text stringlengths 0 85 |
|---|
Proud, disobedient, stubborn, lacking duty; |
Neither regarding that she is my child |
Nor fearing me as if I were her father; |
And, may I say to thee, this pride of hers, |
Upon advice, hath drawn my love from her; |
And, where I thought the remnant of mine age |
Should have been cherish'd by her childlike duty, |
I now am full resolv'd to take a wife |
And turn her out to who will take her in. |
Then let her beauty be her wedding-dow'r; |
For me and my possessions she esteems not. |
VALENTINE. What would your Grace have me to do in this? |
DUKE. There is a lady, in Verona here, |
Whom I affect; but she is nice, and coy, |
And nought esteems my aged eloquence. |
Now, therefore, would I have thee to my tutor- |
For long agone I have forgot to court; |
Besides, the fashion of the time is chang'd- |
How and which way I may bestow myself |
To be regarded in her sun-bright eye. |
VALENTINE. Win her with gifts, if she respect not words: |
Dumb jewels often in their silent kind |
More than quick words do move a woman's mind. |
DUKE. But she did scorn a present that I sent her. |
VALENTINE. A woman sometime scorns what best contents her. |
Send her another; never give her o'er, |
For scorn at first makes after-love the more. |
If she do frown, 'tis not in hate of you, |
But rather to beget more love in you; |
If she do chide, 'tis not to have you gone, |
For why, the fools are mad if left alone. |
Take no repulse, whatever she doth say; |
For 'Get you gone' she doth not mean 'Away!' |
Flatter and praise, commend, extol their graces; |
Though ne'er so black, say they have angels' faces. |
That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man, |
If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. |
DUKE. But she I mean is promis'd by her friends |
Unto a youthful gentleman of worth; |
And kept severely from resort of men, |
That no man hath access by day to her. |
VALENTINE. Why then I would resort to her by night. |
DUKE. Ay, but the doors be lock'd and keys kept safe, |
That no man hath recourse to her by night. |
VALENTINE. What lets but one may enter at her window? |
DUKE. Her chamber is aloft, far from the ground, |
And built so shelving that one cannot climb it |
Without apparent hazard of his life. |
VALENTINE. Why then a ladder, quaintly made of cords, |
To cast up with a pair of anchoring hooks, |
Would serve to scale another Hero's tow'r, |
So bold Leander would adventure it. |
DUKE. Now, as thou art a gentleman of blood, |
Advise me where I may have such a ladder. |
VALENTINE. When would you use it? Pray, sir, tell me that. |
DUKE. This very night; for Love is like a child, |
That longs for everything that he can come by. |
VALENTINE. By seven o'clock I'll get you such a ladder. |
DUKE. But, hark thee; I will go to her alone; |
How shall I best convey the ladder thither? |
VALENTINE. It will be light, my lord, that you may bear it |
Under a cloak that is of any length. |
DUKE. A cloak as long as thine will serve the turn? |
VALENTINE. Ay, my good lord. |
DUKE. Then let me see thy cloak. |
I'll get me one of such another length. |
VALENTINE. Why, any cloak will serve the turn, my lord. |
DUKE. How shall I fashion me to wear a cloak? |
I pray thee, let me feel thy cloak upon me. |
What letter is this same? What's here? 'To Silvia'! |
And here an engine fit for my proceeding! |
I'll be so bold to break the seal for once. [Reads] |
'My thoughts do harbour with my Silvia nightly, |
And slaves they are to me, that send them flying. |
O, could their master come and go as lightly, |
Himself would lodge where, senseless, they are lying! |
My herald thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them, |
While I, their king, that thither them importune, |
Do curse the grace that with such grace hath blest them, |
Because myself do want my servants' fortune. |
I curse myself, for they are sent by me, |
That they should harbour where their lord should be.' |
What's here? |
'Silvia, this night I will enfranchise thee.' |
'Tis so; and here's the ladder for the purpose. |
Why, Phaethon- for thou art Merops' son- |
Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car, |
And with thy daring folly burn the world? |
Wilt thou reach stars because they shine on thee? |
Go, base intruder, over-weening slave, |
Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates; |
And think my patience, more than thy desert, |
Is privilege for thy departure hence. |
Thank me for this more than for all the favours |
Which, all too much, I have bestow'd on thee. |
But if thou linger in my territories |
Longer than swiftest expedition |
Will give thee time to leave our royal court, |
By heaven! my wrath shall far exceed the love |
I ever bore my daughter or thyself. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.