Val. Mistress, it is: sweet lady, entertain him Sil. Too low a mistress for so high a servant. Pro. My duty will I boast of, nothing else. No! that you are worthless. Enter Servant. Ser. Madam, my lord your father would speak with you. Sil. I'll wait upon his pleasure. Exit Servant. Come, Sir Thurio, Go with me:-Once more, new servant, welcome: [Exeunt Silvia, Thurio, and Speed. [commended. I left them all in health. Val. How does your lady? and how thrives your love? Pro. My tales of love were wont to weary you; I know, you joy not in a love-discourse. Val. Ay, Proteus, but that life is alter'd now: Love hath chas'd sleep from my enthralled eyes, And made them watchers of mine own heart's sorrow. O, gentle Proteus, love's a mighty lord; And hath so humbled me, as, I confess, There is no woe to his correction, Nor, to his service, no such joy on earth! Pro. Enough; I read your fortune in your eye: Val. Even she; and is she not a heavenly saint? Val. Call her divine. Pro. I will not flatter her. Val. O, flatter me; for love delights in praises. Pro. When I was sick, you gave me bitter pills; And I must minister the like to you. Val. Then speak the truth by her; if not divine, Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth. Val. Sweet, except not any; Except thou wilt except against my love. Pro. Why, Valentine, what braggardism is this? Pro. Then let her alone. Val. Not of the world: why, man, she is mine own; And I as rich in having such a jewel, As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, Is gone with her along; and I must after, Val. Ay, and we are betroth'd; Some necessaries that I needs must use; Pro. I will. Even as one heat another heat expels, [Exit Val. Or as one nail by strength drives out another, Her true perfection, or my false transgression, [Exit. SCENE V. The same. A Street. Enter SPEED and LAUNCE. Speed. Launce! by mine honesty, welcome to Milan. Laun. Forswear not thyself, sweet youth; for I am not welcome. reckon this always-that a man is never undone, till he be hanged; nor never welcome to a place, till some certain shot be paid, and the hostess say, welcome. Speed. Come on, you mad-cap, I'll to the alehouse with you presently; where for one shot of five pence, thou shalt have five thousand welcomes. But, sirrah, how did thy master part with madam Julia? Laun. Marry, after they closed in earnest, they parted very fairly in jest. Speed. But shall she marry him? Laun. No. Speed. How then? Shall 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 stands the matter with them? Laun. Marry, thus; when it stands well with him, it stands well with her. Speed. What an ass art thou! I understand thee not. Laun. What a block art thou, that thou canst not! My staff understands me. Speed. What thou say'st? Laun. Ay, and what I do too: look thee, I'll but lean, and my staff understands me. no, Speed. It stands under thee, indeed. Laun. Why, stand under and understand is all one. Speed. But tell me true, will't be a match? Laun. Ask my dog: if he say, ay, it will; if he say, it will; if he shake his-tail, and say nothing, it will. Speed. The conclusion is then, that it will. Laun. Thou shalt never get such a secret from me, but by a parable. Speed. 'Tis well that I get it so. But, Launce, how say'st thou, that thy master is become a notable lover? Laun. I never knew him otherwise. Laun. A notable lubber, as thou reportest him to be. master. Speed. I tell thee, my master is become a hot lover. Laun. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn himself in love. If thou wilt go with me to the alehouse, so; if not, thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a Christian. Speed. Why? Laun. Because thou hast not so much charity in thee, as to go to the ale with a Christian: Wilt thou go? Speed. At thy service. [Exeunt. SCENE VI. The same. An Apartment in the Palace. Enter PROTEUS. Pro. To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn; To wrong my friend, I shall be much forsworn; Love bade me swear, and love bids me forswear : Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken. |