Act 1, Scene 2

THe same. The garden Of JULIA'S house.

[Enter JULIA and LUCETTA.]
Julia
146 But say, Lucetta, now we are alone,
147 Wouldst thou then counsel me to fall in love?
Lucetta
148 Ay, madam; so you stumble not unheedfully.
Julia
149 Of all the fair resort of gentlemen
150 That every day with parle encounter me,
151 In thy opinion which is worthiest love?
Lucetta
152 Please you, repeat their names; I'll show my mind
153 According to my shallow simple skill.
Julia
154 What think'st thou of the fair Sir Eglamour?
Lucetta
155 As of a knight well-spoken, neat, and fine;
156 But, were I you, he never should be mine.
Julia
157 What think'st thou of the rich Mercatio?
Lucetta
158 Well of his wealth; but of himself, so so.
Julia
159 What think'st thou of the gentle Proteus?
Lucetta
160 Lord, Lord! to see what folly reigns in us!
Julia
161 How now! what means this passion at his name?
Lucetta
162 Pardon, dear madam; 'tis a passing shame
163 That I, unworthy body as I am,
164 Should censure thus on lovely gentlemen.
Julia
165 Why not on Proteus, as of all the rest?
Lucetta
166 Then thus,—of many good I think him best.
Julia
167 Your reason?
Lucetta
168 I have no other but a woman's reason:
169 I think him so, because I think him so.
Julia
170 And wouldst thou have me cast my love on him?
Lucetta
171 Ay, if you thought your love not cast away.
Julia
172 Why, he, of all the rest, hath never moved me.
Lucetta
173 Yet he, of all the rest, I think, best loves ye.
Julia
174 His little speaking shows his love but small.
Lucetta
175 Fire that's closest kept burns most of all.
Julia
176 They do not love that do not show their love.
Lucetta
177 O! they love least that let men know their love.
Julia
178 I would I knew his mind.
Lucetta
179 Peruse this paper, madam.
[Gives a letter.]
Julia
180 'To Julia'—Say, from whom?
Lucetta
181 That the contents will show.
Julia
182 Say, say, who gave it thee?
Lucetta
183 Sir Valentine's page, and sent, I think, from Proteus.
184 He would have given it you; but I, being in the way,
185 Did in your name receive it; pardon the fault, I pray.
Julia
186 Now, by my modesty, a goodly broker!
187 Dare you presume to harbour wanton lines?
188 To whisper and conspire against my youth?
189 Now, trust me, 'tis an office of great worth,
190 And you an officer fit for the place.
191 There, take the paper; see it be return'd;
192 Or else return no more into my sight.
Lucetta
193 To plead for love deserves more fee than hate.
Julia
194 Will ye be gone?
Lucetta
195 That you may ruminate.
[Exit.]
Julia
196 And yet, I would I had o'erlook'd the letter.
197 It were a shame to call her back again,
198 And pray her to a fault for which I chid her.
199 What fool is she, that knows I am a maid
200 And would not force the letter to my view!
201 Since maids, in modesty, say 'No' to that
202 Which they would have the profferer construe 'Ay.'
203 Fie, fie, how wayward is this foolish love,
204 That like a testy babe will scratch the nurse,
205 And presently, all humbled, kiss the rod!
206 How churlishly I chid Lucetta hence,
207 When willingly I would have had her here:
208 How angerly I taught my brow to frown,
209 When inward joy enforc'd my heart to smile.
210 My penance is, to call Lucetta back
211 And ask remission for my folly past.
212 What ho! Lucetta!
[Re-enter LUCETTA.]
Lucetta
213 What would your ladyship?
Julia
214 Is it near dinner time?
Lucetta
215 I would it were;
216 That you might kill your stomach on your meat
217 And not upon your maid.
Julia
218 What is't that you took up so gingerly?
Lucetta
219 Nothing.
Julia
220 Why didst thou stoop, then?
Lucetta
221 To take a paper up
222 That I let fall.
Julia
223 And is that paper nothing?
Lucetta
224 Nothing concerning me.
Julia
225 Then let it lie for those that it concerns.
Lucetta
226 Madam, it will not lie where it concerns,
227 Unless it have a false interpreter.
Julia
228 Some love of yours hath writ to you in rime.
Lucetta
229 That I might sing it, madam, to a tune:
230 Give me a note: your ladyship can set.
Julia
231 As little by such toys as may be possible;
232 Best sing it to the tune of 'Light o' Love.'
Lucetta
233 It is too heavy for so light a tune.
Julia
234 Heavy! belike it hath some burden then?
Lucetta
235 Ay; and melodious were it, would you sing it.
Julia
236 And why not you?
Lucetta
237 I cannot reach so high.
Julia
238 Let's see your song.
[Taking the letter.]
Julia
239 How now, minion!
Lucetta
240 Keep tune there still, so you will sing it out:
241 And yet methinks, I do not like this tune.
Julia
242 You do not?
Lucetta
243 No, madam; it is too sharp.
Julia
244 You, minion, are too saucy.
Lucetta
245 Nay, now you are too flat
246 And mar the concord with too harsh a descant;
247 There wanteth but a mean to fill your song.
Julia
248 The mean is drown'd with your unruly bass.
Lucetta
249 Indeed, I bid the base for Proteus.
Julia
250 This babble shall not henceforth trouble me.
251 Here is a coil with protestation!—
[Tears the letter.]
Julia
252 Go, get you gone; and let the papers lie:
253 You would be fingering them, to anger me.
Lucetta
254 She makes it strange; but she would be best pleas'd
255 To be so anger'd with another letter.
[Exit.]
Julia
256 Nay, would I were so anger'd with the same!
257 O hateful hands, to tear such loving words!
258 Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honey
259 And kill the bees that yield it with your stings!
260 I'll kiss each several paper for amends.
261 Look, here is writ 'kind Julia.' Unkind Julia!
262 As in revenge of thy ingratitude,
263 I throw thy name against the bruising stones,
264 Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain.
265 And here is writ 'love-wounded Proteus':
266 Poor wounded name! my bosom, as a bed,
267 Shall lodge thee till thy wound be throughly heal'd;
268 And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss.
269 But twice or thrice was 'Proteus' written down:
270 Be calm, good wind, blow not a word away
271 Till I have found each letter in the letter
272 Except mine own name; that some whirlwind bear
273 Unto a ragged, fearful-hanging rock,
274 And throw it thence into the raging sea!
275 Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ:
276 'Poor forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus,
277 To the sweet Julia':—that I'll tear away;
278 And yet I will not, sith so prettily
279 He couples it to his complaining names:
280 Thus will I fold them one upon another:
281 Now kiss, embrace, contend, do what you will.
[Re-enter LUCETTA.]
Lucetta
282 Madam,
283 Dinner is ready, and your father stays.
Julia
284 Well, let us go.
Lucetta
285 What! shall these papers lie like tell-tales here?
Julia
286 If you respect them, best to take them up.
Lucetta
287 Nay, I was taken up for laying them down;
288 Yet here they shall not lie, for catching cold.
Julia
289 I see you have a month's mind to them.
Lucetta
290 Ay, madam, you may say what sights you see;
291 I see things too, although you judge I wink.
Julia
292 Come, come; will't please you go?
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 150archaic vocab
“with parle encounter me”
'Parle' means a formal or courtly conference — a speaking-together. Here Julia is saying that every day gentlemen approach her with their addresses and talk. The word comes from French parler, 'to speak,' and is the same root as 'parley.'
TLN 159classical allusion
“the gentle Proteus”
Proteus was a sea-god in Greek myth who could change into any shape — lion, fire, water — to avoid answering questions. Shakespeare gives his faithless gentleman this name as a warning signal: a character named Proteus will not hold one shape, or keep one love. He will prove unfaithful to Julia and treacherous to Valentine.
classical Proteus, the shape-changing sea-god
TLN 175rhetorical device
“Fire that's closest kept burns most of all”
Lucetta deploys a proverb: a fire sealed from air burns more fiercely than one with an open draft. Applied to Proteus, it means that his silence is not indifference but suppressed feeling — the quieter a man's love, the more intense it may be. Shakespeare uses sententious proverb-forms like this to give servants a witty authority over their mistresses.
TLN 186archaic vocab
“a goodly broker”
A 'broker' is a go-between or agent who conducts business on someone else's behalf. In the context of love, a broker arranged meetings and carried messages between lovers — a role that was respectable as a trade but disreputable when it meant aiding illicit courtship. Julia is sarcastically calling Lucetta a very fine 'agent' for letting herself receive a love-letter addressed to her mistress.
TLN 187cultural context
“harbour wanton lines? To whisper and conspire against my youth”
'Wanton lines' means immodest or lascivious verses. Julia accuses Lucetta of sheltering a love-letter that could corrupt her virtue ('against my youth'). For a well-born young woman in this period, receiving unsolicited love-letters was considered a genuine threat to her reputation and marriage prospects, so Julia's public indignation — even though she privately wants to read it — is the socially correct response.
TLN 201cultural context
“maids, in modesty, say 'No' to that Which they would have the profferer construe 'Ay.'”
Julia is describing the Elizabethan social script for unmarried women: good manners required a girl to refuse ('No') what she privately wanted, while expecting the suitor to read her refusal as tacit consent ('Ay'). Julia is annoyed that Lucetta, knowing this convention, still took her at her word and removed the letter.
TLN 204rhetorical device
“like a testy babe will scratch the nurse, And presently, all humbled, kiss the rod”
Julia uses a simile to explain irrational love: like a peevish infant who scratches the nurse and then, after being corrected, immediately kisses the switch used to punish it, love makes her lash out at those trying to help her and then repent at once. 'Testy' means irritable, and 'presently' means immediately (not 'soon' as in modern English).
TLN 216archaic vocab
“kill your stomach on your meat And not upon your maid”
'Stomach' here means appetite in both the literal sense (hunger) and the metaphorical sense of anger or resentment. Lucetta is wishing it were dinner-time so Julia could 'kill' (satisfy, vent) her appetite on the food rather than on her servant. 'Kill your stomach' was an idiomatic phrase meaning to satisfy or exhaust a craving.
TLN 229wordplay
“sing it, madam, to a tune”
From line 229 to 249 Lucetta and Julia carry on a punning exchange in which every musical word also touches their quarrel: a 'note' is a musical note or a short letter; 'set' means to set music or to esteem; 'heavy' is musically slow or sad; 'burden' a bass refrain or a weight; 'sharp' and 'flat' are pitches but also sharp-tongued and dull; a 'descant' an ornamental melody above the tune or a long commentary; the 'mean' is the middle voice, and 'bass/base' puns the lowest singing voice on 'base' (lowly, shameless).
TLN 232historical topical
“the tune of 'Light o' Love'”
'Light o' Love' was a real, well-known Elizabethan ballad whose title was a catchphrase for inconstancy in love — 'light' meaning both lively (of the tune) and fickle, wanton, or faithless (of the lover). Julia's suggestion that Proteus's letter be sung to it is a cutting joke: she is implying the love it expresses is cheap and unstable.
TLN 258rhetorical device
“Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honey And kill the bees that yield it with your stings”
Julia addresses her own hands as 'injurious wasps' that have fed on the letter's 'honey' (its loving words) and killed the 'bees' (Proteus, who produced those words) by tearing his name. 'Injurious' means harmful, wrongful — she accuses herself of wronging Proteus. The metaphor treats the letter's words as something to be consumed like food, and tearing them as a kind of murder.
TLN 267archaic vocab
“till thy wound be throughly heal'd; And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss”
'Throughly' is a standard Elizabethan form meaning 'thoroughly' or 'completely.' 'Search' here is a surgical term: to probe a wound to determine its depth and cleanse it. 'Sovereign' means supremely effective as a remedy (medicines were called 'sovereign' when believed to have special healing power). Julia imagines her bosom as a bed where Proteus's 'love-wounded' name can heal, and her kiss as the physician's probe that cleanses the wound.
TLN 278archaic vocab
“I will not, sith so prettily He couples it to his complaining names”
'Sith' is an archaic conjunction meaning 'since' or 'seeing that.' Julia decides not to tear away 'To the sweet Julia' from the letter fragment because Proteus joins her name prettily to his own suffering ('complaining names'). 'Complaining' here means lamenting, full of sorrowful complaint — a standard Petrarchan pose of the lover tormented by unrequited love.
historical Petrarch and the Petrarchan lover
TLN 289archaic vocab
“I see you have a month's mind to them”
A 'month's mind' was originally a Catholic memorial Mass said one month after a person's death; by Shakespeare's time the phrase had broadened into common use meaning a strong desire or a longing for something. Julia uses it sarcastically: she can see Lucetta has a strong inclination to pick up the torn letters. Lucetta plays along by pretending she has no idea what Julia means.