Which warneth those, that louinge frendes inioye, With care, to keepe, and frendlie them to treate, And not to trye them still, with euerie toye, Nor presse them doune, when causes be too greate, Nor in requests importunate to bee: For ouermuche, dothe tier the courser free?” Touchstone, the clown, in _As You Like It_ (act ii. sc. 4, l. 43, vol. ii. p. 400), names the various tokens of his affections for Jane Smile, and declares, “I remember, when I was in love I broke my sword upon a stone and bid him take that for coming a-night to Jane Smile: and I remember the kissing of her batlet and the cow’s-dugs that her pretty chopt hands had milked.” It may, however, from the general inaccuracy of spelling in the early editions of Shakespeare, be allowed to suppose a typographical error, and that the phrase in question should read, not “anvil of my sword,” but “handle;”—I clip, or embrace the handle, grasp it firmly in token of affection. The innocence of broken love-vows is intimated in _Romeo and Juliet_ (act ii. sc. 2, l. 90, vol. vii. p. 42),— “Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say ‘Ay,’ And I will take thy word: yet if thou swear’st, Thou mayst prove false: at lovers’ perjuries, They say, Jove laughs.” And most closely is the sentiment represented in the design by Otho van Veen (p. 140), of Venus dispensing Cupid from his oaths, and of Jupiter in the clouds smiling benignantly on the two. The mottoes are, “AMORIS IVSIVRANDVM PŒNAM NON HABET,”—_Love excused from periurie_,—and “Giuramento sparso al vento.” In Callimachus occurs Juliet’s very expression, “at lovers’ perjuries Jove laughs,”— “_Nulla fides inerit: periuria ridet amantum Juppiter, & ventis irrita ferre iubet:_” and from Tibullus we learn, that whatever silly love may have eagerly sworn, Jupiter has forbidden to hold good,— “_Gratia magna Ioui: vetuit pater ipse valere, Iurasset cupidè quidquid ineptus Amor._” The English lines in Otho van Veen are,— “The louer freedome hath to take a louers oth, Whith if it proue vntrue hee is to be excused, For venus doth dispence in louers othes abused, And loue no fault comitts in swearing more than troth.” The thoughts are, as expressed in Italian,— “_Se ben l’amante assai promette, e giura, Non si da pena à le sue voci infide, Anzi Venere, e Giove se ne ride. l’Amoroso spergiuro non si cura._” To such unsound morality, however, Shakespeare offers strong objections in the Friar’s words (_Romeo and Juliet_, act iii. sc. 3, l. 126),— “Thy noble shape is but a form of wax, Digressing from the valour of a man; Thy dear love sworn, but hollow perjury, Killing that love which thou hast vow’d to cherish.”