Another Part of the Forest. | |
| |
| Enter VALENTINE. | |
| Val. How use doth breed a habit in a man! | |
| This shadowy desart, unfrequented woods, | 4 |
| I better brook than flourishing peopled towns. | |
| Here can I sit alone, unseen of any, | |
| And to the nightingale’s complaining notes | |
| Tune my distresses and record my woes. | 8 |
| O thou that dost inhabit in my breast, | |
| Leave not the mansion so long tenantless, | |
| Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall | |
| And leave no memory of what it was! | 12 |
| Repair me with thy presence, Silvia! | |
| Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain! [Noise within. | |
| What halloing and what stir is this to-day? | |
| These are my mates, that make their wills their law, | 16 |
| Have some unhappy passenger in chase. | |
| They love me well; yet I have much to do | |
| To keep them from uncivil outrages. | |
| Withdraw thee, Valentine: who’s this comes here? [Steps aside. | 20 |
| |
| Enter PROTEUS, SILVIA, and JULIA. | |
| Pro. Madam, this service I have done for you— | |
| Though you respect not aught your servant doth— | |
| To hazard life and rescue you from him | 24 |
| That would have forc’d your honour and your love. | |
| Vouchsafe me, for my meed, but one fair look; | |
| A smaller boon than this I cannot beg, | |
| And less than this, I am sure, you cannot give. | 28 |
| Val. [Aside.] How like a dream is this I see and hear! | |
| Love, lend me patience to forbear awhile. | |
| Sil. O, miserable, unhappy that I am! | |
| Pro. Unhappy were you, madam, ere I came; | 32 |
| But by my coming I have made you happy. | |
| Sil. By thy approach thou mak’st me most unhappy. | |
| Jul. [Aside.] And me, when he approacheth to your presence. | |
| Sil. Had I been seized by a hungry lion, | 36 |
| I would have been a breakfast to the beast, | |
| Rather than have false Proteus rescue me. | |
| O! heaven be judge how I love Valentine, | |
| Whose life’s as tender to me as my soul, | 40 |
| And full as much—for more there cannot be— | |
| I do detest false perjur’d Proteus. | |
| Therefore be gone, solicit me no more. | |
| Pro. What dangerous action, stood it next to death, | 44 |
| Would I not undergo for one calm look! | |
| O, ’tis the curse in love, and still approv’d, | |
| When women cannot love where they’re belov’d! | |
| Sil. When Proteus cannot love where he’s belov’d. | 48 |
| Read over Julia’s heart, thy first best love, | |
| For whose dear sake thou didst then rend thy faith | |
| Into a thousand oaths; and all those oaths | |
| Descended into perjury to love me. | 52 |
| Thou hast no faith left now, unless thou’dst two, | |
| And that’s far worse than none: better have none | |
| Than plural faith which is too much by one. | |
| Thou counterfeit to thy true friend! | 56 |
| Pro. In love | |
| Who respects friend? | |
| Sil. All men but Proteus. | |
| Pro. Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words | 60 |
| Can no way change you to a milder form, | |
| I’ll woo you like a soldier, at arms’ end, | |
| And love you ’gainst the nature of love,—force ye. | |
| Sil. O heaven! | 64 |
| Pro. I’ll force thee yield to my desire. | |
| Val. [Coming forward.] Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch; | |
| Thou friend of an ill fashion! | |
| Pro. Valentine! | 68 |
| Val. Thou common friend, that’s without faith or love— | |
| For such is a friend now—treach’rous man! | |
| Thou hast beguil’d my hopes: naught but mine eye | |
| Could have persuaded me. Now I dare not say | 72 |
| I have one friend alive: thou wouldst disprove me. | |
| Who should be trusted now, when one’s right hand | |
| Is perjur’d to the bosom? Proteus, | |
| I am sorry I must never trust thee more, | 76 |
| But count the world a stranger for thy sake. | |
| The private wound is deep’st. O time most curst! | |
| ’Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst! | |
| Pro. My shame and guilt confound me. | 80 |
| Forgive me, Valentine. If hearty sorrow | |
| Be a sufficient ransom for offence, | |
| I tender’t here: I do as truly suffer | |
| As e’er I did commit. | 84 |
| Val. Then, I am paid; | |
| And once again I do receive thee honest. | |
| Who by repentance is not satisfied | |
| Is nor of heaven, nor earth; for these are pleas’d. | 88 |
| By penitence the Eternal’s wrath’s appeas’d: | |
| And, that my love may appear plain and free, | |
| All that was mine in Silvia I give thee. | |
| Jul. O me unhappy! [Swoons. | 92 |
| Pro. Look to the boy. | |
| Val. Why, boy! why, wag! how now! what’s the matter? | |
| Look up; speak. | |
| Jul. O good sir, my master charg’d me | 96 |
| To deliver a ring to Madam Silvia, | |
| Which out of my neglect was never done. | |
| Pro. Where is that ring, boy? | |
| Jul. Here ’tis: this is it. [Gives a ring. | 100 |
| Pro. How! let me see. | |
| Why this is the ring I gave to Julia. | |
| Jul. O, cry you mercy, sir; I have mistook: | |
| This is the ring you sent to Silvia. [Shows another ring. | 104 |
| Pro. But how cam’st thou by this ring? | |
| At my depart I gave this unto Julia. | |
| Jul. And Julia herself did give it me; | |
| And Julia herself hath brought it hither. | 108 |
| Pro. How! Julia! | |
| Jul. Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths, | |
| And entertain’d them deeply in her heart: | |
| How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root! | 112 |
| O Proteus! let this habit make thee blush. | |
| Be thou asham’d that I have took upon me | |
| Such an immodest raiment; if shame live | |
| In a disguise of love. | 116 |
| It is the lesser blot, modesty finds, | |
| Women to change their shapes than men their minds. | |
| Pro. Than men their minds! ’tis true. O heaven! were man | |
| But constant, he were perfect: that one error | 120 |
| Fills him with faults; makes him run through all the sins: | |
| Inconstancy falls off ere it begins. | |
| What is in Silvia’s face, but I may spy | |
| More fresh in Julia’s with a constant eye? | 124 |
| Val. Come, come, a hand from either. | |
| Let me be blest to make this happy close: | |
| ’Twere pity two such friends should be long foes. | |
| Pro. Bear witness, heaven, I have my wish, for ever. | 128 |
| Jul. And I mine. | |
| |
| Enter Outlaws with DUKE and THURIO. | |
| Out. A prize! a prize! a prize! | |
| Val. Forbear, forbear, I say; it is my lord the duke. | 132 |
| Your Grace is welcome to a man disgrac’d, | |
| Banished Valentine. | |
| Duke. Sir Valentine! | |
| Thu. Yonder is Silvia; and Silvia’s mine. | 136 |
| Val. Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death; | |
| Come not within the measure of my wrath; | |
| Do not name Silvia thine; if once again, | |
| Verona shall not hold thee. Here she stands; | 140 |
| Take but possession of her with a touch; | |
| I dare thee but to breathe upon my love. | |
| Thu. Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I. | |
| I hold him but a fool that will endanger | 144 |
| His body for a girl that loves him not: | |
| I claim her not, and therefore she is thine. | |
| Duke. The more degenerate and base art thou, | |
| To make such means for her as thou hast done, | 148 |
| And leave her on such slight conditions. | |
| Now, by the honour of my ancestry, | |
| I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine, | |
| And think thee worthy of an empress’ love. | 152 |
| Know then, I here forget all former griefs, | |
| Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again, | |
| Plead a new state in thy unrivall’d merit, | |
| To which I thus subscribe: Sir Valentine, | 156 |
| Thou art a gentleman and well deriv’d; | |
| Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserv’d her. | |
| Val. I thank your Grace; the gift hath made me happy. | |
| I now beseech you, for your daughter’s sake, | 160 |
| To grant one boon that I shall ask of you. | |
| Duke. I grant it, for thine own, whate’er it be. | |
| Val. These banish’d men, that I have kept withal | |
| Are men endu’d with worthy qualities: | 164 |
| Forgive them what they have committed here, | |
| And let them be recall’d from their exile. | |
| They are reformed, civil, full of good, | |
| And fit for great employment, worthy lord. | 168 |
| Duke. Thou hast prevail’d; I pardon them, and thee: | |
| Dispose of them as thou know’st their deserts. | |
| Come, let us go: we will include all jars | |
| With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity. | 172 |
| Val. And as we walk along, I dare be bold | |
| With our discourse to make your Grace to smile. | |
| What think you of this page, my lord? | |
| Duke. I think the boy hath grace in him: he blushes. | 176 |
| Val. I warrant you, my lord, more grace than boy. | |
| Duke. What mean you by that saying? | |
| Val. Please you, I’ll tell you as we pass along, | |
| That you will wonder what hath fortuned. | 180 |
| Come, Proteus; ’tis your penance, but to hear | |
| The story of your loves discovered: | |
| That done, our day of marriage shall be yours; | |
| One feast, one house, one mutual happiness. [Exeunt. | 184 |