Unto a ragged, fearful, hanging rock,
And throw it thence into the raging sea!

Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ.-
Poor forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus,
To the sweet Julia; that I'll tear away;
And yet I will not, sith so prettily
He couples it to his complaining names;
Thus will I fold them one upon another;
Now kiss, embrace, contend, do what you will.
Re-enter LUCETTA.

Luc. Madam, dinner's ready, and your father stays. Jul. Well, let us go.

Luc. What, shall these papers lie, like tell-tales, here? Jul. If you respect them, best to take them up. Luc. Nay, I was taken up for laying them down: Yet here they shall not lie, for catching cold.2 Jul. I see, you have a month's mind to them.3

2 Yet here they shall not lie, for catching cold.] That is, as Mr. M. Mason observes, lest they should catch cold. This mode of expression (he adds) is not frequent in Shakspeare, but occurs in every play of Beaumont and Fletcher.

So, in The Captain:

"We'll have a bib, for spoiling of your doublet."

Again, in Love's Pilgrimage:

"Stir my horse, for catching cold."

Again, in The Pilgrim:

"All her face patch'd, for discovery."

To these I shall add another instance from Barnabie Riche's Souldiers Wishe to Britons Welfare, or Captaine Skill and Captaine Pill, 1604, p. 64: "-such other ill disposed persons, being once pressed must be kept with continuall guard, &c. for running away." Again, in Chapman's version of the first Iliad:

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then forked anchor cast,

"And 'gainst the violence of storms, for drifting made her fast."

Again, in Tusser's Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie, 1586: "Take heed how thou laiest the bane for the rats,

"For poisoning thy servant, thyself, and thy brats." Steevens. 3 I see, you have a month's mind to them.] A month's mind was an anniversary, in times of popery; or, as Mr. Ray calls it, a less solemnity, directed by the will of the deceased. There was also a year's mind, and a week's mind. See Proverbial Phrases.

This appears from the interrogatories and observations against the clergy, in the year 1552, Inter. 7: "Whether there are any months' minds, and anniversaries?" Strype's Memorials of the Reformation, Vol. II. p. 354.

Luc. Ay, madam, you may say what sights you see; I see things too, although you judge I wink. Jul. Come, come, will 't please you go?

SCENE III.

[Exeunt.

The same. A Room in Antonio's House.

Enter ANTONIO and PANTHINO.

Ant. Tell me, Panthino, what sad talk was that, Wherewith my brother held you in the cloister? Pant. 'Twas of his nephew Proteus, your son. Ant. Why, what of him?

"Was the month's mind of Sir William Laxton, who died the last month, (July 1556,) his hearse burning with wax, and the morrow mass celebrated, and a sermon preached," &c. Strype's Mem. Vol. III. p. 305. Grey.

A month's mind, in the ritual sense, signifies not desire, or inclination, but remembrance; yet I suppose, this is the true original of the expression. Johnson.

In Hampshire, and other western counties, for "I can't remember it," they say, "I can't mind it." Blackstone.

Puttenham, in his Art of Poetry, 1589, chap. 24, speaking of Poetical Lamentations, says, they were chiefly used "at the burials of the dead, also at month's minds, and longer times:" and in the churchwardens' accompts of St. Helen's in Abingdon, Berkshire, 1558, these month's minds, and the expenses attending them, are frequently mentioned. Instead of month's minds, they are sometimes called month's monuments, and in the Injunc tions of K. Edward VI. memories, Injunct. 21. By memories, says Fuller, we understand the Obsequia for the dead, which some say succeeded in the place of the heathen Parentalia.

If this line was designed for a verse, we should read-monthes mind. So, in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

"Swifter than the moones sphere."

Both these are the Saxon genitive case. Steevens.

4

what sad talk -] Sad is the same as grave, or serious.

So, in The Wise Woman of Hogsden, 1638:

"Marry, sir knight, I saw them in sad talk,

"But to say they were directly whispering," &c.

Again, in Whetstone's Promos and Cassandra, 1578:

Johnson.

"The king feigneth to talk sadly with some of his counsel." Steevens.

Pant.

He wonder'd, that your lordship
Would suffer him to spend his youth at home;
While other men, of slender reputation,"

Put forth their sons to seek preferment out:
Some, to the wars, to try their fortune there;
Some, to discover islands far away;6
Some, to the studious universities.
For any, or for all, these exercises,

He said, that Proteus, your son, was meet,
And did request me, to impórtune you
To let him spend his time no more at home,
Which would be great impeachment to his age,7
In having known no travel in his youth:

Ant. Nor need'st thou much impórtune me to that, Wheron this month I have been hammering.

I have consider'd well his loss of time;
And how he cannot be a perfect man,
Not being try'd and tutor❜d in the world:
Experience is by industry achiev'd,

And pérfected by the swift course of time:
Then, tell me, whither were I best to send him?
Pant. I think, your lordship is not ignorant,
How his companion, youthful Valentine,
Attends the emperor, in his royal court.

5

of slender reputation,] i. e. who are thought slightly of, are of little consequence. Steevens.

6 Some, to discover islands far away;] In Shakspeare's time, voyages for the discovery of the islands of America were much in Vogue. And we find, in the journals of the travellers of that time, that the sons of noblemen, and of others of the best families in England, went very frequently on these adventures. Such as the Fortescues, Collitons, Thornhills, Farmers, Pickerings, Littletons, Willoughbys, Chesters, Hawleys, Bromleys, and others. To this prevailing fashion our poet frequently alludes, and not without high commendations of it. Warburton.

7 great impeachment to his age,] Impeachment, as Mr. M. Mason very justly observes, in this instance signifies reproach or imputation. So, Demetrius says to Helena, in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

"You do impeach your modesty too much,

"To leave the city, and commit yourself

"Into the hands of one, that loves you not." Steevens,

8 Attends the emperor, in his royal court.] Shakspeare has been guilty of no mistake, in placing the emperor's court at Milan, in

Ant. I know it well.

Pant. 'Twere good, I think, your lordship sent him thither:

There shall he practise tilts and tournaments,
Hear sweet discourse, converse with noblemen;
And be in eye of every exercise,

Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth.

Ant. I like thy counsel; well hast thou advis'd: And, that thou may'st perceive how well I like it, The execution of it shall make known;

Even with the speediest execution

I will despatch him to the emperor's court.

Pant. To-morrow, may it please you, Don Alphonso, With other gentlemen of good esteem,

Are journeying to salute the emperor,

And to commend their service to his will.

9

Ant. Good company; with them shall Proteus go: And, in good time,9 -now will we break with him.1 Enter PROTEUS.

Pro. Sweet love! sweet lines! sweet life!

Here is her hand, the agent of her heart;
Here is her oath for love, her honour's pawn:

this play. Several of the first German emperors held their courts there occasionally, it being, at that time, their immediate property, and the chief town of their Italian dominions. Some of them were crowned kings of Italy at Milan, before they received the imperial crown at Rome. Nor has the poet fallen into any contradiction by giving a duke to Milan, at the same time that the emperor held his court there. The first dukes of that, and all the other great cities in Italy, were not sovereign princes, as they afterwards became; but were merely governors, or viceroys, under the emperors, and removeable at their pleasure. Such was the Duke of Milan, mentioned in this play. Mr. M. Mason adds, that "during the wars in Italy, between Francis I, and Charles V, the latter frequently resided at Milan." Steevens.

9 in good time,] In good time was the old expression, when something happened, that suited the thing in hand, as the French say, à propos. Johnson.

So, in Richard III:

1

"And, in good time, here comes the sweating lord."

Steevens.

-now will we break with him.] That is, break the matter to him. The same phrase occurs, in Much Ado About Nothing, Act I. sc. i. M. Mason.

O, that our fathers would applaud our loves,
To seal our happiness, with their consents!
O heavenly Julia!

Ant. How now! what letter are you reading there? Pro. May't please your lordship, 'tis a word or two Of commendation, sent from Valentine,

Deliver'd by a friend, that came from him.

Ant. Lend me the letter; let me see what news. Pro. There is no news, my lord: but that he writes How happily he lives, how well belov'd, And daily graced by the emperor;

Wishing me with him, partner of his fortune.

Ant. And how stand you affected to his wish?
Pro. As one, relying on your lordship's will,
And not depending on his friendly wish.

Ant. My will is something sorted with his wish:
Muse not, that I thus suddenly proceed;
For what I will, I will, and there an end.
I am resolv'd, that thou shalt spend some time
With Valentinus in the emperor's court:

What maintenance he from his friends receives,
Like exhibition2 thou shalt have from me.

To-morrow, be in readiness to go:

Excuse it not, for I am peremptory.

Pro. My lord, I cannot be so soon provided:

Please you, deliberate a day or two.

Ant. Look, what thou want'st shall be sent after thee: No more of stay; to morrow thou must go.

Come on, Panthino; you shall be employ'd

To hasten on his expedition. [Exeunt ANT. and PANT.
Pro. Thus have I shunn'd the fire, for fear of burning;
And drench'd me in the sea, where I am drown'd:

I fear'd to shew my father Julia's letter,
Lest he should take exceptions to my love;
And, with the vantage of mine own excuse,
Hath he excepted most against my love.

2 Like exhibition] i. e. allowance. So, in Othello:

"Due reference of place and exhibition." Again, in the Devil's Law Case, 1623:

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in his riot, does far exceed the exhibition I allowed him." Steevens.