Abb. Renowned duke, vouchsafe to take the pains To go with us into the abbey here And hear at large discoursed all our fortunes : The duke, my husband and my children both, Duke. With all my heart, I'll gossip at this Dro. S. Master, shall I fetch your stuff from shipboard? cious lord, Dro. E. And I with him. famous warrior, Duke Menaphon, your most renowned uncle. Adr. Which of you two did dine with me to-day? Ant. E. Dromio, what stuff of mine hast Did call me brother. [To Luc.] What I told you then, I hope I shall have leisure to make good; Ang. That is the chain, sir, which you had of me. thou embark'd? Ant. 8. I think it be, sir; I deny it not. 380 Ang. I think I did, sir; I deny it not. Dro. S. There is a fat friend at your master's house, That kitchen'd me for you to-day at dinner : By Dromio; but I think he brought it not. She now shall be my sister, not my wife. Dro. E. No, none by me. Dro. E. Methinks you are my glass, and not Ant. S. This purse of ducats I received my brother: from you, I see by you I am a sweet-faced youth. And Dromio, my man, did bring them me. And I was ta'en for him, and he for me, And thereupon these ERRORS are arose. Ant. E. These ducats pawn I for my father [his life. here. Duke. It shall not need; thy father hath you 391 Will you walk in to see their gossiping ? Dro. S. Not I, sir; you are my elder. 420 try it ? Dro. S. We'll draw cuts for the senior. till then lead thou first. Dro. E. Nay, then, thus : We came into the world like brother and brother; Ant. E. There, take it; and much thanks | And now let's go hand in hand, not one before for my good cheer. [Exeunt. another. THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. 'WRITTEN ABOUT 1592-93.1 INTRODUCTION. This play, though slightly worked out in parts, exhibits an advance on the preceding comedies. The Errors was a elever tangle of diverting incidents, with a few passages of lyric beauty, and one of almost tragic pathos; Love's Labour's Lost was a play of glittering and elaborate dialogue. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona Shakespeare struck into a new path, which he was to pursue with admirable results; it is his earliest comedy in which a romantic love-story is told in dramatic form. Here first he records the tender and passionate history of a woman's heart, and the adventures to which love may prompt her. Jalia is the first of that charming group of children of Shakespeare's imagination which includes Viola, Portia, Rosalind, and Imogen-women who assume, under some constraint of fortune, the disguise of male attire, and who, while submitting to their transformation, forfeit none of the grace, the modesty, the sensitive delicacy, or the pretty wilfulness of their sex. Launce, accompanied by his immortal dog, leads the train of Shakespeare's humorous clowns: his rich, grotesque humanity is "worth all the light, fantastic interludes of Boyet and Adriano, Costard and Holofernes," worth all the "dancing doggerel or broad-witted prose of either Dromio." The characters of the play are clearly conceived, and contrasted with almost too obvious a design: the faithful Valentine is set over against the faithless Proteus; the bright and clever Sylvia is set over against the tender and ardent Julia; the clown Speed, notable as a verbal wit and quibbler, is set over against the humorous Launce. The general theme of the play may be defined as love and friendship, with their mutual relations. The date of the play cannot be definitely fixed; but its place among the comedies is probably after Love's Labour's Lost and before A Midsummer Night's Dream. The language and verse are characterized by an even sweetness; rhymed lines and doggerel verses are lessening in number; the blank verse is written with careful regularity. It is as if Shakespeare were giving up his early licences of versification, were aiming at a more refined style (which occasionally became a little tame), but being still a novice in the art of writing blank verse, were timid and failed to write it with the freedom and "happy valiancy" which distinguish his later her. The story of the play is identical in many particulars with The Story of the Shepherdess manner. Felismena in the Spanish pastoral romance, Diana, by George of Montemayor; but though mauscript translations of the Diana existed at an earlier date, no translation was published before that of Yonge, in 1598. Valentine's consenting to become captain of the robbers' band has been compared with a somewhat similar incident in Sidney's Arcadia, but the coincidences are slight, and it may be doubted that Shakespeare had then any thought of the Arcadia. Pro. 'Tis love you cavil at: I am not Love. Val. Love is your master, for he masters Pro. He after honor hunts, I after love: He leaves his friends to dignify them more, I leave myself, my friends and all, for love. Thou, Julia, thou hast metamorphosed me, Made me neglect my studies, lose my time, War with good counsel, set the world at nought; Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with thought. Enter SPEED 70 Speed. Sir Proteus, save you! Saw you my master? Pro. But now he parted hence, to embark for Milan. Speed. Twenty to one then he is shipp'd already, And I have play'd the sheep in losing him. Pro. Indeed, a sheep doth very often stray, An if the shepherd be a while away. Speed. You conclude that my master is a shepherd, then, and I a sheep? Pro. I do. Speed. Why then, my horns are his horns, whether I wake or sleep. 80 Pro. A silly answer and fitting well a sheep. Speed. This proves me still a sheep. stance. [other. Pro. It shall go hard but I'll prove it by anSpeed. The shepherd seeks the sheep, and not the sheep the shepherd; but I seek my master, and my master seeks not me: therefore I am no sheep. 91 Pro. The sheep for fodder follow the shepherd; the shepherd for food follows not the sheep thou for wages followest thy master; thy master for wages follows not thee: therefore thou art a sheep. Speed. Such another proof will make me cry 'baa.' Pro. But, dost thou hear? gavest thou my letter to Julia? Speed. Ay, sir: I, a lost mutton, gave your letter to her, a laced mutton, and she, a laced mutton, gave me, a lost mutton, nothing for my labor. Pro. Here's too small a pasture for such store of muttons. Speed. If the ground be overcharged, you were best stick her. Speed. You mistook, sir; I say, she did : and you ask me if she did nod; and I 'Ay.' say, 121 Pro. And that set together is noddy. Speed. Now you have taken the pains to set it together, take it for your pains. Pro. No, no; you shall have it for bearing the letter. Speed. Well, I perceive I must be fain to bear with you. Pro. Why, sir, how do you bear with me? Speed. Marry, sir, the letter, very orderly ; having nothing but the word 'noddy' for my pains. Pro. Beshrew me, but you have a quick wit. Speed. And yet it cannot overtake your slow purse. Speed. Truly, sir, I think you'll hardly win her. [from her? Pro. Why, couldst thou perceive so much Speed. Sir, I could perceive nothing at all from her; no, not so much as a ducat for delivering your letter: and being so hard to me that brought your mind, I fear she'll prove as hard to you in telling your mind. Give her no token but stones; for she's as hard as steel. Pro. What said she? nothing? Speed. No, not so much as 'Take this for thy pains. To testify your bounty, I thank you, you have testerned me; in requital whereof, henceforth carry your letters yourself: and so, sir, I'll commend you to my master. 150 Luc. Pardon, dear madam: 'tis a passing shame That I, unworthy body as I am, Jul. Why not on Proteus, as of all the rest? Luc. Then thus of many good I think him best. Jul. Your reason? Luc. I have no other, but a woman's reason; I think him so because I think him so. Jul. And wouldst thou have me cast my love on him? Luc. Ay, if you thought your love not cast He would have given it you; but I, being in the way, 40 Did in your name receive it: pardon the fault, |