Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

Do not infest your mind with beating on
The strangeness of this business: at pick'd leisure,
Which shall be shortly, single I'll resolve you
(Which to you shall seem probable3) of every
These happen'd accidents: till when, be cheerful,
And think of each thing well.--Come hither, spirit;

Set Caliban and his companions free :

[Aside.

Untie the spell. [Exit ARIEL.] How fares my gracious sir?

There are yet missing of your company

Some few odd lads, that you remember not.

Re-enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, in their stolen apparel.

Ste. Every man shift for all the rest, and let no man take care for himself; for all is but fortune:Coragio, bully-monster, Coragio!

Trin. If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here's a goodly sight.

Cal. O Setebos, these be brave spirits, indeed!

How fine my master is! I am afraid

He will chastise me.

Seb.

Ha, ha;

What things are these, my lord Antonio!

Will money buy them?

Ant.

Very like; one of them

Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.
Pro. Mark but the badges of these men, my

lords,

Then say, if they be true: -This mis-shapen
knave,

His mother was a witch; and one so strong
That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs,
And deal in her command, without her power:
These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil
(For he's a bastard one) had plotted with them
To take my life: two of these fellows you
Must know, and own; this thing of darkness I
Acknowledge mine.

Cal.

I shall be pinch'd to death. Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler? Seb. He is drunk now: Where had he wine? Alon. And Trinculo is reeling ripe: Where

should they

Find this grand liquor that hath gilded them?"-
How cam'st thou in this pickle?

Trin. I have been in such a pickle, since I saw you last, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.

Seb. Why, how now, Stephano?

And worship this dull fool!

Pro.

Go to; away!

Alon. Hence, and bestow your luggage where
you found it.
Scb. Or stole it, rather.

[Exeunt CAL. STE. and TIN.

Pro. Sir, I invite your highness, and your train
To my poor cell: where you shall take your rest
For this one night; which (part of it) I'll waste
With such discourse, as, I not doubt, shall make it
Go quick away: the story of my life,

And the particular accidents, gone by,
Since I came to this isle: And in the morn,
I'll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples,
Where I have hope to see the nuptial
Of these our dear-belov'd solemnized;
And thence retire me to my Milan, where
Every third thought shall be my grave.

[blocks in formation]

EPILOGUE.

SPOKEN BY PROSPERO.

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confin'd by you,
Or sent to Naples: Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got,
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island, by your spell;
But release me from my bands,
With the help of your good hands,"
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please: Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be reliev'd by prayer;
Which pierces so, that it assaults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults.

As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

[It is observed of The Tempest, that its plan is regu. lar; this the author of The Revisal thinks, what I think too, an accidental effect of the story, not intended or regarded by our author. But whatever might be Shak speare's intention in forming or adopting the plot, he has

Ste. O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a made it instrumental to the production of many charac

[blocks in formation]

4 Honest.

ters, diversified with boundless invention, and preserved with profound skill in nature, extensive knowledge of opinions, and accurate observation of life, In a single drama are here exhibited princes, courtiers, and sailors, all speaking in their real characters. There is the agency of airy spirits, and of an earthly goblin. The operations of magic, the tumults of a storm, the adventures of a desert island, the native effusion of untaught affection, the punishment of guilt, and the final happi ness of the pair for whom our passions and reason are JOHNSON. equally interested.]

5 That is, work the same effects as the moon without her delegated authority.

6 The allusion is to the elixir of the Alchemists. The phrase of being gilded was a trite one for being drunk. Fletcher uses it in the Chances

Duke. Is she not drunk too?

Wh. A little gilded o'er, sir; old sack, old boys.

7 By your applause. Noise was supposed to dissolve

a spell. Thus before in this play :

[ocr errors][merged small]

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

THIS is one of Shakespeare's earliest if not his first play. It was not printed until 1623, but it is mentioned by Meres in his Wit's Treasury, printed in 1598. It bears strong internal marks of an early composition. Pope has observed, that "the style of this comedy is less figurative, and more natural and unaffected than the greater part of Shakspeare's, though supposed to be one of the first he wrote." Malone is inclined to consider this to be in consequence of that very circumstance, and that it is natural and unaffected because it was a youthful performance. "Though many young poets of ordinary talents are led by false taste to adopt inflated and figurative language, why should we suppose that such should have been the course pursued by this master genius? The figurative style of Othello, Lear, and Macbeth, written when he was an established and long practised dramatist, may be ascribed to the additional knowledge of men and things which he had acquired during a period of fifteen years; in consequence of which his mind teemed with images and illustrations, and thoughts crowded so fast upon him, that the construction, in these and some other plays of a still later period, is much more difficult and involved than in the productions of his youth."

Hanmer thought Shakspeare had no other hand in this play than the enlivening it with some speeches and lines, which, he thinks, are easily distinguished from the rest. Upton peremptorily asserts, "that if any proof can be drawn from manner and style, this play must be sent packing, and seek for its parent else where." "How otherwise," says he, "do painters distinguish copies from originals, and have not authors their peculiar style and manner, from which a true critic can form as unerring judgment as a painter?" To this Johnson replies very satisfactorily: "I am afraid this illustration of a critic's science will not prove what is desired. A painter knows a copy from an original by rules somewhat resembling those by which critics know a translation, which, if it be literal, and literal it must be to resemble the copy of a picture, will be easily distinguished. Copies are known from originals, even when a painter copies his own picture; so if an author should literally translate his work, he would lose the manner of an original. Upton confounds the copy of a picture with the imitation of a painter's manner. Copies are easily known; but good imitations are not detected with equal certainty, and are, by the best judges, often mistaken. Nor is it true that the writer has always peculiarities equally distinguishable with those of the painter. The peculiar manner of each arises from the desire, natural to every performer, of facilitating his subsequent work by recurrence to his former ideas; this recurrence produces that repetition which is called habit. The painter, whose work is partly intellectual and partly manual, has habits of the mind, the eye, and the hand; the writer has only habits of the mind. Yet some painters have differed as much from them selves as from any other; and I have been told, that there is little resemblance between the first works of Raphael and the last. The same variation may be expected in writers; and, if it be true, as it seems, that they are less subject to habit, the difference between their works may be yet greater."

"But by the internal marks of composition we may discover the author with probability, though seldom with certainty. When I read this play, I cannot but think that I find both in the serious and ludicrous scenes, the language and sentiments of Shakspeare. It is not indeed one of his most powerful effusions; it has neither many diversities of character, nor striking delineation of life, but it abounds in γνομαι beyond most of his plays, and few have more lines or passages which, singly considered, are eminently beautiful. I am yet inclined to believe that it was not very successful, and suspect that it has escaped corruption, only be cause, being seldom played, it was less exposed to the hazards of transcription."

Pope has set what he calls a mark of reprobation upon the low and trifling conceits which are to be found in this play. It is true that the familiar scenes abound with quibbles and conceits; but the poet must not be

condemned for adopting a mode of writing admired by his contemporaries; they were not considered low and trifling in Shakspeare's age, but on the contrary were very generally admired and allowed for pure and geneine wit. Yet some of these scenes have much farcical drollery and invention: that of Launce with his dog in the fourth act is an instance, and surely "Speed's mode of proving his master to be in love is neither deficient in wit or sense."

"The tender scenes in this play, though not so highly wrought as in some others, have often much sweetness of sentiment and expression." Schlegel says: "it is as if the world was obliged to accommodate itself to a transient youthful caprice, called love." Julia may be considered a light sketch of the lovely characters of Viola and Imogen. Her answer to Lucetta's advice against following her lover in disguise has been pointed out as a beautiful and highly poetical passage.

"That it should ever have been a question whether this comedy were the genuine and entire composition of Shakspeare appears to me very extraordinary," says Malone. "Haniner and Upton never seem to have

considered whether it were his first or one of his latest pieces: -is no allowance to be made for the first flights of a young poet? nothing for the imitation of a preceding celebrated dramatist, which in some of the lower dialogues of this comedy (and these only) may, I think, be traced? But even these, as well as the other parts of the play, are perfectly Shakspcarian (1 do not say as finished and beautiful as any of his other pieces ;) and the same judgment must, I conceive, be pronounced concerning the Comedy of Errors and Love's Labour's Lost, by every person who is intimately acquainted with his manner of writing and thinking."

To

Sir William Blackstone observes, "that one of the great faults of the Two Gentlemen of Verona is the hastening too abruptly, and without preparation, to the denouement, which shows that it was one of Shakspeare's very early performances." Dr. Johnson in his concluding observations has remarked upon the geographical errors. They cannot be defended by attributing them to his youthful inexperience, for one of his latest productions is also liable to the same objection. which Malone replies: "The truth, I believe, is, that as he neglected to observe the rules of the drama with respect to the upities, though before he began to write they had been enforced by Sidney in a treatise which doubtless he had read; so he seems to have thought that the whole terraqueous globe was at his command; and as he brought in a child at the beginning of a play, who in the fourth act appears as a woman, so he seems to have set geography at defiance, and to have considered countries as inland or maritime just as it suited his fancy or convenience."

Some of the incidents in this play may be sup posed to have been taken from The Arcadia, book 1. ch. vi. where Pyrocles consents to head the Helots: The Arcadia was entered on the Stationers' books in 1583. The love adventure of Julia resembles that of Viola in Twelfth Night, and is indeed common to many of the ancient novels.

Mrs. Lennox informs us, that the story of Proteus and Julia might be taken from a similar one in "The Diana" of Montemayor. This pastoral romance was translated from the Spanish in Shakspeare's time, by Bartholomew Young, and published in 1599. It does not appear that it was previously published, though it was translated two or three years before by one Thomas Wilson, perhaps some parts of it may have been made public, or Shakspeare may have found the tale elsewhere. It has before been observed that Meres mentions the Two Gentlemen of Verona in his book, published in 1598. Malone conjectures that this play was the first that Shakspeare wrote, and places the date of its composition in the year 1591.

* Malone points at Lilly, whose comedies were per. formed with great success and admiration previous to Shakespeare's commencement of his dramatic carour

[blocks in formation]

ACT I.

SCENE I.-An open place in Verona. Enter
VALENTINE and PROTEUS.
Valentine.

CEASE to persuade, my loving Proteus;
Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits:1
Wer't not, affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honour'd love,
I rather would entreat thy company,
To see the wonders of the world abroad,
Than living dully sluggardiz'd at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.2
But, since thou lov'st, love still, and thrive therein,
Even as I would, when I to love begin.

Pro. Wilt thou begone? Sweet Valentine, adieu!

Think on thy Proteus, when thou, haply, seest
Some rare note-worthy object in thy travel:

Wish me partaker in thy happiness,

JULIA, a Lady of Verona, beloved by Proteus. SILVIA, the Duke's Daughter, beloved by Valen

tine.

LUCETTA, Waiting-woman to Julia.

Servants, Musicians.

SCENE, sometimes in VERONA; sometimes in MILAN; and on the frontiers of MANTUA.

And he that is so yoked by a fool,
Methinks should not be chronicled for wise.

Pro. Yet writers say, As in the sweetest bud The eating canker dwells, so eating love Inhabits in the finest wits of all.

Val. And writers say, As the most forward bud Is eaten by the canker ere it blow, Even so by love the young and tender wit Is turn'd to folly; blasting in the bud, Losing his verdure even in the prime, And all the fair effects of future hopes. But wherefore waste I time to council thee,, That art a votary to fond desire? Once more adieu: my father at the road Expects my coming, there to see me shipp'd. Pro. And thither will I bring thee, Valentine. Val. Sweet Proteus, no; now let us take our leave.

To Milan, let me hear from thee by letters, Of thy success in love, and what news else

And I likewise will visit thee with mine.

When thou dost meet good hap; and, in thy Betideth here in absence of thy friend;

danger,

If ever danger do environ thee,
Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers,
For I will be thy bead's-man, Valentine.

Val. And on a love-book pray for my success.
Pro. Upon some book I love, I'll pray for thee.
Val. That's on some shallow story of deep love,
How young Leander cross'd the Hellespont.3
Pro. That's a deep story of a deeper love;
For he was more than over shoes in love.

Val. "Tis true; for you are over boots in love, And yet you never swam the Hellespont. Pro. Over the boots? nay, give me not the boots.4

Val. No, I will not, for it boots thee not.

Pro.

What? Val. To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans;

Coy looks, with heart-sore sighs; one fading moment's mirth,

With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights:
If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain;

If lost, why then a grievous labour won;
However, but a folly bought with wit,
Or else a wit by folly vanquished.

Pro. So by your circumstance, you call me fool.
Val. So, by your circumstance, I fear, you'll

prove.

Pro. 'Tis love you cavil at; ; I am not Love. Val. Love is your master, for he masters you:

1 Milton has the same play upon words in his Comus. "It is for homely features to keep home, They had their name thence."

2 The expression shapeless idleness is admirably expressive, as implying that idleness prevents the giv ing form or character to the manners.

3 The allusion is to Marlow's poem of Hero and Leander, which was entered on the Stationers' books in 1593, though not published till 1598. It was probably circulated in manuscript in the interim, as was the custom at that period. The poem seems to have made an impression on Shakspeare, who appears to have recently, perused it, for he again alludes to it in the third act. And in As You Like It he has quoted a line from it.

Pro. All happiness bechance to thee in Milan! Val. As much to you at home! and so, farewell! [Erit VALENTINE.

Pro. He after honour hunts, I after love. He leaves his friends, to dignify them more; I leave myself, my friends, and all for love. Thou, Julia, thou hast metamorphos'd me; Made me neglect my studies, lose my time, War with good counsel, set the world at nought; Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with thought.

[blocks in formation]

4 A proverbial expression, now disused, signifying, 'Don't make a laughing-stock of me.' The French have a phrase Bailler foin en corne: which Cotgrave interprets, 'to give one the boots; to sell him a bargain." Perhaps deduced from a humorous punishment at harvest home feasts in Warwickshire.

5 Circumstance is used equivocally. It here means conduct; in the preceding line, circumstantial de duction.

6 The construction of this passage, is, "Let me hear from thee by letters to Milan," i. e. addressed to Milan. 7 In Warwickshire, and some other counties, a sheep is pronounced a ship. Without this explanation the jest, such as it is, might escape the reader.

Pro. It shall go hard, but Pll prove it by another. | Pro. Go, go, begono, to save your ship from

Speed. The shepherd seeks the sheep, and not the sheep the shepherd; but I seek my master, and my master seeks not me: therefore I am no sheep.

Pro. The sheep for fodder follow the shepherd, the shepherd for food follows not the sheep; thou for wages followest thy master, thy master for wages follows not thee: therefore thou art a sheep.

wreck;

Which cannot perish, having thee aboard,
Being destined to a drier death on shore :-
I must go send some better messenger;
I fear my Julia would not deign my lines,
Receiving them from such a worthless post.

[Exeunt.

Speed. Such another proof will make me cry baa. SCENE II. The same. Garden of Julia's house. Pro. But dost thou hear! gav'st thou my letter

to Julia?

Speed. Ay, sir; I, a lost mutton, gave your letter to her, a laced mutton; and she, a laced mutton, gave me, a lost mutton, nothing for my labour.

Pro. Here's too small a pasture for such a store of muttons.

Speed. If the ground be overcharged, you were best stick her,

Pro. Nay, in that you are astray; 'twere best pound you.

Speed. Nay, sir, less than a pound shall serve me for carrying your letter.

Pro. You mistake; I mean the pound, a pinfold. Speed. From a pound to a pin? fold it over and

[blocks in formation]

Speed. L.

[SPEED nods.

Pro. Nod, I! why, that's noddy. Speed. You mistook, sir? I say she did nod: and you ask me, if she did nod; and I say, I. Pro. And that set together is-noddy.

Speed. Now you have taken the pains to set it together, take it for your pains.

Pro. No, no, you shall have it for bearing the letter.

Speed. Well, I perceive I must be fain to bear with you.

Pro. Why, sir, how do you bear with me? Speed. Marry, sir, the letter very orderly; having nothing but the word, noddy, for my pains. Pro. Beshrew me, but you have a quick wit. Speed. And yet it cannot overtake your slow

purse.

Pro. Come, come, open the matter in brief: What said she?

Speed. Open your purse, that the money and the matter may be both at once delivered.

Pro. Well, sir, here is for your pains: What said she?

Speed. Truly, sir, I think you'll hardly win her. Pro. Why? Could'st thou perceive so much from her?

Speed. Sir, I could perceive nothing at all from her; no, not so much as a ducat for delivering your letter: And being so hard to me that brought your mind, I fear she'll prove as hard to you in telling your mind. Give her no token but stones, for she's as hard as steel.

Pro. What, said she nothing?

Speed. No, not so much as take this for thy pains. To testify your bounty, I thank you, you have testern'da me; in requital whereof, henceforth carry your letters yourself: and so, sir, I'll commend you to my master.

1 Cotgrave explains laced mutton, une garce, putain, fille de joye. It was so established a term for a cortezan, that a lane in Clerkenwell, much frequented by loose women, is said to have been thence called Mutton Lane. 2 These words were supplied by Theobald to introluce what follows. In Speed's answer, the old spelling of the affirmative particle has been retained; otherwise the conceit would be unintelligible. Noddy was a game at cards.

3 Testens, or (as we now commonly call them, testers,) from a head that was upon them, were coined in 1542. Sir H. Spelman says they were a French coin of the value of 18d.; and he does not know but that they

Enter JULIA and LUCEТТА.

Jul. But say, Lucetta, now we are alone, Would'st thou then counsel me to fall in love? Luc. Ay, madam; so you stumble not unheed. fully.

Jul. Of all the fair resort of gentlemen, That every day with parle encounter me, In thy opinion, which is worthiest love?

Luc. Please you, repeat their names, I'll show my mind According to my shallow simple skill.

Jul. What think'st thou of the fair Sir Eglamour? Luc. As of a knight well-spoken, neat and fine; But, were I you, he never should be mine.

Jul. What think'st thou of the rich Mercatio? Luc. Well of his wealth; but of himself, so, so. Jul. What think'st thou of the gentle Proteus? Luc. Lord, lord! to see what folly reigns in us! Jul. How now! what means this passion at his name?

Luc. Pardon, dear madam; 'tis a passing shame, That I, unworthy body as I am, Should censure thus on lovely gentlemen. Jul. Why not on Proteus, as of all the rest? Luc. Then thus, of many good I think him

best.

Jul. Your reason?

Luc. I have no other but a woman's reason; I think him so, because I think him so.

Jul. And would'st thou have me cast my love or him?

Luc. Av, if you thought your love not cast away Jul. Why, he of all the rest hath never mov'd me. Luc. Yet he of all the rest, I think, best loves ye. Jul. His little speaking shows his love but small. Luc. Fire, that's closest kept, burns most of all. Jul. They do not love that do not show their love. Luc. O, they love least, that let men know their love.

Jul. I would, I knew his mind.

Luc.

Peruse this paper, madam.

Jul. To Julia-Say, from whom?

Luc.

That the contents will show.

Jul. Say, say; who gave it thee?
Luc. Sir Valentine's page; and sent, I think,

from Proteus:

[blocks in formation]

Jul. Will you' be gone? Luc.

That you may ruminate. [Erit.
Jul. And yet, I would I had o'erlook'd the letter.
It were a shame to call her back again,
And pray her to a fault for which I chid her.
What fool is she, that knows I am a maid,
And would not force the letter to my view!
Since maids, in modesty, say No, to that
Which they would have the profferer construe, Ay.
Fie, fie, how wayward is this foolish love,
That, like a testy babe, will scratch the nurse,
And presently, all humbled, kiss the rod!
How churlishly I chid Lucetta hence,
When willingly I would have had her here!
How angerly I taught my brow to frown,
When inward joy enfore'd my heart to smile!
My penance is, to call Lucetta back,

And ask permission for my folly past :-
What ho! Lucetta!

[blocks in formation]

Injurious wasps! to feed on such sweet honey,
And kill the bees, that yield it, with your stings!
I'll kiss each several paper for amends.
And here is writ-kind Julia;-unkind Julia!
As in revenge of thy ingratitude,

I throw thy name against the bruising stones,
Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain.
Look, here is writ-love-wounded Proteus ;-
Poor wounded name! my bosom, as a bed,
Shall lodge thee, till thy wound be thoroughly heal'd;
And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss.
But twice, or thrice, was Proteus written down:
Be calm, good wind, blow not a word away,
Till I have found each letter in the letter,
Except mine own name; that some whirlwind bear
Unto a rugged, fearful, hanging rock,
And throw it thence into the raging sea!
Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ,-
Poor forlorn Porteus, passionate Proteus,
To the sweet Julia;-that I'll tear away;
And yet I will not, sith' so prettily

He couples it to his complaining names:
Thus will I fold them one upon another;
Now kiss, embrace, contend, do what you will.

[blocks in formation]

SCENE III. The same. A Room in Antonio House. Enter ANTONIO and PANTHING.

Ant. Tell me, Panthino, what sad1o talk was that, Wherewith my brother held you in the cloister ? Pant. "Twas of his riephew Proteus, your son. Ant. Why, what of him?

Pant.

He wonder'd, that your lordship

Would suffer him to spend his youth at home;
While other men, of slender reputation,
Put forth their sons to seck preferment out:
Some, to the wars, to try their fortune there;
Some, to discover islands far away;
Some, to the studious universities.
For any, or for all these exercises,

He said, that Proteus, your son, was meet;
And did request me, to importune you,
To let him spend his time no more at home,
Which would be great impeachment to his age,
In having known no travel in his youth.

Ant. Nor need'st thou much importune me to

[blocks in formation]

7 Since.

8" for catching cold," i. e. lest they should catch cold, anciently a common form of expression. See Horne Tooke's explanation of this word in the first volume of The Diversions of Purley."

9 Month's mind, a longing, probably from "the longing of women, which takes place (or commences, at least) in the first month of pregnancy." This is the ingenious conjecture of John Croft, Esq. of York. The commentators have endeavoured to refer this passage to the month's minds, or periodical celebrations in memory of dead persons, usual in times of popery; but the phrase in this place can have no relation to them. 10 i. e. grave or serious.

11 Impeachment in this passage means reproach or imputation.

« ÎnapoiContinuă »