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to thy ladys grave and call hers thence, Or, at the least, in hers sepulchre thine. JULIA. [_Aside_.] He heard not that. PROTEUS. Madam, if your heart be so obdurate, Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love, The picture that is hanging in your chamber; To that Ill speak, to that Ill sigh and weep; For since the substance
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of your perfect self Is else devoted, I am but a shadow; And to your shadow will I make true love. JULIA. [_Aside_.] If twere a substance you would sure deceive it And make it but a shadow, as I am. SILVIA. I am very loath to be your idol, sir; But since your falsehood shall become you well To
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worship shadows and adore false shapes, Send to me in the morning, and Ill send it. And so, good rest. [_Exit._] PROTEUS. As wretches have oernight That wait for execution in the morn. [_Exit._] JULIA. Host, will you go? HOST. By my halidom, I was fast asleep. JULIA. Pray you, where lies Sir Proteus? HOST. Marry, at my house. Trust
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me, I think tis almost day. JULIA. Not so; but it hath been the longest night That eer I watched, and the most heaviest. [_Exeunt._] SCENE III. The same Enter Eglamour. EGLAMOUR. This is the hour that Madam Silvia Entreated me to call and know her mind; Theres some great matter shed employ me in. Madam, madam! Enter Silvia above.
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SILVIA. Who calls? EGLAMOUR. Your servant and your friend; One that attends your ladyships command. SILVIA. Sir Eglamour, a thousand times good morrow. EGLAMOUR. As many, worthy lady, to yourself. According to your ladyships impose, I am thus early come to know what service It is your pleasure to command me in. SILVIA. O Eglamour, thou art a gentleman Think
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not I flatter, for I swear I do not Valiant, wise, remorseful, well accomplished. Thou art not ignorant what dear good will I bear unto the banished Valentine, Nor how my father would enforce me marry Vain Thurio, whom my very soul abhorred. Thyself hast loved, and I have heard thee say No grief did ever come so near thy
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heart As when thy lady and thy true love died, Upon whose grave thou vowedst pure chastity. Sir Eglamour, I would to Valentine, To Mantua, where I hear he makes abode; And for the ways are dangerous to pass, I do desire thy worthy company, Upon whose faith and honour I repose. Urge not my fathers anger, Eglamour, But think
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upon my grief, a ladys grief, And on the justice of my flying hence To keep me from a most unholy match, Which heaven and fortune still rewards with plagues. I do desire thee, even from a heart As full of sorrows as the sea of sands, To bear me company and go with me; If not, to hide what
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I have said to thee, That I may venture to depart alone. EGLAMOUR. Madam, I pity much your grievances, Which, since I know they virtuously are placed, I give consent to go along with you, Recking as little what betideth me As much I wish all good befortune you. When will you go? SILVIA. This evening coming. EGLAMOUR. Where shall
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I meet you? SILVIA. At Friar Patricks cell, Where I intend holy confession. EGLAMOUR. I will not fail your ladyship. Good morrow, gentle lady. SILVIA. Good morrow, kind Sir Eglamour. [_Exeunt._] SCENE IV. The same Enter Lance with his dog Crab. LANCE. When a mans servant shall play the cur with him, look you, it goes hard: one that I
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brought up of a puppy; one that I saved from drowning when three or four of his blind brothers and sisters went to it. I have taught him even as one would say precisely, Thus I would teach a dog. I was sent to deliver him as a present to Mistress Silvia from my master; and I came no sooner
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into the dining-chamber but he steps me to her trencher and steals her capons leg. O, tis a foul thing when a cur cannot keep himself in all companies! I would have, as one should say, one that takes upon him to be a dog indeed, to be, as it were, a dog at all things. If I had not
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had more wit than he, to take a fault upon me that he did, I think verily he had been hanged fort; sure as I live, he had suffered fort. You shall judge. He thrusts me himself into the company of three or four gentleman-like dogs under the Dukes table; he had not been therebless the mark!a pissing-while but all
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the chamber smelt him. Out with the dog! says one; What cur is that? says another; Whip him out, says the third; Hang him up, says the Duke. I, having been acquainted with the smell before, knew it was Crab, and goes me to the fellow that whips the dogs. Friend, quoth I, you mean to whip the dog? Ay,
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marry do I, quoth he. You do him the more wrong, quoth I. Twas I did the thing you wot of. He makes me no more ado but whips me out of the chamber. How many masters would do this for his servant? Nay, Ill be sworn I have sat in the stock for puddings he hath stolen, otherwise he
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had been executed. I have stood on the pillory for geese he hath killed, otherwise he had suffered fort. [_To Crab_.] Thou thinkst not of this now. Nay, I remember the trick you served me when I took my leave of Madam Silvia. Did not I bid thee still mark me, and do as I do? When didst thou see
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me heave up my leg and make water against a gentlewomans farthingale? Didst thou ever see me do such a trick? Enter Proteus and Julia disguised as Sebastian. PROTEUS. Sebastian is thy name? I like thee well, And will employ thee in some service presently. JULIA. In what you please; Ill do what I can. PROTEUS. I hope thou wilt.
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[_To Lance_.] How now, you whoreson peasant, Where have you been these two days loitering? LANCE. Marry, sir, I carried Mistress Silvia the dog you bade me. PROTEUS. And what says she to my little jewel? LANCE. Marry, she says your dog was a cur, and tells you currish thanks is good enough for such a present. PROTEUS. But she
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received my dog? LANCE. No, indeed, did she not. Here have I brought him back again. PROTEUS. What, didst thou offer her this from me? LANCE. Ay, sir, the other squirrel was stolen from me by the hangmans boys in the market-place, and then I offered her mine own, who is a dog as big as ten of yours, and
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therefore the gift the greater. PROTEUS. Go, get thee hence, and find my dog again, Or neer return again into my sight. Away, I say. Stayest thou to vex me here? A slave that still an end turns me to shame. [_Exit Lance with Crab._] Sebastian, I have entertained thee Partly that I have need of such a youth That
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can with some discretion do my business For tis no trusting to yond foolish lout But chiefly for thy face and thy behaviour, Which, if my augury deceive me not, Witness good bringing up, fortune, and truth. Therefore, know thou, for this I entertain thee. Go presently, and take this ring with thee, Deliver it to Madam Silvia. She loved
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me well delivered it to me. JULIA. It seems you loved not her, to leave her token. Shes dead belike? PROTEUS. Not so; I think she lives. JULIA. Alas! PROTEUS. Why dost thou cry Alas? JULIA. I cannot choose But pity her. PROTEUS. Wherefore shouldst thou pity her? JULIA. Because methinks that she loved you as well As you do
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love your lady Silvia. She dreams on him that has forgot her love; You dote on her that cares not for your love. Tis pity love should be so contrary; And thinking on it makes me cry Alas. PROTEUS. Well, give her that ring, and therewithal This letter. Thats her chamber. Tell my lady I claim the promise for her
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heavenly picture. Your message done, hie home unto my chamber, Where thou shalt find me sad and solitary. [_Exit._] JULIA. How many women would do such a message? Alas, poor Proteus, thou hast entertained A fox to be the shepherd of thy lambs. Alas, poor fool, why do I pity him That with his very heart despiseth me? Because he
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loves her, he despiseth me; Because I love him, I must pity him. This ring I gave him when he parted from me, To bind him to remember my good will; And now am I, unhappy messenger, To plead for that which I would not obtain, To carry that which I would have refused, To praise his faith, which I
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would have dispraised. I am my masters true confirmed love, But cannot be true servant to my master Unless I prove false traitor to myself. Yet will I woo for him, but yet so coldly As, heaven it knows, I would not have him speed. Enter Silvia attended. Gentlewoman, good day. I pray you be my mean To bring me
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where to speak with Madam Silvia. SILVIA. What would you with her, if that I be she? JULIA. If you be she, I do entreat your patience To hear me speak the message I am sent on. SILVIA. From whom? JULIA. From my master, Sir Proteus, madam. SILVIA. O, he sends you for a picture? JULIA. Ay, madam. SILVIA. Ursula,
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bring my picture there. [_She is brought the picture._] Go, give your master this. Tell him from me, One Julia, that his changing thoughts forget, Would better fit his chamber than this shadow. JULIA. Madam, please you peruse this letter. [_Gives her a letter._] Pardon me, madam, I have unadvised Delivered you a paper that I should not. This is
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the letter to your ladyship. [_Takes back the letter and gives her another._] SILVIA. I pray thee, let me look on that again. JULIA. It may not be. Good madam, pardon me. SILVIA. There, hold. I will not look upon your masters lines. I know they are stuffed with protestations And full of new-found oaths, which he will break As
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easily as I do tear his paper. [_She tears the second letter._] JULIA. Madam, he sends your ladyship this ring. SILVIA. The more shame for him that he sends it me; For I have heard him say a thousand times His Julia gave it him at his departure. Though his false finger have profaned the ring, Mine shall not do
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his Julia so much wrong. JULIA. She thanks you. SILVIA. What sayst thou? JULIA. I thank you, madam, that you tender her. Poor gentlewoman, my master wrongs her much. SILVIA. Dost thou know her? JULIA. Almost as well as I do know myself. To think upon her woes, I do protest That I have wept a hundred several times. SILVIA.
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Belike she thinks that Proteus hath forsook her? JULIA. I think she doth, and thats her cause of sorrow. SILVIA. Is she not passing fair? JULIA. She hath been fairer, madam, than she is. When she did think my master loved her well, She, in my judgement, was as fair as you. But since she did neglect her looking-glass And
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threw her sun-expelling mask away, The air hath starved the roses in her cheeks And pinched the lily-tincture of her face, That now she is become as black as I. SILVIA. How tall was she? JULIA. About my stature; for at Pentecost, When all our pageants of delight were played, Our youth got me to play the womans part, And
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I was trimmed in Madam Julias gown, Which served me as fit, by all mens judgements, As if the garment had been made for me; Therefore I know she is about my height. And at that time I made her weep agood, For I did play a lamentable part. Madam, twas Ariadne, passioning For Theseus perjury and unjust flight, Which
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I so lively acted with my tears That my poor mistress, moved therewithal, Wept bitterly; and would I might be dead If I in thought felt not her very sorrow. SILVIA. She is beholding to thee, gentle youth. Alas, poor lady, desolate and left! I weep myself to think upon thy words. Here, youth, there is my purse. I give
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thee this For thy sweet mistress sake, because thou lovst her. Farewell. JULIA. And she shall thank you fort, if eer you know her. [_Exeunt Silvia and Attendants._] A virtuous gentlewoman, mild and beautiful. I hope my masters suit will be but cold, Since she respects my mistress love so much. Alas, how love can trifle with itself! Here is
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her picture; let me see. I think If I had such a tire, this face of mine Were full as lovely as is this of hers; And yet the painter flattered her a little, Unless I flatter with myself too much. Her hair is auburn, mine is perfect yellow; If that be all the difference in his love, Ill get
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me such a coloured periwig. Her eyes are grey as glass, and so are mine. Ay, but her foreheads low, and mines as high. What should it be that he respects in her But I can make respective in myself, If this fond Love were not a blinded god? Come, shadow, come, and take this shadow up, For tis thy
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rival. O thou senseless form, Thou shalt be worshipped, kissed, loved, and adored; And were there sense in his idolatry, My substance should be statue in thy stead. Ill use thee kindly for thy mistress sake, That used me so; or else, by Jove I vow, I should have scratched out your unseeing eyes To make my master out of
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love with thee. [_Exit._] ACT V SCENE I. Milan. An abbey Enter Eglamour. EGLAMOUR. The sun begins to gild the western sky, And now it is about the very hour That Silvia at Friar Patricks cell should meet me. She will not fail, for lovers break not hours, Unless it be to come before their time, So much they spur
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their expedition. Enter Silvia. See where she comes. Lady, a happy evening! SILVIA. Amen, amen. Go on, good Eglamour, Out at the postern by the abbey wall. I fear I am attended by some spies. EGLAMOUR. Fear not. The forest is not three leagues off; If we recover that, we are sure enough. [_Exeunt._] SCENE II. The same. A room
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in the Dukes palace Enter Thurio, Proteus and Julia. THURIO. Sir Proteus, what says Silvia to my suit? PROTEUS. O, sir, I find her milder than she was, And yet she takes exceptions at your person. THURIO. What? That my leg is too long? PROTEUS. No, that it is too little. THURIO. Ill wear a boot to make it somewhat
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rounder. JULIA. [_Aside_.] But love will not be spurred to what it loathes. THURIO. What says she to my face? PROTEUS. She says it is a fair one. THURIO. Nay, then, the wanton lies; my face is black. PROTEUS. But pearls are fair; and the old saying is, Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies eyes. JULIA. [_Aside_.] Tis true,
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such pearls as put out ladies eyes, For I had rather wink than look on them. THURIO. How likes she my discourse? PROTEUS. Ill, when you talk of war. THURIO. But well when I discourse of love and peace. JULIA. [_Aside_.] But better, indeed, when you hold your peace. THURIO. What says she to my valour? PROTEUS. O, sir, she
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makes no doubt of that. JULIA. [_Aside_.] She needs not, when she knows it cowardice. THURIO. What says she to my birth? PROTEUS. That you are well derived. JULIA. [_Aside_.] True, from a gentleman to a fool. THURIO. Considers she my possessions? PROTEUS. O, ay, and pities them. THURIO. Wherefore? JULIA. [_Aside_.] That such an ass should owe them. PROTEUS.
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That they are out by lease. JULIA. Here comes the Duke. Enter Duke. DUKE. How now, Sir Proteus! How now, Thurio! Which of you saw Sir Eglamour of late? THURIO. Not I. PROTEUS. Nor I. DUKE. Saw you my daughter? PROTEUS. Neither. DUKE. Why then, shes fled unto that peasant Valentine, And Eglamour is in her company. Tis true, for
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Friar Lawrence met them both As he in penance wandered through the forest; Him he knew well, and guessed that it was she, But, being masked, he was not sure of it. Besides, she did intend confession At Patricks cell this even, and there she was not. These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence. Therefore, I pray you, stand not
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to discourse, But mount you presently and meet with me Upon the rising of the mountain foot That leads toward Mantua, whither they are fled. Dispatch, sweet gentlemen, and follow me. [_Exit._] THURIO. Why, this it is to be a peevish girl That flies her fortune when it follows her. Ill after, more to be revenged on Eglamour Than for
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the love of reckless Silvia. [_Exit._] PROTEUS. And I will follow, more for Silvias love Than hate of Eglamour that goes with her. [_Exit._] JULIA. And I will follow, more to cross that love Than hate for Silvia, that is gone for love. [_Exit._] SCENE III. Frontiers of Mantua. The forest Enter Silvia and Outlaws. FIRST OUTLAW. Come, come, be
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patient. We must bring you to our captain. SILVIA. A thousand more mischances than this one Have learned me how to brook this patiently. SECOND OUTLAW. Come, bring her away. FIRST OUTLAW. Where is the gentleman that was with her? SECOND OUTLAW. Being nimble-footed, he hath outrun us. But Moyses and Valerius follow him. Go thou with her to the
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west end of the wood; There is our captain. Well follow him thats fled. The thicket is beset; he cannot scape. [_Exeunt Second and Third Outlaws._] FIRST OUTLAW. Come, I must bring you to our captains cave. Fear not; he bears an honourable mind And will not use a woman lawlessly. SILVIA. O Valentine, this I endure for thee! [_Exeunt._]
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SCENE IV. Another part of the forest Enter Valentine. VALENTINE. How use doth breed a habit in a man! This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, I better brook than flourishing peopled towns. Here can I sit alone, unseen of any, And to the nightingales complaining notes Tune my distresses and record my woes. O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
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Leave not the mansion so long tenantless, Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall And leave no memory of what it was. Repair me with thy presence, Silvia; Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain. [_Shouts within._] What hallowing and what stir is this today? These are my mates, that make their wills their law, Have some unhappy passenger in chase.
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They love me well; yet I have much to do To keep them from uncivil outrages. Withdraw thee, Valentine. Whos this comes here? [_Steps aside._] Enter Proteus, Silvia and Julia as Sebastian. PROTEUS. Madam, this service I have done for you Though you respect not aught your servant doth To hazard life, and rescue you from him That would have
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forced 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. VALENTINE. [_Aside_.] How like a dream is this I see and hear! Love, lend me patience to forbear awhile. SILVIA. O miserable, unhappy that I am! PROTEUS.
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Unhappy were you, madam, ere I came; But by my coming I have made you happy. SILVIA. By thy approach thou makst me most unhappy. JULIA. [_Aside_.] And me, when he approacheth to your presence. SILVIA. Had I been seized by a hungry lion, I would have been a breakfast to the beast Rather than have false Proteus rescue me.
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O heaven, be judge how I love Valentine, Whose lifes as tender to me as my soul! And full as much, for more there cannot be, I do detest false perjured Proteus. Therefore be gone, solicit me no more. PROTEUS. What dangerous action, stood it next to death, Would I not undergo for one calm look! O, tis the curse
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in love, and still approved, When women cannot love where theyre beloved. SILVIA. When Proteus cannot love where hes beloved. Read over Julias 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. Thou hast no faith left now, unless thoudst
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two, And thats far worse than none; better have none Than plural faith, which is too much by one. Thou counterfeit to thy true friend! PROTEUS. In love Who respects friend? SILVIA. All men but Proteus. PROTEUS. Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words Can no way change you to a milder form, Ill woo you like a soldier,
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at arms end, And love you gainst the nature of loveforce ye. [_He seizes her._] SILVIA. O heaven! PROTEUS. Ill force thee yield to my desire. VALENTINE. [_Comes forward_.] Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch, Thou friend of an ill fashion! PROTEUS. Valentine! VALENTINE. Thou common friend, thats without faith or love, For such is a friend now. Treacherous
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man, Thou hast beguiled my hopes; nought but mine eye Could have persuaded me. Now I dare not say I have one friend alive; thou wouldst disprove me. Who should be trusted, when ones right hand Is perjured to the bosom? Proteus, I am sorry I must never trust thee more, But count the world a stranger for thy sake.
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The private wound is deepest. O time most accurst, Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst! PROTEUS. My shame and guilt confounds me. Forgive me, Valentine; if hearty sorrow Be a sufficient ransom for offence, I tender t here. I do as truly suffer As eer I did commit. VALENTINE. Then I am paid, And once again
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I do receive thee honest. Who by repentance is not satisfied Is nor of heaven nor earth, for these are pleased; By penitence th Eternals wraths appeased. And that my love may appear plain and free, All that was mine in Silvia I give thee. JULIA. O me unhappy! [_Swoons._] PROTEUS. Look to the boy. VALENTINE. Why, boy! Why, wag!
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How now? Whats the matter? Look up; speak. JULIA. O good sir, my master charged me to deliver a ring to Madam Silvia, which out of my neglect was never done. PROTEUS. Where is that ring, boy? JULIA. Here tis; this is it. [_Gives him a ring._] PROTEUS. How, let me see. Why, this is the ring I gave to
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Julia. JULIA. O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook. This is the ring you sent to Silvia. [_Shows another ring._] PROTEUS. But how camst thou by this ring? At my depart I gave this unto Julia. JULIA. And Julia herself did give it me, And Julia herself have brought it hither. [_She reveals herself._] PROTEUS. How? Julia? JULIA. Behold
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her that gave aim to all thy oaths And entertained em deeply in her heart. How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root! O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush. Be thou ashamed that I have took upon me Such an immodest raiment, if shame live In a disguise of love. It is the lesser blot, modesty finds,
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Women to change their shapes than men their minds. PROTEUS. Than men their minds! Tis true. O heaven, were man But constant, he were perfect. That one error Fills him with faults, makes him run through all th sins; Inconstancy falls off ere it begins. What is in Silvias face but I may spy More fresh in Julias with a
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constant eye? VALENTINE. Come, come, a hand from either. Let me be blest to make this happy close. Twere pity two such friends should be long foes. PROTEUS. Bear witness, heaven, I have my wish for ever. JULIA. And I mine. Enter Outlaws with Duke and Thurio. OUTLAWS. A prize, a prize, a prize! VALENTINE. Forbear, forbear, I say! It
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is my lord the Duke. Your Grace is welcome to a man disgraced, Banished Valentine. DUKE. Sir Valentine! THURIO. Yonder is Silvia, and Silvias mine. VALENTINE. 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; Take but
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possession of her with a touch I dare thee but to breathe upon my love. THURIO. Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I. I hold him but a fool that will endanger 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
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make such means for her as thou hast done, 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. Know then, I here forget all former griefs, Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again, Plead a new state in thy unrivalled merit,
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To which I thus subscribe: Sir Valentine, Thou art a gentleman, and well derived; Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserved her. VALENTINE. I thank your Grace; the gift hath made me happy. I now beseech you, for your daughters sake, To grant one boon that I shall ask of you. DUKE. I grant it for thine own, whateer
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it be. VALENTINE. These banished men, that I have kept withal, Are men endued with worthy qualities. Forgive them what they have committed here, And let them be recalled from their exile. They are reformed, civil, full of good, And fit for great employment, worthy lord. DUKE. Thou hast prevailed; I pardon them and thee. Dispose of them as thou
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knowst their deserts. Come, let us go; we will include all jars With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity. VALENTINE. 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. VALENTINE. I warrant you,
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my lord, more grace than boy. DUKE. What mean you by that saying? VALENTINE. Please you, Ill tell you as we pass along, That you will wonder what hath fortuned. 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.
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[_Exeunt._] THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN Contents ACT I PROLOGUE Scene I. Athens. Before a temple Scene II. Thebes. The Court of the Palace Scene III. Before the gates of Athens Scene IV. A field before Thebes. Scene V. Another part of the same, more remote from Thebes ACT II Scene I. Athens. A garden, with a castle in the background
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Scene II. The prison Scene III. The country near Athens Scene IV. Athens. A room in the prison Scene V. An open place in Athens Scene VI. Athens. Before the prison ACT III Scene I. A forest near Athens Scene II. Another part of the forest Scene III. The same part of the forest as in scene I. Scene IV.
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Another part of the forest Scene V. Another part of the forest Scene VI. The same part of the forest as in scene III. ACT IV Scene I. Athens. A room in the prison Scene II. A Room in the Palace Scene III. A room in the prison ACT V Scene I. Athens. Before the Temples of Mars, Venus, and
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Diana Scene II. Athens. A Room in the Prison Scene III. A part of the Forest near Athens, and near the Place appointed for the Combat Scene IV. The same; a Block prepared EPILOGUE Dramatis Person PROLOGUE ARCITE, the two noble kinsmen, cousins, PALAMON, nephews of Creon, King of Thebes THESEUS, Duke of Athens HIPPOLYTA, Queen of the Amazons, later
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Duchess of Athens EMILIA, Sister of Hippolyta PIRITHOUS, friend to Theseus Three QUEENS, widows of the kings killed in laying siege to Thebes The JAILER of Theseuss prison His DAUGHTER, in love with Palamon His BROTHER, The WOOER of the Jailers daughter Two FRIENDS of the Jailer, A DOCTOR ARTESIUS, an Athenian soldier VALERIUS, a Theban WOMAN, attending on Emilia
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An Athenian GENTLEMAN Six KNIGHTS, three accompanying Arcite, three Palamon Six COUNTRYMEN, one dressed as a Bavian or baboon Gerald, a SCHOOLMASTER NEL, a countrywoman A TABORER A singing BOY A HERALD A MESSENGER A SERVANT EPILOGUE Hymen (god of weddings), lords, soldiers, four countrywomen (Fritz, Maudlin, Luce, and Barbary), nymphs, attendants, maids, executioner, guard SCENE: Athens and the Neighbourhood,
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except in part of the first Act, where it is Thebes and the Neighbourhood PROLOGUE Flourish. Enter Prologue. PROLOGUE. New plays and maidenheads are near akin: Much followed both, for both much money gien, If they stand sound and well. And a good play, Whose modest scenes blush on his marriage day And shake to lose his honour, is like
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her That after holy tie and first nights stir Yet still is Modesty, and still retains More of the maid, to sight, than husbands pains. We pray our play may be so, for I am sure It has a noble breeder and a pure, A learned, and a poet never went More famous yet twixt Po and silver Trent. Chaucer,
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of all admired, the story gives; There, constant to eternity, it lives. If we let fall the nobleness of this, And the first sound this child hear be a hiss, How will it shake the bones of that good man And make him cry from underground, O, fan From me the witless chaff of such a writer That blasts my
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bays and my famed works makes lighter Than Robin Hood! This is the fear we bring; For, to say truth, it were an endless thing And too ambitious, to aspire to him, Weak as we are, and, almost breathless, swim In this deep water. Do but you hold out Your helping hands, and we shall tack about And something do
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to save us. You shall hear Scenes, though below his art, may yet appear Worth two hours travel. To his bones sweet sleep; Content to you. If this play do not keep A little dull time from us, we perceive Our losses fall so thick, we must needs leave. [_Flourish. Exit._] ACT I SCENE I. Athens. Before a temple Enter
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Hymen with a torch burning; a Boy, in a white robe before singing, and strewing flowers. After Hymen, a Nymph encompassed in her tresses, bearing a wheaten garland; then Theseus between two other Nymphs with wheaten chaplets on their heads. Then Hippolyta, the bride, led by Pirithous, and another holding a garland over her head, her tresses likewise hanging. After
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her, Emilia, holding up her train. Then Artesius and Attendants. [_Music._] The Song _Roses, their sharp spines being gone, Not royal in their smells alone, But in their hue; Maiden pinks of odour faint, Daisies smell-less, yet most quaint, And sweet thyme true;_ _Primrose, first-born child of Ver, Merry springtimes harbinger, With harebells dim, Oxlips in their cradles growing, Marigolds
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on deathbeds blowing, Larks-heels trim;_ [_Strews flowers._] _All dear Natures children sweet Lie fore bride and bridegrooms feet, Blessing their sense. Not an angel of the air, Bird melodious or bird fair, Is absent hence._ _The crow, the slandrous cuckoo, nor The boding raven, nor chough hoar, Nor chattring pie, May on our bride-house perch or sing, Or with them
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any discord bring, But from it fly._ Enter three Queens in black, with veils stained, with imperial crowns. The first Queen falls down at the foot of Theseus; the second falls down at the foot of Hippolyta; the third before Emilia. FIRST QUEEN. For pitys sake and true gentilitys, Hear and respect me. SECOND QUEEN. For your mothers sake, And
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as you wish your womb may thrive with fair ones, Hear and respect me. THIRD QUEEN. Now, for the love of him whom Jove hath marked The honour of your bed, and for the sake Of clear virginity, be advocate For us and our distresses. This good deed Shall raze you out o th book of trespasses All you are
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set down there. THESEUS. Sad lady, rise. HIPPOLYTA. Stand up. EMILIA. No knees to me. What woman I may stead that is distressed, Does bind me to her. THESEUS. Whats your request? Deliver you for all. FIRST QUEEN. We are three queens whose sovereigns fell before The wrath of cruel Creon, who endure The beaks of ravens, talons of the
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kites, And pecks of crows, in the foul fields of Thebes. He will not suffer us to burn their bones, To urn their ashes, nor to take th offence Of mortal loathsomeness from the blest eye Of holy Phbus, but infects the winds With stench of our slain lords. O, pity, Duke! Thou purger of the earth, draw thy feared
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sword That does good turns to th world; give us the bones Of our dead kings, that we may chapel them; And of thy boundless goodness take some note That for our crowned heads we have no roof Save this, which is the lions and the bears, And vault to everything. THESEUS. Pray you, kneel not. I was transported with
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your speech and suffered Your knees to wrong themselves. I have heard the fortunes Of your dead lords, which gives me such lamenting As wakes my vengeance and revenge for em. King Capaneus was your lord. The day That he should marry you, at such a season As now it is with me, I met your groom By Marss altar.
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You were that time fair! Not Junos mantle fairer than your tresses, Nor in more bounty spread her. Your wheaten wreath Was then nor threshed nor blasted. Fortune at you Dimpled her cheek with smiles. Hercules, our kinsman, Then weaker than your eyes, laid by his club; He tumbled down upon his Nemean hide And swore his sinews thawed. O
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grief and time, Fearful consumers, you will all devour! FIRST QUEEN. O, I hope some god, Some god hath put his mercy in your manhood, Whereto hell infuse power, and press you forth Our undertaker. THESEUS. O, no knees, none, widow! Unto the helmeted Bellona use them, And pray for me, your soldier. Troubled I am. [_Turns away._] SECOND QUEEN.
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Honoured Hippolyta, Most dreaded Amazonian, that hast slain The scythe-tusked boar; that with thy arm, as strong As it is white, wast near to make the male To thy sex captive, but that this thy lord, Born to uphold creation in that honour First nature styled it in, shrunk thee into The bound thou wast oerflowing, at once subduing Thy
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force and thy affection; soldieress That equally canst poise sternness with pity, Whom now I know hast much more power on him Than ever he had on thee, who owst his strength And his love too, who is a servant for The tenor of thy speech, dear glass of ladies, Bid him that we, whom flaming war doth scorch, Under
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the shadow of his sword may cool us; Require him he advance it oer our heads; Speak t in a womans key, like such a woman As any of us three; weep ere you fail. Lend us a knee; But touch the ground for us no longer time Than a doves motion when the heads plucked off. Tell him if
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