PERSONS REPRESENTED. Duke of Milan, father to Silvia. Proteus, } Gentlemen of Verona, Antonio, father to Proteus. Thurio, a foolish rival to Valentine. Julia, a lady of Verona, beloved by Proteus. Servants, musicians. SCENE, fometimes in Verona ; fometimes in Milan; and on the frontiers of Mantua. 2 The old copy has-Protheus; but this is merely the antiquated mode of fpelling Proteus. Shakspeare's character was fo called," from his difpofition to change. STEEVENS, 3 In the enumeration of characters in the old copy, this attendant on Antonio is called Panthion, but in the play, always Panthino. STEEVENS. ACT I. SCENE I. An open place in Verona. Enter VALENTINE and PROTEUS. Val. Ceafe to perfuade, my loving Proteus; Pro. Wilt thou be gone? Sweet Valentine, adieu ! Wish me partaker in thy happiness, When thou doft meet good hap; and, in thy danger, Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers, Val. And on a love-book pray for my fuccefs. And yet you never fwam the Hellefpont. Pre 4 The expreffion is fine, as implying that idleness prevents the giving any form or character to the manners. WARBURTON. 5 The poem of Mufæus, entitled HERO AND LEANDER, is meant. MALONE. Pro. Over the boots? nay, give me not the boots. In love, where fcorn is bought with groans; coy looks, Pro. So, by your circumftance, you call me fool. Methinks fhould not be chronicled for wife. Val. And writers fay, As the most forward bud Even fo by love the young and tender wit 6 A proverbial expreffion, though now difufed, fignifying, don't make a laughing stock of me; don't play with me. The French have a phrase, Bailler foin en corne; which Cotgrave thus interprets, To give one the boots & to fell him a bargain. THEOBALD. Perhaps this expreffion took its origin from a sport the country people in Warwickshire ufe at their harveft home, where one fits as judge to try misdemeanors committed in harvest, and the punishment for the men is to be laid on a bench, and flapped on the breech with a pair of boots. This they call giving them the boots. The boots, however, were an ancient engine of torture. STEEVENS. The boot was an inftrument of torture ufed only in Scotland. Bishop Burnet in The Hiftory of his own Times, Vol. I. p. 332, edit. 1754, mentions one Maccael, a preacher, who, being fufpected of treasonable prac. tices underwent the punishment fo late as 1666. REED. 7 This love will end in a foolish action, to produce which you are long to fpend your wit, or it will end in the lofs of your wit, which will be overpowered by the folly of love. JoHNSON. But wherefore wafte I time to counsel thee, Val. Sweet Proteus, no; now let us take our leave. Pro. All happiness bechance to thee in Milan! [Exit VALENTINE. Pro. He after honour hunts, I after love: Speed. Sir Proteus, fave you: Saw you my master? Pro. Indeed a fheep doth very often stray, An if the fhepherd be awhile away. Speed. You conclude, that my mafter is a fhepherd then; and I a sheep? Pro. I do. Speed. Why then my horns are his horns, whether I wake or fleep. 1 Pro. This whole scene, like many others in these plays (fome of which I believe were written by Shakspeare, and others interpolated by the players) is compofed of the lowest and most trifling conceits, to be accounted for only from the grofs tafte of the age he lived in; Populo ut placerent. I wish I had authority to leave them out. Porr. That this, like many other scenes, is mean and vulgar, will be univerfally allowed; but that it was interpolated by the players feems advanced without any proof, only to give a greater licence to criticism. JOHNSON, Pro. A filly anfwer, and fitting well a fheep. Pro. True; and thy mafter a fhepherd. Speed. Nay, that I can deny by a circumftance. Speed. The thepherd feeks the fheep, and not the sheep the fhepherd; but I seek my mafter, and my matter seeks not me: therefore, 1 am no sheep. Pro. The fheep for fodder follow the fhepherd, the fhepherd for food follows not the fheep; thou for wages followest thy mafter, thy master for wages follows not thee: therefore, thou art a sheep. Speed. Such another proof will make me cry baa. Pro. But doft thou hear? gav'ft thou my letter to Julia ? Speed. Ay, fir: I, a loft mutton, gave your letter to her, a laced mutton; 9 and fhe, a laced mutton, gave me, a loft mutton, nothing for my labour. Pro. Here's too fmall a pasture for fuch a ftore of muttons. Speed. If the ground be overcharg'd, you were best stick her. Pro. Nay, in that you are aftray; 2 'twere beft pound you. Speed. Nay, fir, less than a pound shall serve me for carrying your letter. Pro. You mistake; I mean the pound, a pinfold. Speed. From a pound to a pin? fold it over and over, 'Tis threefold too little for carrying a letter to your lover. Pro. But what faid fhe? did fhe nod. [SPEED nods. Speed. 9 Speed calls himself a loft mutton, because he had loft his master, and becaufe Proteus had been proving him a fheep. But why does he call the lady a laced mutton? Wenchers are to this day called mutton-mongers; and confequently the object of their paffion muft, by the metaphor, be the mutton. THEOBALD. A laced mutton was in our author's time fo eftablished a term for a courtezan, that a street in Clerkenwell, which was much frequented by women of the town, was then called Mutton-lane. MALONE. 2 From the word aftray here, and loft mutton above, it is obvious that the double reference was to the firft fentence of the General Confeffion in the Prayer-book. HENLEY. 3 Noddy was a game at cards. STEEVENS. |