When thou dost meet good hap; and, in thy danger, Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers, Val. And on a love-book pray for my success. Pro. Over the boots? nay, give me not the boots4. 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: Pro. So, by your circumstance, you call me fool. Methinks should not be chronicled for wise. The allusion is to Marlowe'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. 'Don't 4 A proverbial expression, now disused, signifying. make a langhing-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 deduction. ! 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 Even so by love the young and tender wit Once more adieu: my father at the road Speed. Sir Proteus, save you: Saw you my master? 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. VOL. I. 5 Pro. Indeed a sheep doth very often stray, An if the shepherd be awhile away. Speed. You conclude that my master is a shepherd then, and I a sheep? Pro. I do. Speed. Why then, my horns are his horns, whether I wake or sleep. Pro. A silly answer, and fitting well a sheep. Speed. This proves me still a sheep. M Pro. True; and thy master a shepherd.ndy-pult Speed. Nay, that I can deny by a circumstance. Pro. It shall go hard, but I'll prove it by another. 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. Speed. Such another proof will make me cry baa. 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 over, 8 Cotgrave explains laced mutton, une garce, putain, fille de joye. It was so established a term for a courtezan, that a lane in Clerkenwell, much frequented by loose women, is said to have been thence called Mutton Lane. "Tis threefold too little for carrying a letter to your lover. Pro. But what said she? did she nod9. Pro. Nod, I why, that's noddy. [SPEED nods. 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? 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. for Pro. Well, sir, here is your pains: What said she? Speed. Truly, sir, I think you'll hardly win her. Pro. Why? Couldst 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. 9 These words were supplied by Theobald to introduce what follows. In Speed's answer, the old spelling of the affirmative particle has been retained; otherwise the conceit would be unin telligible. Noddy was a game at cards. |