despised and banished, wythout respecte either to thy prodigall dispense, to thine honor, to thy teares, or to thy myserable lyfe, which be able to moue the most constant to pity: wherefore I pray thee for the Loue of our auncient amity, and for thyne health sake, that thou wilt learn to be thine owne man, and not to alyenat thy lyberty to any so ingrate as she is: for so farre as I coniecture by things that are passed betwene you, either she is in loue wyth some other, or else determineth neuer to loue any. Thou arte yong, rich in goods and fortune, and more excellent in beauty than any Gentleman in thys Cyty: thou art well learned, and the onely sonne of the house wherof thou commest: what gryef would it bee to thy poore olde Father and other thy parentes, to see the so drowned in this dongeon of Vyce, specially at that age wherein thou oughtest rather to put them in some Hope of thy Vertue? begyn then from henceforth to acknowledge thyne error, wherein thou hast hitherto lyued, doe away that amorous vaile or couerture whych blyndeth thyne Eyes and letteth thee to folow the ryghte path, wherein thine auncestors haue walked: or else if thou do feele thy self so subiect to thyne owne wyll, yelde thy hearte to some other place, and chose some Mistresse accordyng to thy worthynesse, and henceforth doe not sow thy Paynes in a Soyle so barrayne whereof thou reapest no Fruycte: the tyme approcheth when al the Dames of the Cyty shal assemble, where thou mayst behold sutch one as shall make thee forget thy former gryefs.” Thys younge Gentleman attentyuely hearyng all the persuadyng reasons of hys fryend, began somewhat to moderate that heate and to acknowledge all the exhortatyons which hee had made to be directed to good purpose: and then determined to put them in proofe, and to be present indifferently at al the feasts and assemblies of the City, without bearing affection more to one Woman than to an other: and continued in thys manner of Lyfe, II. or III. monthes, thinking by that meanes to quench the sparks of auncient flames. It chaunced then within few dayes after, about the feast of Chrystmasse, when feasts and bankets most commonly be vsed, and maskes accordinge to the custome frequented, that Anthonie Capellet being the Chief of that Familye, and one of the principall Lords of the City too, made a banket, and for the better Solempnization thereof, inuited all the Noble men and dames, to which Feast resorted the most part of the youth of Verona. The family of the Capellets (as we haue declared in the beginninge of thys Hystory) was at variance with the Montesches, which was the cause that none of that family repaired to that Banket, but onelye the yong Gentleman Rhomeo, who came in a maske after supper with certaine other yong Gentlemen: and after they had remained a certayne space with their visards on, at length they did put of the same, and Rhomeo very shamefast, withdrew himself into a Corner of the Hall: but by reason of the