When women cannot love, where they're belov'd.

Si. When Protheus cannot love, where he's belov'd,
Read over Julia's heart, thy first best love,
For whose dear fake thou then didît rend thy faith
Into a thousand oaths; and all those oaths
Defcended into perjury, to love me.
Thou hast no faith left now, unless thou'd it 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 !

Pro. In love,
Who respects friend ?

Sil. All men but Protheus.

Pro. Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words
Can no way change you to a milder form;
I'll move you like a soldier, at arms end,
And love you 'gainst the nature of love ; force ye.

Sil. Oh heav'n!
Prös I'll force thee yield to my desire.

Val. Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch,
Thou friend of an ili fashion !

Pro. Valentine!

Val. Thou common friend, that's without faith or love;
For such is a friend now : thou treach'rous man !
Thou haft beguild my hopes ; nought but mine eye
Could have persuaded me. Now I dare not say,
I have one friend alive; thou wouldft difprove me.
Who should be trusted now, when the right hand
Is perjur'd to the bosom? Protbeus,
I'm sorry, I must never trust thee more,
But count the world a stranger for thy fake.
The private wound is deepeft. Oh time, most accurst!
'Mongít all foes, that a friend should be the worst !

Pro. My shame and guilt confound me :
Forgive me, Valentine'; if hearty forrow
Be a sufficient ransom for offence,
I tender't here ; I do as truly lutfer,
As e'er I did commit.

Val. Then i am paid :
And once agai: receive thee honeft.

Who by repentance is not satisfy'd,
Is nor of heav'n, nor earth; for these are pleas'd ;
By penitence th’Eternal's wrath's appeas'd.
And that my love may appear plain and free,
All, that was mine in Silvia, I give thee.
Jul. Oh me unhappy!

[Szuoons. Pro. Look to the boy.

Val. Why, boy! how now ? what's the matter ? look up; speak.

Jul." o good Sir, my master charg'd me to deliver a ring to Madam Silvia, which, out of my neglect, was never done.

Pro. Where is that ring, boy?
Jul. Here 'tis : this is it.

Pro. How ? let me fee :
This is the ring I gave to Julia.

Jul. Oh, cry you mercy, Sir, I have miftook ;
This is the ring you sent to Silvia.

Pro. How cam'ít thou by this ring ? at my depart, T gave this unto Julia.

Jul. And Julia herself did give it me. And Julia herself hath brought it hither.

Pro. How, Julia?

Jul. Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths, And entertain’d 'em deeply in her heart : How oft haft thou with perjury cleft the root ? Oh Protheus, let this habit make thee blush ! Be thou asham'd, that I have took upon me Such an immodeft rayment: if shame live In a disguise of love. It is the leffer blot, modefty finds, Women to change their shapes, than men their minds.

Pro. Than men their minds ? 'tis true ; oh heav'n!

were man

But constant, he were perfect ; that one error
Fills him with faults ; makes him run through all fins:
Inconftancy falls off, ere it begins.
What is in Silvia's face, but I may spy
More fresh in Julia's with a constant eye ?
Val. Come, come, a hand from either :

Let

Let me be blest to make this happy close;
'Twere pity, two such friends should long be foes.

Pro. Bear witness, heav'n, I have my wish for ever.
Jul. And I mine.

Enter Out-laws, with Duke and Thurio.
Out. A prize, a prize, a prize!

Val. Forbear, forbear, it is my Lord the Duke.
Your Grace is welcome to a man disgrac’d,
The banish'd Valentine.

Duke. Sir Valentine?
Thu. Yonder is Silvia : and Silvia's mine.

Val. Thurio, give back ; or else embrace thy death: Come not within the measure of

my

wrath.
Do not name Silvia thine ; if once again,
Milan shall not behold thee. Here the stands, (17).
Take but possession of her with a touch;
I dare thée but to breath upon my love,-

Thu. Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I.
I hold him but a fool, that will endanger
His body for a girl that loves him not
I claim her not; and therefore she is thine.

Duke. The more degenerate and base art'thou,
To make such means for her as thou hast done,
And leave her on such slight conditions.
Now, by the honour of my ancestry,
I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine,
And think thee worthy of an empress' love :
Know then, I here forget all former griefs ;
Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,
Plead a new state in thy unrival'd merit,

(17) Verona shall not bold thee.) Thus all the editions, but, whether, thro' ihe mistake of the first Editors, or the Poet's own careJeffness, this reading is absurdly faulty. For the threat here is to Thuriu, who is a Milarefe; and has no concerns, as it appears, with Verona. Besides, the scene is betwixt the confines of Milan, and Mantua, to which S lvia follows Valentine, having heard that he had'retreated thither. And, upon these circumstances, I ventur'd to adjust the text, as I imagine, the Poet must have intended : i. e.

Milan, thy country, shall never see thee again i thou shalt never live to igo back tbil ber.

To

2

you.

To which I thus subscribe : 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 fake,
To grant one boon that I shall ak of

Duke. I grant it for thine own, whate'er it be.

Val. These banish'd men, that I have kept withal, Are men endu'd with worthy qualities : Forgive them what they have committed here, And let them be recali'd from their exile. 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'ft their deferts. Come, let us go: we will include all jars With triumphs, mirth, and all solemnity.

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 you will wonder what hath fortuned.
Come, Protheus, 'tis your penance but to hear
The ftory of your loves discovered :
That done, our day of marriage Mall be yours,
One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.

[Exeunt omnes.