Luc. Ay, madam, you may say what sights you see; I see things too, although you judge I wink.

Jul. Come, come; will't please you go?

SCENE III.

[Exeunt.

· The Same. A Room in ANTONIO'S House. Enter ANTONIO and PANTHINO.

Ant. Tell me, Panthino, what sad1 talk was that Wherewith my brother held you in the cloister? Pan. 'Twas of his nephew Proteus, your son. Ant. Why, what of him?

Pan.

He wonder'd 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 impórtune you

To let him spend his time no more at home,

Which would be great impeachment 2 to his age,

In having known no travel in his youth.

Ant. Nor need'st thou much impórtune me to that Whereon this month I have been hammering.

I have consider'd well his loss of time,

And how he cannot be a perfect man,
Not being tried and tutor'd in the world:
Experience is by industry achieved,

hath not a month's mind to a combat?" In its origin the phrase probably referred to a woman's longing in the first month of pregnancy.

1 Sad was continually used for grave, serious, or earnest.

2 Impeachment here is reproach or disqualification.

And perfected by the swift course of time.

Then, tell me, whither were I best to send him?
Pan. I think your lordship is not ignorant
How his companion, youthful Valentine,
Attends the Emperor in his royal Court.

Ant. I know it well.

Pan. 'Twere good, I think, your lordship sent him thither : There shall he practise tilts and tournaments,

Hear sweet discourse, converse with noblemen,
And be in eye of every exercise

Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth.

Ant. 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.

Pan. To-morrow, 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.

Ant. Good company; with them shall Proteus go: And in good time! now will we break with him.3

Enter PROTEUS.

Pro. Sweet love! sweet lines! sweet life!
Here is her hand, the agent of her heart;
Here is her oath for love, her honour's pawn.

O, that our fathers would applaud our loves,
To seal our happiness with their consents!

O heavenly Julia!

Ant. How now! what letter are you reading there?

3 To break with any one formerly meant to break or open a matter to him. Shakespeare has it thus repeatedly." In good time" is the same as our phrase, "In the nick of time."

Pro. May't please your lordship, 'tis a word or two Of commendations sent from Valentine,

Deliver'd by a friend that came from him.

Ant. Lend me the letter; let me see what news.

Pro. There is no news, my lord; but that he writes How happily he lives, how well beloved,

And daily graced by the Emperor ;

Wishing me with him, partner of his fortune.

Ant. And how stand you affected to his wish?
Pro. As one relying on your lordship's will,

And not depending on his friendly wish.

Ant. 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 4 thou shalt have from me.
To-morrow be in readiness to go:

Excuse it not, for I am peremptory.

Pro. My lord, I cannot be so soon provided:

Please you, deliberate a day or two.

Ant. Look, what thou want'st shall be sent after thee:

No more of stay; to-morrow thou must go.

Come on, Panthino: you shall be employ'd

To hasten on his expedition.

[Exeunt ANT. and PAN.

Pro. Thus have I shunn'd the fire for fear of burning, And drench'd me in the sea, where I am drown'd.

I fear'd 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.

4 Exhibition is allowance of money; still used so in the English Universities.

O, how this Spring of love resembleth 5

Th' uncertain glory of an April day,

Which now shows all the beauty of the Sun,
And by-and-by a cloud takes all away!

Re-enter PANTHINO.

Pan. Sir Proteus, your father calls for you: He is in haste; therefore, I pray you, go.

Pro. Why, this it is, my

heart accords thereto,

And yet a thousand times it answers, No.

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I. - Milan. A Room in the DUKE's Palace.

Enter VALENTINE and SPEED.

Speed. [Picking up a glove.] Sir, your glove.

Val.

Not mine; my gloves are on.

Speed. Why, then this may be yours, for this is but one.1 Val. Ha, let me see: ay, give it me, it's mine : Sweet ornament that decks a thing divine!

Ah, Silvia, Silvia!

Speed. [Calling.] Madam Silvia, Madam Silvia!
Val. How now, sirrah!

Speed. She is not within hearing, sir.

Val. Why, sir, who bade you call her?

Speed. Your Worship, sir; or else I mistook.

Val. Well, you'll still be too forward.

5 Resembleth is here meant to be a word of four syllables, as if it were spelt resembeleth.

1 On and one were formerly sounded alike, and sometimes written so. That is the ground of the poor quibble here.

Speed. And yet I was last chidden for being too slow. Val. Go to, sir: tell me, do you know Madam Silvia? Speed. She that your Worship loves?

Val. Why, how know you that I am in love?

Speed. Marry, by these special marks: First, you have learn'd, 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 school-boy that had lost his A B C ; to weep, like a young wench that had buried her grandam; to fast, like one that takes diet;3 to watch, like one that fears robbing; to speak puling, like a beggar at Hallowmas. You were wont, when you laugh'd, to crow like a cock; when you walk'd, to walk like one of the lions; when you fasted, it was presently after dinner; when you look'd sadly, it was for want of money: and now you are so metamorphosed with a mistress, that, when I look on you, I can hardly think you my master. Val. Are all these things perceived in me?

Speed. They are all perceived without ye.

Val. Without me! they cannot.

Speed. Without you! nay, that's certain, for, without 5 you were so simple, none else would: but you are so without these follies, that these follies are within you, and shine

2 Go to is a phrase met with continually in old colloquial English; often meaning hush up, sometimes come on, and sometimes carrying a sense not easy to define; somewhat like the Latin age.

8 To take diet is to be under a regimen for a disease.

4 The feast of All-hallows or All Saints, at which time the poor in some places used to go from parish to parish a-souling, as they called it; that is, begging and puling, (or singing small, as Bailey explains puling,) for soul-cakes, and singing what they called the souler's song. All which means that the beggars were to pray for the souls of the giver's departed friends.

5 Speed is punning with all his speed. Here, without is unless. His first without is meant in the sense of exterior, or on the outside; and Valentine takes it in the sense of absence, or without my presence.