The Two Gentlemen of Verona Read online

  VALENTINE Mistress, it is: sweet lady, entertain101 him

  To be my fellow-servant to your ladyship.

  SILVIA Too low a mistress for so high103 a servant.

  PROTEUS Not so, sweet lady: but too mean104 a servant

  To have a look of such a worthy mistress.

  VALENTINE Leave off discourse of disability:106

  Sweet lady, entertain him for your servant.

  PROTEUS My duty108 will I boast of, nothing else.

  SILVIA And duty never yet did want his meed.109

  Servant, you are welcome to a worthless mistress.

  PROTEUS I'll die on him that says so but111 yourself.

  SILVIA That you are welcome?

  PROTEUS That you are worthless.

  [Enter Turio, or a servant enters and whispers to Turio]

  TURIO Madam, my lord your father would speak with you.

  SILVIA I wait upon his pleasure. Come, Sir Turio,

  Go with me. Once more, new servant, welcome.

  I'll leave you to confer of home affairs:

  When you have done, we look to hear from you.

  PROTEUS We'll both attend upon your ladyship.

  [Exeunt Silvia and Turio]

  VALENTINE Now, tell me: how do all from whence you came?

  PROTEUS Your friends are well and have them much commended.121

  VALENTINE And how do yours?

  PROTEUS I left them all in health.

  VALENTINE How does your lady? And how thrives your love?

  PROTEUS My tales of love were wont to125 weary you:

  I know you joy not in a love discourse.

  VALENTINE Ay, Proteus, but that life is altered now.

  I have done penance for contemning128 Love,

  Whose high imperious129 thoughts have punished me

  With bitter fasts, with penitential130 groans,

  With nightly tears and daily heart-sore sighs:

  For in revenge of my contempt of love,

  Love hath chased sleep from my enthralled133 eyes,

  And made them watchers of134 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,137

  Nor to138 his service no such joy on earth.

  Now no discourse, except it be of love:

  Now can I break my fast, dine, sup and sleep

  Upon the very naked141 name of love.

  PROTEUS Enough: I read your fortune in your eye.

  Was this143 the idol that you worship so?

  VALENTINE Even she144; and is she not a heavenly saint?

  PROTEUS No, but she is an earthly paragon.145

  VALENTINE Call her divine.

  PROTEUS I will not flatter her.

  VALENTINE O, flatter me, for love delights in praises.

  PROTEUS When I was sick, you gave me bitter pills,149

  And I must minister the like150 to you.

  VALENTINE Then speak the truth by151 her; if not divine,

  Yet let her be a principality,152

  Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth.

  PROTEUS Except my mistress.

  VALENTINE Sweet155, except not any,

  Except thou wilt except against156 my love.

  PROTEUS Have I not reason to prefer mine own?

  VALENTINE And I will help thee to prefer158 her too:

  She shall be dignified with this high honour,

  To bear my lady's train, lest the base earth

  Should from her vesture chance to steal a kiss,161

  And of so great a favour growing proud,

  Disdain to root the summer-swelling flower163

  And make rough winter everlastingly.

  PROTEUS Why, Valentine, what braggardism165 is this?

  VALENTINE Pardon me, Proteus: all I can166 is nothing

  To her whose worth makes other worthies167 nothing.

  She is alone.168

  PROTEUS Then let her alone.

  VALENTINE Not for 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,

  The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.

  Forgive me that I do not dream on thee,174

  Because thou see'st me dote upon175 my love.

  My foolish rival, that her father likes--

  Only for177 his possessions are so huge--

  Is gone with her along, and I must after:

  For love, thou know'st, is full of jealousy.

  PROTEUS But she loves you?

  VALENTINE Ay, and we are betrothed: nay, more, our marriage-hour,

  With all the cunning manner of our flight,182

  Determined of183: how I must climb her window,

  The ladder made of cords, and all the means

  Plotted and 'greed185 on for my happiness.

  Good Proteus, go with me to my chamber,

  In these affairs to aid me with thy counsel.

  PROTEUS Go on before: I shall inquire you forth.188

  I must unto the road, to disembark189

  Some necessaries190 that I needs must use,

  And then I'll presently attend you.

  VALENTINE Will you make haste?

  PROTEUS I will.

  Exit [Valentine]

  Even as one heat another heat expels,194

  Or as one nail by strength drives out another,

  So the remembrance196 of my former love

  Is by a newer object197 quite forgotten.

  Is it mine eye or Valentine's praise?

  Her true perfection or my false transgression199

  That makes me reasonless to reason thus?200

  She is fair: and so is Julia that I love--

  That I did love, for now my love is thawed,

  Which, like a waxen image gainst a fire

  Bears no impression of the thing it was.

  Methinks my zeal205 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 reason I love him so little.

  How shall I dote on her with more advice,209

  That thus without advice210 begin to love her?

  'Tis but her picture211 I have yet beheld,

  And that hath dazzled my reason's light:

  But when I look on her perfections,213

  There is no reason but214 I shall be blind.

  If I can check my erring215 love, I will:

  If not, to compass216 her I'll use my skill.

  Exit

  Act 2 Scene 5

  running scene 8

  Enter Speed and Lance [separately. Lance with his dog, Crab]

  SPEED Lance, by mine honesty, welcome to Padua.1

  LANCE Forswear2 not thyself, sweet youth, for I am not

  welcome. I reckon this always, that a man is never undone3

  till he be hanged, nor never welcome to a place till some

  certain shot be paid and the hostess5 say 'Welcome!'

  SPEED Come on, you madcap: 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?

  LANCE Marry, after they closed in earnest10, they parted very

  fairly11 in jest.

  SPEED But shall she marry him?

  LANCE No.

  SPEED How then? Shall he marry her?

  LANCE No, neither.

  SPEED What, are they broken?16

  LANCE No, they are both as whole as a fish.17

  SPEED Why then, how stands the matter18 with them?

  LANCE Marry, thus: when it stands well with him, it stands

  well with her.

  SPEED What an ass art thou! I understand thee not.

  LANCE What a block22 art thou, that thou canst not! My staf
f

  understands23 me.

  SPEED What thou say'st?

  LANCE Ay, and what I do too: look thee, I'll but lean, and

  my staff understands me.

  SPEED It stands under thee, indeed.

  LANCE Why, stand-under and understand is all one.

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

  LANCE Ask my dog: if he say 'ay', it will. If he say 'no', it

  will. If he shake his tail and say nothing, it will.

  SPEED The conclusion is, then, that it will.

  LANCE Thou shalt never get such a secret from me but by a

  parable.34

  SPEED 'Tis well that I get it so. But Lance, how say'st thou35

  that my master is become a notable36 lover?

  LANCE I never knew him otherwise.

  SPEED Than how?

  LANCE A notable lubber39, as thou reportest him to be.

  SPEED Why, thou whoreson ass, thou mistak'st me.40

  LANCE Why, fool, I meant not thee, I meant thy master.

  SPEED I tell thee, my master is become a hot lover.

  LANCE Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn himself

  in love. If thou wilt, go with me to the alehouse: if not, thou

  art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a Christian.

  SPEED Why?

  LANCE Because thou hast not so much charity in thee as to

  go to the ale48 with a Christian. Wilt thou go?

  SPEED At thy service.

  Exeunt

  Act 2 Scene 6

  running scene 9

  Enter Proteus alone

  PROTEUS To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn?

  To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn?

  To wrong my friend, I shall be much forsworn.

  And ev'n that power which gave me first my oath4

  Provokes me to this threefold perjury.

  Love bade me swear, and Love bids me forswear;

  O sweet-suggesting Love, if thou hast sinned,7

  Teach me, thy tempted subject, to excuse it.

  At first I did adore a twinkling star,

  But now I worship a celestial sun.

  Unheedful vows may heedfully11 be broken,

  And he wants wit12 that wants resolved will

  To learn13 his wit t'exchange the bad for better.

  Fie, fie, unreverend tongue, to call her14 bad,

  Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferred15

  With twenty thousand soul-confirming16 oaths.

  I cannot leave17 to love, and yet I do:

  But there I leave to love where I should love.

  Julia I lose, and Valentine I lose:

  If I keep them, I needs must lose myself.

  If I lose them, thus find I21 by their loss:

  For22 Valentine, myself, for Julia, Silvia.

  I to myself am dearer than a friend,

  For love is still most precious in itself,

  And Silvia -- witness heaven that made her fair25--

  Shows Julia but a swarthy Ethiope.26

  I will forget that Julia is alive,

  Remembering that my love to her is dead.

  And Valentine I'll hold29 an enemy,

  Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend.

  I cannot now prove constant31 to myself,

  Without some treachery used to Valentine.

  This night he meaneth with a corded33 ladder

  To climb celestial Silvia's chamber-window,

  Myself in counsel his competitor.35

  Now presently I'll give her father notice

  Of their disguising and pretended flight,37

  Who, all enraged, will banish Valentine,

  For Turio he intends shall wed his daughter.

  But Valentine being gone, I'll quickly cross,40

  By some sly trick, blunt41 Turio's dull proceeding.

  Love, lend42 me wings to make my purpose swift,

  As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift.43

  Exit

  Act 2 Scene 7

  running scene 10

  Enter Julia and Lucetta

  JULIA Counsel, Lucetta: gentle girl, assist me,

  And ev'n in kind love, I do conjure2 thee,

  Who art the table3 wherein all my thoughts

  Are visibly charactered4 and engraved,

  To lesson me and tell me some good mean5

  How with my honour I may undertake

  A journey to my loving Proteus.

  LUCETTA Alas, the way is wearisome and long.

  JULIA A true-devoted pilgrim is not weary

  To measure10 kingdoms with his feeble steps:

  Much less shall she that hath Love's wings to fly,

  And when the flight is made to one so dear,

  Of such divine perfection as Sir Proteus.

  LUCETTA Better forbear14 till Proteus make return.

  JULIA O, know'st thou not his looks are my soul's food?

  Pity the dearth16 that I have pined in,

  By longing for that food so long a time.

  Didst thou but know the inly18 touch of love,

  Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow

  As seek to quench the fire of love with words.

  LUCETTA I do not seek to quench your love's hot fire,

  But qualify22 the fire's extreme rage,

  Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason.

  JULIA The more thou damm'st it up, the more it burns.

  The current25 that with gentle murmur glides,

  Thou know'st, being stopped, impatiently doth rage:

  But when his fair course is not hindered,

  He makes sweet music with th'enamelled stones,28

  Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge29

  He overtaketh in his pilgrimage,

  And so by many winding nooks he strays

  With willing sport to the wild32 ocean.

  Then let me go, and hinder not my course:

  I'll be as patient as a gentle stream,

  And make a pastime of each weary step,

  Till the last step have brought me to my love,

  And there I'll rest, as after much turmoil

  A blessed soul doth in Elysium.38

  LUCETTA But in what habit39 will you go along?

  JULIA Not like a woman, for I would prevent40

  The loose encounters of lascivious men:

  Gentle Lucetta, fit me with such weeds42

  As may beseem43 some well-reputed page.

  LUCETTA Why then, your ladyship must cut your hair.

  JULIA No, girl, I'll knit45 it up in silken strings

  With twenty odd-conceited46 true-love knots.

  To be fantastic47 may become a youth

  Of greater time48 than I shall show to be.

  LUCETTA What fashion, madam, shall I make your breeches?

  JULIA That fits as well as 'Tell me, good my lord,

  What compass will you wear your farthingale?51'

  Why, ev'n what fashion thou best likes, Lucetta.

  LUCETTA You must needs have them with a codpiece53, madam.

  JULIA Out, out, Lucetta! That will be ill-favoured.54

  LUCETTA A round hose, madam, now's not worth a pin55

  Unless you have a codpiece to stick pins on.56

  JULIA Lucetta, as thou lov'st me, let me have

  What thou think'st meet and is most mannerly.58

  But tell me, wench, how will the world repute me

  For undertaking so unstaid60 a journey?

  I fear me it will make me scandalized.61

  LUCETTA If you think so, then stay at home and go not.

  JULIA Nay, that I will not.

  LUCETTA Then never dream on infamy64, but go.

  If Proteus like your journey when you come,

  No matter who's displeased when you are gone:

  I fear me he will scarce be pleased withal.67

  JULIA That is the least, Lucetta, of my fear:

 
A thousand oaths, an ocean of his tears,

  And instances of infinite70 of love

  Warrant me welcome to my Proteus.71

  LUCETTA All these are servants to deceitful men.

  JULIA Base men, that use them to so base effect.

  But truer stars did govern Proteus' birth:

  His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles,75

  His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate,76

  His tears pure messengers sent from his heart,

  His heart, as far from fraud as heaven from earth.

  LUCETTA Pray heav'n he prove so when you come to him.

  JULIA Now, as thou lov'st me, do him not that wrong

  To bear a hard opinion of his truth81:

  Only deserve my love by loving him,

  And presently go with me to my chamber

  To take a note of what I stand in need of,

  To furnish me upon my longing journey.85

  All that is mine I leave at thy dispose,86

  My goods, my lands, my reputation:

  Only, in lieu thereof88, dispatch me hence.

  Come, answer not, but to it presently.

  I am impatient of my tarriance.90

  Exeunt

  Act 3 Scene 1

  running scene 11

  Enter Duke, Turio [and] Proteus

  DUKE Sir Turio, give us leave1, I pray, awhile:

  We have some secrets to confer about.

  [Exit Turio]

  Now, tell me, Proteus, what's your will with me?

  PROTEUS My gracious lord, that which I would discover

  The law of friendship bids me to conceal,

  But when I call to mind your gracious favours

  Done to me -- undeserving as I am--

  My duty pricks8 me on to utter that

  Which else no worldly good should draw from me.

  Know, worthy prince, Sir Valentine my friend

  This night intends to steal away your daughter:

  Myself am one made privy to12 the plot.

  I know you have determined to bestow her

  On Turio, whom your gentle daughter hates,

  And should she thus be stol'n away from you,

  It would be much vexation16 to your age.

  Thus, for my duty's sake, I rather chose

  To cross my friend in his intended drift,

  Than, by concealing it, heap on your head

  A pack of sorrows which would press you down,

  Being unprevented, to your timeless21 grave.

  DUKE Proteus, I thank thee for thine honest care,

  Which to requite, command me23 while I live.

  This love of theirs myself have often seen,

  Haply when they have judged me fast asleep,

  And oftentimes have purposed26 to forbid

  Sir Valentine her company and my court.

  But fearing lest my jealous aim28 might err

  And so unworthily disgrace the man--

  A rashness that I ever yet have shunned--

  I gave him gentle looks, thereby to find31

  That which thyself hast now disclosed to me.

  And that thou mayst perceive my fear of this,

  Knowing that tender youth is soon suggested,34

  I nightly lodge her in an upper tower,

  The key whereof myself have ever kept:

  And thence she cannot be conveyed away.