The fame. A Room in Anthonio's Houfe.

Enter ANTHONIO and PANTHINO.

Ant. Tell me, Panthino, what fad talk was that,
Wherewith my brother held you in the cloister?
Pant. 'Twas of his nephew Protheus, your fon.
Ant. Why, what of him?

Pant. He wonder'd, that your lordship
Would fuffer him to spend his youth at home;
While other men, of flender reputation,
Put forth their fons to feek preferment out:
Some to the wars, to try their fortune there;
Some, to discover islands far away;
Some, to the ftudious univerfities.
For any, or for all these exercises,

He faid, that Protheus, your fon, was meet;
And did requeft me, to impórtune you,
To let him fpend his time no more at home,
Which would be great impeachment to his age?,
In having known no travel in his youth.

Ant. Nor need'ft thou much impórtune me to that
Whereon this month I have been hammering.
I have confider'd well his lofs of time;
And how he cannot be a perfect man,
Not being try'd, and tutor'd in the world:
Experience is by induftry atchiev'd,

And perfected by the fwift courfe of time:
Then, tell me, whither were I beft to fend him?

7

what fad talk] Sad is the fame as grave or ferious. JOHNSON. Some, to difcover islands far away;] In Shakspeare's time, voyages for the difcovery of the islands of America were much in vogue. And we find, in the journals of the travellers of that time, that the fons of noblemen, and of others of the best families in England, went very frequently on these adventures. Such as the Fortefcues, Collitons, Thornhills, Farmers, Pickerings, Littletons, Willoughbys, Chefters, Hawleys, Bromleys, and others. To this prevailing fashion our poet frequently alludes, and not without high commendations of it. WAR B. great impeachment to his age,] Impeachment is bindrance.

9

I 3

STEEVENS.

Pant.

Pant. I think, your lordship is not ignorant,
How his companion, youthful Valentine,
Attends the emperor in his royal court '.
Ant. I know it well.

Pant. 'Twere good, I think, your lordship fent him thither:

There fhall he practife tilts and tournaments,
Hear fweet difcourfe, converfe with noblemen;
And be in eye of every exercife,

Worthy his youth and noblencfs of birth.

Ant. I like thy counfel; well haft thou advis'd; And, that thou may'ft perceive how well I like it, The execution of it thall make known;

Even with the fpeedieft expedition

I will dispatch him to the emperor's court.

Pant. To-morrow, may it pleafe you, Don Alphonfo, With other gentlemen of good efteem,

Are journeying to falute the emperor,

And to commend their fervice to his will.

Ant. Good company; with them shall Protheus go: And, in good time 2,-now will we break with him. Enter PROTHEUS.

Pro. Sweet love! fweet lines! fweet life! Here is her hand, the agent of her heart; Here is her oath for love, her honour's pawn: O, that our fathers would applaud our loves,

1 Attends the emperor in his royal court.] Shakspeare has been guilty of no mistake in placing the emperor's court at Milan in this play. Several of the first German emperors held their courts there occafionally, it being, at that time, their immediate property, and the chief town of their Italian dominions. Some of them were crowned kings of Italy at Milan, before they received the imperial crown at Rome. Nor has the poet fallen into any contradiction, by giving a duke to Milan at the fame time that the emperor held his court there. The first dukes of that, and all the other great cities in Italy, were not fovereign princes, as they afterwards became; but were merely governors, or viceroys, under the emperors, and removeable at their pleasure. Such was the Duke of Milan mentioned in this play. STEEVENS.

2in good time,] In good time was the old expreflion when fomething happened which füited the thing in hand, as the French fay, à propos. JouNSON.

Το

To feal our happiness with their confents!

O heavenly Julia!

Ant. How now? what letter are you reading there? Pro. May't please your lordship, 'tis a word or two Of commendation fent from Valentine,

Deliver'd by a friend that came from him.

Ant. Lend me the letter; let me fee what news. Pro. There is no news, my lord; but that he writes How happily he lives, how well belov'd,

And daily graced by the emperor;

Wishing me with him, partner of his fortune.
Ant. And how ftand you affected to his wifh?
Pro. As one relying on your lordship's will,
And not depending on his friendly wish.

Ant. My will is fomething forted with his wish :
Mufe not that I thus fuddenly proceed;

For what I will, I will, and there an end.
I am refolv'd, that thou shalt spend some time
With Valentinus in the emperor's court;
What maintenance he from his friends receives,
Like exhibition 3 thou shalt have from me.
To-morrow be in readiness to go:

Excufe it not, for I am peremptory.

Pro. My lord, I cannot be fo foon provided;

Pleafe you, deliberate a day or two.

Ant. Look, what thou want'ft, fhall be fent after thee:

No more of stay; to-morrow thou must go.

Come on, Panthino; you fhall be employ'd

To haften on his expedition.

[Exeunt ANTHONIO and PANTHINO.

Pro. Thus have I fhunn'd the fire, for fear of burn

ing;

And drench'd me in the sea, where I am drown'd:

I fear'd to fhew my father Julia's letter,

Left he should take exceptions to my love;
And with the vantage of mine own excufe
Hath he excepted most against my love.

3 -exbibition] i. e. allowance. STEEVENS.

O, how this fpring of love resembleth +
The uncertain glory of an April day;
Which now fhews all the beauty of the fun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away!

Re-enter

40, bow this fpring of love refembleth] It was not always the cufrom among our early writers to make the first and third lines rhime to each other; and when a word was not long enough to complete the measure, they occafionally extended it. Thus Spenfer, in his Faery Queen, B. II. c. 12:

"Formerly grounded, and faft fetteled."

Again, B. II. c. 12:

"The while fweet Zephirus loud whifteled, &c.

From this practice, I fuppofe our author wrote refembeletb, which, though it affords no jingle, completes the verfe. Many poems have been written in this measure, where the fecond and fourth lines only rhime. STEEVENS.

Refembleth is here ufed as a quadrifyllable, as if it was written re Jembeleth. See Com. of Errors, A&t V. fc. the laft :

"And these two Dromios, one in femblance."

As you like it, A&II. fc. ii.

"The parts and graces of the wrefiler.”

And it should be obferved, that Shakspeare takes the fame liberty with many other words, in which 1, or r, is fubjoined to another confonant. See Com. of Errors, next verfe but one to that cited above:

"Thefe are the parents to thefe children."

where fome editors, being unneceffarily alarmed for the metre, have endeavoured to help it by a word of their own:

"Thefe plainly are the parents to thefe children." TYRWHITT. Thus much I had thought fufficient to fay upon this point, in the edition of these plays published by Mr. Steevens in 1778. Since which the Author of Remarks, &c. on that edition has been pleased to affert, P. 7." that Shakspeare does not appear, from the above inftances at leaft, to have taken the fmalleft liberty in extending his words: neither has the incident of l, or r, being fubjoined to another confonant any thing to do in the matter."-" The truth is," he goes on to fay, "that every verb in the English language gains an additional fyllable by its termination in eft, eth, ed, ing, or, (when formed into a fubftantive) in er; and the above words, when rightly printed, are not only unexceptionable, but most juft. Thus refemble makes refemble-eth; wrefl, wrestle-er; and fettle, whifile, tickle, make fettle-ed, sobiffle-ed, tickle-cd.”

As to this fuppofed Canon of the English language, it would be eafy to thew that it is quite fanciful and unfounded; and what he calls the right method of printing the above words is fuch as, I believe, was never adopted before by any mortal in writing them, nor can be followed in the pronunciation of them without the help of an entirely new lyftem

of

Re-enter PANTHINO.

Pant. Sir Protheus, your father calls for you; He is in hafte, therefore, I pray you, go.

Pro. Why, this it is! my heart accords thereto; And yet a thousand times it answers, no.

[Exeunt.

of fpelling. But any further difcuffion of this matter is unnecessary; because the hypothefis, though allowed in its utmost extent, will not prove either of the points to which it is applied. It will neither prove that Shakspeare has not taken a liberty in extending certain words, nor that he has not taken that liberty chiefly with words in which , or r, is fubjoined to another confonant. The following are all inftances of nouns, fubftantive or adjective, which can receive no fupport from the fuppofed Canon. That Shakspeare has taken a liberty in extending thefe words is evident, from the confideration, that the fame words are more frequently ufed, by his contemporaries and by himself, without the additional fyllable. Why he has taken this Liberty chiefly with words in which I, or r, is fubjoined to another confonant, must be ob vious to any one who can pronounce the language.

Country, trifyllable.

T. N. Act 1. fc. ii. The like of him.

Know'st thou this country? Coriol. A&t 1. fc. iii. Die nobly for their country, than one. Remembrance, quadrifyliable.

T. N. A& I. fc. i. And lafting in her fad remembrance.
W. T. Act IV. fc. iv. Grace and remembrance be to you both.
Angry, tryfyllable.

Timon. Act III. fc. v. But who is man, that is not angry.

Henry, trifyllable.

Rich. III. Act II. fc. iii. So ftood the ftate, when Henry the Sixth-. 2 H. VI. A& II. fc. ii. Crown'd by the name of Henry the Fourth. And fo in many other paffages.

Monftrous, trifyllable.

Macb. Act IV. fc. vi. Who cannot want the thought how morftrous. Othello. Act II. fc. iii. 'Tis monftrous. Iago, who began it?

Affembly, quadrifyllable.

M. A. A. N. A&t V. sc. last. Good morrow to this fair assembly.
Douglas, trifyllable.

1 H. IV. Act V. fc. ii. Lord Douglas go you and tell him so.

England, trifyllable.

Rich. II. Act IV. fc. i. Than Bolingbrooke return to England.

Humbler, trifyllable.

1 H. VI. A& III. fc. i. Methinks his lordship should be bumbler.

Nobler, trifyllable.

Coriol, Act III. fc. ii. You do the nobler. Cor. I mufe my mother-.

TYRWHITT.

ACT