Enter Eglamour
EGLAMOUR This is the hour that Madam Silvia
Entreated me to call, and know her mind.
There’s some great matter she’d employ me in.
Madam, Madam!
[Enter Silvia, above]
SILVIA Who calls?
EGLAMOUR Your servant, and your friend.
One that attends your ladyship’s command.
SILVIA Sir Eglamour, a thousand times good morrow.
EGLAMOUR As many, worthy lady, to yourself.
According to your ladyship’s impose
I am thus early come, to know what service
It is your pleasure to command me in. (4.3.1-10)
New scene, who dis? Eglamour, not one of the most rewarding roles in the canon, it has to be said. But Silvia’s hidden depths—or perhaps her contradictions as a character—are about to be revealed. She’s got a plan afoot already! And Eglamour—his name aligning him with the knights of courtly romance—has come at her command: this is the hour that Madam Silvia entreated me to call, and know her mind. He doesn’t know any more than that, however: there’s some great matter she’d employ me in. She’s got a big job for me to do! Exciting! Madam, madam!
(If the action is continuous then Silvia has had no sleep. Shakespeare’s plays are full of sleep-deprived young people making bad choices. In performance, though, it probably passes unremarked, and light and sound—a dawn chorus—can indicate the passage of at least some time.) Who calls? It’s still dark enough for Silvia not to be able to see—and also, she needs to make sure that it’s not bloody Proteus back again, for another go. Or Thurio, come to that. Your servant and your friend. One that attends your ladyship’s command. Polite, courteous, and there by invitation; that’s a relief. Sir Eglamour, a thousand times good morrow; fulsome, but not informal—and echoing Valentine’s greeting to her in 2.1. Eglamour’s not going to overstep any bounds of propriety: as many, worthy lady, to yourself—equal, just as his name suggests. All present and correct. And, according to your ladyship’s impose—just as you commanded me to—I am thus early come, to know what service it is your pleasure to command me in. Awaiting orders, ma’am! The contrast with Proteus’s creepy neediness and entitlement is acute, although Eglamour can also add a different kind of masculine romantic ridiculousness to the play.