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Except I be by Silvia in the night,
There is no music in the nightingale;
Unless I look on Silvia in the day,
There is no day for me to look upon.
She is my essence; and I leave to be,
If I be not by her fair influence
Foster'd, illumin'd, cherish'd, kept alive.
I fly not death, to fly his deadly doom: 28
Tarry I here, I but attend on death;
But, fly I hence, I fly away from life.

Enter PROTEUS and LAUNCE.

Pro. Run, boy; run, run, and seek him out.

Launce. So-ho! so-ho! 29

Pro. What seest thou?

Launce. Him we go to find: there 's not a hair 30 on 's head, but 't is a Valentine.

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Launce. Can nothing speak? master, shall I strike?

Pro. Who wouldst thou strike? 31

Launce. Nothing.

Pro. Villain, forbear.

Launce. Why, Sir, I'll strike nothing: I pray you,

Pro. Sirrah, I say, forbear.

--

Friend Valentine, a word.

Val. My ears are stopp'd, and cannot hear good news,

So much of bad already hath possess'd them.

Pro. Then in dumb silence will I bury mine, 32

For they are harsh, untuneable, and bad.

Val. Is Silvia dead?

Pro. No, Valentine.

28) his deadly doom ist das Todesurtheil, mit dem der Herzog den Valentin bedrohte für den Fall, dass dieser bliebe. Wenn Valentin diesem Urtheil ausweicht, indem er geht, so weicht er doch damit dem Tode nicht aus, da er ohne Silvia nicht leben kann. 29) so-ho, ein Jagdruf, wenn man den Hasen sitzen sieht. So attrapirt Launce das Wild, das er sieht, den Valentin nämlich.

30)

Wortspiel zwischen hair

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Haar, und hare

= Hase.

31) Launce, der noch immer auf der Jagd begriffen ist, will den Valentin erlegen, der Für das Sh.'sche who als Accusativ setzen viele

sich selbst als Nichts bezeichnet.

Hgg. willkührlich whom.

32) scil. my news, hier als Plural gefasst.

Val. No Valentine, 33 indeed, for sacred Silvia! Hath she forsworn me?

Pro. No, Valentine.

Val. No Valentine, if Silvia have forsworn me! 34 What is your news?

Launce. Sir, there is a proclamation that you are vanish'd. 35
Pro. That thou art banish'd: O! that is the news,

From hence, from Silvia, and from me, thy friend.

Val. O! I have fed upon this woe already,

And now excess of it will make me surfeit. 36

Doth Silvia know that I am banished?

Pro. Ay, ay; and she hath offer'd to the doom,
(Which, unrevers'd, 37 stands in effectual force)
A sea of melting pearl, which some call tears:
Those at her father's churlish feet she tender'd,
With them, upon her knees, her humble self,
Wringing her hands, whose whiteness so became them,
As if but now they waxed pale for woe:
But neither bended knees, pure hands held up,
Sad sighs, deep groans, nor silver-shedding tears,
Could penetrate her uncompassionate sire,
But Valentine, if he be ta'en, must die.
Besides, her intercession chaf'd him so,
When she for thy repeal was suppliant,
That to close prison he commanded her,
With many bitter threats of 'biding there.

Val. No more; unless the next word that thou speak'st
Have some malignant power upon my life:

If so, I pray thee, breathe it in mine ear,

As ending anthem of my endless dolour. 38

Pro. Cease to lament for that thou canst not help,

And study help for that which thou lament'st.

Time is the nurse and breeder of all good.

Here if thou stay, thou canst not see thy love;

Besides, thy staying will abridge thy life.

Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that,

33) no =
nein, und kein, wurde schon einmal als Wortspiel benutzt.
Sc. 1, Anm. 28.

3) Valentin existirt nicht mehr, wenn Silvia sich von mir losgesagt hat.

35) Launce will banish'd sagen. Vgl. A. 2, Sc. 3, Anm. 1.

Vgl. A. 2,

36) So in Twelfth Night (A. 1, Sc. 1) Give me excess of it, that surfeiting || The

appetite may sicken and so die.

37) unreversed

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ein Trauerlied, das meinem endlosen

wenn es, das Urtheil, nicht widerrufen wird. 3) ending bezieht sich mit auf endless dolour Schmerz ein Ende macht, indem es mich tödtet.

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And manage it against despairing thoughts,
Thy letters may be here, though thou art hence;
Which, being writ to me, shall be deliver'd
Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love. 39
The time now serves not to expostulate:
Come, I'll convey thee through the city-gate,
And, ere I part with thee, confer at large
Of all that may concern thy love affairs.
As thou lov'st Silvia, though not for thyself,
Regard thy danger, and along with me.

Val. I pray thee, Launce, an if thou seest my boy,
Bid him make haste, and meet me at the north-gate.
Pro. Go, sirrah, find him out, Come, Valentine.
Val. O my dear Silvia! hapless Valentine!

[Exeunt VALENTINE and PROTEus. Launce. I am but a fool, look you, and yet I have the wit to think, my master is a kind of a knave; but that 's all one, if he be but one knave. 40 He lives not now, that knows me to be in love: yet I am in love; but a team of horse shall not pluck that from me, nor who 't is I love; and yet 't is a woman: but what woman, I will not tell myself: and yet 't is a milkmaid; yet 't is not a maid, for she hath had gossips: 41 yet 't is a maid, for she is her master's maid, and serves for wages. She hath more qualities than a water-spaniel, 42 which is much in a bare Christian. Here is the cate-log [pulling out a paper] of her conditions. 43 Imprimis, „She can fetch and carry." Why, a horse can do no more: nay, a horse cannot fetch, but only carry; therefore, is she better than a jade. Item, „She can milk," look you; a sweet virtue in a maid with clean hands.

Enter SPEED.

Speed. How now, signior Launce? what news with your mastership?
Launce. With my master's ship? 44 why, it is at sea.

39) Vgl. oben Anm. 21. So ist in Hamlet (A. 2, Sc. 2) der Brief an Ophelia adressirt These in her excellent white bosom these.

40) Die Hgg. erklären theils: wenn er nur ein einfacher Schurke, kein doppelter Schurke ist; theils wenn er nur ein ganzer, consequenter Schurke ist; theils wenn er nur allein ein Schurke ist, und nicht ich auch Einer bin. Für die erstere Erklärung spricht, dass derselbe Ausdruck in sprichwörtlicher Anwendung auch sonst vorkommt. So in Edwards' Damon and Pythias: You lose money by him, if you serve him for one knave, for he serves for twain.

41) sie hat schon Gevatterinnen gehabt, hat schon ein Wochenbett überstanden.

42) sie versteht mehr Künste, als ein Hund, den man dressirt hat, in's Wasser zu gehen, zu apportiren und so weiter.

43) cate-log entstellt aus catalogue.

condition der ersten Fol.

conditions verbessern die spätern Folioausgg, das

4) Das beabsichtigte Wortspiel stellte Theobald her, indem er das my mastership der

Fol. in my master's ship emendirte.

Speed. Well, your old vice still; mistake the word. What news, then,

in your paper?

Launce. The blackest news that ever thou heard'st.

Speed. Why, man, how black?

Launce. Why, as black as ink.

Speed. Let me read them.

Launce. Fie on thee, jolt-head! thou canst not read.

Speed. Thou liest, I can.

Launce. I will try thee. Tell me this: who begot thee?

Speed. Marry, the son of my grandfather.

Launce. O, illiterate loiterer! it was the son of thy grandmother. This

proves,

that thou canst not read. 45

Speed. Come, fool, come: try me in thy paper.

Launce. There, and saint Nicholas be thy speed! 46

Speed. Imprimis, She can milk.“

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Launce. That 's as much as to say, Can she so? 48

Speed. Item, "She can knit."

Launce. What need a man care for a stock with a wench, when she can knit him a stock? 49

Speed. Item, "She can wash and scour."

Launce. A special virtue; for then she need not be wash'd and scour'd. Speed. Item, „She can spin.“

Launce. Then may I set the world on wheels, 50 when she can spin for

her living.

Speed. Item, "She hath many nameless virtues."

Launce. That 's as much as to say, bastard virtues; that, indeed, know not their fathers, and therefore have no names.

+5) Einem Menschen, der so unwissend ist, dass er seinen wirklichen Erzeuger nicht kennt' lässt sich auch nicht zutrauen, dass er lesen könne.

46) St. Nicolas war der Patron der Schüler und soll in dieser Eigenschaft dem Speed bei seinem Versuch zu lesen beistehen. Vielleicht ist auch ein Wortspiel zwischen Speed und speed beabsichtigt.

So in Ben Jonson's Masque of Augurs: Our ale 's o' the best || And each good guest Pray for their souls that brew it.

46) Wortspiel zwischen sew und so. Die Fol. schreibt sowe für sew.

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so to set the world on wheels

Capital, das man mit dem Mädchen bekommt, und stock

die Welt sich drehen lassen, der Welt ihren Lauf lassen

So heisst es von der Welt in Antony and Cleopatra (A. 2, Sc. 7) that it might go on wheels.

Speed. Here follow her vices.

Launce. Close at the heels of her virtues.

Speed. Item, She is not to be kissed 51 fasting, in respect of her

breath."

Launce. Well, that fault may be mended with a breakfast. Read on.
Speed. Item, "She hath a sweet mouth." 52

Launce. That makes amends for her sour breath.

Speed. Item, She doth talk in her sleep.“

Launce. It 's no matter for that, so she sleep not in her talk.

Speed. Item, She is slow in words."

Launce. O villain, that set this down among her vices! To be slow in words is a woman's only virtue. 53 I pray thee, out with with 't, and place it for her chief virtue.

Speed. Item, „She is proud."

Launce. Out with that too: it was Eve's legacy, and cannot be ta'en from her.

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Launce. I care not for that neither, because I love crusts.

Speed. Item, She is curst."

Launce. Well; the best is, she hath no teeth to bite.

Speed. Item, She will often praise her liquor." 54

Launce. If her liquor be good, she shall: if she will not, I will; for good things should be praised.

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Launce. Of her tongue 55 she cannot, for that 's writ down she is slow of: of her purse she shall not, for that I'll keep shut: now, of another thing she may, and that cannot I help. Well, proceed.

"

Speed. Item, She hath more hair than wit, 56 and more faults than hairs, and more wealth than faults."

· Launce. Stop there; I'll have her: she was mine, and not mine, twice or thrice in that last article. Rehearse that one more.

Speed. Item, She hath more hair than wit,".

Launce. More hair than wit, it may be; I'll prove it: the cover of the salt hides the salt, and therefore it is more than the salt: the hair, that 51) kissed, das in der Fol. zufällig ausgefallen ist, ergänzte zuerst Rowe. So in Webster's Dutchess of Malfi: I would sooner eat a dead pigeon taken from the soles of the feet of one sick of the plague, than kiss one of you fasting.

52) to have a sweet mouth = lecker sein, gern Süssigkeiten naschen, fasst Launce in wörtlichem Sinn und stellt es dem sour breath gegenüber.

53) eines Weibes auserlesene, vorzüglichste Tugend.

54) to praise her liquor dem Trunk ergeben sein, fasst Launce wieder wörtlich = ihren

Trunk loben.

=

frei in Reden; so in

55) liberal, auch ohne den Zusatz of her tongue, gebraucht Sh. Hamlet (A. 4, Sc. 7) which liberal shepherds give a grosser name.

56) Dieses Sprichwort wird in Dekker's Satiromastix so erklärt: Hair! 't is the basest stubble; in scorn of it || This proverb sprung, He has more hair than wit.

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