I Watch. And that count Claudio did mean, upon his words, to difgrace Hero before the whole affembly, and not marry her.

To. Cl. O villain! thou wilt be condemn'd into everlasting redemption for this. Sexton. What else?

2 Watch. This is all.

Sexton. And this is more, mafters, than you can deny. Prince John is this morning fecretly ftolen away Hero was in this manner accus'd, and in this very manner refus'd, and upon the grief of this, fuddenly dy'd. Mafter conftable, let these men be bound and brought to Leonato's; I will go before, and fhew him their examination.

Dogb. Come, let them be opinion'd.
Sexton. Let them be in hand."

[Exit.

Conr.

the

Sexton. Let them be in the hands of coxcomb.] So the editions. Mr. Theobald gives the words to Conrade, and fays, But why the Sexton fhould be fo pert upon his brother officers, there feems no reafon from any fuperior qualifications in him; or any fufpicion he fhews of knowing their ignorance. This is ftrange. The Sexton throughout fhews as good fente in their examination as any judge upon bench could do. And as to his fufpicion of their ignorance, he tells the Town-Clerk That he goes not the way to examine. The meannefs of his name hindered our editor from feeing the goodness of his fenfe. But this Sexton was an ecclefiaftic of one of the inferior orders called the sacriftan, and not a brother officer, as the editor calls him. I fuppofe the book from whence the poet took his subject was fome old English novel tranflated from the Italian, where the word fagriftano was rendered fexton. As in Fairfax's Godfrey of Boulogne ;

When Phabus next unclos'd his wakeful eye,

Up rofe the Sexton of that place prophane.

The paffage then in question is to be read thus,

Sexton. Let them be in band.

Conr. Off, coxcomb! ·

[Exit.

Dogberry would have them pinion'd. The Sexton fays, it was fufficient if they were kept in fafe cuftody, and then goes out.

X4

When

Conr. Off, coxcomb.

Dogb. God's my life, where's the fexton? let him write down the prince's officer, coxcomb. Come, bind them: Thou naughty varlet!

Conr. Away! you are an afs, you are an ass.—

Dogb. Doft thou not fufpect my place? Doft thou not fufpect my years? O that he were here to write me down an afs! but, mafters, remember, that I am an afs; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an afs: No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as fhall be proved upon thee by good witness. I am a wife fellow, and which is more, an officer; and which is more, an houfholder; and which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any is in Meffina, and one that knows the law; go to, and a rich fellow enough; go to, and a fellow that hath had loffes; and one that hath two gowns, and every thing handsome about him: Bring him away. O, that I had been writ down an ass,— [Exeunt.

When one of the watchmen comes up to bind them, Conrade fays, Qff, coxcomb! as he fays afterwards to the conftable, Away! you are an afs. But the editor adds, The old quarto gave me the first umbrage for placing it to Conrade. What these words mean I don't know: but I fufpect the old quarto divides the paffage as I have done. WARBURTON.

Dr. Warburton's affertion, as to dignity of a fexton or facriftan, may be fupported by the following paffage in Stanyhurst's Verfion of the fourth book of the Eneid, where he calls the Maffylian prieftefs,

in foil Maffyla begotten, Sexten of Hefperides finagog.'

STEEVENS.

Let them be in band. This must be wrong, for the Sexton has jeft the flage. Perhaps we fhould read thus.

Verges. Let them. Bind their bands.

Conr. Off, coxcomb!

T. T.

There is nothing in the old quarto different in this fcene from the common copies, except that the names of two actors, Kempe and Cowley, are placed at the beginning of the fpeeches, inftead of the proper words. JOHNSON.

ACT

ACT V. SCENE I.

Before Leonato's Houfe.

Enter Leonato and Antonio.

ANTONIO.

F you go on thus, you will kill yourself;
And 'tis not wisdom, thus, to fecond grief
Against your self.

Leon. I pray thee, ceafe thy counsel,
Which falls into mine ears as profitless
As water in a fieve: give not me counsel,
Nor let no comforter delight mine ear,
But fuch a one whose wrongs do fuit with mine.
Bring me a father, that fo lov'd his child,
Whose joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine,
And bid him speak of patience;

Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine,
And let it answer every ftrain for strain ;
As thus for thus, and fuch a grief for fuch,
In every lineament, branch, fhape, and form:
If fuch a one will smile and stroke his beard; 7
And, forrow wag! cry; hem, when he should groan;

Patch

7 If such a one will smile, and ftroke his beard, And hallow, wag, cry hem, when he should groan ;] Mr. Rowe is the firft authority that I can find for this reading. But what is the intention, or how can we expound it? "If a man "will balloo, and whoop, and fidget, and wriggle about, to fhew a "pleasure when he fhould groan," &c. This does not give much decorum to the fentiment. The old quarto, and the first and second folio editions all read,

And forrow, wagge, cry hem, &c.

We don't, indeed, get much by this reading; tho', I flatter myself, by a flight alteration it has led me to the true one,

And

Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune drunk
With candle-wafters; bring him yet to me,
And I of him will gather patience.

But there is no fuch man: For, brother, men
Can counfel, and give comfort to that grief
Which they themselves not feel; but, tafting it,
Their counsel turns to paffion, which before
Would give preceptial medicine to rage;
Fetter ftrong madness in a filken thread;
Charm ach with air, and agony with words.
No, no; 'tis all men's office to speak patience
To thofe, that wring under the load of forrow;
But no man's virtue, nor fufficiency,

To be fo moral, when he shall endure

The like himself: therefore give me no counsel;
My griefs cry louder than advertisement.

Ant. Therein do men from children nothing differ.
Leon. I pray thee, peace; I will be flesh and blood;

And forrow wage, cry, hem! when he should groan;

i. e. If fuch a one will combat with, ftrive against forrow, &c. Nor is this word infrequent with our author in thefe fignifications. THEOBALD.

Sir Thomas Hanmer, and after him Dr. Warburton, for wag read waive, which is, I fuppofe, the fame as, put afide, or shift off None of thefe conjectures fatisfy me, nor perhaps any other reader. I cannot but think the true meaning nearer than it is imagined. I point thus,

If fuch an one will smile, and ftroke his beard,

And, forrow wag! cry; hem, when be should groan ; That is, If he will smile, and cry forrow be gone, and hem inftead of groaning. The order in which and and cry are placed is harth, and this harshness made the fenfe mistaken. Range the words in the common order, and my reading will be free from all difficulty.

If fuch an one will smile, and ftroke his beard,
Cry, forrow, wag! and bem when he should groan.

JOHNSON. than advertisement.] That is, than admonition, than moral inftruation. JOHNSON.

For

For there was never yet philofopher,
That could endure the tooth-ach patiently;
However they have writ the ftyle of Gods,"
And made a pifh at chance and sufferance.'
Ant. Yet bend not all the harm upon yourself:
Make thofe that do offend you fuffer too.

Leon. There thou speak'st reason: nay, I will do fo.

My foul doth tell me, Hero is bely'd;

And that shall Claudio know, fo fhall the prince; And all of them, that thus dishonour her.

Enter Don Pedro and Claudio.

Ant. Here comes the prince and Claudio haftily. Pedro, Good den, good den.

Claud. Good day to both of you.

Leon. Hear you, my lords?

Pedro. We have fome hafte, Leonato.

Leon. Some hafte, my lord! well, fare you well, my lord.

Are you so hasty now? well, all is one.

Pedro. Nay, do not quarrel with us, good old

man.

Ant. If he could right himfelf with quarrelling, Some of us would lye low.

Claud. Who wrongs him?

Leon. Marry, thou doft wrong me, thou diffembler, thou!

Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy fword,

I fear thee not.

9 However they have writ the ftyle of Gods.] This alludes to the extravagant titles the Stoics gave their wife men. Sapiens ille cum Diis ex pare vivit. Senec. Ep 59. Jupiter quo antecedit virum bonum? diutius bonus eft. Sapiens nihilo fe minoris æftimat.-Deus non vincit fapientem felicitate. Ep. 73. WARBURTON.

1 And made a pish at chance and fufferance.] Alludes to their famous apathy. WARBURTON.

2

Claud.