Val. NoValentine, if Silvia have forsworn me!— What is your news?

Launce. Sir, there is a proclamation that you are vanished.

Pro. That thou art banished-oh, that's the news!

From hence, from Silvia, and from me thy friend.
Val. Oh, I have fed upon this woe already,
And now excess of it will make me surfeit.
Doth Silvia know that I am banished?

Pro. Ay, ay; and she hath offer'd to the doom,—
Which, unrevers'd, stands in effectual force,—
A sea of melting pearl, which some call tears:
Those at her father's churlish feet she tender'd;
With them, upon her knees, her humble self;
Wringing her hands, whose whiteness so became
them,

As if but now they waxed 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 chaf'd him so,
When she for thy repeal was suppliant,
That to close prison he commanded her,
With many bitter threats of biding there.

Val. 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 dolour.
Pro.

Cease to lament for that thou can'st 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 deliver'd
Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love.1
The time now serves not to expostulate :
Come, I'll convey thee through the city-gate;

18. Bosom of thy love. It was formerly the fashion for women's stays to be made with a small pocket, wherein they kept love-letters and love-tokens; hence arose the custom for gallants to address their missives as Hamlet inscribes his to Ophelia :-" In her excellent white bosom, these."

And, ere I part with thee, confer at large
Of all that may concern thy love-affairs.
As thou lov'st Silvia, though not for thyself,
Regard thy danger, and along with me.

Val. I pray thee, Launce, an if thou see'st my boy,

Bid him make haste, and meet me at the north gate.

Pro. Go, sirrah, find him out.-Come, Valentine. Val. Oh,

my dear Silvia !-Hapless Valentine! [Exeunt VALENTINE and PROTEUS. Launce. 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.19 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 milkmaid; 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. [Pulling out a paper.] Here is the cat-log of her conditions. [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. “Item, She can milk;" look you, a sweet virtue in a maid with clean hands.

Enter SPEED.

Speed. How now, Signior Launce! what news with your mastership?

Launce. 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?

Launce. The blackest news that ever thou heardest.

Speed. Why, man, how black?
Launce. Why, as black as ink.
Speed. Let me read them.

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

Speed. Thou liest; I can.

Launce. I will try thee. Tell me this: who begot thee?

Speed. Marry, the son of my grandfather. Launce. Oh, 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.

19. But one knave. Possibly Launce means 'but a single knave; that is, an unmarried one. So long as his master does not crown his knavery by making his friend's intended wife his own, Launce thinks it passable; and while he thus indicates his discovery of his master's love-secret, proceeds to the discussion of

Launce. There; and Saint Nicholas be thy speed ! 20

Speed [reads]. "Item, She can milk."

Launce. Ay, that she can.

Speed. "Item, She brews good ale."

Launce. And thereof comes the proverb,— Blessing of your heart, you brew good ale.

Speed. "Item, She can sew.”

Speed. "Item, She is too liberal." Launce. 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."

Launce. Stop there; I'll have her: she was

Launce. What need a man care for a stock with a wench, when she can knit him a stock?a Speed. "Item, She can wash and scour."

Launce. A special virtue; for then she need not be washed and scoured.

Speed. "Item, She can spin."

Launce. Then may I set the world on wheels when she can spin for her living.

Speed. "Item, She hath many nameless virtues." Launce. That's as much as to say, bastard virtues; that, indeed, know not their fathers, and therefore have no names.

article. Rehearse that once more.

Speed. "Item, She hath more hair than wit,”Launce. More hair than wit,-it may be: I'll prove it. The cover of the salt 2 hides the salt, and therefore it's 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,"

Launce. That's monstrous: oh, that that were out!

Speed. "And more wealth than faults."

Launce. 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?

Launce. Why, then will I tell thee that thy master stays for thee at the north gate.

Speed. For me!

Launce. For thee! ay; who art thou? he hath stayed for a better man than thee.

Speed. And must I go to him?

Launce. Thou must run to him, for thou hast

turn.

Speed. Why didst not tell me sooner? plague of your love-letters!

[Exit. Launce. 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, [Exit.

SCENE II.-MILAN. A room in the DUKE's Palace. Enter DUKE and THURIO.

Duke. Sir Thurio, fear not but that she will love you,

Now Valentine is banish'd from her sight.

Thu. Since his exile she hath despis'd me most, Forsworn my company, and rail'd at me, That I am desperate of obtaining her.

22. A sweet mouth. What is now called 'a sweet tooth;' though Launce takes it in its more usual and literal sense. Shakespeare has here shown his knowledge of the fact, that an inordinate liking for and consumption of sweetmeats leads to injury of the stomach and consequent spoiling of the breath. 23. Curst. Shrewish.

24. The cover of the salt. The saltcellar, in old English days, was large and covered; forming an important article on the

Duke. This weak impress of love is as a figure Trenched 25 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?

Pro. Gone, my good lord.

Duke. My daughter takes his going grievously. Pro. 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 desertMakes me the better to confer with thee.

Pro. 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. Pro. I do, my lord.

Duke. And also, I think, thou art not ignorant How she opposes her against my will.

Pro. You have prevail'd, 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 28 from Valentine, It follows not that she will love Sir Thurio.

Thu. Therefore, as you unwind her love from

him,

29

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 Silvia 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.

Pro. 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 composed rhymes
Should be full-fraught with serviceable vows.

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

poesy.

Pro. Say that upon the altar of her beauty You sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart.

hate.

Pro. 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. Pro. And that, my lord, I shall be loth to do; 'Tis an ill office for a gentleman,

Especially against his very " friend.

Moist it again; and frame some feeling line
That may discover such integrity: 31

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

him,

Your slander never can endamage him;

Therefore the office is indifferent,

Being entreated to it by your friend.

dinner-table, and, placed somewhere near midway, serving as an indication of rank where various classes sat down to meals together. 'Above the salt' were placed those of superior grade: 'below the salt,' their inferiors.

23 Trenched. Cut, carved; French, tranché.

26. Persévers. Shakespeare frequently thus accents the word 'persevere.'

27. Very. True; Latin, verus. The title of one of Massinger's plays is 'A very Woman.' In this passage, "his very friend" means his own friend, his particular friend.

28. Weed her love. Shakespeare uses "weed" as we now say 'weed out;' to eradicate, to take away from. "To weed my vice," &c., "Measure for Measure," iii. 2. "To weed this wormwood from your fruitful brain," "Love's Labour Lost," v. 2.

Tune a deploring dump: 33 the night's dead silence Will well become such sweet complaining griev

ance.

This, or else nothing, wiil inherit & her.

29. To bottom it on me. A 'bottom' is a term used by seamstresses for that on which silk or thread is wound. 30. Lime. Birdlime.

31. Such integrity. Used here for integrity of such proceedings as have just been described. By this kind of transposition, Shakespeare sometimes makes a small word like "such" do duty elliptically in relation to a previous topic.

32. Consort. Formerly used for a company of musicians. Shakespeare makes Mercutio take the word in this sense, where he says, "Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels?"

33. Dump. A mournful ditty, an elegiac strain. 34. Inherit. This word was formerly used to indicate possession, without reference to obtaining by heirship.