Nay, more, our marriage hour,

With all the cunning manner of our flight,
Determin'd 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.
Pro. Go on before; I shall inquire you
I must unto the road,12 to disembark
Some necessaries that I needs must use;
And then I'll presently attend you.
Val. Will you make haste?

Pro. I will.

forth:

[Exit VALENTINE.

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,13 or Valentinus' praise,
Her true perfection, or my false transgression,
That makes me, reasonless, to reason thus ?
She's fair; and so is Julia, that I love;
That I did love, for now my love is thaw'd;
Which, like a waxen image 'gainst a fire,11

12 That is, the haven where the ships lie at anchor.

13 The original has, "It is mine, or Valentine's praise?" where the latter end, the mark, ?, seems to forget the beginning, It is. Mine eye is Warburton's emendation; and the pointing itself suggests the transposition of It is. Mr. Collier thinks the true reading may have been mine eyen, corrupted, as it might easily be, by the printer into mine. Malone's reading, Is it her mien, which is the one generally followed, seems something ajar with the context. That the name should here be Valentinus, is probable, because the verse requires it, and from its having been before used in that form, Act i. sc. 3.

H.

14 It was anciently supposed that if a witch made a waxen image of any one she wished to destroy or torment, and hung it by the fire, as the image wasted away the original would do so too.

Hence the allusion in the text.

H.

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,15
And that hath dazzled 16 my reason's light;
But when I look on her perfections,
There is no reason 17 but I shall be blind.
If I can check my erring love, I will;
If not, to compass her I'll use my skill.

SCENE V. The same. A Street.

Enter SPEED and LAUNCE.

[Exit.

Speed. Launce! by mine honesty, welcome to Milan!

Laun. Forswear not thyself, sweet youth; for I am not welcome. I reckon this always that a man is never undone, till he be hang'd; 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

15 Dr. Johnson censures the Poet for making Proteus say he has but seen the "picture" of Silvia, when he has just been talking with the lady herself. The great Doctor was not great enough to catch Shakespeare so, and in this case he made a blunder, instead of finding one. Proteus wants to get deeper in love with Silvia, and so resorts to the argument, that the little he has seen of her is as though he had but seen her picture. The figure is not more apt for his purpose than beautiful in itself. Advice, in the two lines above, is used in the sense of acquaintance.

16 Dazzled is used as a trisyllable.

17 Reason is here used in the sense of doubt.

н.

H.

five pence thou shalt have five thousand welcomes. But, sirrah, how did thy master part with madam Julia?

Laun. Marry, after they clos'd in earnest, they parted very fairly in jest.

Speed. But shall she marry him?

Laun. No.

Speed. How then? Shall he marry her?
Laun. No, neither.

Speed. What, are they broken?

Laun. No, they are both as whole as a fish. Speed. Why, then, how stands the matter with

them ?

Laun. Marry, thus: when it stands well with him, it stands well with her.

not.

Speed. What an ass art thou! I understand thee

Laun. What a block art thou, that thou canst not! My staff understands me.

Speed. What thou say'st?

Laun. Ay, and what I do too: look thee; I'll but lean, and my staff understands me.

Speed. It stands under thee, indeed.

Laun. Why, stand-under and under-stand is all

one.

Speed. But tell me true, will't be a match?

Laun. 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.

Laun. Thou shalt never get such a secret from me, but by a parable.

Speed. 'Tis well that I get it so. But, Launce, how say'st thou,' that my master is become a notable lover?

1 That is, what say'st thou to this.

Laun. I never knew him otherwise.

Speed. Than how?

Laun. A notable lubber, as thou reportest him to be?

me.

Speed. Why, thou whoreson ass! thou mistak'st

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

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

Laun. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn himself in love. If thou wilt go with me to the alehouse, so; if not, thou art a Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a Christian.

Speed. Why?

Laun. Because thou hast not so much charity in thee, as to go to the ale with a Christian.2

thou go ?

Speed. At thy service.

SCENE VI.

Wilt

[Exeunt.

The same. An Apartment in the Palace.

Enter PROTEUS.

Pro. To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn; To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn;

To wrong my friend, I shall be much forsworn; And even that power, which gave me first my oath, Provokes me to this threefold perjury.

Love bade me swear, and love bids me forswear:

2 The festivals of the Church were often celebrated with merrymakings, of which ale-drinking formed a part: hence they were called "Ales," and "Church Ales." Before the days of Puritanism, of course none but Jews would refuse to go to the Ale with a Christian." Launce is quibbling still, as usual.

H.

1

O sweet-suggesting love! if thou hast sinn'd,
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 resolved will
To learn his wit to exchange the bad for better.
Fie, fie, unreverend tongue! to call her bad,
Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferr'd
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, Silvia.
I to myself am dearer than a friend;
For love is still most precious in itself:
And Silvia, (witness heaven, that made her fair !)
Shows Julia but a swarthy Ethiope.

I will forget that Julia is alive,
Remembering that my love to her is dead;
And Valentine I'll hold an enemy,
Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend.
I cannot now prove constant to myself,
Without some treachery us'd to Valentine:
This night, he meaneth with a corded ladder
To climb celestial Silvia's chamber-window;
Myself in counsel, his competitor : 2

That is, sweetly-tempting. To suggest, in the language of our ancestors, was to tempt.

2 Competitor here means confederate, assistant, partner. Thus in Ant. Cleop. Act v. sc. 1:

"That thou my brother, my competitor

In top of all design, my mate in empire,
Friend and companion in the front of war."