I muft go fend some better messenger;

I fear, my Julia would not deign my lines,
Receiving them from fuch a worthlefs poft. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The fame. Garden of Julia's houfe.

Enter JULIA and LUCETTA.

Jul. But fay, Lucetta, now we are alone,
Would'ft thou then counsel me to fall in love?
Luc. Ay, madam; fo you ftumble not unheedfully.
Jul. Of all the fair refort of gentlemen,
That every day with parle encounter me,
In thy opinion, which is worthieft love?

Luc. Please you, repeat their names, I'll fhew my mind According to my fimple fhallow fkill.

Jul. What think'ft thoù of the fair Sir Eglamour? 6
Luc. As of a knight well-spoken, neat and fine;
But, were I you, he never should be mine.7

Jul. What think 'ft thou of the rich Mercatio?
Luc. Well, of his wealth; but of himself, fo, so.
Jul. What think'st thou of the gentle Proteus ?
Luc. Lord, lord! to fee what folly reigns in us!
Jul. How now! what means this paffion at his name?
Luc. Pardon, dear madam; 'tis a paffing shame,
That I, unworthy body as I am,

Should cenfure thus on lovely gentlemen. 8
Jul. Why not on Proteus, as of all the reft?
Luc. Then thus,-of many good I think him best.
Jul. Your reafon?

Luc. I have no other but a woman's reafon :

I think him fo, because I think him fo.

Jul.

6 This Sir Eglamour must not be confounded with the perfona dramatis of the fame name. The latter lived at Milan, and had vowed "pure chastity" upon the death of his "true love." RITSON.

7 Perhaps Sir Eglamour was once the common cant term for an infignificant inamorato. STEEVENS.

8 To cenfure, means, in this place, to pass fentence. STEEVENS. To cenfure, in our author's time, generally fignified to give one's judgement or opinion. MALONE.

Ful. And would'st thou have me caft my love on him?
Luc. Ay, if you thought your love not caft away.
Jul. Why, he of all the reft hath never mov'd me.
Luc. Yet he of all the reft, I think, beft loves ye.
Jul. His little fpeaking fhows his love but small.
Luc. Fire, that is closest kept, burns most of all.
Jul. They do not love, that do not show their love.
Luc. O, they love least, that let men know their love.
Jul. I would, I knew his mind.

Luc.

Perufe this paper, madam.

Jul. To Julia,-Say, from whom?

Luc.

That the contents will fhew.

Jul. Say, Say, who gave it thee?

Luc. Sir Valentine's page, and fent, I think, from Proteus:
He would have given it you, but I, being in the way,
Did in your name receive it; pardon the fault, I
pray.
Jul. Now, by my modefty, a goodly broker! 9
Dare you prefume to harbour wanton lines?
To whisper and confpire against my youth?
Now, truft me, 'tis an office of great worth,
And you an officer fit for the place.
There, take the paper, fee it be return'd;
Or elfe return no more into my fight.

Luc. To plead for love deserves more fee than hate.
Jul. Will you be gone?

Luc.

That you may ruminate. [Exit, Jul. And yet, I would I had o'erlook'd the letter. It were a fhame, to call her back again, And pray her to a fault for which I chid her. What fool is fhe, that knows I am a maid, And would not force the letter to my view? Since maids, in modefty, say No, to that 2 Which they would have the profferer conftrue, Ay. Fie, fie! how wayward is this foolish love, That, like a tefty babe, will feratch the nurse, And prefently, all humbled, kifs the rod !

9 A broker was used for matchmaker, fometimes for a procurefs.

JOHNSON.

2 A paraphrafe on the old proverb, " Maids fay nay, and take it."

VOL. I.

F

STEEVENS.

How

How churlishly 1 chid Lucetta hence,
When willingly I would have had her here!
How angerly I taught my brow to frown,
When inward joy enforc'd my heart to fmile!
My penance is, to call Lucetta back,

And afk remiffion for my folly past;-
What ho! Lucetta!

Luc.

Re-enter LUCETTA.

What would your ladyfhip?

Jul. Is it near dinner-time ?

Luc.

I would it were;

That you might kill your stomach on your meat,3

And not upon your maid.

Jul.

What is't you took up

So gingerly?

Luc.

Nothing.

Jul.

Why did't thou stoop then?

Nothing concerning me.

Luc. To take a paper up that I let fall.

Jul. And is that paper nothing?

Luc.

Jul. Then let it lie for thofe that it concerns.
Luc. Madam, it will not lie where it concerns,
Unless it have a false interpreter.

Jul. Some love of yours hath writ to you in rhime.
Luc. That I might fing it, madam, to a tune:

Give me a note: your ladyfhip can set.

Ful. As little by fuch toys as may be possible:

Best fing it to the tune of Light o' love.

Luc. It is too heavy for fo light a tune.

Jul. Heavy belike, it hath fome burden then.
Luc. Ay; and melodious were it, would you fing it.
Jul. And why not you?

Luc.

I cannot reach fo high.

Jul. Let's fee your fong:-How now, minion? Luc. Keep tune there ftill, fo you will fing it out: And yet, methinks, I do not like this tune,

Jul. You do not?

3 Stomach was used for paffion or obftinacy. JOHNSON.

Luc.

+ This tune is given in a note on Much edo about Nothing, A&t III. fc. iv.

STEEVENS,

Luc. No, madam, it is too sharp.
Jul. You, minion, are too faucy.
Luc. Nay, now you are too flat,

And mar the concord with too harfh a defcant :5
There wanteth but a mean 6 to fill a fong.

Jul. The mean is drown'd with your unruly base.
Luc. Indeed, I bid the base for Proteus."

Jul. This babble fhall not henceforth trouble me.
Here is a coil with proteftation!

T

Go, get you gone; and let the papers lie:
You would be fingering them, to anger me.

[Tears the letter

Luc. She makes it ftrange; but he would be beft pleas'd To be fo anger'd with another letter.

Jul. Nay, would I were fo anger'd with the fame!
O hateful hands, to tear fuch loving words!
Injurious wafps! to feed on fuch fweet honey,
And kill the bees, that yield it, with your ftings!
I'll kiss each several paper for amends.
Look, here is writ-kind Julia; unkind Julia!
As in revenge of thy ingratitude,

I throw thy name against the bruifing ftones,
Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain.
Look, here is writ—love-wounded Proteus:
Poor wounded name! my bofom, as a bed,
Shall lodge thee, till thy wound be throughly heal'd;
And thus I fearch it with a fovereign kifs.
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,

Except mine own name; that some whirlwind bear?

F 2

[Exit,

Unto

s Defcant is a term in mufic. See Sir John Hawkins's note on the first fpeech in K. Richard III. STEEVENS.

6 The mean is the tenor in mufic.

STEEVENS.

7 The speaker here turns the allufion (which her mistress employed) from the bafe in mufic to a country exercife, Bid the base: in which fome purfue, and others are made prifoners. So that Lucetta would intend, by this, to fay, Indeed I take pains to make you a captive to Proteus's paffion. WARBURTON.

Dr. Warburton is not quite accurate. The game was not called Bid the Bafe, but the Bafc. To bid the bafe means here, I believe, the challenge to a conteft. MALONE.

8 To write down is still a provincial expreffion for to write, HENLEY.

Unto a ragged, fearful, hanging rock,
And throw it thence into the raging fea!
Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ,-
Poor forlorn Proteus, paffionate Proteus,
To the fweet Julia;-That I'll tear away;
And yet I will not, fith fo prettily

;

He couples it to his complaining names:
Thus will I fold them one upon another
Now kifs, embrace, contend, do what you will.
Re-enter LUCETTA

Luc. Madam, dinner's ready, and your father stays.
Jul. Well, let us go.

Luc. What, fhall thefe papers lie like tell-tales here?
Jul. If you refpect them, beft to take them up.
Luc. Nay, I was taken up for laying them down:
Yet here they fhall not lie, for catching cold."

Jul. I fee, you have a month's mind to them.*
Luc. Ay, madam, you may fay what fights you fee;
I fee things too, although you judge I wink.
Jul. Come, come, will't please you go?

SCENE III.

The fame. A Room in Antonio's Houfe.

Enter ANTONIO and PANTHINO.

[Exeunt.

Ant. Tell me, Panthino, what fad talk 3 was that,
Wherewith my brother held you in the cloifter?
Pan. 'Twas of his nephew Proteus, your fon.
Ant. Why, what of him?

Pan:

9 That is, as Mr. M. Mafon obferves, left they should catch cold. This mode of expreffion (he adds) is not frequent in Shakspeare, but occurs in every play of Beaumont and Fletcher. STEEVENS.

2 A month's mind was an anniversary in times of popery; or, as Mr. Ray calls it, a lefs folemnity directed by the will of the deceased. There was alfo a year's mind, and a week's mind. GREY.

A month's mind, in the ritual fenfe, fignifies not defire or inclination, but remembrance; yet I suppose this is the true original of the expreffion. JOHNSON.

In Hampshire, and other western counties, for "I can't remember it," they fay, I can't mind it.” BLACKSTONE.

3 Sad is the fame as grave or ferious. JOHNSON.