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Love hath chac'd sleep from my enthralled eyes,
And made them watchers of mine own heart's forrow,
O, gentle Protheus, love's a mighty lord,
And hath fo humbled me, as, I confefs,
There is 5 no woe to his correction;
Nor to his fervice, no fuch joy on earth,
Now, no difcourse, except it be of love;
Now can I break my faft, dine, fup, and fleep,
Upon the very naked name of love.

Pro. Enough: I read your fortune in your eye:
Was this the idol that you worship fo?

Val. Even fhe: and is the not a heavenly faint?
Pro. No; but she is an earthly paragon.
Val. Call her divine,

Pro. I will not flatter her.

Val. O flatter me; for love delights in praise. Pro. When I was fick, you gave me bitter pills; And I muft minifter the like to you.

Val. Then fpeak the truth by her, if not divine, Yet let her be a principality,

Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth,
Pro. Except my miftrefs.

Val. Sweet, except not any;

Except thou wilt except against my love.
Pro. Have I not reafon to prefer mine own?
Val. And I will help thee to prefer her too:
She fhall be dignified with this high honour,
To bear my lady's train; left the bafe earth
Should from her vefture chance to fteal a kifs,
And, of fo great a favour growing proud,

5

no woe to bis correction ;] No mifery that can be com pared to the punishment inflicted by love. Herbert called for the prayers of the liturgy a little before his death, faying, None to them, none to them. JOHNSON.

6

a principality,] The first or principal of women. So the old writers ufe ftate. She is a lady, a great ftate. Latymer. This look is called in states warlie, in others otherwife. Sir T. More. JOHNSON.

Difdain

Difdain to root the 7 fummer-fwelling flower;
And make rough winter everlastingly.

Pro. Why, Valentine, what braggardifm is this? Val. Pardon me, Protheus: all I can, is nothing To her, whofe worth makes other worthies nothing; 8 She is alone.

Pro. Then let her alone.

Val. Not for the world: why, man, fhe is mine

own;

And I as rich in having fuch a jewel,
As twenty feas, if all their fand were pearl,
The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.
Forgive me, that I do not dream on thee,
Because thou fee'ft me doat upon my love.
My foolish rival, that her father likes,
Only for his poffeffions are fo huge,
Is gone with her along, and I muft after;
For love, thou know'ft, is full of jealousy.
Pro. But fhe loves you?

Val. Ay, and we are betroth'd; nay, more, our
marriage hour,

With all the cunning manner of our flight,
Determin'd of: how I muft climb her window
The ladder made of cords; and all the means
Plotted, and 'greed on, for my happiness.
Good Protheus, go with me to my chamber,
In these affairs to aid me with thy counsel.

Pro. Go on before; I fhall enquire you forth.
I muft unto the road, to difembark
Some neceffaries that I needs muft ufe;

And then I'll presently attend you,

Val. Will you make hafte ?

Pro. I will.

Even as one heat another heat expels,

[Exit l'al.

7 fummer-fwelling flower;] I cannot help fufpecting that the poet wrote fummer-fmelling. An m reverfed might occafion the mistake.

STEEVENS.

$ She is alone.] She ftands by herfelf. There is none to be compared to her. JOHNSON.

3

Or

Or as one nail by strength drives out another;
So the remembrance of my former love
Is by a newer object quite forgotten.
9 Is it mine eye, or Valentino's praise,
Her true perfection, or my falfe tranfgreffion,
That makes me, reafonlefs, to reason thus ?
She's fair; and fo is Julia, that I love;
That I did love, for now my love is thaw'd;
Which, like a waxen image 'gainst a fire,
Bears no impreffion of the thing it was.
Methinks my zeal to Valentine is cold;
And that I love him not, as I was wont.
O! but I love his lady too, too much;
And that's the reason I love him fo little.
How fhall I doạt on her with more advice,
That thus without advice begin to love her?
2 'Tis but her picture I have yet beheld,
And that hath dazzeled my reafon's light:
But when I look on her perfections,

Is it mine THEN, or Valentino's praife,] Here Protheus queftions with himself, whether it is his own praife, or Valentine's, that makes him fall in love with Valentine's miftrefs. But not to infift on the abfurdity of falling in love through his own praises, he had not indeed praised her any farther than giving his opinion of her in three words, when his friend asked it of him. In all the old editions we find the line printed

thus:

Is it mine, or Valentino's praise ?

A word is wanting. The line was originally thus:

Is it mine EYE, or Valentino's praife?

Protheus had juft feen Valentine's miftrefs, whom her lover had been lavishly praifing. His encomiums therefore heightening Protheus's idea of her at the interview, it was the lefs wonder he should be uncertain which had made the ftrongest impreffion, Valentine's praifes, or his own view of her.

WARBURTON.

with more advice,] With more prudence, with more difcretion. JOHNSON.

14

2 'Tis but her picture] This is evidently a flip of attention, for he had feen her in the last fcene, and in high terms offered her his fervice. JOHNSON.

I believe Protheus means, that, as yet, he had feen only her outward form, without having known her long enough to have any acquaintance with her mind. STEEVENS.

There

There is no reason, but I fhall be blind.
If I can check my erring love, I will;
If not, to compafs her I'll use my skill,

[blocks in formation]

[Exit.

Speed. Launce! by mine honefty, welcome to 3 Milan.

Laun. Forfwear not thyfelf, fweet youth; for I am not welcome: I reckon this always, that a man is never undone, 'till he be hang'd; nor never welcome to a place, 'till fome certain fhot be paid, and the hoftefs fay, welcome.

Speed. Come on, you mad-cap; I'll to the alehouse with you presently; where, for one shot of fivepence, thou fhalt have five thousand welcomes. But, firrah, how did thy master part with madam Julia ? Laun. Marry, after they clos'd in earnest, they parted very fairly in jeft.

Speed. But fhall the marry him?

Laun. No.

Speed. How then? fhall he marry her?

Laun. No, neither.

Speed. What, are they broken?

Laun. No, they are both as whole as a fish. Speed. Why then how stands the matter with them? Laun. Marry, thus: when it ftands well with him, it ftands well with her.

Speed. What an afs art thou? I understand thee not. Laun. What a block art thou, that thou canst not? My staff understands me.

3 It is Padua in the former editions. See the note on A&t iii. POPE.

My ftaff understands me.] This equivocation, miferable as it is, has been admitted by Milton in his great poem. B. VI.

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Speed. What thou say'st?

Laun. Ay, and what I do too: look thee, I'll but lean, and my staff understands me.

Speed. It ftands under thee indeed.

Laun. Why, ftand-under, and under-stand, is all

ore.

Speed. But tell me true, will't be a match?

Laun. Afk my dog: if he fay, ay, it will; if he fay, no, it will, if he shake his tail, and fay nothing, it will.

Speed. The conclufion is then, that it will.

Laun. Thou shalt never get fuch a fecret from me, but by a parable.

Speed. 'Tis well that I get it fo. But, Launce, how fay'st thou that my mafter is become a notable lover?

Laun. I never knew him otherwise.

Speed. Than how?

Laun. A notable lubber, as thou reporteft him to be. Speed. Why, thou whorson ass, thou mistakest me. Laun. Why, fool, I meant not thee; I meant thy master.

Speed. I tell thee, my master is become a hot lover, Laun. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn himfelf in love. If thou wilt go with me to the alehouse, fo; if not, thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a Chriftian.

Speed. Why?

Laun. Because thou haft not fo much charity in thee, as to go the ale-house with a Chriftian: wilt thou go?

Speed. At thy fervice.

66

-The terms we fent were terms of weight,

"Such as we may perceive, amaz'd them all,

[Exeunt.

"And ftagger'd many; who receives them right,
"Had need from head to foot well understand,
"Not underflood, this gift they have befides,

"To fhew us when our foes ftand not upright." JoHNS.

* SCENE

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