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 forest:
Him he knew well, and guefs'd that it was fhe;
But, being mafk'd, he was not sure of it:
Befides, fhe 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 likewife in a figurative sense, as fignifying his mental endowments: and when he says 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.

6

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 OUT. 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 weft end of the wood,

a peevith girl,] Peevi, in ancient language, fignifies foolish. So, in King Henry VI. P. I:

"To fend fuch peevish tokens to a king." STEEVENS. reckless Silvia.] i. e. careless, heedlefs. So, in Hamlet : ·like a puff'd and reckless libertine." STEEVENS.

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

I 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! [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Another part of the Foreft.

Enter VALENTINE.

VAL. How ufe doth breed a habit in a man!
This fhadowy defert, unfrequented woods,
I better brook than flourishing peopled towns:
Here can I fit alone, unfeen of any,

And, to the nightingale's complaining notes,
Tune my diftreffes, and record my woes."
O thou that doft inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless;
Left, growing ruinous, the building fall,
And leave no memory of what it was!"

6

record my woes.] To record anciently fignified to fing. So, in the Pilgrim, by Beaumont and Fletcher:

O fweet, fweet! 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 Tho. Watson, ibid:

"Now birds record with harmonie."

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

70 thou that deft inhabit in my breaft, Leave not the manfion fo long tenantlefs

Left, growing ruinous, the building fall,

STEEVENS.

And leave no memory of what it was!] It is hardly poffible to

Repair me with thy prefence, Silvia;

Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn fwain!-
What halloing, and what ftir, is this to-day?
These are my mates, that make their wills their law,
Have fome unhappy paffenger 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 afide.

Enter PROTEUS, SILVIA, and JULIA.

PRO. Madam, this fervice I have done for you, (Though you refpect not aught your fervant doth,) To hazard life, and refcue you from him

That wou'd 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 fure, you cannot give. VAL. How like a dream is this I fee and he Love, lend me patience to forbear a while. [Afide. SIL. O miferable, unhappy that I am!

PRO. Unhappy were you, madam, ere I came; But, by my coming, I have made you happy.

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.

my meed,] i. e. reward. So, in Titus Andronicus :

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thanks, to men

"Of noble minds, is honourable meed." STEEVENS.

Again, in Gammer Gurton's Needle, 1

1575.8

"O Chrift! that I were fure of it! in faith he fhould have his mede."

See also Spenfer, and almost every writer of the times. REED.

SIL. By thy approach thou mak'ft me most un

happy.

JUL. And me, when he approacheth to your prefence.

[Afide. SIL. Had I been feized by a hungry lion, I would have been a breakfast to the beaft, Rather than have falfe Proteus rescue me. O, heaven be judge, how I love Valentine, Whofe life's as tender to me as my foul; And full as much (for more there cannot be,) I do deteft falfe perjur'd Proteus: Therefore be gone, folicit me no more.

PRO.What dangerous action, stood it next to death,
Would I not undergo for one calm look?
O, 'tis the curfe in love, and ftill approv❜d,'
When women cannot love where they're belov'd.
SIL. When Proteus cannot love where he's
belov'd.

Read over Julia's heart, thy first best love,
For whose dear fake thou didst then rend thy faith
Into a thousand oaths; and all thofe oaths
Defcended into perjury, to love me.

Thou haft no faith left now, unless thou had ft two,
And that's far worse than none; better have none
Than plural faith, which is too much by one:
Thou counterfeit to thy true friend!

PRO.

Who refpects friend?

SIL.

In love,

All men but Proteus.

PRO. Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words Can no way change you to a milder form, I'll woo you like a foldier, at arms' end;

And love you 'gainst the nature of love, force you.

and fill approv'd,] Approv'd is felt, experienced.

MALONE.