Mell. Much deferved on his part, and equally remembered by Don Pedro: He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age; doing, in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion: he hath, indeed, better better'd expectation, than you must expect of me to tell you how. Leon. He hath an uncle here in Meffina will be very much glad of it. Me. I have already delivered him letters, and there appears much joy in him; even fo much, that joy could not fhew itself modeft enough, without a badge of bitterness. Leon. Did he break out into tears? There are no Leon. A kind overflow of kindness. faces truer than those that are so wash'd. How much better is it to weep at joy, than to joy at weeping! Beat. I pray you, is fignior Montanto return'd from the wars, or no? joy could not fhew itself modest enough, without a badge of bitterness.] This is judiciously exprefs'd. Of all the tranf ports of joy, that which is attended with tears is leaft offenfive; becaufe carrying with it this mark of pain, it allays the envy that ufually attends another's happiness. This he finely calls a modeft joy, fuch a one as did not infult the observer by an indication of happiness unmixed with pain. WARBURTON. This is an idea which Shakespeare feems to have been delighted to exprefs. It occurs again in Macbeth. 3 -no faces truer] That is, none bonefter, none more fincere. JOHNSON. • -is Signior Montanto return'd-] Montante, in Spanish, is a buge two-handed fword, given, with much humour, to one, the fpeaker would reprefent as a boafter or bravado. WARBURTON. Mel Mell. I know none of that name, lady; there was none fuch in the army of any fort. Leon. What is he that you afk for, niece? Hero. My coufin means fignior Benedick of Padua. Meff. O, he's return'd; and as pleasant as ever he was. Beat. He fet up his bills here in Melina, and challenged Cupid' at the flight: and my uncle's fool, reading the challenge, fubfcrib'd for Cupid, and chal 5-there was none fuch in the army of any fort.] Not meaning there was none fuch of any order or degree whatever, but that there was none fuch of any quality above the common. WARBURTON. He fet up his bills, &c.] In B. Jonfon's Every Man out of his Humour, Shift fays, << This is rare, I have set up my bills without discovery." Beatrice means, that Benedick published a general challenge, like a prize-fighter. STEEVENS. 7 challeng'd Cupid at the flight ;] The difufe of the bow makes this paffage obfcure. Benedick is reprefented as challenging Cupid at archery. To challenge at the flight is, I believe, to wager who fhall shoot the arrow furtheft without any particular mark. To challenge at the bird-bolt, feems to mean the fame as to challenge at children's archery, with fmall arrows fuch as are discharged at birds. In Twelfth Night Lady Olivia oppofes a bird-bolt to a cannon-bullet, the lighteft to the heaviest of miffive weapons. JOHNSON. The bird-bolt is a fhort thick arrow without point, and spreading at the extremity fo much, as to leave a flat furface, about the breadth of a fhilling. Such are to this day in ufe to kill rooks with, and are shot from a cross-bow. So in Marlton's What You Will, 1607: -ignorance fhould fhoot "His grofs-knob'd bird-bolt. To challenge at the flight was a challenge to fhoot with an arTow. Flight means only an arrow, as may be proved from the following lines in Beaumont and Fletcher's Bonduca : -not the quick rack fwifter The virgin from the hated ravisher Not half fo fearful: not a flight drawn home, A round ftone from a fling.— STEEVENS. lenged lenged him at the bird-bolt.-I pray you, how many hath he kill'd and eaten in thefe wars? But how many hath he kill'd? for, indeed, I promis'd to eat all of his killing. Leon. Faith, niece, you tax fignior Benedick too much; but he'll be meet with you, I doubt it not. Meff. He hath done good fervice, lady, in these wars. Beat. You had mufty victuals, and he hath holp to eat it he's a very valiant trencher-man, he hath an excellent ftomach. Melf. And a good foldier too, lady. Beat. And a good foldier to a lady? But what is he to a lord? Meff. A lord to a lord, a man to a man; stuft with all honourable virtues. Beat. It is fo, indeed: he is no lefs than a stuff'd man: but for the ftuffing,-well, we are all mortal.. Leon. You must not, fir, mistake my niece: there is a kind of merry war betwixt fignior Benedick and her; they never meet, but there's a fkirmish of wit between them. Beat. Alas, he gets conflict, four of his nothing by that. In our laft five wits went halting off, and now he'll be meet with you.] This is a very common expreffion in the midland counties, and fignifies b.'ll be your match, be'll be even with you. So in TEXNOTAMIA by B. Holiday, 1618. "Go meet her, or else fhall be meet with me." STEEVENS. -four of his five wits- -] In our author's time wit was the general term for intellectual powers. So Davies on the Soul. Wit, feeking truth from caufe to cause afcendi, Will, feeking good, finds many middle ends, And now is the whole man govern'd with one: fo that if he have wit enough to keep himself warm, let him bear it for a difference between himself and his horfe for it is all the wealth that he hath left, to be known a reasonable creature. Who is his companion now? he hath a every month a new fworn brother. Meff. Is it poffible? 2 Beat. Very eafily poffible: he wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it ever changes with the next block. 3 Mell. I fee, lady, the gentleman is not in your. books. And in another part, But if a phrenzy do pofefs the brain, Beat. The wits feem to have reckoned five, by analogy to the five fenfes, or the five inlets of ideas. JOHNSON. wit enough to keep himself WARM,] But how would that make a difference between him and his horfe? We fhould read, Wit enough to kep bimfelf FROM HARM. This fuits the fatirical turn of her, fpeech, in the character fhe would give of Benedick; and this would make the difference spoken of. For 'tis the nature of horses, when wounded, to run upon the point of the weapon. WARBURTON. Such a one has wit enough to keep himflf warm, is a proverbial expreffion, and there is furely no need of change. An attempt to refute the reafoning of the note would be lofs of time and labour. To bear any thing for a difference is a term in heraldry. STEEVENS. be wears his faith-] Not religious profeffion, but profeffion of friendship; for the speaker gives it as the reason of her afking, who was now his companion? that he bad every month a new fworn brother. WARBURTON. 3 with the next block.] A block is the mould on which hat is formed. The old writers fometimes ufe the word for the hat itself. 4 STEEVENS. -the gentleman is not in your books.] This is a phrafe ufed, I believe, by more than understand it. To be in one's books Beat. No:: an he were, I would burn my study. But, I pray you, who is his companion? Is there no young fquarer now, that will make a voyage with him to the devil? Mell. He is most in the company of the right noble Claudio.. Beat. O lord! He will hang upon him like a disease: he is fooner caught than the peftilence, and the taker runs prefently mad. God help the noble Claudio! if he have caught the Benedick, it will coft him a thousand pounds ere he be cur'd. Meff. I will hold friends with you, lady. Beat. Do, good friend. Leon. You'll ne'er run mad, niece. Beat. No, not 'till a hot January. Me. Don Pedro is approach'd. Enter Don Pedro, Claudio, Benedick, Balthazar, and Don John. Pedro, Good Signior Leonato, you are come to is to be in one's codicils or will, to be among friends fet down for legacies. JOHNSON. I rather think that the books alluded to, are memorandum-books, like the vifiting-books of the prefent age. Such another expreffion occurs in Middleton's Comedy of Blurt Mafter Conftable, 1602. "I'd fcratch her eyes out, if my man flood in her tables.” Again, in Shirley's School of Compliment, 1637. There's a man in her tables more than I look'd for. Hamlet fays, -My tables, meet it is I fet it down—” when he pulls out his pocket-beok. Probably the phrafe was originally adopted from the tradefman's language. To be in tradefman's books, might formerly have been an expreffion in common converfation for a truft of any other kind. STEEVENS. 5 young fquaver-] A Squarer I take to be a cholerick, quarrelfome fellow, for in this fenfe Shakespeare ufes the word to Square. So in Midfummer Night's Dream it is faid of Oberon and Titania, that they never meet but they fquare. So the fenfe may be, Is there no hot-blooded youth that will keep him company through all bis mad pranks? JOHNSON. meet |