EGL. The fun 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 fpur their expedition.

Enter SILVIA.

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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 fome fpies.

EGL. Fear not: the foreft is not three leagues off; If we recover that, we are fure enough." [Exeunt.

The fame. An Apartment in the Duke's Palace.

Enter THURIO, PROTEUS, and JULIA.

THU. Sir Proteus, what fays Silvia to my

fuit?

PRO. O, fir, I find her milder than fhe was; And yet she takes exceptions at your person. THU. What, that my leg is too long? PRO. No; that it is too little.

& That Silvia, at Patrick's cell, should meet me.] The old copy redundantly reads: " -friar Patrick's cell-". But the omiffion of this title is juftified by a passage in the next scene, where the Duke fays" At Patrick's cell this even; and there fhe was not." STEEVENS.

9-fure enough.] Sure is fafe, out of danger. JOHNSON.

THU.I'll wear a boot, to make it somewhat rounder, PRO. But love will not be fpurr'd to what it loaths. THU. What fays fhe 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 faying is, Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies' eyes.'

JUL.'Tis true,' fuch pearls as put out ladies' eyes; For I had rather wink than look on them. [Afide. THU. How likes fhe my difcourfe?

PRO. Ill, when you talk of war.

THU.But well, when I difcourfe of love, and peace? JUL.But better, indeed, when you hold your peace.

THU. What says she to my valour?

PRO. O, fir, fhe makes no doubt of that.

[Afide.

JUL. She needs not, when fhe knows it cowardice.

THU. What fays fhe to my birth?
PRO. That you are well deriv'd.

[Afide.

JUL. True; from a gentleman to a fool. [Afide. THU. Confiders the my poffeffions?

2 Black men are pearls, &c.] So, in Heywood's Iron Age,

a black complexion

"Is always precious in a woman's eye.” Again, in Sir Giles Goofecap:

but to make every black flovenly cloud a pearl in hereye.

STEEVENS,

"A black man is a jewel in a fair woman's eye," ,"is one of Ray's proverbial fentences. MALONE.

3 Jul. 'Tis true, &c.] This fpeech, which certainly belongs to Julia, is given in the old copy to Thurio. Mr. Rowe restored it to its proper owner. STEEVENS.

PRO. O, ay; and pities them.

THU. Wherefore?

JUL. That fuch an ass should owe them. [Afide. PRO. That they are out by lease.*

JUL. Here comes the duke.

Enter DUKE.

DUKE. How now, fir Proteus? how now, Thurio? Which of you faw fir Eglamour' of late?

DUKE. Why, then she's fled unto that peasant

Valentine;

And Eglamour is in her company.

'Tis true; for friar Laurence met them both,
As he in penance wander'd through the foreft:
Him he knew well, and guefs'd that it was she;
But, being mafk'd, he was not sure of it:
Befides, the did intend confeffion

At Patrick's cell this even; and there she was not:

4 That they are out by leafe.] I fuppofe he means, because Thurio's folly has let them on difadvantageous terms. STEEVENS.

She pities fir Thurio's poffeffions, 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.

By Thurio's poffeffions, he himself understands his lands and estate. But Proteus chooses to take the word likewise in a figurative sense, as fignifying his mental endowments: and when he fays they are out by leafe, he means they are no longer enjoyed by their mafter (who is a fool,) but are leafed out to another." Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1786. STEEVENS.

5

Sir Eglamour-] Sir, which is not in the old copy, was inferted by the editor of the fecond folio. MALONE.

These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence.
Therefore, I pray you, ftand not to discourse,
But mount you presently; and meet with me
Upon the rifing of the mountain-foot

That leads toward Mantua, whither they are fled:
Dispatch, fweet gentlemen, and follow me. [Exit.
THU. Why, this it is to be a peevish girl,"
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."

[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. [Exit.

SCENE III.

Frontiers of Mantua. The Foreft.

Enter SILVIA, and Out-laws.

Our. Come, come;

Be patient, we must bring you to our captain.
SIL. A thousand more mifchances than this one
Have learn'd me how to brook this patiently.
2 Our. Come, bring her away.

I OUT. Where is the gentleman that was with her? 3 Our. Being nimble-footed, he hath out-run us, But Moyfes, and Valerius, follow him.

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

6a peevish girl,] Peevib, in ancient language, fignifies foolish. So, in King Henry VI. P. I:

"To fend fuch peevish tokens to a king." STEEVENS.

66

– reckless Silvia.] i. e. careless, heedlefs. So, in Hamlet : ·like a puff'd and reckless libertine." STEEVENS.

-

This fellow were a king for our wild faction.
I OUT. We'll have him: firs, a word.
SPEED.

Master, be one of them;

It is an honourable kind of thievery.

VAL. Peace, villain!

2 Our. Tell us this: Have you any thing to take to?

VAL. Nothing, but my fortune.

3 Our. Know then, that fome of us are gentlemen, Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth Thrust from the company of awful men: " Myself was from Verona banished, For practising to steal away a lady,

An heir, and near allied unto the duke.

7

awful men:] Reverend, worshipful, fuch as magiftrates, and other principal members of civil communities. JOHNSON. Awful is ufed by Shakspeare, in another place, in the sense of lawful. Second part of K. Henry IV. A&t IV. fc. ii:

"We come within our awful banks again." TYRWHITT. So, in King Henry V. 1600:

creatures that by awe ordain

"An að of order to a peopled kingdom." MALONE.

I believe we should read-lawful men-i. e. legales homines, So, in The Nerwe Boke of Juftices, 1560: "-commandinge him to the fame to make an inqueft and pannel of lawful men of his countie," For this remark I am indebted to Dr. Farmer.

STEEVENS,

Awful men means men well-governed, obfervant of law and anthority; full of, or fubject to awe. In the fame kind of fenfe as we ufe fearful. RITSON.

8 An heir, and near allied unto the duke.] All the impreffions, from the first downwards, read-An heir and niece allied unto the duke. But our poet would never have expressed himself so stupidly, as to tell us, this lady was the duke's niece, and allied to him: for her alliance was certainly fufficiently included in the firft term. Our author meant to fay, fhe was an heiress, and near allied to the duke; an expreffion the moft natural that can be for the purpose, and very frequently used by the stage-poets. THEOBALD.

A niece, or a nephew, did not always fignify the daughter of a