Launce. Nay, 'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping: all the kind of the Launces have this very fault. I have received my proportion, like the prodigious son, and am going with Sir Proteus to the Imperial's court. think Crab, my dog, be the sourest-natured dog that lives: my mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister crying, our maid howling, our cat wringing her hands, and all our house in a great perplexity, yet did not this cruelhearted cur shed one tear: he is a stone, a very pebble-stone, and has no more pity in him than a dog a Jew would have wept to have seen our parting why, my grandam, having no eyes, look you, wept herself blind at my parting. Nay, I'll show you the manner of it. This shoe is my father;-no, this left shoe is my father :-no, no, this left shoe is my mother;-nay, that cannot be so, neither: -yes, it is so; it is so; it hath the worser sole. This shoe, with the hole in, is my mother, and this my father. A vengeance on't! there 'tis: now, sir, this staff is my sister; for, look you, she is as white as a lily, and as small as a wand this hat is Nan, our maid: I am the dog ;-no, the dog is himself, and I am the dog,-O, the dog is me, and I am myself: ay, so so. Now come I to my father; "Father, your blessing;" now should not the shoe speak a word for weeping: now should I kiss my father; well, he weeps on. Now come I to my mother;-O, that she could speak now! like a wood woman; well, I kiss her;-why there 'tis, here's my mother's breath up and down. Now come I to my sister; mark the moan she makes. Now, the dog all this while sheds not a tear, nor speaks a word; but see how I lay the dust with my tears.

Enter Panthino.

Pant. Launce, away, away, aboard! thy master is shipped, and thou art to post after with oars. What's the matter? Why weepest thou, man? Away, ass! you'll lose the tide, if you tarry any longer.

Launce. It is no matter if the tied were lost; for it is the unkindest tied that ever any man Pant. What's the unkindest tide! [tied. Launce. Why, he that's tied here; Crab, my

Keep this remembrance for thy Julia's sake. [Gives him a ring. Pro. Why, then, we'll make exchange; here, take you this. [Gives her another. Jul. And seal the bargain with a holy kiss. Pro. Here is my hand for my true constancy; And when that hour o'erslips me in the day Wherein I sigh not, Julia, for thy sake, The next ensuing hour some foul mischance Torment me for my love's forgetfulness! My father stays my coming; answer not. dog. The tide is now: nay, not thy tide of tears; Pant. Tut, man, I mean thou'lt lose the That tide will stay me longer than I should: flood; and, in losing the flood, lose thy Julia, farewell! [Exit Julia.] What, gone with-voyage; and, in losing thy voyage, lose thy master; and, in losing thy master, lose thy service; and, in losing thy service,--Why dost thou stop my mouth? [tongue. Launce. For fear thou should'st lose thy Pant. Where should I lose my tongue? Launce. In thy tale. Pant. In thy tail? Launce. Lose the tide, and the voyage, and the master, and the service, and the tied ! Why, man, if the river were dry, I am able to

out a word?

Ay, so true love should do: it cannot speak; For truth hath better deeds than words, to grace it.

Enter Panthino.

Pant. Sir Proteus, you are stay'd for.
Pro.
Go; I come, I come.--
Alas! this parting strikes poor lovers dumb.
[Exeunt.

Pant. Come, come away, man; I was sent

fill it with my tears; if the wind were down, I What say you to a letter from your friends could drive the boat with my sighs. Of much good news? Val. My lord, I will be thankful To any happy messenger from thence. Duke. Know you Don Antonio, your countryman?

to call thee.

Launce. Sir, call me what thou darest.
Pant. Wilt thou go?

Launce. Well, I will go.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-Milan. A Room in the Duke's
Palace.

Enter Valentine, Silvia, Thurio, and Speed.

Sil. Servant

Val. Mistress?

Speed. Master, Sir Thurio frowns on you.
Val. Ay, boy, it's for love.
Speed. Not of you.

Val. Of my mistress, then.

Speed. "Twere good you knock'd him.
Sil. Servant, you are sad.
Val. Indeed, madam, I seem so.
Thu. Seem you that you are not?
Val. Haply, I do.

Thu. So do counterfeits.
Val. So do you.

Thu. What seem I that I am not?
Val. Wise.

Thu. What instance of the contrary?
Val. Your folly.

Tku. And how quote you my folly?
Val. I quote it in your jerkin.
Thu. My jerkin is a doublet.

Val. Well, then, I'll double your folly.
Thu. How?

Sil. What, angry, Sir Thurio! do you change colour?

Val. Give him leave, madam : he is a kind of chameleon.

Val. Ay, my good lord; I know the gentle-
To be of worth, and worthy estimation, [man
And not without desert so well reputed.

Duke. Hath he not a son?
[deserves
The honour and regard of such a father.
Val. Ay, my good lord; a son, that well

Duke. You know him well?

Val. I know him as myself; for from our
infancy
[gether:
We have convers'd, and spent our hours to-
And though myself have been an idle truant,
Omitting the sweet benefit of time

To clothe mine age with angel-like perfection,
Yet hath Sir 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. Beshrew me, sir, but if he make this
He is as worthy for an empress' love, [good,
As meet to be an emperor's counsellor.
Well, sir, 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.
[worth.
Duke. Welcome him, then, according to his

Thu. That hath more mind to feed on your Silvia, I speak to you; and you, Sir Thurio :blood, than live in your air.

Val. You have said, sir.

Thu. Ay, sir, and done too, for this time. Val. I know it well, sir: you always end ere you begin.

Sil. A fine volley of words, gentlemen, and quickly shot off.

Val. "Tis indeed, madam; we thank the
Sil. Who is that, servant?
[giver.

Val. Yourself, sweet lady; for you gave the fire. Sir Thurio borrows his wit from your ladyship's looks, and spends what he borrows kindly in your company.

Thu. Sir, if you spend word for word with me, I shall make your wit bankrupt.

Val. I know it well, sir: you have an exchequer of words, and, I think, no other treasure to give your followers; for it appears by their bare liveries, that they live by your bare words.

Sil. No more, gentlemen, no more: here comes my father.

For Valentine, I need not cite him to it:
I'll send him hither to you presently. [Exit.
Val. This is the gentleman, I told your

'Tis but her picture I have yet beheld,
And that hath dazzled my reason's light;
But when I look on her perfections,
There is no reason but I shall be blind.
If I can check my erring love, I will;
If not, to compass her I'll use my skill. [Exit.
SCENE V.-Milan. A Street.
Enter Speed and Launce.

Speed. Launce! by mine honesty, welcome to Milan.

Pro. To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn ;
To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn ;
To wrong my friend, I shall be much forsworn;
And even that power, which gave me first my
Provokes me to this threefold perjury: [oath,
Love bade me swear, and Love bids me for-

Launce. Forswear not thyself, sweet youth, for I am not welcome. I reckon this always --that a man is never undone, till he be hang'd; nor never welcome to a place, till some certain shot be paid, and the hostess say, "Welcome." Speed. Come on, you madcap, I'll to the alehouse with you presently; where, for one O sweet-suggesting Love, if thou hast sinn'd, shot of five pence, thou shalt have five thou-Teach me, thy tempted subject, to excuse it ! sand welcomes. But, sirrah, how did thy At first I did adore a twinkling star,

master part with Madam Julia?

Launce. Marry, after they closed in earnest, they parted very fairly in jest.

Speed. But shall she marry him?
Launce. No.

Speed. How then? Shall he marry her?
Launce. No, neither.

Speed. What, are they broken?

[fish.

swear.

But now I worship a celestial sun.
Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken;
And he wants wit, that wants resolved will
To learn his wit to exchange the bad for
better.

Fie, fie, unreverend tongue! to call her bad,
Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferr'd
With twenty thousand soul-confirming oaths.
Launce. No, they are both as whole as aI cannot leave to love, and yet I do;
Speed. Why then, how stands the matter
with them?

But there I leave to love, where I should love.
Julia I lose, and Valentine I lose :

Launce. Marry, thus; when it stands well If I keep them, I needs must lose myself; with him, it stands well with her.

Speed. What an ass art thou! I understand thee not.

Launce. What a block art thou, that thou
canst not! My staff understands me.
Speed. What thou sayest?

Launce. Ay, and what I do too: look thee;
I'll but lean, and my staff understands me.
Speed. It stands under thee, indeed.
Launce. Why, stand-under and under-stand
is all one.

Speed. But tell me true, will't be a match? Launce. Ask my dog; if he say ay, it will; if he say no, it will; if he shake his tail and say nothing, it will.

Speed. The conclusion is, then, that it will. Launce. Thou shalt never get such a secret from me, but by a parable.

Speed. "Tis well that I get it so. But, Launce, how sayest thou, that my master is become a notable lover?

Launce. I never knew him otherwise. Speed. Than how? [him to be. Launce. A notable lubber, as thou reportest Speed. Why, thou whoreson ass, thou mistakest me. [meant thy master. Launce. Why, fool, I meant not thee; I Speed. I tell thee, my master is become a bot lover.

Launce. Why, I tell thee. I care not though he burn himself in love. If thou wilt, go with me to the alehouse; if not, thou art a Hebrew,

If I lose them, thus find I, by their loss,-
For Valentine, myself; for Julia, Silvia.
I to myself am dearer than a friend,
For love is still most precious in itself;
And Silvia (witness heaven, that made her
Shows Julia but a swarthy Ethiope. [fair!)
I will forget that Julia is alive,
Remembering that my love to her is dead;
And Valentine I'll hold an enemy,
Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend.
I cannot now prove constant to myself,
Without some treachery used to Valentine.
This night he meaneth, with a corded ladder,
To climb celestial Silvia's chamber-window;
Myself in counsel, his competitor.
Now, presently, I'll give her father notice
Of their disguising, and pretended flight;
Who, all enraged, will banish Valentine,
For Thurio, he intends, shall wed his daughter:
But, Valentine being gone, I'll quickly cross,
By some sly trick, blunt Thurio's dull pro-
ceeding.
[swift,
Love, lend me wings to make my purpose
As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift!
[Exit.

SCENE VII.-Verona. A Room in Julia's
House. Enter Julia and Lucetta.
Jul. Counsel, Lucetta; gentle girl, assist

me:

And, even in kind love, I do conjure thee,--
Who art the table wherein all my thoughts