SCENE III. The same. A street. Two Gentlemen of Verona  Shakespeare homepage  |  Two Gentlemen of Verona  | Act 2, Scene 3 

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 Enter LAUNCE, leading a dog  LAUNCE  Nay, 'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping; 

 all the kind of the Launces have this very fault. I 

 have received my proportion, like the prodigious 

 son, and am going with Sir Proteus to the Imperial's 

 court. I think Crab, my dog, be the sourest-natured 

 dog that lives: my mother weeping, my father 

 wailing, my sister crying, our maid howling, our cat 

 wringing her hands, and all our house in a great 

 perplexity, yet did not this cruel-hearted cur shed 

 one tear: he is a stone, a very pebble stone, and 

 has no more pity in him than a dog: a Jew would have 

 wept to have seen our parting; why, my grandam, 

 having no eyes, look you, wept herself blind at my 

 parting. Nay, I'll show you the manner of it. This 

 shoe is my father: no, this left shoe is my father: 

 no, no, this left shoe is my mother: nay, that 

 cannot be so neither: yes, it is so, it is so, it 

 hath the worser sole. This shoe, with the hole in 

 it, is my mother, and this my father; a vengeance 

 on't! there 'tis: now, sit, this staff is my 

 sister, for, look you, she is as white as a lily and 

 as small as a wand: this hat is Nan, our maid: I 

 am the dog: no, the dog is himself, and I am the 

 dog--Oh! the dog is me, and I am myself; ay, so, 

 so. Now come I to my father; Father, your blessing: 

 now should not the shoe speak a word for weeping: 

 now should I kiss my father; well, he weeps on. Now 

 come I to my mother: O, that she could speak now 

 like a wood woman! Well, I kiss her; why, there 

 'tis; here's my mother's breath up and down. Now 

 come I to my sister; mark the moan she makes. Now 

 the dog all this while sheds not a tear nor speaks a 

 word; but see how I lay the dust with my tears. 



 Enter PANTHINO  PANTHINO  Launce, away, away, aboard! thy master is shipped 

 and thou art to post after with oars. What's the 

 matter? why weepest thou, man? Away, ass! You'll 

 lose the tide, if you tarry any longer. 

 LAUNCE  It is no matter if the tied were lost; for it is the 

 unkindest tied that ever any man tied. 

 PANTHINO  What's the unkindest tide? 

 LAUNCE  Why, he that's tied here, Crab, my dog. 

 PANTHINO  Tut, man, I mean thou'lt lose the flood, and, in 

 losing the flood, lose thy voyage, and, in losing 

 thy voyage, lose thy master, and, in losing thy 

 master, lose thy service, and, in losing thy 

 service,--Why dost thou stop my mouth? 

 LAUNCE  For fear thou shouldst lose thy tongue. 

 PANTHINO  Where should I lose my tongue? 

 LAUNCE  In thy tale. 

 PANTHINO  In thy tail! 

 LAUNCE  Lose the tide, and the voyage, and the master, and 

 the service, and the tied! Why, man, if the river 

 were dry, I am able to fill it with my tears; if the 

 wind were down, I could drive the boat with my sighs. 

 PANTHINO  Come, come away, man; I was sent to call thee. 

 LAUNCE  Sir, call me what thou darest. 

 PANTHINO  Wilt thou go? 

 LAUNCE  Well, I will go. 



 Exeunt  Shakespeare homepage  |  Two Gentlemen of Verona  | Act 2, Scene 3 

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