .

Gentlewoman , good day . I pray you be my mean

To bring me where to speak with Madam Sylvia .

SYLVIA

What would you with her , if that I be she ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

If you be she , I do entreat your patience

To hear me speak the message I am sent on .

SYLVIA

From whom ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

From my master , Sir Proteus ,

madam .

SYLVIA

O , he sends you for a picture ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

Ay , madam .

SYLVIA , calling

Ursula , bring my picture there .

She is brought the picture .

Go , give your master this . Tell him from me ,

One Julia , that his changing thoughts forget ,

Would better fit his chamber than this shadow .

JULIA , as Sebastian

Madam , please you peruse this letter .

She gives Sylvia a paper .

Pardon me , madam , I have unadvised

Delivered you a paper that I should not .

This is the letter to your Ladyship .

She takes back the first paper and hands Sylvia another .

SYLVIA

I pray thee let me look on that again .

JULIA , as Sebastian

It may not be ; good madam , pardon me .

SYLVIA

There , hold .

I will not look upon your master’s lines ;

I know they are stuffed with protestations

And full of new-found oaths , which he will break

As easily as I do tear his paper .

She tears the second paper .

JULIA , as Sebastian

Madam , he sends your Ladyship this ring .

She offers Sylvia a ring .

SYLVIA

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 have profaned the ring ,

Mine shall not do his Julia so much wrong .

JULIA , as Sebastian

She thanks you .

SYLVIA

What sayst thou ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

I thank you , madam , that you tender her ;

Poor gentlewoman , my master wrongs her much .

SYLVIA

Dost thou know her ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

Almost as well as I do know myself .

To think upon her woes , I do protest

That I have wept a hundred several times .

SYLVIA

Belike she thinks that Proteus hath forsook her ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

I think she doth , and that’s her cause of sorrow .

SYLVIA

Is she not passing fair ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

She hath been fairer , madam , than she is ;

When she did think my master loved her well ,

She , in my judgment , was as fair as you .

But since she did neglect her looking-glass

And threw her sun-expelling mask away ,

The air hath starved the roses in her cheeks

And pinched the lily tincture of her face ,

That now she is become as black as I .

SYLVIA

How tall was she ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

About my stature ; for at Pentecost ,

When all our pageants of delight were played ,

Our youth got me to play the woman’s part ,

And I was trimmed in Madam Julia’s gown ,

Which served me as fit , by all men’s judgments ,

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 agood ,

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 , movèd therewithal ,

Wept bitterly ; and would I might be dead

If I in thought felt not her very sorrow .

SYLVIA

She is beholding to thee , gentle youth .

Alas , poor lady , desolate and left !

I weep myself to think upon thy words .

Here , youth , there is my purse .

She gives Julia a purse .

I give thee this

For thy sweet mistress’ sake , because thou lov’st her .

Farewell .

JULIA , as Sebastian

And she shall thank you for ’t if e’er you know her .

Sylvia exits .

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 flattered 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 colored periwig .

Her eyes are gray 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 worshipped , kissed , loved , and adored ;

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 used me so , or else , by Jove I vow ,

I should have scratched out your unseeing eyes

To make my master out of love with thee .

She exits .

ACT 5

Scene 1

Enter Eglamour .

EGLAMOUR

The sun begins to gild the western sky ,

And now it is about the very hour

That Sylvia at Friar Patrick’s cell should meet me .

She will not fail , for lovers break not hours ,

Unless it be to come before their time ,

So much they spur their expedition .

Enter Sylvia .

See where she comes . — Lady , a happy evening .

SYLVIA

Amen , amen . Go on , good Eglamour ,

Out at the postern by the abbey wall .

I fear I am attended by some spies .

EGLAMOUR

Fear not . The forest is not three leagues off ;

If we recover that , we are sure enough .

They exit .

Scene 2

Enter Thurio , Proteus , and Julia , disguised as Sebastian .

THURIO

Sir Proteus , what says Sylvia to my suit ?

PROTEUS

O sir , I find her milder than she was ,

And yet she takes exceptions at your person .

THURIO

What ? That my leg is too long ?

PROTEUS

No , that it is too little .

THURIO

I’ll wear a boot to make it somewhat rounder .

JULIA , aside

But love will not be spurred to what it loathes .

THURIO

What says she to my face ?

PROTEUS

She says it is a fair one .

THURIO

Nay , then the wanton lies ; my face is black .

PROTEUS

But pearls are fair , and the old saying is ,

Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies’ eyes .

JULIA , aside

’Tis true , such pearls as put out ladies’ eyes ,

For I had rather wink than look on them .

THURIO

How likes she my discourse ?

PROTEUS

Ill , when you talk of war .

THURIO

But well when I discourse of love and peace .

JULIA , aside

But better , indeed , when you hold your peace .

THURIO

What says she to my valor ?

PROTEUS

O , sir , she makes no doubt of that .

JULIA , aside

She needs not when she knows it cowardice .

THURIO

What says she to my birth ?

PROTEUS

That you are well derived .

JULIA , aside

True , from a gentleman to a fool .

THURIO

Considers she my possessions ?

PROTEUS

O , ay , and pities them .

THURIO

Wherefore ?

JULIA , aside

That such an ass should owe them .

PROTEUS

That they are out by lease .

JULIA , as Sebastian

Here comes the Duke .

Enter Duke .

DUKE

How now , Sir Proteus ? — How now , Thurio ?

Which of you saw Eglamour of late ?

THURIO

Not I .

PROTEUS

Nor I .

DUKE

Saw you my daughter ?

PROTEUS

Neither .

DUKE

Why , then , she’s fled unto that peasant , Valentine ,

And Eglamour is in her company .

’Tis true , for Friar Lawrence met them both

As he , in penance , wandered through the forest ;

Him he knew well and guessed that it was she ,

But , being masked , 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 toward Mantua , whither they are fled .

Dispatch , sweet gentlemen , and follow me .

He exits .

THURIO

Why , this it is to be a peevish girl

That flies her fortune when it follows her .

I’ll after , more to be revenged on Eglamour

Than for the love of reckless Sylvia .

He exits .

PROTEUS

And I will follow , more for Sylvia’s love

Than hate of Eglamour that goes with her .

He exits .

JULIA

And I will follow , more to cross that love

Than hate for Sylvia , that is gone for love .

She exits .

Scene 3

Enter Sylvia and Outlaws .

FIRST OUTLAW

Come , come , be patient . We must bring you to our captain .

SYLVIA

A thousand more mischances than this one

Have learned me how to brook this patiently .

SECOND OUTLAW

Come , bring her away .

FIRST OUTLAW

Where is the gentleman that was with her ?

THIRD OUTLAW

Being nimble-footed , he hath outrun 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 .

Second and Third Outlaws exit .

FIRST OUTLAW

Come , I must bring you to our captain’s cave .

Fear not ; he bears an honorable mind

And will not use a woman lawlessly .

SYLVIA

O Valentine , this I endure for thee !

They exit .

Scene 4

Enter Valentine .

VALENTINE

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 , Sylvia ;

Thou gentle nymph , cherish thy forlorn swain .

Shouting and sounds of fighting .

What hallowing and what stir is this today ?

These are my mates , that make their wills their law ,

Have some unhappy passenger in chase .

They love me well , yet I have much to do

To keep them from uncivil outrages .

Withdraw thee , Valentine . Who’s this comes here ?

He steps aside .

Enter Proteus , Sylvia , and Julia , disguised as Sebastian .

PROTEUS

Madam , this service I have done for you —

Though you respect not aught your servant doth —

To hazard life , and rescue you from him

That would have forced your honor 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 .

VALENTINE , aside

How like a dream is this I see and hear !

Love , lend me patience to forbear awhile .

SYLVIA

O miserable , unhappy that I am !

PROTEUS

Unhappy were you , madam , ere I came ,

But by my coming , I have made you happy .

SYLVIA

By thy approach thou mak’st me most unhappy .

JULIA , aside

And me , when he approacheth to your presence .

SYLVIA

Had I been seizèd by a hungry lion ,

I would have been a breakfast to the beast

Rather than have false Proteus rescue me .

O 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 perjured Proteus .

Therefore begone ; solicit me no more .

PROTEUS

What dangerous action , stood it next to death ,

Would I not undergo for one calm look !

O , ’tis the curse in love , and still approved ,

When women cannot love where they’re beloved .

SYLVIA

When Proteus cannot love where he’s beloved .

Read over Julia’s heart , thy first best love ,

For whose dear sake thou didst then rend thy faith

Into a thousand oaths ; and all those oaths

Descended into perjury to love me .

Thou hast no faith left now unless thou ’dst two ,

And that’s far worse than none ; better have none

Than plural faith , which is too much by one .

Thou counterfeit to thy true friend !

PROTEUS

In love

Who respects friend ?

SYLVIA

All men but Proteus .

PROTEUS

Nay , if the gentle spirit of moving words

Can no way change you to a milder form ,

I’ll woo you like a soldier , at arms’ end ,

And love you ’gainst the nature of love — force you .

He seizes her .

SYLVIA

O , heaven !

PROTEUS

I’ll force thee yield to my desire .

VALENTINE , advancing

Ruffian , let go that rude uncivil touch ,

Thou friend of an ill fashion .

PROTEUS

Valentine !

VALENTINE

Thou common friend , that’s without faith or love ,

For such is a friend now . Treacherous man ,

Thou hast beguiled my hopes ; nought but mine eye

Could have persuaded me . Now I dare not say

I have one friend alive ; thou wouldst disprove me .

Who should be trusted when one’s right hand

Is perjured to the bosom ? Proteus ,

I am sorry I must never trust thee more ,

But count the world a stranger for thy sake .

The private wound is deepest . O , time most accursed ,

’Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst !

PROTEUS

My shame and guilt confounds me .

Forgive me , Valentine . If hearty sorrow

Be a sufficient ransom for offense ,

I tender ’t here . I do as truly suffer

As e’er I did commit .

VALENTINE

Then I am paid ,

And once again I do receive thee honest .

Who by repentance is not satisfied

Is nor of heaven nor Earth , for these are pleased ;

By penitence th’ Eternal’s wrath’s appeased .

And that my love may appear plain and free ,

All that was mine in Sylvia I give thee .

JULIA , aside

O me unhappy !

She swoons .

PROTEUS

Look to the boy .

VALENTINE

Why , boy !

Why , wag , how now ? What’s the matter ? Look up . Speak .

JULIA , as Sebastian

O , good sir , my master charged

me to deliver a ring to Madam Sylvia , which out of

my neglect was never done .

PROTEUS

Where is that ring , boy ?

JULIA , as Sebastian

Here ’tis ; this is it .

She rises , and hands him a ring .

PROTEUS

How , let me see .

Why , this is the ring I gave to Julia .

JULIA , as Sebastian

O , cry you mercy , sir , I have mistook .

This is the ring you sent to Sylvia .

She offers another ring .

PROTEUS

But how cam’st thou by this ring ? At my depart

I gave this unto Julia .

JULIA

And Julia herself did give it me ,

And Julia herself hath brought it hither .

She reveals herself .

PROTEUS

How ? Julia !

JULIA

Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths

And entertained ’em deeply in her heart .

How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root !

O , Proteus , let this habit make thee blush .

Be thou ashamed that I have took upon me

Such an immodest raiment , if shame live

In a disguise of love .

It is the lesser blot , modesty finds ,

Women to change their shapes than men their minds .

PROTEUS

“ Than men their minds ” ? ’Tis true . O heaven , were man

But constant , he were perfect ; that one error

Fills him with faults , makes him run through all th’ sins ;

Inconstancy falls off ere it begins .

What is in Sylvia’s face but I may spy

More fresh in Julia’s , with a constant eye ?

VALENTINE , to Julia and Proteus

Come , come , a hand from either .

Let me be blest to make this happy close .

’Twere pity two such friends should be long foes .

Valentine joins the hands of Julia and Proteus .

PROTEUS

Bear witness , heaven , I have my wish forever .

JULIA

And I mine .

Enter Thurio , Duke , and Outlaws .

OUTLAWS

A prize , a prize , a prize !

VALENTINE

Forbear , forbear , I say . It is my lord the Duke .

The Outlaws release the Duke and Thurio .

Your Grace is welcome to a man disgraced ,

Banished Valentine .

DUKE

Sir Valentine ?

THURIO

Yonder is Sylvia , and Sylvia’s mine .

VALENTINE

Thurio , give back , or else embrace thy death ;

Come not within the measure of my wrath .

Do not name Sylvia thine ; if once again ,

Verona shall not hold thee . Here she stands ;

Take but possession of her with a touch —

I dare thee but to breathe upon my love !

THURIO

Sir Valentine , I care not for her , I .

I hold him but a fool that will endanger

His body for a girl that loves him not .

I claim her not , and therefore she is thine .

DUKE

The more degenerate and base art thou

To make such means for her as thou hast done ,

And leave her on such slight conditions . —

Now , by the honor of my ancestry ,

I do applaud thy spirit , Valentine ,

And think thee worthy of an empress’ love .

Know , then , I here forget all former griefs ,

Cancel all grudge , repeal thee home again ,

Plead a new state in thy unrivaled merit ,

To which I thus subscribe : Sir Valentine ,

Thou art a gentleman , and well derived ;

Take thou thy Sylvia , for thou hast deserved her .

VALENTINE

I thank your Grace , the gift hath made me happy .

I now beseech you , for your daughter’s sake ,

To grant one boon that I shall ask of you .

DUKE

I grant it for thine own , whate’er it be .

VALENTINE

These banished men , that I have kept withal ,

Are men endued with worthy qualities .

Forgive them what they have committed here ,

And let them be recalled from their exile ;

They are reformèd , civil , full of good ,

And fit for great employment , worthy lord .

DUKE

Thou hast prevailed ; I pardon them and thee .

Dispose of them as thou know’st their deserts .

Come , let us go ; we will include all jars

With triumphs , mirth , and rare solemnity .

VALENTINE

And as we walk along , I dare be bold

With our discourse to make your Grace to smile .

Pointing to Julia .

What think you of this page , my lord ?

DUKE

I think the boy hath grace in him ; he blushes .

VALENTINE

I warrant you , my lord , more grace than boy .

DUKE

What mean you by that saying ?

VALENTINE

Please you , I’ll tell you as we pass along ,

That you will wonder what hath fortunèd . —

Come , Proteus , ’tis your penance but to hear

The story of your loves discoverèd .

That done , our day of marriage shall be yours ,

One feast , one house , one mutual happiness .

They exit .