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For, in revenge

of my contempt of love, Love hath chac'd fleep from my enthralled eyes, And made them watchers of mine own heart's forrow. O gentle Protheus, love's a mighty lord; And hath fo humbled me, as, I confefs,

8

There is no woe to his correction, s

Nor to his fervice, no fuch joy on earth.
Now no discourse, except it be of love;
Now can I break my faft, dine, fup, and fleep
Upon the very naked name of love.

Pro. Enough: I read your fortune in your eye.
Was this the idol, that you worship fo?

Val. Even fhe; and is fhe not a heav'nly faint?
Pro. No; but fhe is an earthly paragon.

Val. Call her divine.

Pro. I will not flatter her.

Val. O flatter me: for love delights in praife. Pro. When I was fick, you gave me bitter pills: And I must minifter the like to you.

Val. Then speak the truth by her; if not divine, Yet let her be a principality,

Sov'reign to all the creatures on the earth.
Pro. Except my mistress.

Val. Sweet, except not any;

Except thou wilt except against my love.
Pro. Have I not reafon to prefer mine own?
Val. And I will help thee to prefer her too:
She fhall be dignified with this high honour,
To bear my lady's train, left the base earth
Should from her vefture chance to steal a kifs;
And, of so great a favour growing proud,

8 No woe to his correction.] No mifery that can be compared to the punishment inflicted by love. Herbert called for the prayers of the Liturgy a little before his death, faying, None to them, none to them.

9 A principality.] The firft or principal of women. So the old writers ufe ftate. She is a lady, a great state. LATYMER. This look is called in ftates warlie, in others otherwife. Sir T. MORE.

Dildain

Difdain to root the fummer fwelling flower;
And make rough winter everlaftingly.

Pro. Why, Valentine, what bragadism is this? Val. Pardon me, Protheus; all I can, is nothing To her, whofe worth makes other worthies nothing; She is alone. *

Pro. Then let her alone:

Val. Not for the world; why, man, the is mine

own;

And I as rich in having fuch a jewel,
As twenty feas, if all their fand were pearl,
The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.
Forgive me, that I do not dream on thee,
Because thou feeft me doat upon my love.
My foolish rival, that her father likes,
Only for his poffeffions are fo huge,

Is gone with her along, and I must after;
For love, thou know'ft, is full of jealousy.
Pro. But he loves you?

Val. Ay, and we are betroth'd; nay more, our mar-
riage-hour,

With all the cunning manner of our flight,

Determin'd of; how I must climb her window,
The ladder made of cords; and all the means
Plotted and 'greed on for my happiness.
Good Protheus, go with me to my chamber,
In thefe affairs to aid me with thy counsel.

Fro. Go on before; I fhall enquire you forth.
I muft unto the road, to difembark

•Some neceffaries that I needs muft ufe; And then I'll prefently attend you.

Val. Will you make hafte?

Pro. I will.

[Exit Val.

Ev'n as one heat another heat expels,

Or as one nail by ftrength drives out another;

*She is alone.] the ftands by herself. There is none to be compared to her.

VOL. I.

P

So

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So the remembrance of my former love
Is by a newer object quite forgotten.
It is mine eye, or Valentino's Praise,
Her true perfection, or my falfe tranfgreffion,
That makes me, reafonless, to reason thus ?
She's fair, and fo is Julia, that I love;
That I did love, for now my love is thaw'd;
Which, like a waxen image 'gainst a fire,
Bears no impreffion of the thing it was.
Methinks, my zeal to Valentine is cold;
And that I love him not, as I was wont.
O! but I love his lady too, too, much:
And that's the reafon, I love him fo little.
How fhall I doat on here with more advice,
That thus without advice begin to love her?
'Tis but her picture I have yet beheld, 3
And that hath dazeled my reafon's light:
But when I look on her perfections,
There is no reafon, but I fhall be blind.
If I can check my erring love, I will;
If not, to compafs her I'll ufe

It is mine THEN, or Valentino's Praife.] Here Protheus queftions with himself, whether it is his own praife, or Valentine's, that makes him fall in love with Valentine's miftrefs. But not to infift on the abfurdity of falling in love through his own praifes, he had not indeed praised her any farther than giving his opinion of her in three words, when his friend afked it of him. In all the old editions we find the line printed thus,

Is it mine, or Valentino's praise? A word is wanting. The line was originally thus,

It is mine EYE, or Valentino's praife?

my skill.

[Exit.

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Speed.

L

SCEN E VIII.

Changes to a Street.

Enter Speed and Launce.

AUNCE, by mine honefty, welcome to * Milan.

Laun. Forfwear not thyfelf, fweet youth; for I am not welcome: I reckon this always, that a man is never undone, till he be hang'd; nor never welcome to a place, 'till fome certain fhot be paid, and the hostess fay, welcome.

Speed. Come on, you mad-cap; I'll to the alehouse with you prefently, where, for one shot of fivepencé thou fhalt have five thousand welcomes. But, Sirrah, how did thy mafter part with madam Julia? Laun. Marry, after they clofed in earnest, they parted very fairly in jeft.

Speed. But fhall the marry him?

Laun. No.

Speed. How then? fhall he marry her?

Laun. No, neither.

Speed. What, are they broken?

Laun. No, they are both as whole as a fish.
Speed. Why then how ftands the matter with them?
Laun. Marry, thus: when it stands well with him,
it ftands well with her.

Speed. What an afs art thou? I understand thee

not.

Laun. What a block art thou, that thou canst not? My staff understands me. "

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5

РОРЕ. 5 This equivocation, miserable as it is, has been admitted by

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Speed. What thou say'st?

Laun. Ay, and what I do too; look thçe, I'll but lean, and my staff understands me.

Speed. It ftands under thee indeed.

Laun. Why, ftand-under, and understand, is all

cne.

Speed. But tell me true, will't be a match?

Laun. Afk my dog: if he fay, ay: it will; if he fay, no, it will; if he shake his tail, and fay nothing, it will.

Speed. The conclufion is then, that it will.

Laun. Thou shalt never get fuch a fecret from me, but by a parable.

Speed. 'Tis well, that I get it fo. But Launce, how, fay'st thou, that my master is become a notable lover? Laun. I never knew him otherwise.

Speed. Than how?

Laun. A notable Lubber, as thou reporteft him to be.

Speed. Why, thou whorfon afs, thou mistakest me. Laun. Why, fool, I mean not thee: I meant thy master.

Speed. I tell thee, my master is become a hot lover. Laun. Why, I tell thee, I care not tho' he burn himself in love: If thou wilt go with me to the alehoufe, fo; if not, thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a Christian.

Speed. Why?

Laun. Because thou haft not fo much charity in thee, as to go to the alehouse with a Chriftian: wilt thou go?

Speed. At thy fervice.

And ftagger'd many; who receives them right

Had need from head to feot well understand,

[Exeunt.

Not understood, this gift they barve befides

To fhew us when our foes ftand not upright.

SCENE

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