PANT. "Twas of his nephew Proteus, your son. ANT. Why, what of him?

PANT. He wonder'd, that your lordship
Would suffer him to spend his youth at home;
While other men, of slender reputation",

Put forth their sons to seek preferment out:
Some to the wars, to try their fortune there;
Some, to discover islands far away7;
Some, to the studious universities.
For any, or for all these exercises,

He said, that Proteus, your son, was meet;
And did request me, to impórtune you,

To let him spend his time no more at home,
Which would be great impeachment to his age,
In having known no travel in his youth.

ANT. Nor need'st thou much impórtune me to that

Whereon this month I have been hammering.
I have consider'd well his loss of time;
And how he cannot be a perfect man,
Not being try'd, and tutor'd in the world:
Experience is by industry atchiev'd,

And perfected by the swift course of time:

6

or slender reputation,] i. e. who are thought slightly of, are of little consequence. STEEVENS.

7 Some, to discover islands far away;] In Shakspeare's time, voyages for the discovery of the islands of America were much in vogue. And we find, in the journals of the travellers of that time, that the sons of noblemen, and of others of the best families in England, went very frequently on these adventures. Such as the Fortescues, Collitons, Thornhills, Farmers, Pickerings, Littletons, Willoughbys, Chesters, Hawleys, Bromleys, and others. To this prevailing fashion our poet frequently alludes, and not without high commendations of it. WARBURTON.

8

great IMPEACHMENT to his age,] Impeachment in this passage means reproach or imputation. So Demetrius says to Helena in A Midsummer-Night's Dream:

"You do impeach your modesty too much,

66

66

To leave the city, and commit yourself,

Into the hands of one that loves you not."

M. MASON.

Then, tell me, whither were I best to send him ?
PANT. I think, your lordship is not ignorant,
How his companion, youthful Valentine,
Attends the emperor in his royal court 9.
ANT. I know it well.

PANT. Twere good, I think, your lordship sent him thither:

There shall he practise tilts and tournaments,
Hear sweet discourse, converse with noblemen;
And be in eye of every exercise,

Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth.

ANT. I like thy counsel; well hast thou advis'd: And, that thou may'st perceive how well I like it, The execution of it shall make known; Even with the speediest expedition

I will dispatch him to the emperor's court.
PANT. To-morrow, may it please you, Don Al-
phonso,

With other gentlemen of good esteem,
Are journeying to salute the emperor,
And to commend their service to his will.

ANT. Good company; with them shall Proteus go: And, in good time',-now will we break with him2.

9 Attends the emperor in his royal court.] Shakspeare has been guilty of no mistake in placing the emperor's court at Milan in this play. Several of the first German emperors held their courts there occasionally, it being, at that time, their immediate property, and the chief town of their Italian dominions. Some of them were crowned kings of Italy at Milan, before they received the imperial crown at Rome. Nor has the poet fallen into any contradiction, by giving a duke to Milan at the same time that the emperor held his court there. The first dukes of that, and all the other great cities in Italy, were not sovereign princes, as they afterwards became; but were merely governors, or viceroys, under the emperors, and removeable at their pleasure. Such was the Duke of Milan mentioned in this play. Mr. Monck Mason adds, that " during the wars in Italy between Francis I. and Charles V. the latter frequently resided at Milan." STEEVENS. IN GOOD TIME,] In good time was the old expression

I

Enter PROTEUS.

PRO. Sweet love! sweet lines! sweet life!
Here is her hand, the agent of her heart;
Here is her oath for love, her honour's pawn:
O, that our fathers would applaud our loves,
To seal our happiness with their consents!
O heavenly Julia!

ANT. How now? what letter are you reading there?

PRO. May't please your lordship, 'tis a word or two Of commendations sent from Valentine,

Deliver❜d by a friend that came from him.

ANT. Lend me the letter; let me see what news.
PRO. There is no news, my lord, but that he writes
How happily he lives, how well belov❜d,
And daily graced by the emperor;

Wishing me with him, partner of his fortune.
ANT. And how stand you affected to his wish?
PRO. As one relying on your lordship's will,
And not depending on his friendly wish.

ANT. My will is something sorted with his wish:
Muse not that I thus suddenly proceed;
For what I will, I will, and there an end.

I am resolv'd, that thou shalt spend some time
With Valentinus in the emperor's court;

What maintenance he from his friends receives,
Like exhibition3 thou shalt have from me.

when something happened which suited the thing in hand, as the French say, à propos. JOHNSON.

So, in King Richard III. :

2

"And in good time here comes the sweating lord."

STEEVENS.

now will we BREAK with him.] That is, break the matter to him. The same phrase occurs in Much Ado About Nothing, Act I. Sc. I. M. MASON.

To-morrow be in readiness to go:

Excuse it not, for I am peremptory.

PRO. My lord, I cannot be so soon provided; Please you, deliberate a day or two.

ANT. Look, what thou want'st, shall be sent after thee:

No more of stay; to-morrow thou must go.-
Come on, Panthino; you shall be employ'd
To hasten on his expedition.

[Exeunt ANTONIO and PANTHINO. PRO. Thus have I shunn'd the fire, for fear of

burning;

And drench'd me in the sea, where I am drown'd:
I fear'd to show my father Julia's letter,
Lest he should take exceptions to my love;
And with the vantage of mine own excuse
Hath he excepted most against my love.
O, how this spring of love resembleth *
The uncertain glory of an April day;
Which now shews all the beauty of the sun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away!

Again, in The Devil's Law Case, 1623:

in his riot does far exceed the exhibition I allowed him." STEEVENS.

The term is still in use at Oxford. Boswell.

4 O, how this spring of love resembleth.] It was not always the custom among our early writers to make the first and third lines rhime to each other; and when a word was not long enough to complete the measure, they occasionally extended it. Spenser, in his Faery Queen, B. II. c. 12:

"Formerly grounded, and fast setteled."

Again, B. II. c. 12:

"The while sweet Zephirus loud whisteled, &c."

Thus

From this practice, I suppose our author wrote resembeleth, which, though it affords no jingle, completes the verse. Many poems have been written in this measure, where the second and fourth lines only rhime. STEEVens.

Resembleth is here used as a quadrisyllable, as if it was written resembeleth. See Com. of Errors, Act V. Sc. the last :

"And these two Dromios, one in semblance.”

So, in As You Like It, Act II. Sc. II. :

"The parts and graces of the wrestler."

Re-enter PANTHINO.

PANT. Sir Proteus, your father calls for you; He is in haste, therefore, I pray you, go.

PRO. Why, this it is! my heart accords thereto; And yet a thousand times it answers, no. [Exeunt.

ACT II. SCENE I.

Milan. A Room in the DUKE'S Palace.

Enter VALENTINE and SPEED.

SPEED. Sir, your glove.

VAL. Not mine; my gloves are on.

SPEED. Why then this may be yours, for this is but one 5.

And it should be observed, that Shakspeare takes the same liberty with many other words, in which , or r, is subjoined to another consonant. See Com. of Errors, next verse but one to that cited above:

"These are the parents to these children." Where some editors, being unnecessarily alarmed for the metre, have endeavoured to help it by a word of their own:

"These plainly are the parents to these children." TYRWHITT. See the notes at the end of this play. Boswell.

5 Val. Not mine, my gloves are ON.

Speed. Why then, this may be yours; for this is but ONE.] It should seem from this passage, that the word one was anciently pronounced as if it were written on. The quibble here is lost by the change of pronunciation; a loss, however, which may be very patiently endured. In Shakspeare's time, probably in consequence of this similar pronunciation, the two words are frequently confounded. In some manuscript letters of Lord Burghley's, about the year 1585, he very generally writes or for one.

See a note in King John, Act III. Sc. III. on the words"Sound one into the drowsy car of night," where various instances of the two words one and on being confounded are accumulated. MALONE.