SCENE III.

Frontiers of Mantua. The Forest.

Enter SILVIA, and Out-laws.

Out. Come, come;

Be patient, we must bring you to our captain.
Sil. A thousand more mischances than this one
Have learn'd me how to brook this patiently.
2 Out. Come, bring her away.

1 Out. Where is the gentleman that was with her? 3 Out. Being nimble-footed, he hath out-run us, But Moyses, and Valerius, follow him.

Go thou with her to the west end of the wood,
There is our captain: we'll follow him that's fled;
The thicket is beset, he cannot 'scape.

1 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 Forest.

Enter VALENTINE.

Val. How use doth breed a habit in a man!
This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods,
I better brook than flourishing peopled towns :
Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,

And, to the nightingale's complaining notes,
Tune my distresses, and record my woes."

3

record my woes.] To record anciently signified to sing. To record is a term still used by bird-fanciers, to express the first essays of

a bird in singing.

O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless;
Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall,
And leave no memory of what it was !1
Repair me with thy presence, Silvia ;

4

Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain!
What halloing, and what stir, is this to-day?
These are my mates, that make their wills their law,
Have some unhappy passenger in chase:

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 aside.

Enter PROTEUS, SILVIA, and JULIA.

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 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 sure, you cannot give.
Val. How like a dream is this I see and hear!
Love, lend me patience to forbear awhile.

Sil. O miserable, unhappy that I am!
Pro. Unhappy, were you, madam, ere I came;
But, by my coming, I have made you happy.

[Aside.

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.

[Aside.

+ O thou that dost, &c.] It is hardly possible to point out four lines in any of the plays of Shakspeare, more remarkable for ease and elegance. STEEVENS.

my meed,] i. e. reward.

N

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.

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,
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
Sil. O heaven!

Pro.

you.

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

eye

6 - and still approv'd,] Approv'd, is felt, experienced.

Who should be trusted now, when one's right hand+ 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?: O time, most curst !
'Mongst all foes, that a friend should be the worst
Pro. My shame and guilt confound 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.8

"Who should be trusted, when one's own right hand”.

MALONE.

The private wound, &c.] Deepest, highest, and other similar words, were sometimes used by the poets of Shakspeare's age as monosyllables. Mr. Malone reads most accurst.

8 All that was mine in Silvia, I give thee.] 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 purposes of love, though she could not foresee the violence which his villainy 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 predecessors. STEEVENS.

I give thee:] Transfer these two lines to the end of Thurio's speech in page 182; 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

Jul. O me, unhappy!

[Faints.

Pro. Look to the boy.

matter?

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

Look up; speak.

Jul.

O good sir, my master charg'd me

To deliver a ring to madam Silvia ;9

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

Jul.

Pro. How let me see:

Why this is the ring I gave to Julia.

Here 'tis this is it.

[Gives a ring.

Jul. 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 de

part,

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,'

And entertain❜d them deeply in her heart:
How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root?2
O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush!
Be thou asham'd, that I have took upon me

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.

9 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 corrupted by the players, or transcriber. Mr. Malone arranges the speech as prose,

1 Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths,] Gave a phrase in archery.

encouragement,

2 How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root ?] i. e. of her heart. An allusion to cleaving the pin in archery,