And ever, as it blaz'd, they threw on him Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair. My master preaches patience to him and the while His man with scissors nicks him like a fool, 175 And sure, unless you send some present help, Between them they will kill the conjurer. Adr. Peace, fool! thy master and his man are here, And that is false thou dost report to us. Mess. Mistress, upon my life, I tell you true; I have not breath'd almost since I did see it. 181 He cries for you, and vows, if he can take you, To scorch your face and to disfigure you. [Cry within. Hark, hark! I hear him, mistress. Fly, be gone! Duke. Come, stand by me; fear nothing. Guard with halberds! 185 Adr. Ay me, it is my husband! Witness you, That he is borne about invisible. Even now we hous'd him in the abbey here; And now he's there, past thought of human To-day did dine together. So befall my soul But she tells to your highness simple truth! sworn. In this the madman justly chargeth them. Ant. E. My liege, I am advised what I say, Neither disturbed with the effect of wine, Nor heady-rash, provok'd with raging ire, Albeit my wrongs might make one wiser mad. This woman lock'd me out this day from dinner, That goldsmith there, were he not pack'd with her, Could witness it, for he was with me then; = Who parted with me to go fetch a chain, Promising to bring it to the Porpentine, Where Balthazar and I did dine together. Our dinner done, and he not coming thither, I went to seek him. In the street I met him And in his company that gentleman. There did this perjur'd goldsmith swear me down That I this day of him receiv'd the chain, I did obey, and sent my peasant home To go in person with me to my house. My wife, her sister, and a rabble more A mere anatomy, a mountebank, A threadbare juggler and a fortune-teller, 2 Till, gnawing with my teeth my bonds in sundet For these deep shames and great indignities. Ang. My lord, in truth, thus far I witnes with him, That he din'd not at home, but was lock'd ou Duke. But had he such a chain of thee or no Ang. He had, my lord; and when he ran i here, These people saw the chain about his neck. Heard you confess you had the chain of him: In sap-consuming winter's drizzled snow, Ant. E. I never saw my father in my life. 319 Ege. But seven years since, in Syracusa, boy, Thou know'st we parted; but perhaps, my son, Thou sham'st to acknowledge me in misery. Ant. E. The Duke and all that know me in the city Can witness with me that it is not so. I ne'er saw Syracusa in my life. 325 Duke. I tell thee, Syracusian, twenty years Have I been patron to Antipholus, During which time he ne'er saw Syracusa. I see thy age and dangers make thee dote. Re-enter ABBESS, with ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse and DROMIO of Syracuse. Abb. Most mighty Duke, behold a man much wrong'd. [All gather to see them. 330 Adr. I see two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me. Duke. One of these men is Genius to the other; And so of these. Which is the natural man, And which the spirit? Who deciphers them? Dro. S. I, sir, am Dromio; command him And all that are assembled in this place, The Duke, my husband, and my children both. Duke. With all my heart, I'll gossip at this feast. [Exeunt all but Ant. S., Ant. E., Dro. S., and Dro. E. Dro. S. Master, shall I go fetch your stuff from shipboard? Ant. E. Dromio, what stuff of mine hast thou embark'd? Dro. S. Your goods that lay at host, sir, in the Centaur. Come, go with us; we'll look to that anon. That kitchen'd me for you to-day at dinner; 415 I see by you I am a sweet-fac'd youth. it ? THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA No text of this play exists earlier than that in the First Folio, and on it the present edition is based. The title is mentioned by Meres in his Palladis Tamia (1598), and the internal evidence points to a stil earlier date. Estimates have varied from 1591 to 1595. The metrical evidence is ambiguous. Rimes are not so frequent as in Love's Labour's Lost and some other early plays; while, on the other hand, the occurrence of doggerel lines, of verses rimed alternately, and of sonnets, points to the earliest group. To these should be added the unskilfulness of the dénouement, and the presence of what appear to be first sketches of characters and devices which are elaborated in Later plays. Such are the contrast of the two heroines; the clowns; and the scene in which Julia discusses her suitors with her maid. None of the supposed references to current events or publitations is of weight as evidence; and the theory that the play was written at two different times received little support. The most important source so far found for the plot is in the story of the shepherdess Felismena Ihana Enamorada, a collection of romances in Spanish by Jorge de Montemayor, published in 42 No printed English version of Diana appeared before that of Bartholomew Yonge in 1598, but this had existed in manuscript since about 1582. Other manuscript versions were in existence, there is no great difficulty in supposing that Shakespeare knew the story from this source. Further, it is possible, but by no means certain, that the lost play called Felix and Philiomena, which was acted at Greenwich in 1584, may have dealt with the same theme. Felismena in Montemayor's romance corresponds to Shakespeare's Julia, and Felix to Proteus; and it is Julia's part of the plot that is found in the Spanish tale. The courtship of Felismena Felix is much more minutely described in the novel, but its general character is retained by the dramatist. The scene in which Lucetta offers Proteus's letter to Julia follows closely the action of the corresponding scene in the original. The sending of Proteus to court, Julia's folwing him in disguise as a man, the scene in which she overhears the serenade to her rival, her aking service with Proteus as a page and being sent to Silvia as a messenger, her expressions of sympathy with her own case in her conversation with Proteus, her discussion of the awkwardof her position when she is sent to plead with Silvia against her own interest, her report of her own beauty to her rival, and Silvia's distrust of Proteus because of his unfaithfulness to his Erst love, are the main features in which the play follows the romance. On the other hand, the Pharacter of Valentine is completely absent in Montemayor, so that Proteus's treachery in friendship is no part of his character in the novel. Moreover, Celia, who corresponds to Shakespeare's via, falls in love with the disguised Felismena (as Olivia does with Viola in Twelfth Night), and finding her love unreciprocated, voluntarily ends her life. The events by which Felix and Framena are finally brought together bear no resemblance to the closing scenes of The Two A volume of Englische Comedien und Tragedien published in Germany in 1620 contains a play with a strong resemblance to the Silvia plot of the present comedy. It is a crude German production of an English tragedy now lost, which had been performed by English actors in many. In it Julius corresponds to Proteus, Romulus to Valentine, and Hippolyta to Silvia. be play ends with the killing of Julius by Romulus, and the suicides of Romulus and Hippolyta. quite possible that the original was the Phillipo and Hewpolyto mentioned in Henslowe's Lary, and that it formed the source of that part of Shakespeare's plot which deals with the reations of Proteus and Silvia to Valentine. The alleged reminiscences of Sidney's Arcadia and Brookes's Romeus and Juliet are unim SCENE I. [Verona. An open place.] Enter VALENTINE and PROTEUS. Val. Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus. Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits. Were 't not affection chains thy tender days To the sweet glances of thy honour'd love, I rather would entreat thy company To see the wonders of the world abroad Than, living dully sluggardiz'd at home, Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness. But since thou lov'st, love still and thrive therein, Even as I would when I to love begin. 5 10 Pro. Wilt thou be gone? Sweet Valentine, adieu ! Think on thy Proteus, when thou haply seest Some rare note-worthy object in thy travel. Wish me partaker in thy happiness When thou dost meet good hap; and in thy danger, If ever danger do environ thee, 15 Val. And on a love-book pray for my success? Pro. Upon some book I love I'll pray for thee. 20 Val. That's on some shallow story of deep love, How young Leander cross'd the Hellespont. Pro. That's a deep story of a deeper love, For he was more than over shoes in love. Val. 'Tis true; for you are over boots in love, And yet you never swam the Hellespont. 25 Pro. Over the boots? Nay, give me not the boots. Val. No, I will not, for it boots thee not. Pro. What? Val. To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans; Coy looks with heart-sore sighs; one fading moment's mirth With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights: Pro. So, by your circumstance, you call me fool. Val. So, by your circumstance, I fear you'll prove. Pro. 'Tis love you cavil at; I am not Love. Val. Love is your master, for he masters you; And he that is so yoked by a fool, Methinks, should not be chronicled for wise. Pro. Yet writers say, as in the sweetest bud The eating canker dwells, so eating love Inhabits in the finest wits of all. Val. And writers say, as the most forward bud Is eaten by the canker ere it blow, Once more adieu! My father at the road Val. Sweet Proteus, no; now let us take our leave. To Milan let me hear from thee by letters Val. As much to you at home! and so fare- Pro. He after honour hunts, I after love. He leaves his friends to dignify them more; I leave myself, my friends, and all, for love. * |