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ACT V.....SCENE I.

The same. An Abbey.

Enter EGLAMOUR.

Egl. The sun begins to gild the western sky;
And now, it is about the very hour,

That Silvia, at Patrick's cell, should meet me."
She will not fail; for lovers break not hours,
Unless it be to come before their time;
So much they spur their expedition.

Enter SILVIA.

See, where she comes! Lady, a happy evening!
Sil. Amen, amen! go on, good Eglamour!
Out at the postern by the abbey-wall;

I fear, I am attended by some spies.

Egl. Fear not: the forest is not three leagues off; If we recover that, we are sure enough.8

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

The same. An Apartment in the Duke's Palace.
Enter THURIO, PROTEUS, and JULIA.

Thu. Sir Proteus, what says Silvia to my suit?
Pro. O, sir, I find her milder than she was;
And yet she takes exceptions at your person.
Thu. What, that my leg is too long?

Pro. No; that it is too little.

Thu. I'll wear a boot, to make it somewhat rounder. Pro. But love will not be spurr'd to what it loathes. Thu. What says she to my face?

Pro. She says, it is a fair one.

Thu. Nay, then the wanton lies; my face is black. Pro. But pearls are fair; and the old saying is,

7 That Silvia, at Patrick's cell, should meet me.] The old copy redundantly reads: "friar Patrick's cell." But the omission of this title is justified by a passage in the next scene, where the Duke says

"At Patrick's cell this even; and there she was not." Steevens.

sure enough.] Sure is safe, out of danger. Johnson.

Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies' eyes.9

Jul. 'Tis true, such pearls as put out ladies' eyes; For I had rather wink than look on them.

Thu. How likes she my discourse?

Pro. Ill, when you talk of war.

[Aside.

Thu. But well, when I discourse of love, and peace? Jul. But better, indeed, when you hold your peace.

[Aside.

Thu. What says she to my valour?

Pro. O, sir, she makes no doubt of that.

Jul. She needs not, when she knows it cowardice.

[Aside.

Thu. What says she to my birth?

Pro. That you are well deriv'd.

Jul. True; from a gentleman to a fool.

[Aside.

Thu. Considers she my possessions?

Pro. O, ay; and pities them.

Thu. Wherefore?

Jul. That such an ass should owe them.

[Aside.

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Duke. How now, sir Proteus? how now, Thurio? Which of you saw sir Eglamour of late?

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9 Black men are pearls, &c.] So, in Heywood's Iron Age, 1632: "a black complexion

"Is always precious in a woman's eye.”

Again, in Sir Giles Goosecap:

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but to make every black slovenly cloud a pearl in her eye." Steevens.

“A black man is a jewel in a fair woman's eye,” is one of Ray's proverbial sentences. Malone.

1 That they are out by lease.] I suppose he means, because Thurio's folly has let them on disadvantageous terms. Steevens. She pities Sir Thurio's possessions, because they are let to others, and are not in his own dear hands. This appears to me to be the meaning of it. M. Mason.

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"By Thurio's possessions, he himself understands his lands and estate. But Proteus chooses to take the word likewise in a figurative sense, as signifying his mental endowments: and when he says, they are out by lease, he means they are no longer enjoyed by their master, (who is a fool) but are leased out to another." Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1786. Steevens.

Duke.

Pro.

Saw you my daughter?

Neither.

Duke. Why, then, she's fled unto that peasant Va

lentine;

And Eglamour is in her company.

"Tis true; for friar Laurence met them both,
As he in penance wander'd through the forest:
Him he knew well, and guess'd that it was she;
But, being mask'd, he was not sure of it:
Besides, she did intend confession

At Patrick's cell this even; and there she was not:
These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence.
Therefore, I pray you, stand not to discourse,
But mount you presently; and meet with me
Upon the rising of the mountain-foot

That leads towards Mantua, whither they are fled.
Despatch, sweet gentlemen, and follow me.

Thu. Why, this it is to be a peevish girl,2
That flies her fortune when it follows her:
I'll after; more to be reveng'd on Eglamour,
Than for the love of reckless Silvia.3

[Exit.

[Exit.

Pro. And I will follow, more for Silvia's love, Than hate of Eglamour, that goes with her. [Exit. Jul. And I will follow, more to cross that love, Than hate for Silvia, that is gone for love.

SCENE III.

[Exit.

Frontiers of Mantua.

The Forest.

Enter SILVIA, and Out-laws.

-Out. Come, come;

Be patient; we must bring you to our captain.
Sil. A thousand more mischances, than this one,
Have learn'd me how to brook this patiently.

2 Out. Come, bring her away.

1 Out. Where is the gentleman, that was with her? 3 Out. Being nimble-footed, he hath out-run ús,

2 a peevish girl,] Peevish, in ancient language, signifies foolish. So, in King Henry VI. P. I:

3

"To send such peevish tokens to a king." Steevens.

reckless Silvia.] i. e. careless, heedless. So, in Hamlet: · like a puff”d and reckless libertine. Steevens.

But Moyses, and Valerius, follow him.

Go thou with her to the west end of the wood;

There is our captain: we 'll follow him that 's fled;
The thicket is beset, he cannot 'scape.

1 Out. Come, I must bring you to our captain's cave: Fear not; he bears an honourable mind,

And will not use a woman lawlessly.

Sil, O Valentine! this I endure for thee.

SCENE IV.

Another part of the Forest.

Enter VALENTINE.

Val. How use doth breed a habit in a man !
This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods,
I better brook than flourishing peopled towns.
Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,
And, to the nightingale's complaining notes,
Tune my distresses, and record my woes.⭑
O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless;
Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall,
And leave no memory of what it was!5
Repair me with thy presence, Silvia;

[Exeunt.

4 record my woes.] To record anciently signified to sing. So, in The Pilgrim, by Beaumont and Fletcher:

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O sweet, sweet! how the birds record too?" Again, in a pastoral, by N. Breton, published in England's Helicon, 1614:

"Sweet Philomel, the bird that hath the heavenly throat, "Doth now, alas! not once afford recording of a note." Again, in another Dittie, by Thomas Watson, ibid:

"Now birds record with harmonie."

Sir John Hawkins informs me, that to record is a term still used by bird-fanciers, to express the first essays of a bird in singing. Steevens.

50 thou that dost inhabit in my breast, Leave not the mansion so long tenantless; Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall,

And leave no memory of what it was!] It is hardly possible to point out four lines, in any of the plays of Shakspeare, more remarkable for ease and elegance. Steevens.

And leave no memory of what it was!] So, in Marlowe's Jew of Malta:

"And leave no memory that e'er I was." Ritson.

Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain!-
What halloing, and what stir, is this to-day?
These are my mates, that make their wills their law,
Have some unhappy passenger in chace:

They love me well; yet I have much to do,
To keep them from uncivil outrages.

Withdraw thee, Valentine; who 's this comes here?

[Steps aside.

Enter PROTEUS, SILVIA, and JULIA.

Pro. Madam, this service I have done for you,
(Though you respect not aught your servant doth)
To hazard life, and rescue you from him
That would have forc'd your honour and your love.
Vouchsafe me, for my meed, but one fair look;
A smaller boon, than this, I cannot beg,

And less, than this, I am sure, you cannot give.
Val. How like a dream is this I see and hear!
Love, lend me patience to forbear awhile.

[Aside.

Sil. O miserable, unhappy that I am!
Pro. Unhappy were you, madam, ere I came;
But, by my coming, I have made you happy.

Sil. By thy approach thou mak'st me most unhappy.
Jul. And me, when he approacheth to your presence.

Sil. Had I been seized by a hungry lion,
I would have been a breakfast to the beast,
Rather than have false Proteus rescue me.
O, heaven be judge, how I love Valentine,
Whose life's as tender to me as my soul;
And full as much (for more there cannot be)
I do detest false, perjur'd Proteus:

Therefore, be gone; solicit me no more.

[Aside.

Pro. What dangerous action, stood it next to death, Would I not undergo for one calm look?

O, 'tis the curse in love, and still approv'd,"

6 my meed,] i. e. reward.

66

thanks, to men

So, in Titus Andronicus:

Steevens.

"Of noble minds, is honourable meed."

Again, in Gammer Gurton's Needle, 1575:

"O Christ! that I were sure of it! in faith he should have

his mede."

See also Spenser, and almost every writer of the times. Reed.

7

and still approv'd,] Approv'd is felt, experienced. Malone.

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