By penitence the Eternal's wrath's appeas'd.
And, that my love may appear plain and free,
All, that was mine in Silvia, I give thee.
Jul. Oh me unhappy!

Pro. Look to the boy.

[Faints.

Val. Why, boy! why wag! how now? what is the matter?

Look up; speak.

ful. O good Sir, my mafter charg'd me to deliver a ring to Madam Silvia, which, out of my neglect, was never done.

Pro. Where is that ring, boy?

Jul. Here 'tis: this is it.

Pro. How! let me fee: .

This is the ring I gave to Julia.

[Gives a ring.

Jul. Oh, cry your mercy, Sir, I have miftook; This is the ring you fent to Silvia. [Shews another ring. Pro. How cam'ft thou by this ring? At my depart,

I

gave this unto Julia.

ful. And Julia herself did give it me;

And Julia herself hath brought it hither.
Pro. How, Julia?

Jul. Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths,
And entertain'd them deeply in her heart:
3 How oft haft thou with perjury cleft the root?
Oh Protheus, let this habit make thee blush!
Be thou afham'd, that I have took upon me

2 All, that was mine in Silvia, I give thee.] It is (I think) very odd to give up his mistress thus at once, without any reafon alledged. But our author probably followed the ftories just as he found them in his novels as well as hiftories. POPE.

This paffage either hath been much fophifticated, or is one great proof that the main parts of this play did not proceed. from Shakespeare; for it is impoffible he could make Valentine act and speak fo much out of character, or give to Silvia fo unnatural a behaviour, as to take no notice of this strange conceffion, if it had been made. HANMER.

3 How oft haft thou with perjury cleft the root ?] Sir T. Hanmer reads, cleft the root on't. JOHNSON.

Such

Such an immodest rayment; if shame live
In a disguise of love:

It is the leffer blot, modefty finds,

Women to change their shapes, than men their minds. Pro. Than men their minds? 'tis true; oh heaven!

were man

But conftant, he were perfect: that one error
Fills him with faults; makes him run through all fins :
Inconftancy falls off, ere it begins.

What is in Silvia's face, but I may spy
More fresh in Julia's with a conftant eye?

Val. Come, come, a hand from either:
Let me be bleft to make this happy close;
'Twere pity two fuch friends should long be foes,

Pro. Bear witness, heaven,

I have my wifh for ever.

Jul. And I mine.

Enter Out-laws, with Duke and Thurio.

Out. A prize, a prize, a prize!

Val. Forbear, forbear, it is my lord the duke.
-Your grace is welcome to a man disgrac'd,

Banished Valentine.

Duke. Sir Valentine!

Thu. Yonder is Silvia; and Silvia's mine.

Val. Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death: Come not within 5 the measure of my wrath. Do not name Silvia thine; if once againMilan fhall not behold thee. Here fhe ftands,

Take

if fhame live] That is, if it be any shame to wear a difguife for the purposes of love. JOHNSON.

5the meafure-] The length of my fword, the reach of my anger. JOHNSON.

• Milan fhall not behold thee.-] All the editions, Verona fhall not hold thee. But, whether through the mistake of the firft editors, or the poet's own careleffnefs, this reading is abfurdly faulty. For the threat here is to Thurio, who is a Milanefe; and has no concern, as it appears, with Verona. Be

Take but poffeffion of her with a touch;
I dare thee but to breathe upon my love.

Thu. Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I-
I hold him but a fool, that will endanger
His body for a girl that loves him not:
I claim her not; and therefore fhe is thine.

Duke. The more degenerate and base art thou,
To make fuch means for her as thou haft done,
And leave her on fuch flight conditions.
Now, by the honour of my ancestry,
I do applaud thy fpirit, Valentine,

And think thee worthy of an emprefs' love.
Know then, I here forget all former griefs;
Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,
Plead a new state in thy unrival'd merit,
To which I thus fubfcribe.-Sir Valentine,
Thou art a gentleman, and well deriv'd;
Take thou thy Silvia, for thou haft deferv'd her.
Val. I thank your grace; the gift hath made me
happy.

I now befeech you, for your daughter's fake,
To grant one boon that I fhall afk of you.

Duke. I grant it for thine own, whate'er it be.
Val. Thefe banish'd men, that I have kept withal,

Are men endu'd with worthy qualities:

Forgive them what they have committed here,
And let them be recall'd from their exile.

They are reformed, civil, full of good,
And fit for great employment, worthy lord.
Duke. Thou haft prevail'd. I pardon them, and
thee;

Dispose of them as thou know'ft their deferts.

fides, the scene is betwixt the confines of Milan and Mantua, to which Silvia follows Valentine, having heard that he had retreated thither. And, upon thefe circumftances, I ventured to adjust the text, as I imagine the poet must have intended; i. e. Milan, thy country fhall never fee thee again: thou shalt never live to go back thither. THEOBALD.

Come,

Come, let us go; we will 7 include all jars
With triumphs, mirth, and rare folemnity.

Val. And as we walk along, I dare be bold
With our difcourfe to make your grace to smile.
What think you of this page, my lord?

Duke. I think the boy hath grace in him; he blushes. Val. I warrant you, my lord; more grace than boy.

Duke. What mean you by that saying?

Val. Please you, I'll tell you as we pass along, That you will wonder what hath fortuned.

1

Come, Protheus, 'tis your penance but to hear
The story of your loves difcovered:

That done, our day of marriage fhall be yours,
One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.

[8 Exeunt omnes,

-include all jars] Sir Tho. Hanmer reads conclude.

JOHNSON.

In this play there is a ftrange mixture of knowledge and ignorance, of care and negligence. The verfification is often excellent, the allufions are learned and juft; but the author conveys his heroes by fea from one inland town to another in the fame country; he places the emperor at Milan, and fends his young men to attend him, but never mentions him more; he makes Protheus, after an interview with Silvia, fay he has only feen her picture; and, if we may credit the old copies, he has, by miftaking places, left his fcenery inextricable. The reafon of all this confusion feems to be, that he took his ftory from a novel, which he fometimes followed, and fometimes forfook, fometimes remembered, and fometimes forgot.

That this play is rightly attributed to Shakespeare, I have little doubt. If it be taken from him, to whom fhall it be given? This question may be asked of all the difputed plays, except Titus Andronicus; and it will be found more credible, that Shakespeare might fometimes fink below his highest flights, than that any other should rife up to his loweft. JOHNSON.