Bene. How now! Interjections? Why, then fome be of laughing, as, ha, ha, he' Claud. Stand thee by, friar: Father, by your leave; Will you with free and unconstrained foul Give me this maid your daughter? Leon. As freely, fon, as God did give her me. Claud. And what have I to give you back, whofe worth May counterpoife this rich and precious gift? There, Leonato, take her back again; Give not this rotten orange to your friend; Comes not that blood, as modeft evidence, Leen. What do you mean, my lord? Not knit my foul to an approved wanton. 3 Leon, Dear my lord, if you in your own approof + Have fome be of laughing,] This is a quotation from the Accidence. -luxurious bed :] That is, lafcivious. confeffor's term for unlawful pleafures of the fex. JOHNSON. Luxury is the JOHNSON. + Dear my lord, if you in your own proof] I am furpriz'd the poetical editors did not obferve the lameness of this verfe. It evidently wants a fyllable in the laft foot, which I have restored by a word, which, I prefume, the first editors might hesitate at; tho' it is a very proper one, and a word elsewhere ufed by our author. Befides, Have vanquish'd the refiftance of her youth, And made defeat of her virginity Claud. I know what you would say; If I have known her, You'll fay, fhe did embrace me as a husband, No, Leonato, I never tempted her with word too large; 5 Bafhful fincerity, and comely love. Hero And feem'd I ever otherwise to you? Claud. Out on thy feeming! I will write against it : ° You feem to me as Dian in her orb; As chafte as is the budere it be blown; But you are more intemperate in your blood. Hero. Is my lord well, that he doth speak fo wide? I ftand dishonour'd, that have gone about Befides, in the paffage under examination, this word comes in almost neceffarily, as Claudio had faid in the line immediately precceding; Not knit my foul to an approved wanton. THEOBALD. -word 100 large;] So he ufes large jefs in this play, for licentious, not reftrained within due bounds. JOHNSON. 6 -I will write against it :] What? a libel? nonsense We should read, I will rate against it: i. e. rail or revile. WARBURTON. As to fubfcribe to any thing is to allow it, fo to write against is to difallow or deny. JOHNSON. 7 chafte as is the bud -] Before the air has tasted is fweetness. JOHNSON, Leon. Leon. Are these things fpoken, or do I but dream? John. Sir, they are spoken, and these things are true. Bene. This looks not like a nuptial. Hero. True, O God! Claud. Leonato, ftand I here? Is this the prince? Is this the prince's brother? Leon. All this is fo; But what of this, my lord? Claud. Let me but move one queftion to your daughter, And, by that fatherly and kindly power That you have in her, bid her answer truly. Claud. To make you answer truly to your name, Hero. Is it not Hero? Who can blot that name With any juft reproach? Claud. Marry, that can Hero; Hero herself can blot out Hero's virtue. Hero. I talk'd with no man at that hour, my lord. -kindly power] That is, natural power. Kindis nature. JOHNSON. 9-liberal villain,] Liberal here, as in many places of the fe plays, means, frank beyond bonefly or decency. Free of tongue. Dr. Warburton unneceffarily reads, illiberal. JOHNSON. Con Confefs'd the vile encounters they have had A thousand times in fecret. John. Fie, fie! they are not to be nam'd, my lord, Not to be spoke of; There is not chastity enough in language, Without offence, to utter them: Thus, pretty lady, I am forry for thy much mifgovernment. Claud. O Hero! what a Hero hadft thou been,' If half thy outward graces had been plac'd About the thoughts and counfels of thy heart! But, fare thee well, most foul, most fair! farewel, Thou pure impiety, and impious purity! For thee I'll lock up all the gates of love, And on my eye-lids fhall conjecture hang, To turn all beauty into thoughts of harm; And never fhall it more be gracious. Leon. Hath no man's dagger here a point for me? Beat. Why, how now, coufin, wherefore fink you down? John. Come, let us go: these things, come thus to light, Smother her fpirits up. [Exeunt Don Pedro, Don John, and Claudio. Bene. How doth the lady? Beat. Dead, I think; Help, uncle ; Hero! why, Hero! uncle! fignior Benedick! friar! Leon. O fate! take not away thy heavy hand! Death is the fairest cover for her shame, That may be wish'd for. 1 Beat. How now, coufin Hero? Friar. Have comfort, lady. Leon. Doft thou look up ? Friar. Yea; Wherefore fhould she not? -what a Hero had'st thou been,] I am afraid here is in tended a poor conceit upon the word Hero. JOHNSON. Leon. 300 Leon. Wherefore? Why, doth not every earthly thing Cry fhame upon her? Could fhe here deny 2 The ftory that is printed in ber blood?] That is, the fiery which ber blushes difcover to be true. JOHNSON. The meaning of the fecond line, according to the prefent reading is this, Chid I at frugal nature that jhe fent me a girl and not a boy? But this is not what he chid nature for; if he himself may be believed, it was becaufe the had given him but one: and in that he owns he did foolishly, for he now finds he had one too much. He called her frugal, therefore, in giving him but one child. (For to call her fo because the chofe to fend a girl rather than a boy would be ridiculous.) So that we must certainly read, Chid I for this at frugal nature's 'fraine? i. e. refraine, or keeping back her further favours, stopping her band, as we fay, when she had given him one. But the Oxford editor has, in his ufual way, improved this amendment by fubstituting band for 'fraine. WARBURTON. Though frame be not the word which appears to a reader of the prefent time moft proper to exhibit the poet's fentiment, yet it may as well be used to fhew that he had one child, and no more, as that he had a girl, not a boy, and as it may eafily fignify the fyftem of things, or univerfal fehem, the whole order of beings is comprehended, there arifes no difficulty from it which requires to be removed by fo violent an effort as the introduction of a new word offenfively mutilated. JOHNSON. Took |