Thu. Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I; I hold him but a fool, that will endanger I claim her not, and therefore she is thine. Duke. The more degenerate and base art thou, I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine, And think thee worthy of an empress' love. sir Valentine, Thou art a gentleman, and well deriv'd; Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserv'd her. Val. I thank your grace; the gift hath made me happy. I now beseech you, for your daughter's sake, To grant one boon that I shall ask of you. Duke. I grant it, for thine own, whate'er it be. Are men endued with worthy qualities; Forgive them what they have committed here, And let them be recall'd from their exíle : They are reformed, civil, full of good, And fit for great employment, worthy lord. Duke. Thou hast prevail'd; I pardon them, and thee; Dispose of them, as thou know'st their deserts. Come, let us go; we will include all jars9 With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity. 6 To make such means for her as thou hast done,] i. e. to make such interest for, to take such disingenuous pains about her. 7-all former griefs,] Griefs in old language frequently signified grievances, wrongs. MALONE. 8 include all jars—] i. e. shut up, or conclude. 9 With triumphs,] Triumphs in this and many other passages Shakspeare, signify masques and revels, &c. of Val. And, as we walk along, I dare be bold With our discourse to make your grace to smile: What think you of this page, my lord? Duke. I think the boy hath grace in him; he blushes. Val. I warrant you, my lord; more grace than boy. Duke. What mean you by that saying? Val. Please you, I'll tell you as we pass along, That done, our day of marriage shall be yours; In this play there is a strange mixture of knowledge and ignorance, of care and negligence. The versification is often excellent, the allusions are learned and just; but the author conveys his heroes by sea from one inland town to another in the same country; he places the emperor at Milan, and sends his young men to attend him, but never mentions him more; he makes Proteus, after an interview with Silvia, say he has only seen her picture; and if we may credit the old copies, he has, by mistaking places, left his scenery inextricable. The reason of all this confusion seems to be, that he took his story from a novel, which he sometimes followed, and sometimes forsook, sometimes remembered, and sometimes forgot. That this play is rightly attributed to Shakspeare, I have little doubt. If it be taken from him, to whom shall it be given? This question may be asked of all the disputed plays, except Titus Andronicus; and it will be found more credible, that Shakspeare might sometimes sink below his highest flights, than that any other should rise up to his lowest. JOHNSON. Johnson's general remarks on this play are just, except that part in which he arraigns the conduct of the poet, for making Proteus say, that he had only seen the picture of Silvia, when it appears that he had had a personal interview with her. This, however, is not a blunder of Shakspeare's, but a mistake of Johnson's, who considers the passage alluded to in a more literal sense than the author intended it. Sir Proteus, it is true, had seen Silvia for a few moments; but though he could form from thence some idea of her person, he was still unacquainted with her temper, manners, and the qualities of her mind. He therefore considers himself as having seen her picture only. The thought is just, and elegantly expressed. M. MASON. A FEW of the incidents in this comedy might have been taken from an old translation of Il Pecorone by Giovanni Fiorentino. I have lately met with the same story in a very contemptible performance, intitled, The fortunate, the deceived, and the unfortunate Lovers. Of this book, as I am told, there are several impressions; but that in which I read it was published in 1632, quarto. A somewhat similar story occurs in Piacevoli Notti di Straparola, Nott. 4". Fav. 4a. This comedy was first entered at Stationers' Hall, Jan. 18, 1601, by John Busby. STEEVENS. This play should be read between K. Henry IV. and K. Henry V. in Johnson's opinion. But Mr. Malone says, it ought rather to be read between The First and The Second Part of King Henry IV. in the latter of which young Henry becomes king. In the last act, Falstaff says: “Herne the hunter, quoth you? am I a ghost? "'Sblood, the fairies hath made a ghost of me. "What, hunting at this time of night! "I'le lay my life the mad prince of Wales "Is stealing his father's deare." and in this play, as it now appears, Mr. Page discountenances the addresses of Fenton to his daughter, because " he keeps company with the wild prince, and with Poins." The Fishwife's Tale of Brainford in WESTWARD FOR SMELTS, a book which Shakspeare seems to have read, (having borrowed from it a part of the fable of Cymbeline,) probably led him to lay the scene of Falstaff's love adventures at Windsor. It begins thus: "In Windsor not long agoe dwelt a sumpterman, who had to wife a very faire but wanton creature, over whom, not without cause, he was something jealous; yet had he never any proof of her inconstancy." MALONE. The adventures of Falstaff in this play seem to have been taken from the story of The Lovers of Pisa, in an old piece, called Tarleton's Newes out of Purgatorie. Mr. Warton observes, in a note to the last Oxford edition, that the play was probably not written as we now have it, before 1607, at the earliest. I agree with my very ingenious friend in this supposition, but yet the argument here produced for it may not be conclusive. Slender observes to master Page, that his greyhound was out-run at Cotsale [Cotswold-Hills in Gloucestershire;] and Mr. Warton thinks, that the games established there by captain Dover in the beginning of K. James's reign, are alluded to. But, perhaps, though the captain be celebrated in the Annalia Dubrensia as the founder of them, he might be the reviver only, or some way contribute to make them more famous; for in The Second Part of Henry IV. 1600, Justice Shallow reckons among the Swinge-bucklers, "Will Squeele, a Cotsole man." |