Jul. Why not on Proteus, as of 211 the rest?
LUC. Then thus, - of many good I think him

belt.
Jul. Your reason ?

Luc. I have no other but a woman's reason ;
I think him fo, because I think him fo.

Jul. And would'st thou have me cast my love

on him ?

Luc. Ay, if you thought your love not cast away.
Jul. Why, he of all the rest hath never mov'd me.
Luc. Yet he of all the rest, I think, best loves ye.
Jul. His little speaking shows 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.

Peruse this paper, madam.
Jul. To Julia, Say, from whom ?
Luc.

That the contents will shew.
Jul. Say, fay; who gave it thee?
Luc. Sir Valentine's page ; and sent, 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 modesly, a goodly broker !
Dare you presume to harbour wanton lines ?
To whisper and conspire against my youth ?

- a goodly broker!) A broker was used for matchmaker,
sometimes for a procuress. JOHNSON.

6

6

-

Now, trust me, 'tis an office of great worth,
And you an officer fit for the place.
There, take the paper, see it be return'd;
Or else return no more into my sight.
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 shame, to call her back again,
And pray her to a fault for which I chid her.
What foolis she, that knows I am a maid,
And would not force the letter to iny view ?
Since maids, in modesty, fay No, to that'
Which they would have the profferer construe, Ay,
Fie, fie ! how wayward is this foolish love,
That, like a testy babe, will scratch the nurse,
And presently, all humbled, kiss the rod!
How churlishly I 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 smile!
My penance is, to call Lucetta back,
And ask remiffion for my folly past; —
What ho! Lucetta!
So, in Daniel's Complaint of Rosamond, 1599 :

". And flie (o flie ) these bed-brokers unclean,
« The monsters of our sex," &c. STEEVENS,

- Say No, to that, &c. ( A paraphrase on the old proverb, “ Maids say nay, and take it. STEEVENS.

N 3

1

7

took up

Re-enter LUCETTA.
Luc.

What would your ladyship?
JUL. Is it near dinner-time ?
Luc.

I would it were ; That you might kill your stomach on your meat, And not upon your maid. Jul.

What is't

you So gingerly ?

Luc. Nothing
JUL.

Why did'st thou stoop then ?
Luc. To take a paper up that I let fall.
Jul. And is that paper nothing ?
Luc.

Nothing concerning me. JUL. Then let it lie for those 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, madain, to a tune : Give me a note : your ladyfhip can set.

JUL. As little by such toys as may be possible: Beit sing it to the inne of Light 'o love.

Luc. It is too heavy for so light a tune.
Jul. Heavy? belike, it hath fome burden then.
Luc. Ay; and melodious were it, would you

9

fing it.

8

Jul. And why not you?

ftomach on your meat,) Stomack was used for passion or obstinacy. JOHNSON.

9 Light o' love.) This tune is given in a note on Miuch ado about Nothing, Ad Ill. fc. iv. STEEVENS.

Luc.

I cannot reach fo high. Jul. Let's see your song:-How now, minion ?

Luc. Keep tune there still, so you will fing it out:
And yet, methinks, I do not like this tune.

Jul. You do not?
Luc. No, madam; it is too sharp.
Jul. You, minion, are too saucy.

Luc. Nay, now you are too flat,
And mar the concord with too harsh a defcant:?
There wanteth but a mean to fill your song.

?
Jul. The mean is drown'd with your unruly

base.
Luc. Indeed, I bid the base for Proteus.*

a

a

4

3

-too harsh a descant:] Defcant is a term in music. See Sir John Hawkin's note on the first speech in K. Richard III.

STEEVENS. but a mean, &c.] The mean is the tenor in music. So, in the interlude of Mary Magdalen's Repentance 1569 ;

• Utilitie can fing the base full cleane,

" And noble honour shall sing the meane.' STEEVENS. 4 Indeed I bid the base for Proieus.] The speaker here turns the allusion (which her mistress ernployed) from the base in musick to a country exercise, Bid the baje: in which some pursue, and others are made prisoners. So that Lucetia would intend, by this, to say, Indeed I take pains to make you a captive to Proteus's paffion.--He uses ihe same allusion in his Venus and Adonis:

66 To bid the winds a base he now prepares." And in his Cymbeline he mentions the game :

-Lads more like " To run the country bafe." WARBURTON. Dr. Warburton is not quite accurate The game was not called Bid the Base, but the Base. To bid the base means here, I believe, to challenge to a contest. So, in our author's Venus and Adonis:

“ To bid the wind a base he now prepares,

" And wh'er he run, or lly, they knew not whether." Again, in Hall's Chronicle, fol. 98. b. ". The queen marched from York to Wakefield, and bade base to the duke, even before his caitle." MALONE.

66

Jul. This babble shall not henceforth trouble

me.

Here is a coil with protestation !

[Tears the letter. Go, get you gone; and let the papers lie: You would be fingering them, to anger me, Luc. She makes it strange; but she would be

best pleas'd To be so anger'd with another letter.

[ Exit. JUL. Nay, would I were so anger'd with the

fame! O hateful hands, to tear such loving words! Injurious wasps! to feed on such sweet honey, And kill the bees, that yield it, with your stings ! I'll kiss each several paper for amends. And here is wžit-kind Julia;--unkind Julia! As in revenge of thy ingratitude, I throw thy name against the bruising stones, Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain. Look, here is writ-love-wounded Proteus : Poor wounded name! my bosom, as a bed, Shall lodge thee, till thy wound be throughly

heal’d; And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss. But twice, oị 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 Unto a ragged, fearful, hanging rock, And throw it thence into the raging fea! Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ,

Mr. Malone's explanation of the verb-bid, is unquestionabiy juft. So, in one of the parts of K. Henry VI:

" Of force enough to bid his brother battle." STEEVENS

---written down? To write down is still a provincial ex: preffion for to write, HENLEY.