Now presently I'll give her father notice
Of their disguising, and pretended flight; 3
Who, all enrag'd, will banish Valentine;

For Thurio, he intends, shall wed his daughter:
But, Valentine being gone, I'll quickly cross,
By some sly trick, blunt Thurio's dull proceeding.
Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift,
As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift! [Exit.

SCENE VII.

Verona. A Room in JULIA'S House.

Enter JULIA and LUCETTA.

Jul. Counsel, Lucetta; gentle girl, assist me!
And, even in kind love, I do conjure thee,—
Who art the table wherein all my thoughts
Are visibly character'd and engrav'd,'-
To lesson me; and tell me some good mean,
How, with my honour, I may undertake
A journey to my loving Proteus.

Luc. Alas! the way is wearisome and long.
Jul. A true-devoted pilgrim is not weary
To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps:

That is, proposed or intended flight. The verb pretendre has the same signification in French.

The tables, or table-book, made of ivory or slate, were used, as they now are, for noting down any thing to be remembered. Thus the well-known lines in Hamlet, Act i. sc. 5:

46

My tables, - meet it is, I set it down,

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain." H.

An allusion to the pilgrimages formerly made by religious enthusiasts, who, like Julia, loved much, but not wisely,often to Rome, Compostella, and Jerusalem, but oftener still to "the House of our Lady at Loretto." In that age, when there were few roads and many robbers, to go afoot and alone through all the pains and perils of a passage from England to either of

Much less shall she, that hath love's wings to fly;
And when the flight is made to one so dear,
Of such divine perfection, as Sir Proteus.

Luc. Better forbear, till Proteus make return.
Jul. O! know'st thou not, his looks are my soul's
food?

Pity the dearth that I have pined in,

By longing for that food so long a time.
Didst thou but know the inly touch of love,
Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow,
As seek to quench the fire of love with words.

Luc. I do not seek to quench your love's hot fire But qualify the fire's extreme rage,

Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason. Jul. The more thou damm'st it up, the more it burns:

The current, that with gentle murmur glides, Thou know'st, being stopp'd, impatiently doth rage But, when his fair course is not hindered,

He makes sweet music with the enamel'd stones, Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge

He overtaketh in his pilgrimage;

And so by many winding nooks he strays
With willing sport to the wild ocean.

'Then let me go, and hinder not my course:

I'll be as patient as a gentle stream,
And make a pastime of each weary step,

Till the last step have brought me to my love,
And there I'll rest, as, after much turmoil,
A blessed soul doth in Elysium.

these shrines, was deemed proof that the person was thoroughly in earnest. The Santa Casa at Loretto was supposed to be the house in which the Blessed Virgin was born, it having been supernaturally transported from Galilee to Italy, and placed in a wood at midnight; which was the cause of so many more pilgrimages being made to that place.

H.

Luc. But in what habit will you go along? Jul. Not like a woman; for I would prevent The loose encounters of lascivious men :

Gentle Lucetta, fit me with such weeds

As

may beseem some well reputed page.

Luc. Why, then your ladyship must cut your hair. Jul. No, girl; I'll knit it up in silken strings, With twenty odd-conceited true-love knots : To be fantastic may become a youth

Of greater time than I shall show to be.

Luc. What fashion, madam, shall I make your breeches?

Jul. That fits as well as -"tell me, good my lord,

What compass will you wear your farthingale?" Why, even what fashion thou best lik'st, Lucetta.

Luc. You must needs have them with a codpiece

madam.

Jul. Out, out, Lucetta! that will be ill-favour'd. Luc. A round hose, madam, now's not worth

a pin,

Unless you have a codpiece to stick pins on.

Jul. Lucetta, as thou lov'st me, let me have What thou think'st meet, and is most mannerly. But tell me, wench, how will the world repute me For undertaking so unstaid a journey?

I fear me, it will make me scandaliz'd.

Luc. If you think so, then stay at home, and go not Jul. Nay, that I will not.

Luc. Then never dream on infamy, but go. If Proteus like your journey, when you come, No matter who's displeas'd, when you are gone: I fear me, he will scarce be pleas'd withal.

Jul. That is the least, Lucetta, of my fear: A thousand oaths, an ocean of his tears,

And instances of infinite of love,"

Warrant me welcome to my Proteus.

Luc. All these are servants to deceitful men. Jul. Base men, that use them to so base effect! But truer stars did govern Proteus' birth: His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles; His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate; His tears, pure messengers sent from his heart; His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth. Luc. Pray heaven he prove so, when you come to him!

Jul. Now, as thou lov'st me, do him not that

wrong,

To bear a hard opinion of his truth:

Only deserve my love by loving him ;
And presently go with me to my chamber,
To take a note of what I stand in need of,
To furnish me upon my longing journey.*
All that is mine I leave at thy dispose,
My goods, my lands, my reputation;
Only, in lieu thereof, despatch me hence

3 Infinite is here used for infinity. So in Much Ado Abou Nothing we find "the infinite of thought;" and Chaucer has “ al. though the life of it be stretched with infinite of time." The reading is that of the first folio: the second has "instances as infinite of love," which is adopted by Mr. Collier. But the former, besides having better authority, seems better in itself.

H

That is, the journey that I long to be making; or, it may be. the journey that I shall make with continual longing to reach the end of it.

H.

That is, in consideration thereof. So in The Tempest, Acti sc. 2: "That he in lieu o' the premises," &c. This use of lieu is not uncommon in the old writers. Thus in Hooker: "But be it that God of his great liberality had determined in lieu of man's endeavours to bestow the same," &c. Eccle. Pol. B. i. ch. xi. sec. 5; and in Spenser's Dedication of his "Four Hymns" to the Countesses of Cumberland and Warwick: " Beseeching you to accept this my humble service, in lieu of the great graces and honourable favours which ye daily show unto ire."

H.

Come, answer not, but to it presently;
I am impatient of my tarriance.

[Exeunt.

ACT III.

SCENE I.

Milan. An Ante-room in the DUKE'S Palace.

Enter DUKE, THURIO, and PROTEUS.

Duke. Sir Thurio, give us leave, I pray, awhile: We have some secrets to confer about.

[Exit THURIO. Now, tell me, Proteus, what's your will with me? Pro. My gracious lord, that which I would dis

cover,

The law of friendship bids me to conceal ;
But, when I call to mind your gracious favours
Done to me, undeserving as I am,

My duty pricks me on to utter that

Which else no worldly good should draw from me.
Know, worthy prince, Sir Valentine, my friend,
This night intends to steal away your daughter.
Myself am one made privy to the plot.
I know you have determin'd to bestow her
On Thurio, whom your gentle daughter hates;
And should she thus be stolen away from you,
It would be much vexation to your age.
Thus, for my duty's sake, I rather chose
To cross my friend in his intended drift,
Than, by concealing it, heap on your head
A pack of sorrows, which would press you down,
Being unprevented, to your timeless grave.

Duke. Proteus, I thank thee for thine honest-care;