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

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.

Jul. Let's see your song :-How now, minion? Luc. Keep tune there still, so you will sing 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 descant :
There wanteth but a mean to fill your song.

6

Jul. The mean is drown'd with your unruly base.
Luc. Indeed, I bid the base for Proteus. 7

Jul. This babble shall not henceforth trouble me.
Here is a coil with protestation !—

Go, get you gone; and let the papers

lie:

You would be fingering them, to anger me.

[Tears the letter

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 same!

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 writ-kind Julia ;-unkind Julia!

[6] Descant is a term in music. The mean is the tenor. STEEVENS.

[7] The speaker here turns the allusion (which her mistress employ'd) from the base in music, to a country exercise, the base: in which some pursue, and others are made prisoners. WARBURTON.

As in revenge of thy ingratitude,

I throw any 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, 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
Unto a ragged, fearful, hanging rock,

And throw it thence into the raging sea!
Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ,-
Poor forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus,
To the sweet Julia ;-that I'll tear away;
And yet I will not, sith so prettily
He couples it to his complaining names;
Thus will I fold them one upon another;

Now kiss, 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, shall these papers lie like tell-tales here?
Jul. If you respect them, best to take them up.
Luc. Nay, I was taken up for laying them down:
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;

I see things too, although you judge I wink.
Jul. Come, come, will't please you go?

The same.

SCENE III.

8

[Exeunt.

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?

[8] A month's mind was an anniversary in times of popery; or, as Mr. Ray calls it, a less solemnity directed by the will of the deceased. There was also a year's mind, and a week's mind. GRAY.

A month's mind, in the ritual sense, signifies not desire or inclination, but remem. brance; yet I suppose this is the true original of the expression. JOHNSON.

Pant. He wonder'd, that your lordship
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;
Some, to discover islands far away ;9
Some, to the studious universities.
For any, or for all these exercises,
He said, that Proteus, your son, was meet;
And did request me, to impórtune 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 impórtune me to that
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 try'd, 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,

How his companion, youthful Valentine,
Attends the emperor in his royal court.2

Ant. I know it well.

Pant. 'Twere good, I think, your lordship sent him thither:

There shall he practise tilts and tournaments,
Hear sweet discourse, converse with noblemen;

[9] In Shakespeare's time, voyages for the discovery of the islands of America were much in vogue. And we find in the journals of the travellers of that time, that the sons of noblemen, and of others of the best families in England, went very frequently on these adventures. Such as the Fortescues, Collitons, Thornhills, Far mers, Pickerings, Littletons, Willoughbys, Chesters, Hawleys, Bromleys, and others. To this prevailing fashion our poet frequently alludes, and not without high commendations of it. WARBURTON.

MASON.

[1] Impeachment in this instance signifies reproach or imputation. [2] Shakespeare has been guilty of no mistake in placing the emperor's court at Milan in this play. Several of the first German emperors held their courts there occasionally, it being, at that time, their immediate property, and the chief town of their Italian dominions. Some of them were crowned kings of Italy at Milan, before they received the imperial crown at Rome. Nor has the poet fallen into any contradiction by giving a duke to Milan at the same time that the emperor held his court there. The first dukes of that, and all the other great cities in Italy, were not sovereign princes, as they afterwards became; but were merely governors, or viceroys, under the emperors, and removable at their pleasure: such was the Duke of Milan mentioned in this play. Mr. M. Mason adds, that, "during the wars in Italy between Francis I. and Charles V. the latter frequently resided at Milan." STEEVENS,

13

VOL. I.

I

And be in eye of every exercise,

Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth.

Ant. I like thy counsel; well hast thou advis d: And, that thou may'st perceive how well I like it, The execution of it shall make known;

Even with the speediest execution

I will despatch him to the emperor's court.

Pant. To-morrow, may it please you, Don Alphonso, With other gentlemen of good esteem,

Are journeying to salute the emperor,

And to commend their service to his will.

Ant. Good company; with them shall Proteus go: And, in good time,-now will we break with him. Enter PROTEus.

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:
O, that our fathers would applaud our loves,
To seal our happiness with their consents!
O heavenly Julia!

Ant. How now? what letter are you reading there? Pro. May't please your lordship, 'tis a word or two Of commendation sent from Valentine,

Deliver'd by a friend that came from him.

Ant. Lend me the letter; let me see what news. Pro. There is no news, my lord; but that he writes How happily he lives, how well belov'd,

And daily grac'd by the emperor;

Wishing me with him, partner of his fortune.

Ant. And how stand you affected to his wish?
Pro. As one relying on your lordship's will,

And not depending on his friendly wish..

Ant. My will is something sorted with his wish:
Muse not that I thus suddenly proceed;

For what I will, I will, and there an end.
I am resolv'd, that thou shalt spend some time
With Valentinus in the emperor's court;
What maintenance he from his friends receives,
Like exhibition thou shalt have from me.
To-morrow be in readiness to go:
Excuse it not, for I am peremptory

Pro. My lord, I cannot be so soon provided.
Please you, deliberate a day or two.

Ant. Look, what thou want'st, shall be sent after thee: No more of stay; to-morrow thou must go.Come on, Panthino; you shall be employ'd To hasten on his expedition.

[Exeunt ANT. and PANT.

Pro. Thus have I shunn'd the fire, for fear of burning; And drench'd me in the sea, where I am drown'd: I fear'd to shew my father Julia's letter, Lest he should take exceptions to my love And with the 'vantage of mine own excuse Hath he excepted most against my love. O, how this spring of love resembleth

Th' uncertain glory of an April day;
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away!
Re-enter PANTHINO.

Pant. Sir Proteus, your father calls for you;
He is in haste, therefore, I pray you, go.

Pro. Why, this it is! my heart accords thereto; And yet a thousand times it answers, No.

ACT II.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.-Milan. An apartment in the Duke's palace. Enter VALENTINE and SPEED.

SIR, your glove.

Speed.

Val. Not mine; my gloves are on.

Speed. Why then this may be yours, for this is but one Val. Ha! let me see: ay, give it me, it's mine :— Sweet ornament that decks a thing divine!

Ah Silvia! Silvia!

Speed. Madam Silvia! Madam Silvia!

Val. How now,

sirrah?

Speed. She is not within hearing, sir.

Val. Why, sir, who bade you call her?

Speed. Your worship, sir; or else I mistook.

Val. Well, you'll still be too forward.

Speed. And yet I was last chidden for being too slow. Val. Go to, sir; tell me, do you know madam Silvia ? 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