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Luc. That I might sing it, madam, to a tune: Give me a note: your ladyship can set.

80

Jul. As little by such toys as may be possible;
Best sing it to the tune of 'Light o' Love.'
Luc. It is too heavy for so light a tune.
Jul. Heavy! belike it hath some burden, then?
Luc. Ay; and melodious were it, would you
sing it.

Jul. And why not you?
Luc.

I cannot reach so high. 84
Jul. Let's see your song. [Taking the letter.]
How now, minion!

Luc. Keep tune there still, so you will sing it out:

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Yet here they shall not lie, for catching cold.
Jul. I see you have a month's mind to them.
Luc. Ay, madam, you may say what sights
you see;

And mar the concord with too harsh a descant: I see things too, although you judge I wink. 136

There wanteth but a mean to fill your song. 92

Jul. The mean is drown'd with your unruly

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And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss.
But twice or thrice was 'Proteus' written down:
Be calm, good wind, blow not a word away
Till I have found each letter in the letter,
116
Except mine own name; that some whirlwind
bear

Unto a ragged, fearful hanging rock,

And throw it thence into the raging sea!

Jul. Come, come; will't please you go?

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-The Same. A Room in ANTONIO'S
House.

Enter ANTONIO and PANTHINO.

Ant. Tell me, Panthino, what sad talk was
that

Wherewith my brother held you in the cloister?
Pant. 'Twas of his nephew Proteus, your son.
Ant. Why, what of him?

Pant. He wonder'd that your lordship 4
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; 8
Some to discover islands far away;
Some to the studious universities.
For any or for all these exercises
He said that Proteus your son was meet, 12

And did request me to importune 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 importune me
to that

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20

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 tried and tutor'd in the world:
Experience is by industry achiev'd
And perfected by the swift course of time.
Then tell me, whither were I best to send him?
Pant. I think your lordship is not ignorant

Lo! here in one line is his name twice writ, 120 How his companion, youthful Valentine,

'Poor forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus,

Attends the emperor in his royal court.

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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.

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O! that our fathers would applaud our loves, 48 SCENE I. - Milan. A Room in the DUKE'S

To seal our happiness with their consents!

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Speed. She that your worship loves? Val. Why, how know you that I am in love? Speed. Marry, by these special marks: first, you have learned, like Sir Proteus, to wreathe your arms, like a malecontent; to relish a lovesong, like a robin-redbreast; to walk alone, like one that had the pestilence; to sigh, like a schoolboy that had lost his A B C; to weep, like a young wench that had buried her grandam;

to fast, like one that takes diet; to watch, like one that fears robbing; to speak puling, like a beggar at Hallowmas. You were wont, when you laughed, to crow like a cock; when you walked, to walk like one of the lions; when you fasted, it was presently after dinner; when you looked sadly, it was for want of money: and now you are metamorphosed with a mistress, that, when I look on you, I can hardly think you my master.

Val. Are all these things perceived in me? 36
Speed. They are all perceived without ye.
Val. Without me? they cannot.

Speed. Without you? nay, that's certain; for, without you were so simple, none else would: but you are so without these follies, that these follies are within you and shine through you like the water in an urinal, that not an eye that sees you but is a physician to comment on your malady.

45

Val. But tell me, dost thou know my lady Silvia? Speed. She that you gaze on so as she sits at supper? Val. Hast thou observed that? even she, I

mean.

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56 thousand.

Speed. That she is not so fair, as, of you, wellfavoured.

60

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Val. How painted? and how out of count? Speed. Marry, sir, so painted to make her fair, that no man counts of her beauty.

Val. How esteemest thou me? I account of her beauty.

69

Speed. You never saw her since she was deformed.

Val. How long hath she been deformed? 72 Speed. Ever since you loved her.

Val. I have loved her ever since I saw her, and still I see her beautiful.

Speed. If you love her you cannot see her. 76 Val. Why?

Speed. Because Love is blind. O! that you had mine eyes; or your own eyes had the lights they were wont to have when you chid at Sir Proteus for going ungartered!

Val. What should I see then?

81

Speed. [Aside.] He should give her interest, and she gives it him.

Val. As you enjoin'd me, I have writ your letter

Unto the secret nameless friend of yours; Which I was much unwilling to proceed in 116 But for my duty to your ladyship. [Gives a letter. Sil. I thank you, gentle servant. 'Tis very clerkly done.

Val. Now, trust me, madam, it came hardly off;

For, being ignorant to whom it goes
I writ at random, very doubtfully.

120

Sil. Perchance you think too much of so much pains?

Val. No, madam; so it stead you, I will write, Please you command, a thousand times as much. And yet

126

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Sil. Yes, yes: the lines are very quaintly writ,
But since unwillingly, take them again:
Nay, take them.
[Gives back the letter.
Val.

Madam, they are for you.

Sil. Ay, ay; you writ them, sir, at my request, But I will none of them; they are for you. 137 I would have had them writ more movingly.

Val. Please you, I'll write your ladyship another.

Sil. And when it's writ, for my sake read it

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Speed. Ay, but hearken, sir: though the chameleon Love can feed on the air, I am one that am nourished by my victuals and would fain have meat. O! be not like your mistress: be moved, be moved. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Verona. A Room in JULIA'S House.

Enter PROTEUS and JULIA.

Pro. Have patience, gentle Julia.
Jul. I must, where is no remedy.
Pro. When possibly I can, I will return.

143

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Jul. If you turn not, you will return the

a steeple!

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My master sues to her, and she hath taught her

Keep this remembrance for thy Julia's sake.

suitor,

[Gives him a ring.

He being her pupil, to become her tutor.
148
O excellent device! was there ever heard a better,
That my master, being scribe, to himself should

Pro. Why, then, we'll make exchange: here, [Gives her another. take you this.

write the letter?

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Jul. And seal the bargain with a holy kiss.
Pro. Here is my hand for my true constancy;
And when that hour o'erslips me in the day
Wherein I sigh not, Julia, for thy sake,
The next ensuing hour some foul mischance
Torment me for my love's forgetfulness!
My father stays my coming; answer not.
The tide is now: nay, not thy tide of tears;
That tide will stay me longer than I should.
[Exit JULIA.
Julia, farewell.
What! gone without a word? 16

156 Ay, so true love should do: it cannot speak;

Val. Why, she hath not writ to me? Speed. What need she, when she hath made you write to yourself? Why, do you not perceive the jest?

162

Val. No, believe me.

Speed. No believing you, indeed, sir. But did you perceive her earnest?

Val. She gave me none, except an angry word.
Speed. Why, she hath given you a letter.
Val. That's the letter I writ to her friend. 168
Speed. And that letter hath she delivered, and
there an end.

Val. I would it were no worse.

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SCENE III. The Same. A Street.
Enter LAUNCE, leading a dog.

Launce. Nay, 'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping: all the kind of the Launces have this very fault. I have received my proportion, like the prodigious son, and am going with Sir Proteus to the imperial's court. I think Crab my dog be the sourest-natured dog that lives: my mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister crying, our maid howling, our cat wringing her hands, and all our house in a great perplexity, yet did not this cruel-hearted cur shed one tear. He is a stone, a very pebble stone, and has no more pity in him than a dog; a Jew would have wept to SCENE IV. - Milan. A Room in the DUKE'S

have seen our parting: why, my grandam, hav

Palace.

ing no eyes, look you, wept herself blind at my

parting. Nay, I'll show you the manner of it. Enter VALENTINE, SILVIA, THURIO, and SPEED.

This shoe is my father; no, this left shoe is my

Sil. Servant!

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Val. Well, then, I'll double your folly.

Thu. How?

Sil. What, angry, Sir Thuriol do you change

father: no, no, this left shoe is my mother; nay, that cannot be so neither: -yes, it is so; it is so; it hath the worser sole. This shoe, with the hole in, is my mother, and this my father. A vengeance on't! there 'tis: now, sir, this staff is my sister; for, look you, she is as white as a lily and as small as a wand: this hat is Nan, our maid: I am the dog; no, the dog is himself, and I am the dog, -O! the dog is me, and I am myself: ay, so, so. Now come I to my father; 'Father, your blessing;' now should not the shoe speak a word for weeping: now should I kiss my father; well, he weeps on. Now come I to my mother;-0, that she could speak now like a wood woman! Well, I kiss her; why, there 'tis; here's my mother's breath up and down. Now come I to my sister; mark the moan she makes: Now the dog all this while sheds not a tear nor speaks a word; but see how I lay the dust with my tears.

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colour?

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Val. Give him leave, madam; he is a kind of

chameleon.

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Duke. Now, daughter Silvia, you are hard beset.

[Exeunt. Sir Va'entine, your fatl er's in good health:

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