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Pro. And what says she to my little jewel?

Laun. Marry, she says, your dog was a cur; and tells you, currish thanks is good enough for such a present. Pro. But she received my dog?

Laun. No, indeed, she did not: here have I brought him back again.

Pro. What, didst thou offer her this from me?

Laun. Ay, sir; the other squirrel' was stolen from me by the hangman's boys in the 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.

Pro. Go, get thee hence, and find my dog again, Or ne'er return again into my sight.

Away, I say: Stay'st thou to vex me here?

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A slave, that, still an end, turns me to shame.

Sebastian, I have entertained thee,

[Exit LAUN.

Partly, that I have need of such a youth,
That can with some discretion do my business;
For 'tis no trusting to yon foolish lout;
But, chiefly, for thy face, and thy behaviour;
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 Silvia:

7 the other squirrel, &c.] Sir T. Hanmer reads-" the other, Squirrel," &c. and consequently makes Squirrel the proper name of the beast. Perhaps Launce only speaks of it as of a diminutive animal, more resembling a squirrel in size, than a dog. Steevens.

The subsequent words,- -"who is a dog, as big as ten of yours," shew that Mr. Steevens's interpretation is the true one. Malone.

8 an end,] i. e. in the end, at the conclusion of every business he undertakes. Steevens.

Still an end, and most an end, are vulgar expressions, and mean commonly, generally. So, in Massinger's Very Woman, a Citizen asks the Master, who had slaves to sell, "What will that girl do?" To which he replies:

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66 sure no harm at all, sir,

"For she sleeps most an end." M. Mason.

know thou,] The old copy has-thee. The emendation was made by the editor of the second folio. Malone.

She loved me well, deliver'd it to me.1

Jul. It seems, you lov'd her not, to leave her token:2 She 's dead, belike.3

Pro.

Jul. Alas!

Not so; I think, she lives.

Pro. Why dost thou cry, alas?

Jul. I cannot choose but pity her.

Pro. Wherefore should'st thou pity her?

Jul. Because, methinks, that she lov'd you as well,

As you do love your lady Silvia:

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!

Pro. Well, give her that ring, and therewithal This letter;-that 's her chamber.-Tell my lady, I claim the promise for her heavenly picture. Your message done, hie home unto my chamber,

1 She loved me well, deliver'd it to me.] i. e. She, who delivered it to me, loved me well. Malone.

2 It seems, you lov'd her not, to leave her token:] Proteus does not properly leave his lady's token, he gives it away. The old edition has it:

It seems you lov'd her not, not leave her token.

I should correct it thus:

It seems you loved her not, nor love her token. Johnson. The emendation was made in the second folio.

Malone.

Johnson, not recollecting the force of the word leave, proposes an amendment of this passage, but that is unnecessary; for, in the language of the time, to leave means to part with, or give away. Thus, in The Merchant of Venice, Portia, speaking of the ring she gave Bassanio, says:

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and here he stands;

"I dare be sworn for him, he would not leave it,
"Or pluck it from his finger, for the wealth

"That the world masters."

And Bassanio says, in a subsequent scene:

"If you did know to whom I gave the ring, &c.
"And how unwillingly I left the ring,

"You would abate the strength of your displeasure."

M. Mason.

To leave, is used with equal licence, in a former scene, for to

cease.

"I leave to be, &c. Malone.

3 She's dead, belike.] This is said, in reference to what Proteus had asserted to Silvia in a former scene; viz. that both Julia and Valentine were dead. Steevens.

U

Where thou shalt find me sad and solitary. [Exit PRO.
Jul. How many women would do such a message?
Alas! poor Proteus! thou hast entertain'd

A fox, to be the shepherd of thy lambs:
Alas! poor fool! why do I pity him,
That with his very heart despiseth me?
Because he loves her, he despiseth me;
Because I love him, I must pity him.

This ring I gave him, when he parted from me,
To bind him to remember my good will:
And now am I (unhappy messenger!)

To plead for that, which I would not obtain;

To carry that which I would have refus'd;

To praise his faith, which I would have disprais'd.*

I am my master's true confirmed love;

But cannot be true servant to my master,

Unless I prove false traitor to myself.
Yet I will woo for him; but yet so coldly,

As, heaven, it knows, I would not have him speed.
Enter SILVIA, attended.

Gentlewoman, good day! I pray you, be my mean
To bring me where to speak with madam Silvia.
Sil. What would you with her, if that I be she?
Jul. If you be she, I do entreat your patience
To hear me speak the message I am sent on.
Sil. From whom?

Jul. From my master, sir Proteus, madam.
Sil. O he sends you for a picture?

Jul. Ay, madam.

Sil. Ursula, bring my picture there. [Picture brought. Go, give your master this: tell him, from me,

One Julia, that his changing thoughts forget,
Would better fit his chamber, than this shadow.
Jul. Madam, please you peruse this letter.-

Pardon me, madam; I have unadvis'd
Deliver'd you a paper that I should not;

This is the letter to your ladyship.

Sil. I pray thee, let me look on that again.

Jul. It may not be; good madam, pardon me.

4 To carry that, which I would have refus'd; &c.] The sense is, to go and present that, which I wish not to be accepted, to praise him, whom I wish to be dispraised. Johnson.

Sil. There, hold.

I will not look upon your master's lines:
I know, they are stuff'd with protestations,

And full of new-found oaths; which he will break,
As easily as I do tear his paper.

Jul. Madam, he sends your ladyship this ring.

Sil. The more shame for him, that he sends it me; For I have heard him say a thousand times, His Julia gave it him at his departure: Though his false finger hath profan'd the ring, Mine shall not do his Julia so much wrong.

Jul. She thanks you.

Sil. What say'st thou?

Jul. I thank you, madam, that you tender her: Poor gentlewoman! my master wrongs her much. Sil. Dost thou know her?

Jul. Almost as well as I do know myself: To think upon her woes, I do protest,

That I have wept an hundred several times.

Sil. Belike, she thinks that Proteus hath forsook her.
Jul. I think she doth, and that 's her cause of sorrow.
Sil. Is she not passing fair?

Jul. She hath been fairer, madam, than she is:
When she did think my master lov'd 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 stary'd the roses in her cheeks,
And pinch'd the lily-tincture of her face,5
That now she is become as black as I.
Sil. How tall was she?6

Jul. About my stature: for, at Pentecost,

5 And pinch'd the lily-tincture of her face,] The colour of a part pinched, is livid, as it is commonly termed, black and blue. The weather may therefore be justly said to pinch, when it produces the same visible effect. I believe this is the reason why the cold is said to pinch. Johnson.

Cleopatra says of herself:

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think on me,

"That am with Phœbus' amorous pinches, black." Steevens. 6 Sil. How tall was she?] We should read-" How tall is she?" For that is evidently the question, which Silvia means to ask.

Ritson.

When all our pageants of delight were play'd,
Our youth got me to play the woman's part,
And I was trimm'd in madam Julia's gown;
Which served me as fit, by all men's judgment
As if the garment had been made for me:
Therefore, I know she is about my height.
And, at that time, I made her weep a-good,"
For I did play a lamentable part:
Madam, 'twas Ariadne, passioning
For Theseus' perjury, and unjust flight;&
Which I so lively acted with my tears,
That my poor mistress, moved therewithal,
Wept bitterly; and, would I might be dead,
If I in thought felt not her very sorrow!

Sil. She is beholden to thee, gentle youth!-
Alas, poor lady! desolate and left!-

I weep myself, to think upon thy words.

Here, youth, there is my purse; I give thee this
For thy sweet mistress' sake, because thou lov'st her.
Farewel.

[Exit SIL. Jul. And she shall thank you for't, if e'er you know her. A virtuous gentlewoman, mild, and beautiful.

I hope my master's suit will be but cold,

Since she respects my mistress' love so much.

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-weep a-good,] i. e. in good earnest.

Tout de bon. Fr.

So, in Turberville's translation of Ovid's epistle from Ariadne to Theseus:

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beating of my breast a-good." Steevens.

So, in Marlowe's Few of Malta, 1633:

"And therewithal their knees have rankled so,
"That I have laugh'd a-good." Malone.

-'twas Ariadne, passioning, &c.] To passion is used as a verb, by writers contemporary with Shakspeare. In The Blind Beggar of Alexandria, printed 1598, we meet with the same expression: " what, art thou passioning over the picture of Cle

anthes?"

Again, in Eliosto Libidinoso, a novel, by John Hinde, 1606: "—if thou gaze on a picture, thou must, with Pigmalion, be passionate."

Again, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. III, c. 12:

"Some argument of matter passioned." Steevens. 'twas Ariadne, passioning-] On her being deserted by Theseus in the night, and left on the island of Naxos.

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Malone.

my mistress' love so much.] She had in her preceding speech called Julia her mistress; but it is odd enough that she

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