Complete Plays, The (433 page)

Julia

Madam, please you peruse this letter.—
Pardon me, madam; I have unadvised
Deliver’d you a paper that I should not:
This is the letter to your ladyship.

Silvia

I pray thee, let me look on that again.

Julia

It may not be; good madam, pardon me.

Silvia

There, hold!
I will not look upon your master’s lines:
I know they are stuff’d with protestations
And full of new-found oaths; which he will break
As easily as I do tear his paper.

Julia

Madam, he sends your ladyship this ring.

Silvia

The more shame for him that he sends it me;
For I have heard him say a thousand times
His Julia gave it him at his departure.
Though his false finger have profaned the ring,
Mine shall not do his Julia so much wrong.

Julia

She thanks you.

Silvia

What say’st thou?

Julia

I thank you, madam, that you tender her.
Poor gentlewoman! my master wrongs her much.

Silvia

Dost thou know her?

Julia

Almost as well as I do know myself:
To think upon her woes I do protest
That I have wept a hundred several times.

Silvia

Belike she thinks that Proteus hath forsook her.

Julia

I think she doth; and that’s her cause of sorrow.

Silvia

Is she not passing fair?

Julia

She hath been fairer, madam, than she is:
When she did think my master loved her well,
She, in my judgment, was as fair as you:
But since she did neglect her looking-glass
And threw her sun-expelling mask away,
The air hath starved the roses in her cheeks
And pinch’d the lily-tincture of her face,
That now she is become as black as I.

Silvia

How tall was she?

Julia

About my stature; for at Pentecost,
When all our pageants of delight were play’d,
Our youth got me to play the woman’s part,
And I was trimm’d in Madam Julia’s gown,
Which served me as fit, by all men’s judgments,
As if the garment had been made for me:
Therefore I know she is about my height.
And at that time I made her weep agood,
For I did play a lamentable part:
Madam, ’twas Ariadne passioning
For Theseus’ perjury and unjust flight;
Which I so lively acted with my tears
That my poor mistress, moved therewithal,
Wept bitterly; and would I might be dead
If I in thought felt not her very sorrow!

Silvia

She is beholding to thee, gentle youth.
Alas, poor lady, desolate and left!
I weep myself to think upon thy words.
Here, youth, there is my purse; I give thee this
For thy sweet mistress’ sake, because thou lovest her.
Farewell.

Exit Silvia, with attendants

Julia

And she shall thank you for’t, if e’er you know her.
A virtuous gentlewoman, mild and beautiful
I hope my master’s suit will be but cold,
Since she respects my mistress’ love so much.
Alas, how love can trifle with itself!
Here is her picture: let me see; I think,
If I had such a tire, this face of mine
Were full as lovely as is this of hers:
And yet the painter flatter’d her a little,
Unless I flatter with myself too much.
Her hair is auburn, mine is perfect yellow:
If that be all the difference in his love,
I’ll get me such a colour’d periwig.
Her eyes are grey as glass, and so are mine:
Ay, but her forehead’s low, and mine’s as high.
What should it be that he respects in her
But I can make respective in myself,
If this fond Love were not a blinded god?
Come, shadow, come and take this shadow up,
For ’tis thy rival. O thou senseless form,
Thou shalt be worshipp’d, kiss’d, loved and adored!
And, were there sense in his idolatry,
My substance should be statue in thy stead.
I’ll use thee kindly for thy mistress’ sake,
That used me so; or else, by Jove I vow,
I should have scratch’d out your unseeing eyes
To make my master out of love with thee!

Exit

A
CT
V

S
CENE
I. M
ILAN
. A
N
ABBEY
.

Enter Eglamour

Eglamour

The sun begins to gild the western sky;
And now it is about the very hour
That Silvia, at Friar Patrick’s cell, should meet me.
She will not fail, for lovers break not hours,
Unless it be to come before their time;
So much they spur their expedition.
See where she comes.

Enter Silvia

Lady, a happy evening!

Silvia

Amen, amen! Go on, good Eglamour,
Out at the postern by the abbey-wall:
I fear I am attended by some spies.

Eglamour

Fear not: the forest is not three leagues off;
If we recover that, we are sure enough.

Exeunt

S
CENE
II. T
HE
SAME
. T
HE
D
UKE
’
S
PALACE
.

Enter Thurio, Proteus, and Julia

Thurio

Sir Proteus, what says Silvia to my suit?

Proteus

O, sir, I find her milder than she was;
And yet she takes exceptions at your person.

Thurio

What, that my leg is too long?

Proteus

No; that it is too little.

Thurio

I’ll wear a boot, to make it somewhat rounder.

Julia

[Aside]
 
But love will not be spurr’d to what it loathes.

Thurio

What says she to my face?

Proteus

She says it is a fair one.

Thurio

Nay then, the wanton lies; my face is black.

Proteus

But pearls are fair; and the old saying is,
Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies’ eyes.

Julia

[Aside]
 
’Tis true; such pearls as put out ladies’ eyes; For I had rather wink than look on them.

Thurio

How likes she my discourse?

Proteus

Ill, when you talk of war.

Thurio

But well, when I discourse of love and peace?

Julia

[Aside]
 
But better, indeed, when you hold your peace.

Thurio

What says she to my valour?

Proteus

O, sir, she makes no doubt of that.

Julia

[Aside]
 
She needs not, when she knows it cowardice.

Thurio

What says she to my birth?

Proteus

That you are well derived.

Julia

[Aside]
 
True; from a gentleman to a fool.

Thurio

Considers she my possessions?

Proteus

O, ay; and pities them.

Thurio

Wherefore?

Julia

[Aside]
 
That such an ass should owe them.

Proteus

That they are out by lease.

Julia

Here comes the duke.

Enter Duke

Duke

How now, Sir Proteus! how now, Thurio!
Which of you saw Sir Eglamour of late?

Thurio

Not I.

Proteus

 
Nor I.

Duke

 
Saw you my daughter?

Proteus

Neither.

Duke

Why then,
She’s fled unto that peasant Valentine;
And Eglamour is in her company.
’Tis true; for Friar Laurence met them both,
As he in penance wander’d through the forest;
Him he knew well, and guess’d that it was she,
But, being mask’d, he was not sure of it;
Besides, she did intend confession
At Patrick’s cell this even; and there she was not;
These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence.
Therefore, I pray you, stand not to discourse,
But mount you presently and meet with me
Upon the rising of the mountain-foot
That leads towards Mantua, whither they are fled:
Dispatch, sweet gentlemen, and follow me.

Exit

Thurio

Why, this it is to be a peevish girl,
That flies her fortune when it follows her.
I’ll after, more to be revenged on Eglamour
Than for the love of reckless Silvia.

Exit

Proteus

And I will follow, more for Silvia’s love
Than hate of Eglamour that goes with her.

Exit

Julia

And I will follow, more to cross that love
Than hate for Silvia that is gone for love.

Exit

S
CENE
III. T
HE
FRONTIERS
OF
M
ANTUA
. T
HE
FOREST
.

Enter Outlaws with Silvia

First Outlaw

Come, come,
Be patient; we must bring you to our captain.

Silvia

A thousand more mischances than this one
Have learn’d me how to brook this patiently.

Second Outlaw

Come, bring her away.

First Outlaw

Where is the gentleman that was with her?

Third Outlaw

Being nimble-footed, he hath outrun 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.

First Outlaw

Come, I must bring you to our captain’s cave:
Fear not; he bears an honourable mind,
And will not use a woman lawlessly.

Silvia

O Valentine, this I endure for thee!

Exeunt

S
CENE
IV. A
NOTHER
PART
OF
THE
FOREST
.

Enter Valentine

Valentine

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.
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!
Repair me with thy presence, Silvia;
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?

Enter Proteus, Silvia, and Julia

Proteus

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 would have forced 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.

Valentine

[Aside]
 
How like a dream is this I see and hear!
Love, lend me patience to forbear awhile.

Silvia

O miserable, unhappy that I am!

Proteus

Unhappy were you, madam, ere I came;
But by my coming I have made you happy.

Silvia

By thy approach thou makest me most unhappy.

Julia

[Aside]
 
And me, when he approacheth to your presence.

Silvia

Had I been seized by a hungry lion,
I would have been a breakfast to the beast,
Rather than have false Proteus rescue me.
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 perjured Proteus.
Therefore be gone; solicit me no more.

Proteus

What dangerous action, stood it next to death,
Would I not undergo for one calm look!
O, ’tis the curse in love, and still approved,
When women cannot love where they’re beloved!

Silvia

When Proteus cannot love where he’s beloved.
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’dst 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!

Proteus

In love
Who respects friend?

Silvia

All men but Proteus.

Proteus

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 ye.

Silvia

O heaven!

Proteus

 
I’ll force thee yield to my desire.

Valentine

Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch,
Thou friend of an ill fashion!

Proteus

Valentine!