Bora. Be thou conftant in the accufation, and my cunning shall not shame me.

John. I will presently go learn their day of mar

riage.

SCENE III.

LEONATO's

Bene. Boy,

[Exeunt.

ORCHARD.

Enter Benedick and a Boy.

Boy. Signior.

Bene. In my chamber-window lies a book; bring it hither to me in the orchard.

Boy. I am here already, fir.

Bene. I know that ;-but I would have thee hence, and here again. [Exit Boy.]--I do much wonder, that one man, feeing how much another man is a fool, when he dedicates his behaviours to love, will, after he hath laugh'd at fuch fhallow follies in others, become the argument of his own fcorn, by falling in love and fuch a man is Claudio. I have known, when there was no mufick with him but the drum and the fife; and now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe: I have known, when he would have walk'd ten mile afoot, to fee a good armour; and now will he lie ten nights awake, carving the fashion of a new doublet. He was wont to speak plain, and to the purpose, like an honeft man, and a foldier; and now is he turn'd orthographer; his words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes. May I be fo converted, and fee with thefe eyes? I cannot tell; I think not.-I will not be fworn, but love may transform me to an oyfter; but I'll take my oath on it, till he have made an oyster of me, he fhall never make me fuch a fool. One woman is fair; yet I am well another is wife; yet I am well; ano

ther

ther virtuous; yet I am well: But till all graces be in one woman, one woman fhall not come in my grace. Rich fhe fhall be, that's certain; wife, or I'l none; virtuous, or I'll never cheapen her; fair, or I'll never look on her; mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I for an angel: of good difcourse, an excellent musician, and her hair fhall be of what colour it please God. Ha! the prince and monfieur Love! I will hide me in the arbour. [Withdraws.

Enter Don Pedro, Leonato, Claudio, and Balthazar.

Pedro. Come, fhall we hear this mufick? Claud. Yea, my good lord :-How ftill the evening is,

As hufh'd on purpose to grace harmony!

Pedro. See you where Benedick hath hid himself? Claud. O very well, my lord: the mufick ended, We'll fit the kid-fox with a penny-worth.

Pedro. Come, Balthazar, we'll hear that fong again, Balth. O good my lord, tax not fo bad a voice To flander mufick any more than once.

Pedro. See you where Benedick hath bid himself?

Claudio. Very well, my lord; the mufick ended, we'll fit the kidfox with a pennyworth.] i. e. we will be even with the fox now difcovered. So the word kid, or kidde, fignifies in Chaucer,

"The fothfaftness that now is hid,
"Without coverture shall be kid
"When I undoen have this dreming."

Romaunt of the Rofe, 2171, &c.

"Perceiv'd or fhew'd.

"He kidde anon his bone was not broken."
Troilus and Creffeide, lib. i. 208.

"With that anon fterte out daungere,
"Out of the place where he was hidde,
"His malice in his cheere was kidde.”

Romaunt of the Rofe, 2130.

GRAY.

Pedro. It is the witnefs ftill of excellency, To put a strange face on his own perfection : pray thee, fing, and let me woo no more.

Balth. Becaufe you talk of wooing, I will fing
Since many a wooer doth commence his fuit
To her he thinks not worthy; yet he wooes;
Yet will he swear, he loves.

Pedro. Nay, pray thee, come:

Or if thou wilt hold longer argument,
Do it in notes.

Balth. Note this before my notes,

There's not a note of mine, that's worth the noting. Pedro. Why thefe are very crotchets that he speaks; Note, notes, forfooth, and noting!

Bene. Now, divine air! now is his foul ravifh'd!Is it not strange, that fheeps guts fhould hale fouls out of men's bodies?-Well, a horn for my money, when all's done.

The SON G.

Sigh no more, ladies, figh no more,
Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in fea, and one on shore,
To one thing constant never :
Then figh not fo, but let them go,
And be you blith and bonny;
Converting all your founds of woe
Into, Hey nonny, nonny.

Sing no more ditties, fing no mo
Of dumps fo dull and heavy;
The frauds of men were ever so,
Since fummer first was leavy.
Then figh not fo, &c.

Pedro. By my troth, a good fong.

Balth.

Balth. And an ill finger, my lord. Pedro. Ha! no; no, faith; thou enough for a shift.

thou fing'st well

Bene. [Afide.] An he had been a dog, that should have howl'd thus, they would have hang'd him: and, I pray God, his bad voice bode no mifchief! I had as lief have heard the night raven, come what plague could have come, after it.

I

Pedro. Yea, marry;-Doft thou hear, Balthazar ? pray thee, get us fome excellent mufick; for tomorrow night we would have it at the lady Hero's chamber-window.

Balth. The best I can, my lord. [Exit Balthazar. Pedro. Do fo: farewell. Come hither, Leonato ; what was it you told me of to-day, that your niece Beatrice was in love with fignior Benedick?

Claud. O, ay;-Stalk on, ftalk on, the fowl fits. [Afide to Pedro.] I did never think that lady would have loved any man.

Leon. No, nor I neither; but most wonderful, that the fhould fo doat on fignior Benedick, whom fhe hath in all outward behaviours feem'd ever to abhor.

Bene. Is't poffible? fits the wind in that corner?

[Afide. Leon. By my troth, my lord, I cannot tell what to think of it: 7 but, that fhe loves him, with an enraged affection, it is past the infinite of thought.

Pedro.

but that he loves him with an enraged affection, it is poft. the infinite of thought.] It is impoffible to make fenfe and grammar of this fpeech. And the reafon is, that the two beginnings of two different fentences are jumbled together and made one. Forbut that he loves him with an inraged affection-is only part of a fentence which should conclude thus, -is moft certain. But a new idea ftriking the fpeaker, he leaves this fentence unfinished, and turns to another,It is past the infinite of thought-which is likewife left unfinished; for it should conclude thus-to say how great

that

Pedro. May be, fhe doth but counterfeit.

Claud. Faith, like enough.

Leon. O God! counterfeit! there never was coun terfeit of paffion came fo near the life of paffion, as she discovers it.

Pedro. Why, what effects of passion fhews fhe? Claud. Bait the hook well; this fifh will bite.

[Afide. Leon. What effects, my lord? fhe will fit you,You heard my daughter tell you how.

Claud. She did, indeed.

Pedro. How, how, I pray you? You amaze me: I would have thought her spirit had been invincible against all affaults of affection.

Leon. I would have fworn, it had my lord; efpecially against Benedick,

Bene. [Afide.] I should think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow fpeaks it: knavery cannot, fure, hide himself in fuch reverence.

that affection is. Thefe broken disjointed fentences are ufual in converfation. However there is one word wrong, which yet perplexes the fenfe, and that is infinite. Human thought cannot furely be called infinite with any kind of figurative propriety. I fuppofe the true reading was definite. This makes the paffage intelligible. It is past the definite of thought-i. e. it cannot be defined or conceived how great that affection is. Shakespeare uses the word again in the fame fenfe in Cymbeline.

For idiots, in this cafe of favour, would

Be wifely definite.

i. e. could tell how to pronounce or determine in the case.

WARBURTON.

Here are difficulties raised only to fhew how eafily they can be removed. The plain fenfe is, I know not what to think otherwise, but that he loves him with an enraged affection. It (this affection) is paft the infinite of thought. Here are no abrupt ftops, or im perfect fentences. Infinite may well enough ftand; it is ufed by more careful writers for indefinite and the fpeaker only means, that thought, though in itself unbounded, cannot reach or estimate the degree of her paffion. JOHNSON.

Claud