my

Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain!

What halloing, and what stir, is this to-day? [Shouts are

rude 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?

6a

[Steps aside. Enter PROTEUS, SILVIA, and JULIA. having 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 makʼst 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. So, in Titus Andronicus:

"Of noble minds, is honourable meed.”

Again, in Gammer Gurton's Needle, 1575:

Steevens.

"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.

6. Ms. fol. punctuates

ar

I have done.

heard

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 sake thou didst then rend thy faith
Into a thousand oaths; and all those oaths
Descended into perjury, to love me.

Thou hast no faith left now, unless thou hadst 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 respects 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 soldier, at arms' end;

And love you 'gainst the nature of love, force you.
Sil. O heaven!

Pro.

I'll force thee yield to my desire. Val. Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch; Thou friend of an ill fashion!

Pro.

Valentine!

Val. Thou common friend, that 's without faith or

love; 8

(For such is a friend now) treacherous man!
Thou hast beguil'd my hopes; nought but mine eye
Could have persuaded me. Now I dare not say
I have one friend alive: thou would'st disprove me.
Who should be trusted now, when one's right hand9

8

that's without faith or love;] That's is perhaps here used, not for who is, but for id est, that is to say. Malone. 9 Who should be trusted now, when one's right hand—] The word now is wanting in the first folio. Steevens.

The second folio, to complete the metre, reads:

"Who shall be trusted now, when one's right hand —." The addition, like all those made in that copy, appears to have been merely arbitrary; and the modern word [own, which was introduced by Sir Thomas Hanmer] is, in my opinion, more likely to have been the author's than the other. Malone.

What! "all at one fell swoop!" are they all arbitrary, when Mr. Malone has honoured so many of them with a place in his text? Being completely satisfied with the reading of the second folio, I have followed it. Steevens.

X

u

Is perjur'd to the bosom? Proteus,

I am sorry, I must never trust thee more,

But count the world a stranger for thy sake.

The private wound is deepest:1 O time, most curst!
'Mongst all foes, that a friend should be the worst!
Pro. My shame and guilt confounds me."
Forgive me, Valentine: if hearty sorrow

Be a sufficient ransom for offence,

I tender it here; I do as truly suffer,

As e'er I did commit.

Val.

Then I am paid;

And once again I do receive thee honest:-
Who by repentance is not satisfied,

Is nor of heaven nor earth; for these are pleas'd;
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.2

1 The private wound, &c.] I have a little mended the measure. The old editions, and all but Sir Thomas Hanmer's, read:

"The private wound is deepest: O time most accurs'd."

Johnson. Deepest, highest, and other similar words, were sometimes used by the poets of Shakspeare's age, as monosyllables. So, in our poet's 133d Sonnet:

"But slave to slavery my sweetest friend must be." Malone. Perhaps our author only wrote-"sweet," which the transcriber, or printer, prolonged into the superlative-" sweetest.” Steevens. 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 reason alleged. But our author probably followed the stories, just as he found them in his novels as well as histories. Pope.

This passage either hath been much sophisticated, or is one great proof, that the main parts of this play did not proceed from Shakspeare; for it is impossible he could make Valentine act and speak so much out of character, or give to Silvia so unnatural a behaviour, as to take no notice of this strange concession, if it had been made. Hanmer.

Valentine, from seeing Silvia in the company of Proteus, might conceive she had escaped with him from her father's court, for the purposes of love, though she could not foresee the violence which his villany might offer, after he had seduced her, under the pretence of an honest passion. If Valentine, however, be supposed to hear all that passed between them in this scene, I am afraid I have only to subscribe to the opinions of my prede. cessors. Steevens,

"The private wound is deep'st. Otime accurst

'mongst all my foes, a friend should be the worst. Prot. My shame and desperate guilt at once confound me ms. fol. 1632.

Jul. O me, unhappy!

Pro. Look to the boy.

[Faints.

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

matter!

Look up; speak.

O good sir, my master charg'd me

Jul.
To deliver a ring to madam Silvia ; 3

3

Which, out of my neglect, was never done.
Pro. Where is that ring, boy?

Jul.

Pro. How! let me see:4

Here 'tis: this is it.

Why this is the ring I gave to Julia.

[Gives a ring.

Jui. O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook;.

This is the ring you sent to Silvia. [Shows another ring. Pro. But, how cam'st thou by this ring? at my depart,

I gave this unto Julia.

Jul. 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, 5

I give thee.] Transfer these two lines to the end of Thurio's speech in page 237, and all is right. Why then should Julia faint? It is only an artifice, seeing Silvia given up to Valentine, to discover herself to Proteus, by a pretended mistake of the rings. One great fault of this play is, the hastening too abruptly, and without due preparation, to the denouement, which shews that, if it be Shakspeare's, (which I cannot doubt) it was one of his very early performances. Blackstone.

3 To deliver a ring to madam Silvia;] Surely our author wrote "Deliver a ring," &c. A verse, so rugged as that in the text, must be one of those corrupted by the players, or their transcribers. Steevens.

4 Pro. How! let me see: &c.] I suspect that this unmetrical passage should be regulated as follows:

Pro. How! let me see it: Why, this is the ring

I gave to Julia.

Jul. 'Cry you mercy, sir,

I have mistook: this is the ring you sent

To Silvia.

Pro. But how cam'st thou by this?

At my depart, I gave this unto Julia. Steevens.

Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths,] So, in Titus Andronicus, Act V, sc. iii:

"But, gentle people, give me aim a while."

And entertain❜d them deeply in her heart:
How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root?
O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush!
Be thou asham'd, that I have took upon me
Such an immodest rayment; if shame live
In a disguise of love:

It is the lessser blot, modesty finds,

Women to change their shapes, than men their minds. Pro. Than men their minds! 'tis true: O heaven!

were man

But constant, he were perfect: that one error

Fills him with faults; makes him run through all sins:
Inconstancy falls off, ere it begins:

What is in Silvia's face, but I may spy
More fresh in Julia's, with a constant eye?
Val. Come, come, a hand from either:

Let me be blest to make this happy close;
'Twere pity two such friends should be long foes.

Pro. Bear witness, heaven, I have my wish for ever.
Jul. And I have mine.8

Enter Out-laws, with DUKE and THURIO.

Out. A prize, a prize, a prize! Val. Forbear, I say; it is my lord the duke." Your grace is welcome to a man disgrac❜d, Banished Valentine.

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

Val. Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death;

Both these passages allude to the aim-crier in archery. So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act III, sc. ii: “ - all my neighbours shall cry aim." See note, ibid. Steevens.

6 How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root?] Sir T. Hanmer reads-cleft the root on 't. Johnson.

cleft the root?] i. e. of her heart. Malone.

An allusion to cleaving the pin in archery. Steevens.

7 - if shame live-] That is, if it be any shame to wear a disguise for the purposes of love. Johnson.

8 And I have mine.] The old copy reads-" And I mine."-I have inserted the word have, which is necessary to metre, by the advice of Mr. Ritson. Steevens.

9 Forbear, I say, it is my lord the duke.] The old copy, without regard to metre, repeats the word forbear, which is here omitted. Steevens.