་

woman!-well, I kifs her ;-why there 'tis ; here's my mother's breath up and down now come I to my fifter; mark the moan fhe makes: now the dog all this while fheds not a tear, nor fpeaks a word; but fee how I lay the duft with my tears,

Enter Panthino.

Pan. Launce, away, away, aboard; thy master is shipp'd, and thou art to poft after with oars. What's the matter? why weep'ft thou, man? Away, ass; you will lofe the tide, if you tarry any longer.

Laun. It is no matter if the ty'd were loft; for it is the unkindeft ty'd that ever any man ty'd.

Pan. What's the unkindeft tide?

Laun. Why, he that's ty'd here; Crab, my dog. Pan. Tut, man, I mean thou'lt lofe the flood; and, in lofing the flood, lofe thy voyage; and, in lofing thy voyage, lofe thy mafter; and, in lofing thy mafter, lofe thy fervice; and, in lofing thy fervice,-Why doft thou stop my mouth?

Laun. For fear thou fhould'ft lofe thy tongue.
Pan. Where fhould I lofe my tongue?

Laun. In thy tale.

Oh that he could speak now like a wood woman!] I am not certain that I understand this paffage. Wood, or crazy women, were anciently fuppofed to be able to tell fortunes. Launce may therefore mean, that as her geftures are thofe of frantic perfons, fo he wishes she was poffeffed of their other powers, and could predict his fate. Or fhould we point the line as interrupted?

Oh that he could fpeak now!-like a wood woman! meaning, I wifh fhe could fpeak - but she behaves as if the were out of her fenfes! STEEVENS.

9 if the ty'd were loft; &c.] This quibble, wretched as it is, might have been borrowed by Shakespeare from Lylly's Endy mion, 1491:

"You know it is faid, the tide tarrieth for no man.—

"True.

A monftrous lye: for I was ty'd two hours, and tarried
for one to unlofe me."

The fame occurs in Chapman's Andromeda Liberata, 1614:
And now came roaring to the tied the tide." STEEVENS,

Pan

Pan. In thy tail?

Laun. Lofe the tide, and the voyage, and the mafter, and the fervice, and the tide? Why, man, 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 fighs.

Pan. Come, come away, man; I was fent to call thee.

Laun. Sir, call me what thou dar'ft,
Pan. Wilt thou go?

Laun. Well, I will go.

[Exeunt.

IV.

An apartment in the duke's palace.

Enter Valentine, Silvia, Thurio, and Speed.

Sil. Servant,

Val. Miftrefs?

Speed. Mafter, fir 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 fad,

Val. Indeed, madam, I seem fo.
Thu, Scem you that you are not?
Val, Haply, I do,

Thu. So do counterfeits.

Val. So do you.

Thu. What feem I, that I am not?

Val. Wife.

Lofe the tide,

Thus the old copy. The modern

editors read-the flood. STEEVENS.

? and the tide?] I fhould fuppofe thefe three words to be repeated through fome error of the printer. STEEVENS.

L 4

Thu.

Thu, What inftance of the contrary?

Val. Your folly.

Thu. 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, fir Thurio? do you change colour?

Val. Give him leave, madam; he is a kind of cameleon.

Thu. That hath more mind to feed on your blood, than live in your air.

Val. You have faid, fir.

Thu. Ay, fir, and done too, for this time,

Val. I know it well, fir; you always end ere you begin.

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

Val. 'Tis indeed, madam; we thank the giver. Sil. Who is that, fervant?

Val. Yourself, fweet lady; for you gave the fire; fir Thurio borrows his wit from your ladyfhip's looks, and spends what he borrows, kindly in your

company,

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

Val. I know it well, fir: you have an exchequer of words, and, I think, no other treafure 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,

bow quote you my folly?] To quote is to obferve. So in Hamlet:

"I am forry that with better heed and judgment
"I had not quoted him." STEEVENS,

Enter

Enter the Duke.

Duke. Now, daughter Silvia, you are hard befet. 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 meffenger from thence.

Duke. Know you Don Anthonio, your countryman?

Val. Ay, my good lord, I know the gentleman To be of worth, and worthy eftimation,

And not without defert fo well reputed.

Duke. Hath he not a fon?

Val. Ay, my good lord; a fon, that well deferves The honour and regard of fuch a father.

Duke. You know him well?

Val. I knew him, as myfelf; for from our infancy We have convers'd, and spent our hours together: And though myself have been an idle truant, Omitting the fweet benefit of time,

To cloath mine age with angel-like perfection;
Yet hath fir Protheus, 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. Befhrew me, fir, but, if he make this good,
He is as worthy for an emprefs' love,
As meet to be an emperor's counsellor,
Well, fir; this gentleman is come to me,
With commendation from great potentates;

-not without defert-] And not dignified with fo much reputation without proportionate merit, JOHNSON.

And

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.
Duke. Welcome him then according to his worth;
Silvia, Ifpeak to you; and you, fir Thurio :—
For Valentine, I need not cite him to it :
I'll fend him hither to you prefently.

[Exit Duke. Val. This is the gentleman, I told your ladyship, Had come along with me, but that his mistress Did hold his eyes lock'd in her crystal looks.

Sil. Belike, that now fhe hath enfranchis'd them Upon fome other pawn for fealty.

Val. Nay, fure, I think, she holds them prisoners ftill.

Sil, Nay, then he fhould be blind; and, being blind,

How could he fee his way to feck out you?

Val. Why, lady, love hath twenty pair of eyes. Thu. They fay, that love hath not an eye at all, Val. To fee fuch lovers, Thurio, as yourself; Upon a homely object love can wink.

Enter Protheus.

Sil. Haye done, have done; here comes the

tleman.

gen.

Val. Welcome, dear Protheus !-Mistress, I be feech you,

1

Confirm his welcome with fome fpecial favour.
Sil. His worth is warrant for his welcome hither,
If this be he you oft have wish'd to hear from,
Val. Miftrefs, it is; fweet lady, entertain him
To be my fellow-fervant to your ladyfhip.

Sil. Too low a mistress for so high a fervant.
Pro. Not fo, fweet lady; but too mean a fervant
To have a look of fuch a worthy mistress.
Val. Leave off discourse of disability :-
Sweet lady, entertain him for your fervant.
Pro. My duty will I boaft of, nothing elfe,