Hosr. Gone to feek his dog; which, to-morrow, by his master's command, he must carry for a prefent to his lady,

JUL. Peace! ftand aside; the company parts. PRO. Sir Thurio, fear not you; I will fo plead, That you shall fay, my cunning drift excels. THU. Where meet we?

PRO. At faint Gregory's well.

THU. Farewell. [Exeunt THURIO and Musicians.

SILVIA appears above, at her window.

PRO. Madam, good even to your ladyship. SIL. I thank you for your mufick, gentlemen: Who is that, that spake?

PRO. One, lady, if you knew his pure heart's truth, You'd quickly learn to know him by his voice. SIL. Sir Proteus, as I take it.

PRO. Sir Proteus, gentle lady, and your fervant. SIL. What is your will?

PRO.

That I may compass yours.

SIL. You have your wifh; my will is even this,'-
That prefently you hie you home to bed.
Thou fubtle, perjur'd, falfe, difloyal man!
Think'ft thou, I am fo fhallow, fo conceitlefs,
To be feduced by thy flattery,

That haft deceiv'd fo many with thy vows?
Return, return, and make thy love amends.
For me, by this pale queen of night I swear,
I am fo far from granting thy request,

9 You have your wish; my will is even this,] The word will is here ambiguous. He wishes to gain her will: fhe tells him, if he wants her will he has it. JOHNSON.

That I despise thee for thy wrongful fuit;
And by and by intend to chide myself,

Even for this time I fpend in talking to thee.
PRO. I grant, fweet love, that I did love a lady;
But fhe is dead.

JUL. 'Twere falfe, if I fhould fpeak it;
For, I am fure, fhe is not buried.

[Afide. SIL. Say, that she be; yet Valentine, thy friend, Survives; to whom, thyfelf art witness,

I am betroth'd: And art thou not afham'd
To wrong him with thy importúnacy?

PRO. I likewife hear, that Valentine is dead. SIL. And fo, fuppofe, am I; for in his grave 2 Affure thyfelf, my love is buried.

PRO. Sweet lady, let me rake it from the earth. SIL. Go to thy lady's grave, and call her's thence; Or, at the leaft, in her's fepulchre thine.

JUL. He heard not that.

[Afide.

PRO. Madam, if your heart be so obdúrate,
Vouchfafe me yet your picture for my love,
The picture that is hanging in your chamber;
To that I'll speak, to that I'll figh and weep:
For, fince the fubftance of your perfect felf
Is elfe devoted, I am but a shadow;

And to your fhadow will I make true love.

JUL. If 'twere a fubftance, you would, fure, deceive it,

And make it but a fhadow, as I am.

SIL. I am very loth to be your idol, fir;

[Afide.

2- in his grave] The old copy has her grave. The emendation was made by the editor of the fecond folio.

MALONE.

To make fuch means for her as thou haft done,4
And leave her on fuch flight conditions.-
Now, by the honour of my ancestry,
I do applaud thy spirit, 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,-fir Valentine,
Thou art a gentleman, and well deriv'd;
Take thou thy Silvia, for thou haft deserv'd her.
VAL. I thank your grace; the gift hath made me
happy.

I now beseech 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. These banish'd men, that I have kept withal,
Are men endued 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;

4 To make fuch means for her as thou haft done,] i. e. to make fuch intereft for, to take fuch difingenuous pains about her. So, in King Richard III:

"One that made means to come by what he hath."

STEEVENS.

5 And think thee worthy of an emprefs' love.] This thought has already occurred in the fourth scene of the second act:

"He is as worthy for an emprefs' love." STEEVENS.

6 - all former griefs,] Griefs in old language frequently fignified grievances, wrongs. MALONE.

? Plead a new ftate —] Should not this begin a new sentence? Plead is the fame as plead thou. TYRWHITT.

I have followed Mr. Tyrwhitt's direction. STEEVENS.

JUL. Pray you, where lies fir Proteus?

Hosr. Marry, at my house: Trust me, I think, 'tis almost day.

JUL. Not fo; but it hath been the longest night That e'er I watch'd, and the most heavieft."

SCENE III.

The fame.

Enter EGLAMOUR.

[Exeunt.

EGL. This is the hour that madam Silvia Entreated me to call, and know her mind; There's fome great matter she'd employ me in.Madam, madam!

SIL.

EGL.

SILVIA appears above, at her window.

Who calls?

Your fervant, and your friend;

One that attends your ladyship's command.

SIL. Sir Eglamour, a thousand times good-mor

row.

EGL. As many, worthy lady, to yourself.
According to your ladyfhip's impofe,"
I am thus early come, to know what service
It is your pleasure to command me in.

SIL. O Eglamour, thou art a gentleman,

moft heavieft.] This ufe of the double fuperlative is frequent in our author. So, in King Lear, Act II. fc. iii:

"To take the basest and most pooreft shape." STEEVENS. your ladyship's impofe,] Impofe is injunction, command. A task fet at college, in confequence of a fault, is ftill called an impofition. STEEVENS,

(Think not, I flatter, for, I fwear, I do not,)
Valiant, wife, remorseful, well accomplish'd.
Thou art not ignorant, what dear good will
I bear unto the banish'd Valentine:

Nor how my father would enforce me marry
Vain Thurio, whom my very foul abhorr'd.
Thyself haft lov'd; and I have heard thee say,
No grief did ever come fo near thy heart,
As when thy lady and thy true love died,
Upon whofe grave thou vowd'ft pure chastity."
Sir Eglamour, I would to Valentine,

To Mantua, where, I hear, he makes abode;
And, for the ways are dangerous to pass,
I do defire thy worthy company,

Upon whose faith and honour I repose.
Urge not my father's anger, Eglamour,
But think upon my grief, a lady's grief;
And on the juftice of my flying hence,
To keep me from a moft unholy match,
Which heaven and fortune ftill reward with plagues.

6 remorseful,] Remorfeful is pitiful. So, in The Maids Metamorphofis by Lyly, 1600:

"Provokes my mind to take remorse of thee." Again, in Chapman's tranflation of the 2d book of Homer's Iliad, 1598:

"Defcend on our long-toyled host with thy remorseful eye.”

STEEVENS.

"Upon whofe grave thou vow'dft pure chastity.] It was common in former ages for widowers and widows to make vows of chastity in honour of their deceased wives or husbands. In Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire, page 1013, there is the form of a commiffion by the bishop of the diocefe for taking a vow of chastity made by a widow. It feems that, befides obferving the vow, the widow was, for life, to wear a veil and a mourning habit. Some fuch distinction we may fuppofe to have been made in refpect of male votarists; and therefore this circumftance might inform the players how fir Eglamour should be dreft; and will account for Silvia's having chosen him as a perfon in whom she could confide without injury to her own character. STEEVENS.