PRO. In love, Who respects friend? SIL. All men but Proteus. PRO. Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words I'll woo you like a soldier, at arms' end; PRO. I'll force thee yield to my desire. VAL. Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch; Thou friend of an ill fashion! VAL. Thou common friend, that 's without faith or love; (For such is a friend now;) treacherous man! Thou hast beguil'd my hopes; nought but mine eye I have one friend alive; thou wouldst disprove me. I am sorry I must never trust thee more, But count the world a stranger for thy sake. The private wound is deepest: O time most accurs'd! 'Mongst all foes, that a friend should be the worst. PRO. My shame, and guilt, confounds me.— Forgive me, Valentine: if hearty sorrow Be a sufficient ransom for offence, I tender it here; I do as truly suffer As e'er I did commit. 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; JUL. O me, unhappy! PRO. VAL. [Faints. Look to the boy. Why, boy! Why, wag! how now? what's the matter? Look up; speak. JUL. O good sir, my master charged me to deliver a ring to madam Silvia; which, out of my neglect, was never done. PRO. Where is that ring, boy? JUL. Here 't is: this is it. PRO. HOW! let me see: Why, this is the ring I gave to Julia. JUL. O, cry your mercy, sir, I have mistook; This is the ring you sent to Silvia. [Gives a ring. [Shows another ring. PRO. But how camest thou by this ring? At my depart, I gave this unto Julia. JUL. And Julia herself did give it me; JUL. Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths, It is the lesser blot, modesty finds, Women to change their shapes, than men their minds. PRO. Than men their minds! 't is 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 Silvia's face, but I may spy More fresh in Julia's with a constant eye? Let me be bless'd to make this happy close; "T were pity two such friends should be long foes. Enter Outlaws, with DUKE and THURIO. OUT. A prize, a prize, a prize! VAL. Forbear, forbear, I say; it is my lord the duke Your grace is welcome to a man disgrac'd, THU. Yonder is Silvia; and Silvia 's mine. VAL. Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death; DUKE. The more degenerate and base art thou I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine, And think thee worthy of an empress' love! VAL. I thank your grace; the gift hath made me happy. I now beseech you, for your daughter's sake, To grant one boon that I shall ask of you. DUKE. I grant it, for thine own, whate'er it be. Are men endued with worthy qualities; 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. 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 our discourse to make your grace to smile: DUKE. I think the boy hath grace in him; he blushes. VAL. Please you, I'll tell you as we pass along, That done, our day of marriage shall be yours; [Exeunt. VARIOUS READINGS. THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. "She makes it strange; but she would be pleas'd better Here, for "pleas'd better," the ordinary reading has been "best COLLIER. pleas'd." (ACT I. Sc. 2.) The ordinary reading is of the folio of 1623. "Ay, madam, you may see what sights you think; Hitherto the first of these lines has been, "Ay, madam, you may say what sights you see." "It is not improbable that, in this comedy, confessedly one of its author's earliest works, rhymes originally abounded more frequently than at the time it was printed in 1623, the fashion in the interval having so changed, that they were considered not only unnecessary, but possibly had become distasteful to audiences." COLLIER. (ACT I. Sc. 2.) We would not ask for a better "Ay, my good lord, I know the gentleman The original has "To be of worth, and worthy estimation." "Wealth," says Mr. Collier, "would (ACT II. Sc. 1.) At A man may be of worth, and not esteemed worthy; so that the original line is perfectly consistent, taken alone. How far it is |