Pedro. Thou waft ever an obftinate heretick in the defpight of beauty.

2

Claud. And never could maintain his part, but in the force of his will.

Bene. That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that he brought me up, I likewife give her moft humble thanks: but that I will have a recheate winded in my forehead, or hang my bugle in an invifible baldrick, all women fhall pardon me. Becaufe I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any, I will do my felf the right to truft none; and the fine is, (for the which I may go the finer) I will live a batchelor.

Pedro. I fhall fee thee, ere I die, look pale with love.

Bene. With anger, with fickness, or with hunger, my lord; not with love: prove, that ever I lofe more blood with love, than I will get again with drinking, pick out mine eyes with a balladmaker's pen, and hang me up at the door of a brothel-houfe for the fign of blind Cupid.

Pedro. Well, if ever thou doft fall from this faith, thou wilt prove a notable argument.

2

4

Bene. If I do, hang me in a bottle like a cat,' and

shoot

but in the force of his will.] Alluding to the definition of a heretick in the fchools.

WARBURTON.

3 but that I will have a recheate winded in my forehead,] That is, I will wear a born on my forehead which the buntsman may blow. A recheate is the found by which dogs are called back. Shakespeare had no mercy upon the poor cuckold, his horn is an inexhaustible fubject of merriment. JOHNSON..

A recheate is a particular leffon upon the horn, to call dogs back from the fcent: from the old French word recet, which was used in the fame fenie as retraite... HANMER.

4 notable argument.] An eminent fubject for fatire. JOHNSON. 3 in a bottle like a cat As to the cat and bottle, I can procure no better information than the following, which does not exactly fuit with the text.

fhoot at me; and he that hits me, let him be clapt on the shoulder, and call'd° Adam.

· Pedro. Well, as time fhall try: In time the favage bull doth bear the yoke."

Bene. The favage bull may; but if ever the fenfible Benedick bear it, pluck off the bull's-horns, and fet them in my forehead, and let me be vilely painted; and in fuch great letters as they write, Here is good berfe to bire, let them fignify under my fign, Here you may fee Benedick the marry'd man.

Claud. If this fhould ever happen, thou would'st be horn-mad.

3

I

Pedro. Nay, if Cupid hath not spent all his quiver in Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly.

Bene.

In fome counties of England, a cat was formerly clofed up with a quantity of foot in a wooden bottle, (fuch as that in which shepherds carry their liquor) and was fufpended on a line. He who beat out the bottom as he ran under it, and was nimble enough to efcape its contents, was regarded as the hero of this inhuman diverfion. STEEVENS.

5 and he that hits me, let him be clap'd on the shoulder, and `call'd Adam.] But why should he therefore be called Adam? Perhaps, by a quotation or two we may be able to trace the poet's allufion here. In Law-Tricks, or, Who would have thought it, (a comedy written by John Day, and printed in 1608) I find this fpeech. Adam Bell, a fubftantial outlaw, and a paffing good archer, yet no tobacconist.-By this it appears, that Adam Bell at that time of day was of reputation for his skill at the bow. I find him again mentioned in a burlefque poem of fir William Davenant's, called, The long Vacation in London. THEOBALD.

Adam Bell was a companion of Robin Hood, as may be seen in Robin Hood's Garland; in which, if I do not mistake, are thefe lines,

For he brought Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough,
And William of Cloudella,

To fhoot with this forefter for forty marks,

And the forefter beat them all three. JOHNSON.

In time the favage bull doth bear the yoke.] This line is taken from the Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronymo, &c. 1605. STEEVENS. 3 if Cupid bath not spent all his quiver in Venice,] All modern writers agree in reprefenting Venice in the fame light as the ancients

Bene. I look for an earthquake too then.

Pedro. Well, you will temporize with the hours. In the mean time, good fignior Benedick, repair to Leonato's; commend me to him, and tell him, I will not fail him at fupper; for, indeed, he hath made great preparation.

Bene. I have almoft matter enough in me for fuch an embaffage; and fo I commit you

Claud. To the tuition of God: From my house, if I had it,

Pedro. The fixth of July; your loving friend, Benedick.

Bene. Nay, mock not, mock not: The body of your difcourfe is fometime guarded with fragments, and the guards are but flightly bafted on neither: ere you flout old ends any further, examine your confcience; and fo I leave you.

[Exit. Claud. My liege, your highness now may do me

good.

Pedro. My love is thine to teach; teach it but how, And thou fhalt fee how apt it is to learn

Any hard leffon that may do thee good.

Claud. Hath Leonato any fon, my lord?

Pedro. No child but Hero, fhe's his only heir; Doft thou affect her Claudio?

Claud. O my lord,

When you went onward on this ended action,
I look'd upon her with a foldier's eye,
That lik'd, but had a rougher task in hand
Than to drive liking to the name of love:

did Cyprus. And 'tis this character of the people that is here alluded to. WARBURTON.

4 ere you flout old ends, &c.] Before you endeavour to diftinguish yourself any more by antiquated allufions, examine whether you can fairly claim them for your own. This, I think is the meaning; or it may be underfood in another fenfe, examint, if your farcafms de not touch yourfeif. JOHNSON.

But

But now I am return'd, and that war-thoughts
Have left their places vacant, in their rooms
Come thronging foft and delicate delicate defires,
All prompting me how fair young Hero is,
Saying, I lik'd her ere I went to wars.

Pedro. Thou wilt be like a lover presently,
And tire the hearer with a book of words.
If thou doft love fair Hero, cherish it;

And I will break with her, and with her father,
And thou fhalt have her. Was't not to this end,
That thou began'ft to twist so fine a story?
Claud. How fweetly do you minifter to love,
That know love's grief by his complection !
But left my liking might too fudden feem,
I would have falv'd it with a longer treatise.
Pedro. What need the bridge much broader than
the flood?

'The faireft grant is the neceffity.

Look, what will ferve, is fit: 'tis once, thou lov'st;
And I will fit thee with the remedy.

I know, we shall have revelling to-night;
I will affume thy part in fome difguife,
And tell fair Hero I am Claudio;
And in her bofom I'll unclafp my heart,
And take her hearing prifoner with the force
And strong encounter of my amorous tale:
Then, after, to her father will I break;
And the conclufion is, fhe fhall be thine:
In practice let us put it prefently.

[Exeunt.

The fairest grant is the neceffity.] i. e, no one can have a better reafon for granting a request than the neceffity of its being granted. WARBURTON.

SCENE

SCENE II.

A Room in Leonato's Houfe.

Enter Leonato and Antonio.

Leo. How now, brother? Where is my coufin your fon? Hath he provided this mufick?

Ant. He is very busy about it. But, brother, I can tell you news that you yet dream'd not of.

Leon. Are they good?

Ant. As the event ftamps them; but they have a good cover, they fhow well outward. The prince and count Claudio, walking in a thick-pleached alley in mine orchard, were thus over-heard by a man of mine: The prince difcover'd to Claudio, that he lov'd my niece your daughter, and meant to acknowledge it this evening in a dance; and, if he found her accordant, he meant to take the present time by the top, and instantly break with you of it.

Leon. Hath the fellow any wit that told you this? Ant. A good fharp fellow; I will fend for him, and question him yourself.

Leon. No, no, we will hold it as a dream, till it appear itself. But I will acquaint my daughter withal, that she may be the better prepared for an anfwer, if peradventure this be true: Go you, and tell her of it. [Several Servants cross the ftage bere.] Coufin, you know what you have to do.—O, Í cry you mercy, friend; go you with me, and I will use your skill. Good coufin, have a care this bufy time.

[Exeunt.

SCENE