Against that

power that bred it: there will fhe hide
her,

To liften our purpose: This is thy office,
Bear thee well in it, and leave us alone.

Marg. I'll make her come, I warrant you presently.
[Exit.
Hero. Now, Urfula, when Beatrice doth come,
As we do trace this alley up and down,
Our talk must only be of Benedick:
When I do name him, let it be thy part
To praise him more than ever man did merit.
My talk to thee must be, how Benedick
Is fick in love with Beatrice: Of this matter
Is little Cupid's crafty arrow made,

That only wounds by hear-fay. Now begin.

Enter Beatrice, behind.

For look, where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs
Close by the ground to hear our conference.
Urf. The pleasant'ft angling is to fee the fish
Cut with her golden oars the filver ftream,
And greedily devour the treacherous bait:
So angle we for Beatrice: who even now
Is couched in the woodbine coverture:
Fear you not my part of the dialogue.

Hero. Then go we near her, that her ear lose no-
thing

Of the falfe sweet bait that we lay for it.

No, truly, Urfula, fhe is too difdainful;
I know, her fpirits are as coy and wild
As haggards of the rock.

Urf. But are you fure,

That Benedick loves Beatrice fo entirely?

Hero. So fays the prince, and my new trothed lord? Urf. And did they bid you tell her of it, madam? Hero. They did intreat me to acquaint her of it: But I perfuaded them, if they lov'd Benedick,

Το

To with him wrestle with affection,

And never to let Beatrice know of it.

Urf. Why did you fo? Doth not the gentleman Deferve as full, as fortunate a bed,

As ever Beatrice fhall couch upon?

Hero. O God of love! I know, he doth deferve
As much as may be yielded to a man:
But nature never fram'd a woman's heart
Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice :
Difdain and fcorn ride fparkling in her eyes,
3 Mifprifing what they look on; and her wit
Values itfelf fo highly, that to her

All matter elfe feems weak: fhe cannot love,
Nor take no fhape nor project of affection,
She is fo felf-endeared.

Urf. Sure, 1 think fo;

And therefore, certainly it were not good
She knew his love, left she make sport at it.

Hero. Why, you fpeak truth. I never yet faw man,
How wife, how noble, young, how rarely featur'd,
But fhe would fpell him backward: if fair-fac'd,
She'd fwear, the gentleman fhould be her fifter;
If black, why, Nature, drawing of an antick,
Made a foul blot: if tall, a lance ill-headed;
If low, an aglet very vilely cut:

3 Miftrifing] Defpifing, contemning. JoHNSON. If black, why, Nature, drawing of an antick, Made a foul blot :

If

The antick was a buffoon character in the old English farces, with a blacked face, and a patch-work hal it. What I would obferve

from hence is, that the name of antick or antique, given to this character, fhews that the people had fome traditional ideas of its being borrowed from the ancient mimes, who are thus defcribed by Apuleius, Mimi centunculo, faligine faciem obducti.

WARBURTON.

5 If low, an agat very villy cut :] But why an agat, if low? For w at likeness between a little man and an agat? The ancients, VOL. II. T

indeed,

If fpeaking, why, a vane blown with all winds;
If filent, why, a block moved with none.
So turns the every man the wrong fide out;
And never gives to truth and virtue that,
Which fimpleness and merit purchaseth.

Urf. Sure, fure, fuch carping is not commendable. Hero. No; for to be fo odd, and from all fashions, As Beatrice is, cannot be commendable.

But who dare tell her fo? If I fhould speak,
She'd mock me into air; O, fhe would laugh me
Out of myself, prefs me to death with wit.
Therefore let Benedick, like cover'd fire,
Confume away in fighs, wafte inwardly;
It were a better death than die with mocks,
Which is as bad as 'tis to die with tickling.
Urf. Yet tell her of it; hear what she will say.
Hero. No, rather I will go to Benedick,
And counfel him to fight against his passion:
And, truly, I'll devife fome honest flanders
To stain my coufin with; One doth not know,
How much an ill-word may empoifon liking.

Urf. O, do not do your coufin fuch a wrong. She cannot be fo much without true judgment, (Having fo fwift and excellent a wit,

As fhe is priz'd to have) as to refuse

indeed, used this stone to cut upon; but very exquifitely. I make no queftion but the poet wrote;

an aglet very vilely cut:

An aglet was the tag of thofe points, formerly fo much in fashion. Thefe tags were either of gold, filver, or brafs, according to the quality of the wearer; and were commonly in the fhape of little images; or at least had a head cut at the extremity. The French call them, aiguillettes. Mezeray, fpeaking of Henry IIId's forrow for the death of the princefs of Conti, fays,-portant meme fur les aiguillettes des petites tetes de Mort. And as a tall man is before compared to a lance ill-headed: fo, by the fame figure, a little man is very aptly liken'd to an aglet i-cut. WARBURTON.

So

So rare a gentleman as Benedick.
Hero. He is the only man in Italy,
Always excepted my dear Claudio.

Urf. I pray you, be not angry with me, madam, Speaking my fancy; fignior Benedick,

For fhape, for bearing, argument, and valour,
Goes foremost in report through Italy.

Hero. Indeed, he hath an excellent good name. Urf. His excellence did earn it, ere he had it.— When are you marry'd, madam?

Hero. Why, every day;

go in,

to-morrow :- Come,

I'll fhew thee fome attires; and have thy counfel
Which is the best to furnish me to-morrow.

Urf. She's lim'd, I warrant you; we have caught
her, madam.

Hero. If it prove fo, then loving goes by haps : Some Cupids kill with arrows, fome with traps.

8

Beatrice advancing.

[Exeunt,

Beat. What fire is in my ears? Can this be true? Stand I condemn'd for pride and scorn fo much? Contempt, farewel! and maiden pride, adieu! No glory lives behind the back of fuch. And, Benedick, love on, I will requite thee; Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand; If thou doft love, my kindness fhall incite thee To bind our loves up in a holy band.

For

6 argument] This word feems here to fignify difcourfe, or, the powers of reafoning. JOHNSON.

• She's lim'd,—] She is enfnared and entangled as a sparrow with birdlime. JOHNSON.

8 What fire is in my ears?] Alluding to a proverbial fay. ing of the common people, that their ears burn, when others are talking of them.

WARBURTON.

9 Taming my wildh art to thy loving hand;] This image is taken from

Tz

For others fay, thou doft deferve; and I
Believe it better than reportingly.

[Exit.

Enter Don Pedro, Claudio, Benedick, and Leonato.

Pedro. I do but ftay till your marriage be confummate, and then go I toward Arragon.

Claud. I'll bring you thither, my lord, if you'll vouchfafe me.

Pedro. Nay, that would be as great a foil in the new glofs of your marriage, as to fhew a child his new coat, and forbid him to wear it. I will only be bold with Benedick for his company; for, from the crown of his head to the fole of his foot, he is all mirth: he hath twice or thrice cut Cupid's bowftring, and the little hangman dare not shoot at him': he hath a heart as found as a bell, and his tongue is the clapper; for what his heart thinks, his tongue fpeaks.

Bene. Gallants, I am not as I have been.

Leon. So fay I; methinks, you are fadder.
Claud. I hope, he is in love.

from falconry. She had been charged with being as wild as haggards of the rock; the therefore fays, that wild as her heart is, the will tame it to the hand. JOHNSON.

the little hangman dare not shoot at him:] This character of Cupid came from the Arcadia of fir Philip Sidney:

"Millions of yeares this old drivell Cupid lives;
While ftill more wretch, more wicked he doth prove;
Till now at length that Jove him office gives,
(At Juno's faite who much did Argus love)
In this our world a bargman for to be

Of all thofe fooles that will have all they fee."

6

B. 2. Ch. 14.

FARMER.
Pedro.