I'll have her: And if it be a match, as nothing is impoffible;

Speed: What then?

Laun. Why, then will I tell thee, that thy mafter stays for thee at the north

Speed. For me?

gate.

Laun. For thee? ay; who art thou he hath ftaid for a better man than thee.

Speed. And muft I go to him?

Laun. Thou muft run to him, for thou haft ftaid so long, that going will fcarce ferve the turn.

Speed. Why didft not tell me fooner? 'pox of your loveletters !:

[Exit. Laun. Now will he be fwing'd for reading my letter An unmannerly flave, that will thruft himself into fecrets! E'll after, to rejoice in the boy's correction.

SCENE II

The fame. A Room in the Duke's Palace..
Enter DUKE and THURIO; PROTEUS behind..

[Exit.

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

Now Valentine is banish'd from her fight.

Thu. Since his exile the hath despis'd me most,
Forfworn my company, and rail'd at me,
That I am defperate of obtaining her..

Duke. This weak imprefs of love is as a figure
Trenched in ice; which with an hour's heat
Diffolves to water, and doth lose his form.
A little time will melt her frozen thoughts,
And worthlefs Valentine thall be forgot.-
How now, fir Proteus? Is your countryman,
According to our proclamation, gone?
Pro, Gone, my good lord.

Duke. My daughter takes his going grievoufly.
Pro. A little time, my lord, will kill that grief.
Duke. So I believe; but Thurio thinks not fo.-
Proteus, the good conceit I hold of thee,

6 Cut, carved in ice. Trancher, to cu French. JOHNSON.

(For

For thou haft fhown fome fign of good defert,) 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'ft, how willingly I would effect The match between fir Thurio and my daughter. Pro. I do, my lord.

Duke. And also, I think, thou art not ignorant
How the oppofes her againft my will.

Pre. She did, my lord, when Valentine was here.
Duke. Ay, and perverfely the perfévers fo.
What might we do, to make the girl forget
The love of Valentine, and love fir Thurio?
Pro. The best way is, to flander Valentine
With falfhood, cowardice, and poor defcent;
Three things that women highly hold in hate.
Duke. Ay, but he'll think, that it is spoke in hate.
Pro. Ay, if his enemy deliver it :

Therefore it muft, with circumftance," be spoken
By one whom the esteemeth as his friend.

Duke. Then you must undertake to flander him.
Pre. And that, my lord, I fhall be loth to do:
"Tis an ill office for a gentleman;

Efpecially, against his very friend.

Duke. Where your good word cannot advantage him, Your flander never can endamage himm

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 fhall not long continue love to him.
But fay, this weed, her love from Valentine,

It follows not that he will love fir Thurio.

Thu. Therefore as you unwind her love & from him, Left it should ravel, and be good to none,,

You

7 With the addition of fuch incidental particulars as may induce belief. JOHNSON.

8 As you wind off her love from him, make me the bottom on which you wind it. The housewife's term for a ball of thread wound upon a central body, is a bottom of thread. JOHNSON.

You must provide to bottom it on me :
Which must be done, by praifing me as much
As you in worth difpraife fir Valentine.

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

You are already love's firm votary,

And cannot foon revolt and change your mind.
Upon this warrant fhall you have accefs,
Where you with Silvia may confer at large;
For he is lumpith, heavy, melancholy,

And, for your friend's fake, will be glad of you ;
Where you may temper her, by your perfuafion,
To hate young Valentine, and love my friend.
Pro. As much as I can do, I will effect :——
But you, fir Thurio, are not fharp enough;
You must lay lime, to tangle her defires,
By wailful fonnets, whofe compofed rhimes:
Should be full fraught with ferviceable vows.:
Duke. Ay, much the force of heaven-bred poefy.
Pro. Say, that upon the altar of her beauty
You facrifice your tears, your fighs, your heart :
Write, till your ink he dry; and with your tears
Moift it again; and frame fome feeling line,.
That may difcover fuch integrity :3

For Orpheus' lute was ftrung with poets' finews; 4

Whofe

9 Mould her, like wax, to whatever shape you please. MALONE.“ 2 lime,]. That is, birdlime. JOHNSON.

3 Such integrity may mean fuch ardour and fincerity as would be manifefted by practising the directions given in the four preceding lines.

STEEVENS.

4 This fhews Shakspeare's knowledge of antiquity. He here affigns Orpheus his true character of legiflator. For under that of a poet only or lover, the quality given to his late is unintelligible. But, confidered as a lawgiver, the thought is noble, and the imagery exquifitely beautiful, For by his lute, is to be understood his fyftem of laws; and by the poets" finews, the power of numbers, which Orpheus actually employed in thofe laws to make them received by a fierce and barbarous people.

WARBURTON.

Proteus is defcribing to Thurio the powers of poetry; and gives no quality to the lute of Orpheus, but those usually and vulgarly afcribed to . It would be ftrange indeed if, in order to prevail upon the ignorant

and

Whofe golden touch could foften steel and ftones,
Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans
Forfake unfounded deeps to dance on fands.
After your dire-lamenting elegies,

5

Vifit by night your lady's chamber-window
With fome fweet concert: to their inftruments
Tune a deploring dump; the night's dead filence
Will well become fuch fweet complaining grievance.
This, or elfe nothing, will inherit her."

Duke. This difcipline fhows thou haft been in love.
Thu. And thy advice this night I'll put in practice
Therefore, fweet Proteus, my direction-giver,
Let us into the city prefently

To fort fome gentlemen well fkill'd in mufick :
I have a fonnet, that will ferve the turn,

To give the onset to thy good advice.

Duke. About it, gentlemen."

Pro. We'll wait upon your grace, till after fupper; And afterward determine our proceedings.

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

ACT IV. SCENE I.

A Foreft, near Mantua.

Enter certain Out-laws.

1 Out. Fellows, ftand faft; I fee a paffenger.

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

and ftupid Thurio to write a fonnet to his miftrefs, he should enlarge upon the legislative powers of Orpheus, which were nothing to the purpole. Warburton's obfervations frequently tend to prove Skakspeare more profound and learned than the occafion required, and to make the Poet of Nature the most unnatural that ever wrote. M. MASON.

5 A dump was the ancient term for a mournful elegy. STEEVENS. To inberit, is, by our author, fometimes ufed, as in this inftance, for to obtain poffeffion of, without any idea of acquiring by inheritance.

This lenfe of the word was not wholly difufed in the time of Milton,, who in his Comus has-" disinherit Chaos," meaning only, difpoffefs it. STEEVENS..

STEEVENS.

7 To fort-] i. e. to choose out.
I will excufe you from waiting. JOHNSON.

Enter

Enter VALENTINE and SPEED.

3 Out. Stand, fir, and throw us that you

you;

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

have about

Speed. Sir, we are undone! the fe are the villains That all the travellers do fear fo much.

Val. My friends,

Qut. That's not fo, fir: we are your enemies. 2 Out Peace; we'll hear him.

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

For he's a proper man."

Val. Then know, that I have little wealth to lufe; man I am, crofs'd with adverfity: My riches are thefe poor habiliments, Of which if you fhould here disfurnish me, You take the fum and substance that I have. 2 Out. Whither travel you ?

Val To Verona..

1. Out. Whence came you? Val. From Milan.

3 Out. Have you long fojourn'd there?

Val. Some fixteen months; and longer might have staid, If crooked fortune had not thwarted me.

1 Out. What, were you banish'd thence ?

Val. I was.

Qut. For what offence?

Val. For that which now torments me to rehearse :: 1 kill'd a man, whose death I much repent;

But yet flew him manfully in fight,

Without falfe vantage, or bafe treachery.

1 Out. Why ne'er repent it, if it were done fo :

Fut were you banith'd for fo small a fault?
Val. I wa, and held me glad of fuch a doom.
1 Out. Have e you the tongues?

Val. My youthful travel therein made me happy;
Crelfe I often had been miserable.

ΜΑΣΟΝΣΟ

9 in c. a well-looking man ; he has the appearance of a gentleman,