Pro. It shall go hard, but I'll prove it by another. Speed. The shepherd seeks the sheep, and not the sheep the shepherd; but I seek my master, and my master seeks not me; therefore I am no sheep.

Pro. The sheep for fodder follow the shepherd, the shepherd for food follows not the sheep; thou for wages followest thy master, thy master for wages follows not thee: therefore thou art a sheep. Speed. Such another proof will make me cry baa. Pro. But dost thou hear! gav'st thou my letter to Julia?

Speed. Ay, sir; I, a lost mutton, gave your letter to her, a laced mutton;1 and she, a laced mutton, gave me, a lost mutton, nothing for my labour.

Pro. Here's too small a pasture for such a store of muttons.

Speed. If the ground be overcharged, you were

best stick her.

Speed. I.

[SPEED nods.

Pro. Nod, I! why, that's noddy. Speed. You mistook, sir? I say she did nod: and you ask me, if she did nod; and I say, I. Pro. And that set together is-noddy.

Speed. Now you have taken the pains to set it together, take it for your pains.

Pro. No, no, you shall have it for bearing the letter.

Speed. Well, I perceive I must be fain to bear with you

Pro. Why, sir, how do you bear with me? Speed. Marry, sir, the letter very orderly; having nothing but the word, noddy, for my pains. Pro. Beshrew but me, hav a quick wit. you Speed. And yet it cannot overtake your slow purse.

Pro. Come, come, open the matter in brief: What said she?

Speed. Open your purse, that the money and the matter may be both at once delivered.

Pro. Well, sir, here is for your pains: What said she?

Speed. Truly, sir, I think you'll hardly win her. Pro. Why? Could'st thou perceive so much from her?

Speed. Sir, I could perceive nothing at all from her; no, not so much as a ducat for delivering your letter: And being so hard to me that brought your mind, I fear she'll prove as hard to you in telling your mind. Give her no token but stones, for she's as hard as steel.

Pro. What, said she nothing?

Speed. No, not so much as-take this for thy pains. To testify your bounty, I thank you, you have testern'd3 me; in requital whereof, henceforth carry your letters yourself: and so, sir, I'll commend you to my master.

1 Cotgrave explains laced mutton, une garce, putain, fille de joye. It was so established a term for a cortezan, that a lang in Clerkenwell, much frequented by loose women, is said to have been thence called Mutton Lane. 2 These words were supplied by Theobald to introAuce what follows. In Speed's answer, the old spelling of the affirmative particle has been retained; otherwise the conceit would be unintelligible. Noddy was a game | a: cards.

3 Testens, or (as we now commonly call them, testers,) from a head that was upon them, were coined in .542. Sir H. Spelman says they were a French coin of the value of 18d. ; and he does not know but that they

Jul. But say, Lucetta, now we are alone, Would'st thou then counsel me to fall in love? Luc. Ay, madam; so you stumble not unheed. fully,

Jul. Of all the fair resort of gentlemen, That every day with parle4 encounter me, In thy opinion, which is worthiest love?

Luc. Please you, repeat their names, I'll show my mind

According to my shallow simple skill.

Jul. What think'st thou of the fair Sir Eglamour? Luc. As of a knight well-spoken, neat and fine But, were I you, he never should be mine.

;

Jul. What think'st thou of the rich Mercatio? Luc. Well of his wealth; but of himself, so, so. Jul. What think'st thou of the gentle Proteus? Luc. Lord, lord! to see what folly reigns in us! Jul. How now! what means this passion at his name?

Luc. Pardon, dear madam; 'tis a passing shame, That I, unworthy body as I am,

Should censures thus on lovely gentlemen..

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

Jul. Your reason?

Luc. I have no other but a woman's reason "

I think him so, because I think him so. Jul. And would'st thou have me cast my love of 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's 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 show.

Jul. Say, say; who gave it thee? Luc. Sir Valentine's page; and sent, 1 think, from Proteus:

He would have given it you, but I, being in the

Ju. 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 fool is she, that knows I am a maid, And would not force the letter to my view! Since maids, in modesty, say 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 permission for my folly past :What ho! Lucetta!

Luc. That I might sing it, madam, to a tune: Give me a note: your ladyship can set.3

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:4
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.
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.
Luc. She makes it strange; but she would be
best pleas'd

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!
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 thoroughly 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 rugged, fearful, hanging rock,
And throw it thence into the raging sea!
Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ,-
Poor forlorn Porteus, 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.

SCENE III.-The same. A Room in Antonio'
House. Enter ANTONIO and PANTHINC.
Ant. Tell me, Panthino, what sad1o talk was that,
Wherewith my brother held you in the cloister?
Pant. "Twas of his nephew Proteus, your son.
Ant. Why, what of him?

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;
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 importune you,
To let him spend his time no more at home,
Which would be great impeachment11 to his age,
In having known no travel in his youth.

Ant. Nor need'st thou much importune me to

that

To be so anger'd with another letter.

[Exit. Jul. Nay, would I were as anger'd with the same! O hateful hands, to tear such loving words!

7 Since.

8" for catching cold," i. e. lest they should catch cold, anciently a common form of expression. See Horne Tooke's explanation of this word in the first volume of "The Diversions of Purley."

9 Month's mind, a longing, probably from "the longing of women, which takes place (or commences, at least) in the first month of pregnancy." This is the

5 To bid the base means, to run fast, challenging another to pursue at the rustic game called Base, or Prisonbase. The allusion is somewhat obscure, but it appears to mean here, " to challenge to an encounter." 6 i. e. bustle, stir.

commentators have endeavoured to refer this passage to the month's minds, or periodical celebrations in memory of dead persons, usual in times of popery ;-but the phrase in this place can have no relation to them. 10 i. e. grave or serious.

11 Impeachment in this passage means reproack or imputation

Pant. "Twere good, I think, your lordship sen him thither:

There shall he practise tilts and tou naments, Hear sweet discourse, converse with noblemen; And be in eye of every exercise,

Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth.

Ant. I like thy counsel: well hast thou advised: And, that thou may'st perceive how well I like it, The execution of it shall make known i Even with the speediest expedition

I will despatch him to the emperor's court.
Pant. To-morrow, may it please you, Don Al-
phonso,

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.'

How happily he lives, how well belov'd
And daily graced 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 exhibition3 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 employed
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 resembleth4

The 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. [Exeunt.

1 i. e. break the matter to him.

2 i. e. wonder not.

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 learned, like Sir Proteus, to wreath your arms like a male-content: to relish a love-song, like a robin-red-breast; to walk alone, like one that had the pestilence; to sigh, like a school-boy that had lost his A, B, C; to weep, like a young wench that had buried her grandam; to fast, like one that takes diet; to watch, like one that fears robbing to speak puling, like a beggar at Hollowmas. You were wont, when you laugh'd, to crow like a cock ; when you walked, to walk like one of the lions; when you fasted, it was presently after dinner; when you looked sadly, it was for want of money and now you are metamorphosed with a mistress, that, when I look on you, I can hardly think you my master.

Val. Are all these things perceived in me?
Speed. They are all perceived without you.
Val. Without me? They cannot.

Speed. Without you! nay, that's certain, for, without you were so simple, none else would: but you are so without these follies, that these follies are within you, and shine through you like the water in an urinal; that not an eye, that sees you, but is a physician to comment on your malady.

Val. But, tell me, dost thou know my lady Silvia?

Speed. She that you gaze on so, as she sits at supper?

Val. Hast thou observed that? even she I mean. Speed. Why, sir, I know her not.

Val. Dost thou know her by my gazing on her, and yet know'st her not?

Speed. Is she not hard-favour'd, sir?

Val. Not so fair, boy, as well favour'd.
Speed. Sir, I know that well enough.

Val. What dost thou know?

Speed. That she is not so fair, as (of you) wellfavour'd.

Val. I mean, that her beauty is exquisite, but her favour infinite.

Speed. That's because the one is painted, and the other out of all count.

Val. How painted? and how out of count? Speed. Marry, sir, so painted to make her fair, that no man counts of her beauty.

4 Resembleth is pronounced as if written resembeleth, which makes it a quadrisyllable.

5 On and one were anciently pronounced alike, and frequently written so.

6 To take diet is to be under a regimen for a disease. 7 The feast of All-hallows, or All Saints, at which time the poor in Staffordshire go from parish to parish a souling, as they call it ; i. e. begging and puling, (or singing small, as Bailey's Dictionary explains puling,) for soul cakes, and singing what they call the souler's song. These terms point out the condition of this benevo

souls of the giver's departed friends

A Street

[Exeunt. Enter

SCENE III.—The same.
LAUNCE, leading a Dog.

Laun. Nay, 'twill be this hour ere I have done zeeping; 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 he Imperial's court. I think, Crab my dog be the Jourest-natured dog that lives: my mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister crying, our maid howlng, our cat wringing her hands, and all our house n a great perplexity, yet did not this cruel-hearted ur 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 nerself blind at my parting. Nay, I'll show you the manner of it: This shoe is my father:-no, this eft shoe is my father;-no, no, this left shoe is my nother;-nay, that cannot be so neither;-yes, it s so, it is so; it hath the worser sole; This shoe, with the hole in it, 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 ;-oh, 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 á word for weeping; now should I kiss my father; well he weeps on:-now come I to my mother, (0, that she could speak now!) like a wood2 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.

a

Pan. 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 will lose the tide, if you tarry any longer.

Laun. It is no matter if the ty'd were lost; for it is the unkindest ty'd that ever any man ty'd. Pan. What's the unkindest tide?

Laun. Why, he that's ty'd here; Crab, my dog. Pan. Tut, man, I mean thou'lt lose the flood; and, in losing the flood, lose thy 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?

Laun. For fear thou should'st lose thy tongue.
Pan. Where should I lose my tongue?
Laun. In thy tale.

Pan. In thy tail?

Laun. Lose the tide, and the voyage, and the master, and the service: And the tide !-Why, caan, if the river were dry, I am able to fill it with my tears; if the wind were down, I could drive the boat with my sighs.

Pan. Come, come away, man; I was sent to

Duke. Now, daughter Silvia, you are hard beset
Sir Valentine, your father's in good health:
What say you to a letter from your friends
Of much good news?

Val. My lord, I will be thankful
To any happy messenger from thence.

Duke. Know you Don Antonio, your countryman?
Val. Ay, my good lord, I know the gentleman
To be of worth, and worthy estimation,
And not without desert so well reputed..
Duke. Hath he not a son?

Val. Ay, my good lord; a son, that well de

serves

The honour and regard of such 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 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,

6

ation was evidently cote from the French original 5 To quote is to mark, to observe, the old pronunci

6 Feature in the poet's ag was often used for form or person in general. Thus Baret: "The feature and facion, or the proportion and figure of the whole body. Conformatio quædam et figura totius oris et cor poris." So in Ant. and Cleop. Act. ii. Sc. 5. "Report the feature of Octavian."

Thus also Spenser :

"Which the fair feature of her limbs did nie