William Shakespeare - The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

ANTONIO.

Nor need’st thou much importune me to that

Whereon this month I have been hammering.

I have consider’d well his loss of time,

And how he cannot be a perfect man,

Not being tried and tutor’d in the world:

Experience is by industry achiev’d,

And perfected by the swift course of time.

Then tell me whither were I best to send him?

PANTHINO.

I think your lordship is not ignorant

How his companion, youthful Valentine,

Attends the emperor in his royal court.

ANTONIO.

I know it well.

PANTHINO.

‘Twere good, I think, your lordship sent him thither:

There shall he practise tilts and tournaments,

Hear sweet discourse, converse with noblemen,

And be in eye of every exercise

Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth.

ANTONIO.

I like thy counsel; well hast thou advis’d;

And that thou mayst perceive how well I like it,

The execution of it shall make known:

Even with the speediest expedition

I will dispatch him to the emperor’s court.

PANTHINO.

Tomorrow, may it please you, Don Alphonso

With other gentlemen of good esteem

Are journeying to salute the emperor

And to commend their service to his will.

ANTONIO.

Good company; with them shall Proteus go.

And in good time:—now will we break with him.

[Enter PROTEUS.]

PROTEUS.

Sweet love! sweet lines! sweet life!

Here is her hand, the agent of her heart;

Here is her oath for love, her honour’s pawn.

O! that our fathers would applaud our loves,

To seal our happiness with their consents!

O heavenly Julia!

ANTONIO.

How now! What letter are you reading there?

PROTEUS.

May’t please your lordship, ‘tis a word or two

Of commendations sent from Valentine,

Deliver’d by a friend that came from him.

ANTONIO.

Lend me the letter; let me see what news.

PROTEUS.

There is no news, my lord; but that he writes

How happily he lives, how well belov’d

And daily graced by the emperor;

Wishing me with him, partner of his fortune.

ANTONIO.

And how stand you affected to his wish?

PROTEUS.

As one relying on your lordship’s will,

And not depending on his friendly wish.

ANTONIO.

My will is something sorted with his wish.

Muse not that I thus suddenly proceed;

For what I will, I will, and there an end.

I am resolv’d that thou shalt spend some time

With Valentinus in the Emperor’s court:

What maintenance he from his friends receives,

Like exhibition thou shalt have from me.

Tomorrow be in readiness to go:

Excuse it not, for I am peremptory.

PROTEUS.

My lord, I cannot be so soon provided;

Please you, deliberate a day or two.

ANTONIO.

Look, what thou want’st shall be sent after thee:

No more of stay; tomorrow thou must go.

Come on, Panthino: you shall be employ’d

To hasten on his expedition.

[Exeunt ANTONIO and PANTHINO.]

PROTEUS.

Thus have I shunn’d the fire for fear of burning,

And drench’d me in the sea, where I am drown’d.

I fear’d to show my father Julia’s letter,

Lest he should take exceptions to my love;

And with the vantage of mine own excuse

Hath he excepted most against my love.

O! how this spring of love resembleth

The uncertain glory of an April day,

Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,

And by an by a cloud takes all away!

[Re-enter PANTHINO.]

PANTHINO.

Sir Proteus, your father calls for you;

He is in haste; therefore, I pray you, go.

PROTEUS.

Why, this it is: my heart accords thereto,

And yet a thousand times it answers ‘no.’

[Exeunt.]

ACT 2.

SCENE I. Milan. A room in the DUKE’S palace.

[Enter VALENTINE and SPEED.]

SPEED.

Sir, your glove. [Offering a glove.]

VALENTINE.

Not mine; my gloves are on.

SPEED.

Why, then, this may be yours; for this is but one.

VALENTINE.

Ha! let me see; ay, give it me, it’s mine;

Sweet ornament that decks a thing divine!

Ah, Silvia! Silvia!

SPEED.

[Calling.] Madam Silvia! Madam Silvia!

VALENTINE.

How now, sirrah?

SPEED.

She is not within hearing, sir.

VALENTINE.

Why, sir, who bade you call her?

SPEED.

Your worship, sir; or else I mistook.

VALENTINE.

Well, you’ll still be too forward.

SPEED.

And yet I was last chidden for being too slow.

VALENTINE.

Go to, sir. tell me, do you know Madam Silvia?

SPEED.

She that your worship loves?

VALENTINE.

Why, how know you that I am in love?

SPEED. Marry, by these special marks: first, you have learned, like Sir Proteus, to wreath your arms like a malcontent; to relish a love-song, like a robin redbreast; to walk alone, like one that had the pestilence; to sigh, like a schoolboy that had lost his A B C; to weep, like a young wench that had buried her grandam; to fast, like one that takes diet; to watch, like one that fears robbing; to speak puling, like a beggar at Hallowmas. You were wont, when you laughed, to crow like a cock; when you walked, to walk like one of the lions; when you fasted, it was presently after dinner; when you looked sadly, it was for want of money. And now you are metamorphosed with a mistress, that, when I look on you, I can hardly think you my master.

VALENTINE.

Are all these things perceived in me?

SPEED.

They are all perceived without ye.

VALENTINE.

Without me? They cannot.

SPEED. Without you? Nay, that’s certain; for, without you were so simple, none else would; but you are so without these follies that these follies are within you, and shine through you like the water in an urinal, that not an eye that sees you but is a physician to comment on your malady.

VALENTINE.

But tell me, dost thou know my lady Silvia?

SPEED.

She that you gaze on so as she sits at supper?

VALENTINE.

Hast thou observed that? Even she, I mean.

SPEED.

Why, sir, I know her not.

VALENTINE. Dost thou know her by my gazing on her, and yet know’st her not?

SPEED.

Is she not hard-favoured, sir?

VALENTINE.

Not so fair, boy, as well-favoured.

SPEED.

Sir, I know that well enough.

VALENTINE.

What dost thou know?

SPEED.

That she is not so fair as, of you, well-favoured.

VALENTINE. I mean that her beauty is exquisite, but her favour infinite.

SPEED. That’s because the one is painted, and the other out of all count.

VALENTINE.

How painted? and how out of count?

SPEED. Marry, sir, so painted to make her fair, that no man counts of her beauty.

VALENTINE.

How esteem’st thou me? I account of her beauty.

SPEED.

You never saw her since she was deformed.

VALENTINE.

How long hath she been deformed?

SPEED.

Ever since you loved her.

VALENTINE.

I have loved her ever since I saw her, and still

I see her beautiful.

SPEED.

If you love her, you cannot see her.

VALENTINE.

Why?

SPEED.

Because Love is blind. O! that you had mine eyes; or your own

eyes had the lights they were wont to have when you chid at Sir

Proteus for going ungartered!

VALENTINE.

What should I see then?

SPEED. Your own present folly and her passing deformity; for he, being in love, could not see to garter his hose; and you, being in love, cannot see to put on your hose.

VALENTINE. Belike, boy, then you are in love; for last morning you could not see to wipe my shoes.

SPEED. True, sir; I was in love with my bed. I thank you, you swinged me for my love, which makes me the bolder to chide you for yours.