The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Уильям Шекспир

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       Give him leave, madam; he is a kind of chameleon.

       THURIO. That hath more mind to feed on your blood than live in your air.

       VALENTINE.

       You have said, sir.

       THURIO.

       Ay, sir, and done too, for this time.

       VALENTINE.

       I know it well, sir; you always end ere you begin.

       SILVIA.

       A fine volley of words, gentlemen, and quickly shot off.

       VALENTINE.

       ‘Tis indeed, madam; we thank the giver.

       SILVIA.

       Who is that, servant?

       VALENTINE. Yourself, sweet lady; for you gave the fire. Sir Thurio borrows his wit from your ladyship’s looks, and spends what he borrows kindly in your company.

       THURIO. Sir, if you spend word for word with me, I shall make your wit bankrupt.

       VALENTINE. I know it well, sir; you have an exchequer of words, and, I think, no other treasure to give your followers; for it appears by their bare liveries that they live by your bare words.

       [Enter DUKE]

       SILVIA.

       No more, gentlemen, no more. Here comes my father.

       [Enter DUKE.]

       DUKE.

       Now, daughter Silvia, you are hard beset.

       Sir Valentine, your father is in good health.

       What say you to a letter from your friends

       Of much good news?

       VALENTINE.

       My lord, I will be thankful

       To any happy messenger from thence.

       DUKE.

       Know ye Don Antonio, your countryman?

       VALENTINE.

       Ay, my good lord, I know the gentleman

       To be of worth and worthy estimation,

       And not without desert so well reputed.

       DUKE.

       Hath he not a son?

       VALENTINE.

       Ay, my good lord; a son that well deserves

       The honour and regard of such a father.

       DUKE.

       You know him well?

       VALENTINE.

       I knew him as myself; for from our infancy

       We have convers’d and spent our hours together;

       And though myself have been an idle truant,

       Omitting the sweet benefit of time

       To clothe mine age with angel-like perfection,

       Yet hath Sir Proteus,—for that’s his name,—

       Made use and fair advantage of his days:

       His years but young, but his experience old;

       His head unmellowed, but his judgment ripe;

       And, in a word,—for far behind his worth

       Comes all the praises that I now bestow,—

       He is complete in feature and in mind,

       With all good grace to grace a gentleman.

       DUKE.

       Beshrew me, sir, but if he make this good,

       He is as worthy for an empress’ love

       As meet to be an emperor’s counsellor.

       Well, sir, this gentleman is come to me

       With commendation from great potentates,

       And here he means to spend his time awhile.

       I think ‘tis no unwelcome news to you.

       VALENTINE.

       Should I have wish’d a thing, it had been he.

       DUKE.

       Welcome him, then, according to his worth.

       Silvia, I speak to you, and you, Sir Thurio:—

       For Valentine, I need not cite him to it.

       I will send him hither to you presently.

       [Exit.]

       VALENTINE.

       This is the gentleman I told your ladyship

       Had come along with me but that his mistresss

       Did hold his eyes lock’d in her crystal looks.

       SILVIA.

       Belike that now she hath enfranchis’d them

       Upon some other pawn for fealty.

       VALENTINE.

       Nay, sure, I think she holds them prisoners still.

       SILVIA.

       Nay, then, he should be blind; and, being blind,

       How could he see his way to seek out you?

       VALENTINE.

       Why, lady, Love hath twenty pair of eyes.

       THURIO.

       They say that Love hath not an eye at all.

       VALENTINE.

       To see such lovers, Thurio, as yourself:

       Upon a homely object Love can wink.

       SILVIA.

       Have done, have done; here comes the gentleman.

       [Enter PROTEUS]

       VALENTINE.

       Welcome, dear Proteus! Mistress, I beseech you

       Confirm his welcome with some special favour.

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