VAL. Ay, my good lord, I know the gentleman To be of worth, and worthy estimation,

And not without defert fo well reputed.

DUKE. Hath he not a fon?

VAL. Ay, my good lord; a fon, that well deferves The honour and regard of fuch a father.

DUKE. You know him well?

VAL. I knew him, as myself; for from our infancy We have convers'd, and spent our hours together: And though myself have been an idle truant, Omitting the fweet benefit of time,

To clothe mine age with angel-like perfection;
Yet hath fir Proteus, for that's his name,
Made use and fair advantage of his days;
His years but young, but his experience old;
His head unmellow'd, but his judgment ripe;
And, in a word, (for far behind his worth
Come all the praises that I now bestow,)
He is complete in feature, and in mind,
With all good grace to grace a gentleman.

DUKE. Befhrew me, fir, but, if he make this good,

He is as worthy for an emprefs' love,
As meet to be an emperor's counsellor.
Well, fir; this gentleman is come to me,
With commendation from great potentates;
And here he means to spend his time a-while:
I think, 'tis no unwelcome news to you.

VAL. Should I have wish'd a thing, it had been he.

characters are Italians, not Spaniards. Had the measure admitted it, Shakspeare would have written Signor. And yet, after making this remark, I noticed Don Alphonfo in a preceding scene. But for all that, the remark may be juft. RITSON.

6

not without defert - -] And not dignified with so much reputation without proportionate merit. JOHNSON,

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DUKE. Welcome him then according to his worth; Silvia, I speak to you; and you, fir Thurio:For Valentine, I need not 'cite him to it: " I'll fend him hither to you presently. [Exit DUKE. VAL. This is the gentleman, I told your ladyship, Had come along with me, but that his mistress Did hold his eyes lock'd in her crystal looks.

SIL. Belike, that now she hath enfranchis'd them Upon some other pawn for fealty.

VAL. Nay, fure, I think, she holds them prisoners ftill.

SIL. Nay, then he should be blind; and, being blind,

How could he fee his way to feek out you ?

VAL. Why, lady, love hath twenty pair of eyes. THU. They say, that love hath not an eye at all. VAL. To fee fuch lovers, Thurio, as yourself; Upon a homely object love can wink.

Enter PROTEUS.

SIL. Have done, have done; here comes the gentleman.

VAL. Welcome, dear Proteus!-Mistress, I befeech you,

Confirm his welcome with some special favour. SIL. His worth is warrant for his welcome hither, If this be he you oft have wish'd to hear from. VAL. Mistress, it is: fweet lady, entertain him To be my fellow-fervant to your ladyship.

SIL. Too low a mistress for so high a servant.

' I need not 'cite him to it :] i. e. incite him to it. MALONE. VOL. III. P

PRO. Not fo, sweet lady; but too mean a servant To have a look of fuch a worthy mistress.

VAL. Leave off discourse of disability :--Sweet lady, entertain him for your servant. PRO. My duty will I boast of, nothing else. SIL. And duty never yet did want his meed: Servant, you are welcome to a worthlefs mistress. PRO. I'll die on him that says fo, but yourself, SIL. That you are welcome?

PRO.

No; that you are worthless.

Enter Servant.

SER. Madam, my lord your father' would speak with you.

SIL I'll wait upon his pleasure. [Exit Servant. Come, Sir Thurio, Go with me:-Once more, new fervant, welcome: I'll leave you to confer of home-affairs ; When you have done, we look to hear from you.

No; that you are worthlefs.] I have inferted the particle no, to fill up the measure. JOHNSON.

Perhaps the particle fupplied is unneceffary. Worthless was, I believe, ufed as a trifyllable. See Mr. Tyrwhitt's note, p. 191.

MALONE.

Is worthless a trifyllable in the preceding speech of Silvía? Is there any inftance of the licence recommended, respecting the adjective worthless, to be found in Shakspeare, or any other writer! STEEVENS.

9 Ser. Madam, my lord your father] This fpeech in all the editions is affigned improperly to Thurio; but he has been all along upon the ftage, and could not know that the duke wanted his daughter. Befides, the first line and half of Silvia's anfwer is evidently addreffed to two perfons. A fervant, therefore, muft come in and deliver the meffage; and then Silvia goes out with Thurio. THEOBALD.

PRO. We'll both attend upon your ladyship. [Exeunt SILVIA, THURIO, and SPEED. VAL. Now, tell me, how do all from whence you came?

PRO. Your friends are well, and have them much commended.

VAL. And how do yours?

PRO.

I left them all in health.

VAL. How does your lady? and how thrives your love?

PRO. My tales of love were wont to weary you; I know, you joy not in a love-difcourfe.

VAL. Ay, Proteus, but that life is alter'd now: I have done penance for contemning love; Whose high imperious thoughts have punish'd me With bitter fafts, with penitential groans, With nightly tears, and daily heart-fore fighs; For, in revenge of my contempt of love, Love hath chac'd fleep from my enthralled eyes, And made them watchers of mine own heart's forrow. O, gentle Proteus, love's a mighty lord;

And hath fo humbled me, as, I confefs,

There is no woe to his correction,'

Whose high imperious] For whofe I read those. I have contemned love and am punished. Thofe high thoughts, by which I exalted myself above human paffions or frailties, have brought upon me fafts and groans. JOHNson.

I believe the old copy is right. Imperious is an epithet very frequently applied to love by Shakspeare and his contemporaries. So, in The Famous Hiftorie of George Lord Faukonbridge, 4to. 1616, "Such an imperious God is love, and fo commanding." A few lines lower Valentine obferves, that-" love's a mighty lord." MALONE.

P. 15

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no woe to bis correction,] No mifery that can be compared the punishment inflicted by love. Herbert called for the prayers of the liturgy a little before his death, faying, None to them, none to them. JOHNSON.

Nor, to his fervice, no fuch joy on earth!
Now, no difcourfe, except it be of love;
Now can I break my fast, dine, fup, and sleep,
Upon the very naked name of love.

PRO. Enough; I read your fortune in your eye: Was this the idol that you worship fo?

VAL. Even fhe; and is fhe not a heavenly faint? PRO. No; but fhe is an earthly paragon.

VAL. Call her divine.

PRO.

I will not flatter her.

VAL. O, flatter me; for love delights in praises. PRO. When I was fick, you gave me bitter pills; And I must minister the like to you.

VAL. Then speak the truth by her; if not divine, Yet let her be a principality,+

Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth.

PRO. Except my mistress.

VAL. Sweet, except not any; Except thou wilt except against my love.

PRO. Have I not reafon to prefer mine own? VAL. And I will help thee to prefer her too:

The fame idiom occurs in an old ballad quoted in Cupid's Whirligig, 1616:

"There is no comfort in the world

"To women that are kind." MALONE.

-a principality,] The firft or principal of women. So the old writers use state. "She is a lady, a great ftate." Latymer. "This look is called in states warlie, in others otherwife." Sir. T. More. JOHNSON.

There is a fimilar sense of this word in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans viii. 38.-" nor angels nor principalities."

Mr. M. Mason thus judicioufly paraphrafes the fentiment of Valentine. 66 If you will not acknowledge her as divine, let her at least be confidered as an angel of the firft order, fuperior to every thing on earth." STEEVENS.