As much I wish all good befortune you. Sil. This evening coming. Egl. Where shall I meet you? Sil. At friar Patrick's cell, Where I intend holy confession. Sil. Good-morrow, kind sir Eglamour. SCENE IV. The same. Enter LAUNCE, with his dog. [Exeunt. When a man's servant shall play the cur with him, look you, it goes hard: one, that I brought up of a puppy: one, that I saved from drowning, when three or four of his blind brothers and sisters went to it! I have taught him-even as one would say precisely, Thus I would teach a dog. I was sent to deliver him, as a present to mistress Silvia, from my master; and I came no sooner into the dining-chamber, but he steps me to her trencher, and steals her capon's leg. Oh, '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 dog3 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 gentlemen-like 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 2 keep himself —] i. e. restrain himself. Steevsns. 3 — to be a dog—] I believe we should read-I would have, &c. one that takes upon him to be a dog, to be a dog indeed, to be, &c. Johnson. 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 their servant?5 Nay, I'll be sworn, I have sat in the stocks for puddings he hath stolen, otherwise he had been executed: I have stood on the pillory for geese he hath killed, otherwise he had suffered for 't: thou think'st not of this now!-Nay, I remember the trick you served me, when I took my leave of madam Silvia; did not I bid thee still mark me, and do as I do? When 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. Pro. Sebastian is thy name? I like thee well, And will employ thee in some service presently. Jul. In what you please;-I will do what I can. Pro. I hope, thou wilt.-How now, you whoreson [To LAUN. peasant! Where have you been these two days loitering? Laun. Marry, sir, I carried mistress Silvia the dog you bade me. 4 The fellow, that whips the dogs:] This appears to have been part of the office of an usher of the table. So, in Mucedorus: "I'll prove my office good: for look you, &c.-When a dog chance to blow his nose backward, then with a whip I give him good time of the day, and strew rushes presently." Steevens. 5 their servant?] The old copy reads-his servant? Corrected by Mr. Pope. Malone. Steevens. 6 madam Silvia;] Perhaps we should read of madam Julia. It was Julia only of whom a formal leave could have been taken. Steevens. Dr. Warburton, without any necessity, I think, reads—Julią ; "alluding to the leave his master and he took when they left Verona." But it appears from a former scene, (as Mr. Heath has observed) that Launce was not present, when Proteus and Julia parted. Launce on the other hand has just taken leave of, i. e. parted from, (for that is all that is meant) madam Silvia. Malone. Though Launce was not present, when Julia and Proteus parted, it by no means follows that he and Crab had not likewise their audience of leave. Ritson, 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? 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, Witness good bringing up, fortune, and truth: 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 di. minutive 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. an end,] i. e. in the end, at the conclusion of every business he undertakes. Steevens. 8 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: 9 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; Pro. Well, give her that ring, and therewithal 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: 66 and here he stands; "I dare be sworn for him, he would not leave it, And Bassanio says, in a subsequent scene: "If you did know to whom I gave the ring, &c. "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. This ring I gave him, when he parted from me, 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, As, heaven, it knows, I would not have him speed. Gentlewoman, good day! I pray you, be my mean Jul. From my master, sir Proteus, madam. 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, Pardon me, madam; I have unadvis'd Sil. I pray thee, let me look on that again. Jul. It may not be; good madam, pardon me. ♦ To carry that, which I would have refus'd; &c.] Thẹ sense is, to go and present that, which I wish not to be accepted, to praise him, whom I wish to be dispraised. Johnson. |