y, in lieu thereof, despatch me hence:
ne, answer not, but to it presently;
n impatient of my tarriance.

Duke. Sir Thurio, give us leave, I pray, awhile; e have some secrets to confer about. ow, tell me, Proteus, what's your will with me? Pro. My gracious lord, that which I would discover, ne law of friendship bids me to conceal:

at, when I call to mind your gracious favours, one to me, undeserving as I am,

y duty pricks me on to utter that,

Thich else no worldly good should draw from me.
now, worthy prince, sir Valentine, my friend,
his night intends to steal away your daughter;
Iyself am one made privy to the plot.
know you have determin'd to bestow her
On Thurio, whom your gentle daughter hates;
And should she thus be stolen away from you,
t would be much vexation to your age.
Chus, 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 timeless grave.

Duke. Proteus, I thank thee for thine honest care;
Which to requite, command me while I live.
This love of theirs myself have often seen,
Haply, when they have judged me fast asleep;
And oftentimes have purpos'd to forbid
Sir Valentine her company, and my court:
But, fearing lest my jealous aim1 might err,

188

And so, unworthily, disgrace the man,
(A rashness that I ever yet have shunn'd)
I gave him gentle looks; thereby to find
That which thyself hast now disclos'd to me.
And, that thou may'st perceive my fear of this,
Knowing that tender youth is soon suggested,
I nightly lodge her in an upper tower,
The key whereof myself have ever kept;
And thence she cannot be convey'd away.

Pro. Know, noble lord, they have devis'd a mean,

How he her chamber-window will ascend,
And with a corded ladder fetch her down;
For which the youthful lover now is gone,
And this way comes he with it presently;
Where, if it please you, you may intercept him.
But, good my lord, do it so cunningly,
That my discovery be not aimed at;2

For, love of you, not hate unto my friend,
Hath made me publisher of this pretence.3

Duke. Upon mine honour, he shall never know

That I had any light from thee of this.

Pro. Adieu, my lord; sir Valentine is coming. [Exit.

Enter VALENTINE.

Duke. Sir Valentine, whither away so fast?

Val. Please it your grace, there is a messenger

That stays to bear my letters to my friends,
And I am going to deliver them.

Duke. Be they of much import?

Val. The tenor of them doth but signify
My health, and happy being at your court.

Duke. Nay, then no matter; stay with me a while;
I am to break with thee of some affairs,
That touch me near, wherein thou must be secret.,
'Tis not unknown to thee, that I have sought
To match my friend, sir Thurio, to my daughter.

2

3

be not aimed at ;) Be not guessed. Johnson.
Johnson.
of this pretence.] Of this claim made to your daughter.
Pretence is design. So, in K. Lear: “to feel my affection to
your honour, and no other pretence of danger."

in the same play: "-pretence and purpose of unkind

Val. I know it well, my lord; and, sure, the match
ere rich and honourable; besides, the gentleman
full of virtue, bounty, worth, and qualities, no nito?
seeming such a wife as your fair daughter:
nnot your grace win her to fancy him?
Duke. No, trust me; she is peevish, sullen, froward,
'oud, disobedient, stubborn, lacking duty;
either regarding that she is my child,
or fearing me, as if I were her father;
nd, may I say to thee, this pride of hers,
pon advice, hath drawn my love from her;
nd, where I thought the remnant of mine age
hould have been cherish'd by her child-like duty,
am now full resolv'd to take a wife,
And turn her out to who will take her in:
Then let her beauty be her wedding dower;
For me and my possessions she esteems not.

Val. What would your grace have me to do in this?

Duke. There is a lady, sir, in Milan", here, im Milano

Whom I affect; but she is nice and coy,
And nought esteems my aged eloquence:
Now, therefore, would I have thee to my tutor,
For long agone I have forgot to court:
Besides, the fashion of the time is chang'd)
How, and which way, I may bestow myself,
To be regarded, in her sun-bright eye.

Val. Win her with gifts, if she respect not words;
Dumb jewels often, in their silent kind,
More than quick words, do move a woman's mind."

the fashion of the time] The modes of courtship, the acts by which men recommended themselves to ladies. Johnson. 7 Win her with gifts, if she respect not words;

Dumb jewels often, in their silent kind,

More than wichuda

So, in our author's Passionate Pilgrim:

"Spare not to spend,

"The strongest castle, tower, and town,

"The golden bullet beats it down."

A line of this stanza

"The strongest castle, tower, and town,"

and two in a succeeding stanza

"What though she strive to try her strength,
"And ban an brawl, and say thee nay,".

remind us of the following verses in The Historie of Graunde
Amoure, [sign. I 2] written by Stephen Hawes, near a century
before those of Shakspeare:

"Forsake her not, though that she saye nay:
"A womans guise is evermore delay.

"No Castel can be of so great a strength,
"If that there be a sure siege to it layed;
"It must yelde up, or els be won at length,
"Though that 'to-fore it hath bene long delayed;
"So continuance may you right well ayde:
"Some womans harte can not so harded be,
"But busy labour may make it agree."

Another earlier writer than Shakspeare, speaking of women,
has also the same unfavourable (and, I hope, unfounded) senti-

ment:

"Tis wisdom to give much! a gift prevails,

"When deep persuasive oratory fails."

Marlowe's Hero and Leander. Malone.

Again, in the First Part of Feronimo, 1605, though written much earlier:

"-let his protestations be

"Fashioned with rich jewels, for in love

"Great gifts and gold have the best tongues to move.
"Let him not spare an oath without a je

a jewel

"To bind it fast: oh, I know womens hearts
"What stuff they are made of, my lord; gifts and giving
" Will melt the chastest seeming female living."

The same rude sentiment was soon after adopted by Beaumont

and Fletcher in The Woman Hater, 1607, Act IV, sc. ii:

8

66

your offers must

"Be full of bounty; velvets to furnish a gown, silks
"For petticoats and foreparts, shag for lining;
"Forget not some pretty jewel to fasten after
"Some little compliment! If she deny this courtesy,
"Double your bounties; be not wanting in abundance:
"Fulness of gifts, link'd with a pleasing tongue,
"Will win an anchorite." Reed.

that I sent her.] To produce a more accurate rhyme, we

For s

If she

If sh

al. A woman sometimes scorns what best contents

1 her another; never give her o'er; scorn at first makes after-love the more. ne do frown, 'tis not in hate of you, rather to beget more love in you: he do chide, 'tis not to have you gone; why, the fools are mad, if left alone. ke no repulse, whatever she doth say; -, get you gone, she doth not mean, away: tter, and praise, commend, extol their graces; ough ne'er so black, say, they have angels' faces. at man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man, with his tongue, he cannot win a woman. Duke. But she, I mean, is promis'd by her friends ato a youthful gentleman of worth; ad kept severely from resort of men, nat no man hath access, by day, to her.

Val. Why, then, I would resort to her, by night.
Duke. Ay, but the doors be lock'd, and keys kept safe,
That no man hath recourse to her, by night.

Val. What lets, but one may enter at her window?
Duke. Her chamber is aloft, far from the ground;
nd built so shelving that one cannot climb it,
Vithout apparent hazard of his life.

Val. Why, then, a ladder, quaintly made of cords,
Co cast up with a pair of anchoring hooks,
Vould serve to scale another Hero's tower,
o bold Leander would adventure it.

Duke. Now, as thou art a gentleman of blood, Advise me where I may have such a ladder.

Val. When would you use it? pray, sir, tell me that. Duke. This very night; for love is like a child, That longs for every thing, that he can come by. Val. By seven o'clock I'll get you such a ladder.

Mr. M. Mason observes, that the rhyme, which was evidently here intended, requires that we should read-"what best content her." The word what may imply those which, as well as that which. Steevens.

9 What lets,] i. e. what hinders. So, in Hamlet, Act I. sc. iv: " By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me."