With bitter fasts, with penitential groans, Love hath chas'd sleep from my enthralled eyes, And hath so humbled me, as, I confess, Nor, to his service, no such joy on earth! Pro. Enough; I read your fortune in your eye : Val. Even she; and is she not a heavenly saint? Val. Call her divine. Pro. I will not flatter her. Val. O, flatter me; for love delights in praises. Pro. When I was sick, you gave me bitter pills; And I must 'minister the like to you. Val. Then speak the truth by her; if not divine, Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth. Val. Sweet, except not any; Except thou wilt except against my love. Pro. Why, Valentine, what braggardism is this? Pro. Then let her alone. Vol. Not for the world: why, man, she is mine own; And I as rich in having such a jewel, As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold. Val. Ay, and we are betroth'd; With all the cunning manner of our flight, Pro. I will. Even as one heat another heat expels, forth: Or as one nail by strength drives out another, Is by a newer object quite forgotten. Her true perfection, or my false transgression, [Exit VAL. [7] Alluding to the figures made by witches, as representatives of those whom they design to torment or destroy. STEEVENS. King James ascribes these images to the devil, in his treatise of Dæmonologie to some others at these times he teacheth how to make pictures of waxe or claye, that by the roasting thereof the persons that they bear the name of may be continually melted, and dried away by continual sicknesse." See Servius on the 8th Eclogue of Virgil, Theocritus Idyl. 2. 22. Hudibras, p. 2. 1. 2. v. 331. S. W. That thus without advice begin to love her? SCENE V. [Exit. The same. A street. Enter SPEED and LAUNCE. 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 hanged; nor never welcome to a place, till some certain shot be paid, and the hostess say, welcome. Speed. Come on, you mad-cap, I'll to the alehouse with you presently; where, for one shot of five pence, thou shalt have five thousand welcomes. But, sirrah, how did thy master part with madam Julia? Laun. Marry, after they closed 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. Speed. What an ass art thou! I understand thee not. Laun. What a block art thou, that thou canst not; My staff understands me. and Speed. What thou say'st? Laun. Ay, and what I do too: look thee, I'll but lean, my staff understands me. Speed. It stands under thee, indeed Laun. Why, stand under and understand is all one. Speed. But tell me true, will't be a match? [8] I believe Proteus means, that, as yet, he had seen only her outward form, without having known her long enough to have any acquaintance with her mind. STEEVENS 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? Laun. I never knew him otherwise. Speed. Than how? Laun. A notable lubber, as thou reportest him to be. Speed. Why, thou whorseson ass, thou mistakest me. 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 an 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 ale9 with a Christian: Wilt thou go ? Speed. At thy service. SCENE VI. [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, Love bade me swear, and love bids me forswear: To learn his wit to exchange the bad for better.- [9] Ales were merry meetings instituted in country places. STEEVENS. But there I leave to love, where I should love. If I keep them, I needs must lose myself; I will forget that Julia is alive, SCENE VII. Verona. A room in JULIA's house. LUCETTA. [Exit Enter JULIA and Jul. Counsel, Lucetta; gentle girl, assist me ! Luc. Alas! the way is wearisome and long. [1] Competitor is confederate, assistant, partner. STEEVENS. |