O Proteus! let this habit make thee blush.
Be thou asham’d 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,
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 the 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?
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.]
OUTLAW.
A prize, a prize, a prize!
VALENTINE.
Forbear, forbear, I say; it is my lord the duke.
Your Grace is welcome to a man disgrac’d,
Banished Valentine.
DUKE.
Sir Valentine!
THURIO.
Yonder is Silvia; and Silvia’s 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 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 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 unrivall’d merit,
To which I thus subscribe: Sir Valentine,
Thou art a gentleman, and well deriv’d;
Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserv’d her.
VALENTINE.
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.
VALENTINE.
These banish’d men, that I have kept withal,
Are men endu’d 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 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, my lord, more grace than boy.
DUKE.
What mean you by that saying?
VALENTINE.
Please you, I’ll 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.
[Exeunt.]
THE END
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN
Presented at the Blackfriers by the Kings Maiesties servants, with great applause:
By the memorable Worthies of their time;
Mr. John Fletcher, Gent., and
Mr. William Shakspeare, Gent.
Printed at London by Tho. Cotes, for John Waterson: and are to be sold at the signe of the Crowne in Pauls Churchyard. 1634.
(The Persons represented in the Play.
Hymen,
Theseus,
Hippolita, Bride to Theseus
Emelia, Sister to Theseus
[Emelia’s Woman],
Nymphs,
Three Queens,
Three valiant Knights,
Palamon, and
Arcite, The two Noble Kinsmen, in love with fair Emelia
[Valerius],
Perithous,
[A Herald],
[A Gentleman],
[A Messenger],
[A Servant],
[Wooer],
[Keeper],
Jaylor,
His Daughter, in love with Palamon
[His brother],
[A Doctor],
[4] Countreymen,
[2 Friends of the Jaylor],
[3 Knights],
[Nel, and other]
Wenches,
A Taborer,