shot of five pence, thou shalt have five thou-
sand welcomes. But, sirrah, how did thy
master part with Madam Julia?

Launce. Marry, after they closed in earnest,
they parted very fairly in jest.

Speed. But shall she marry him?

Launce. No.

Speed. How, then? shall he marry her?
Launce. No, neither.

Speed. What, are they broken?

Launce. No, they are both as whole as a fish. Speed. Why, then, how stands the matter with them?

Launce. Marry, thus; when it stands well with him, it stands well with her.

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

Launce. What a block art thou, that thou canst not! My staff understands me.

Speed. What thou sayest?

Launce. Aye, and what I do too: look thee,
I'll but lean, and my staff understands me.
Speed. It stands under thee, indeed.

Launce. Why, stand-under and under-stand is
all one.

Speed. But tell me true, will 't be a match? Launce. Ask my dog: if he say aye, 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. Launce. Thou shalt never get such a secret from me but by a parable.

20

30

40

Speed. 'Tis well that I get it so.

But, Launce,

how sayest thou, that my master is become

a notable lover?

Launce. I never knew him otherwise.

Speed. Than how?

Launce. A notable lubber, as thou reportest

him to be.

Speed. Why, thou whoreson ass, thou mistak- 50

est me.

Launce. Why fool, I meant not thee; I meant thy master.

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

Launce. 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 He-
brew, a Jew, and not worth the name of
Christian.

Speed. Why?

Launce. Because thou hast not so much charity in thee as to go to the ale with a Christian. Wilt thou go?

Speed. At thy service.

60

[Exeunt.

63. The festivals of the Church were often celebrated with merrymakings, of which ale-drinking formed a part: hence they were called "Ales," and "Church Ales." Before the days of Puritanism, of course none but Jews would refuse "to go to the Ale with a Christian." Launce is quibbling still, as usual.-H. N. H.

Pro. 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 even that power, which gave me first my
oath,

Provokes me to this threefold perjury;

Love bade me swear, and Love bids me for

swear.

10

O sweet-suggesting Love, if thou hast sinn'd,
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 heedfully be broken;
And he wants wit that wants resolved will
To learn his wit to exchange the bad for better.
Fie, fie, unreverend tongue! to call her bad,
Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferr'd
With twenty thousand soul-comfirming oaths.
I cannot leave 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 I by their loss
For Valentine, myself, for Julia, Silvia.
I to myself am dearer than a friend,
For love is still most precious in itself;

20

And Silvia-witness Heaven, that made her

fair!

Shows Julia but a swarthy Ethiope.

I will forget that Julia is alive,
Remembering that my love to her is dead;
And Valentine I'll hold an enemy,
Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend.
I cannot now prove constant to myself,
Without some treachery used to Valentine.
This night he meaneth with a corded ladder
To climb celestial Silvia's chamber-window;
Myself in counsel, his competitor.

30

Now presently I'll give her father notice
Of their disguising and pretended flight;
Who, all enraged, will banish Valentine;
For Thurio, he intends, shall wed his daughter;
But, Valentine being gone, I'll quickly cross 40
By some sly trick blunt Thurio's dull proceed-
ing.
Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift,
As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift!

[Exit.

SCENE VII

Verona. Julia's house.

Enter Julia and Lucetta.

Jul. Counsel, Lucetta; gentle girl, assist me;
And, even in kind love, I do conjure thee,
Who art the table wherein all my thoughts

Are visibly character'd and engraved,
To lesson me; and tell me some good mean,
How, with my honor, I may undertake
A journey to my loving Proteus.

Luc. Alas, the way is wearisome and long!
Jul. A true-devoted pilgrim is not weary

L

To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps; 10 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. Luc. Better forbear till Proteus make return. Jul. O, know'st thou not, his looks are my soul's food?

Pity the dearth that I have pined in,

By longing for that food so long a time. Didst thou but know the inly touch of love, Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow As seek to quench the fire of love with words. 20 Luc. I do not seek to quench your love's hot fire, But qualify the fire's extreme rage,

Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason. Jul. The more thou damm'st it up, the more it burns.

9. An allusion to the pilgrimages formerly made by religious enthusiasts, who, like Julia, loved much, but not wisely, often to Rome, Compostella, and Jerusalem, but oftener still to "the House of our Lady at Loretto." In that age, when there were few roads and many robbers, to go afoot and alone through all the pains and perils of a passage from England to either of these shrines, was deemed proof that the person was thoroughly in earnest. The Santa Casa at Loretto was supposed to be the house in which the Blessed Virgin was born, it having been supernaturally transported from Galilee tc Italy, and placed in a wood at midnight; which was the cause of so many more pilgrimages being made to that place.-H. N. H.