Launce. More hair than wit,

it may be I'll prove it.

The cover of the salt hides the salt,21 and therefore it is more than the salt; the hair that covers the wit is more than the wit, for the greater hides the less. What's next?

Speed.and more faults than hairs,

Launce. That's monstrous: O, that that were out!
Speed. — and more wealth than faults.

Launce. Why, that word makes the faults gracious. Well, I'll have her and if it be a match, as nothing is impossible,Speed. What then?

Launce. Why, then will I tell thee, that thy master stays for thee at the North-gate.

Speed. For me!

Launce. For thee! ay; who art thou? he hath stay'd for a better man than thee.

Speed. And must I go to him?

Launce. Thou must run to him, for thou hast stay'd so long, that going will scarce serve the turn.

Speed. Why didst not tell me sooner? pox of your loveletters! [Exit.

Launce. Now will he be swinged for reading my letter,an unmannerly slave, that will thrust himself into secrets! I'll after, to rejoice in the boy's correction.

[Exit.

SCENE II. · The Same. A Room in the DUKE's Palace.

Enter DUKE and THURIO.

Duke. Sir Thurio, fear not but that she will love you,

Now Valentine is banish'd from her sight.

Thu. Since his exile she hath despised me most,

Forsworn my company, and rail'd at me,

21 The saltcellar was formerly a large piece of plate, with a cover to keep the salt clean. There was but one on the table, and that near the head; above it, the seats of honour.

That I am desperate of obtaining her.

Duke. This weak impress of love is as a figure
Trenched in ice, which with an hour's1 heat
Dissolves to water, and doth lose his form.
A little time will melt her frozen thoughts,
And worthless Valentine shall be forgot.

Enter PROTEUS.

How now, Sir Proteus ! Is your countryman,
According to our proclamation, gone?
Pro. Gone, my good lord.

Duke. My daughter takes his going grievously.
Pro. A little time, my lord, will kill that grief.
Duke. So I believe; but Thurio thinks not so.
Proteus, the good conceit I hold of thee —
For thou hast shown some sign of good desert
Makes me the better to confer with thee.

Pro. Longer than I prove loyal to your Grace
Let me not live to look upon your Grace.

Duke. Thou know'st how willingly I would effect The match between Sir Thurio and my daughter. Pro. I do, my lord.

Duke. And also, I think, thou art not ignorant
How she opposes her against my will.

Pro. She did, my lord, when Valentine was here.
Duke. Ay, and perversely she persévers so.

What might we do to make the girl forget
The love of Valentine, and love Sir Thurio?
Pro. The best way is to slander Valentine
With falsehood, cowardice, and poor descent,
Three things that women highly hold in hate.

Duke. Ay, but she'll think that it is spoke in hate.

1 Hour is here a dissylable. See page 135, note 3.—Trenchèd is cut or carved.

Pro. Ay, if his enemy deliver it:
Therefore it must with circumstance2 be spoken
By one whom she esteemeth as his friend.

Duke. Then you must undertake to slander him.
Pro. And that, my lord, I shall be loth to do:
"Tis an ill office for a gentleman,

Especially against his very3 friend.

Duke. Where your good word cannot advantage him, Your slander never can endamage him:

Therefore the office is indifferent,

Being entreated to it by your friend.

Pro. You have prevail'd, my lord: if I can do it
By aught that I can speak in his dispraise,
She shall not long continue love to him.
But say, this wean her love from Valentine,
It follows not that she will love Sir Thurio.

Thu. Therefore, as you unwind her love from him,
Lest it should ravel and be good to none,
You must provide to bottom1 it on me ;
Which must be done by praising me as much

As you in worth dispraise Sir Valentine.

Duke. And, Proteus, we dare trust you in this kind, Because we know, on Valentine's report,

You are already Love's firm votary,

And cannot soon revolt and change your mind.

Upon this warrant shall you have access

Where you with Silvia may confer at large;

For she is lumpish, heavy, melancholy,

And, for your friend's sake, will be glad of you;

2 Circumstance for circumstantial detail; that is, instances or facts alleged in proof.

3 Very in the Latin sense of verus; true. So one of Massinger's plays is entitled A Very Woman.

4 Bottom is the old housewife's term for that on which a ball of yarn or thread is wound.

When you may temper her, by your persuasion,
To hate young Valentine, and love my friend.
Pro. As much as I can do, I will effect:
But you, Sir Thurio, are not sharp enough;
You must lay lime 5 to tangle her desires
By wailful sonnets, whose composed rhymes
Should be full-fraught with serviceable vows.
Duke. Ay,

Much is the force of Heaven-bred poesy.

Pro. Say, that upon the altar of her beauty
You sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart:
Write till your ink be dry, and with your tears
Moist it again; and frame some feeling lines
That may discover such integrity: 6

For Orpheus' lute was strung with poets' sinews;
Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones,
Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans

Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands.
After your dire-lamenting elegies,

Visit by night your lady's chamber-window
With some sweet consort; 7 to their instruments
Tune a deploring dump: 8 the night's dead silence
Will well become such sweet-complaining grievance.
This, or else nothing, will inherit her."

Duke. This discipline shows thou hast been in love.

5 Lime, or bird-lime, was originally a sticky substance, spread where birds were apt to light, so as to hold them by the feet; but the word came to be used for any sort of snare.

6 Such sincerity as is shown by impassioned writing. Integrity in its original sense, - the sense of entireness or wholeheartedness.

"

7 Consort, according to Bullokar and Phillips, meant a set or company of musicians."

8 Dump is an old term for a mournful elegy.

9 To inherit was sometimes used for to get possession of, without any idea of inheritance. So Milton, in his Comus, has “disinherit Chaos"; meaning simply to dispossess it.

Thu. And thy advice this night I'll put in practice.
Therefore, sweet Proteus, my direction-giver,
Let us into the city presently

To sort 10 some gentlemen well skill'd in music:

I have a sonnet that will serve the turn

To give the onset to thy good advice.

Duke. About it, gentlemen.

Pro. We'll wait upon your Grace till after supper,

And afterward determine our proceedings.

Duke. Even now about it; I will pardon you.11 [Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.— A Forest near Milan.

Enter certain Outlaws.

I Out. Fellows, stand fast; I see a passenger.

2. Out. If there be ten, shrink not, but down with 'em.

Enter VALENTINE and SPEED.

3 Out. Stand, sir, and throw us that

If not, we'll make you sit, and rifle you.

you

have about ye:

Speed, O, sir, we are undone ! these are the villains That all the travellers do fear so much.

2 Out. Peace! we'll hear him.

3 Out. Ay, by my beard, will we ;

For he's a proper1 man.

10 To sort was much used for to choose or select.

11 Will excuse you; release you from attending me.

1 Proper was used for handsome, well-proportioned. Valentine is a man of fine presence,