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,
And fo extenuate the forehand fin.

No, Leonato,

I never tempted her with word too large;"
But, as a brother to his fifter, fhew'd

Bashful fincerity, and comely love.

Hero. And feem'd I ever otherwise to you? Claud. Out on thy feeming! I will write against it :

You seem to me as Dian in her orb;

As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown;

But you are more intemperate in your blood
Than Venus, or thofe pamper'd animals

That rage in favage fenfuality.

Hero. Is my lord well, that he doth fpeak fo wide?
Leon. Sweet prince, why speak not you?
Pedro. What fhould I fpeak?

I stand dishonour'd, that have gone about
To link my dear friend to a common ftale.

Befides, in the paffage under examination, this word comes in almoft neceffarily, as Claudio had faid in the line immediately preceeding;

5

Not knit my foul to an approved wanten.

THEOBALD.

-word too large;] So he ufes large jefts in this play, for licentious, not reftrained within due bounds. JOHNSON. I will write againft it:] What? a libel? nonfenfe We should read,

6

As to fubfcribe to any thing is to allow it, fo to write against is to difallow or deny. JOHNSON.

7chafte as is the bud

its fweetnefs. JOHNSON.

] Before the air has tasted

Leon.

Leon. Are these things spoken, 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?
Is this face Hero's? Are our eyes our own?

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

8

That you have in her, bid her anfwer truly.

Leon. I charge thee do fo, as thou art my child. Hero. O God defend me! how I am befet! What kind of catechizing call you this?

Claud. To make you answer truly to your name. Hero. Is it not Hero? Who can blot that name With any just reproach?

Claud. Marry, that can Hero;

Hero herself can blot out Hero's virtue.
What man was he talk'd with you yesternight
Out at your window, betwixt twelve and one?
Now, if you are a maid, anfwer to this.

Hero. I talk'd with no man at that hour, my lord.
Pedro. Why, then you are no maiden.-Leonato,
I am forry, you must hear. Upon mine honour,
Myfelf, my brother, and this grieved count
Did fee her, hear her, at that hour last night
Talk with a ruffian at her chamber-window;
Who hath, indeed, most like a liberal villain, 9

8

-kindly power] That is, natural power. Kindis nature. JOHNSON.

-liberal villain,] Lileral here, as in many places of these plays, means, frank beyond bonefty or d. cency. Free of tongue. Dr. Warburton unneceffarily reads, liberal. JOHNSON.

7

Con

Confefs'd the vile encounters they have had

A thoufand 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, moft foul, moft fair! farewel, Thou pure impiety, and impious purity!

all the gates of love,

For thee I'll lock up all the

And on my eye-lids fhall conjecture hang,
To turn all beauty into thoughts of harm;
And never shall 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 fhame,

That may be wifh'd for.

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.

Leon. Wherefore? Why, doth not every earthly

thing

Cry fhame upon her? Could she here deny
The story that is printed in her blood? —
Do not live, Hero; do not ope thine eyes:
For did I think, thou would'it not quickly die,
Thought I, thy fpirits were stronger than thy fhames,
Myfelf would on the rearward of reproaches
Strike at thy life. Griev'd I, I had but one?
Chid I for that at frugal nature's frame ? 3
O, one too much by thee! Why had I one?
Why ever waft thou lovely in my eyes?

Why had I not, with charitable hand,

The flory that is printed in ber blood?] That is, the ftory 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 fhe 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 muft certainly read,

Chid I for this at frugal nature's 'fraine ?

i. e. refraine, or keeping back her further favours, stopping her hand, as we fay, when she had given him one. But the Oxford editor has, in his ufual way, improved this amendment by fubftituting hand 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 fcheme, 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

Took up a beggar's iffue at my gates;
Who fmeared thus, and mir'd with infamy,
I might have said, No part of it is mine ;
This fbame derives itself from unknown loins ?
But mine, and mine I lov'd, and mine I prais'd,
And mine that I was proud on; + mine fo much,
That I myself was to myself not mine,
Valuing of her; why, fhe-O, fhe, is fallen
Into a pit of ink! that the wide fea

Hath drops too few to wash her clean again;
And falt too little, which may feafon give
To her foul tainted flesh!

Bene. Sir, fir, be, patient :

For my part, I am so attir'd in wonder,
I know not what to say.

Beat. O, on my foul, my coufin is bely'd.

Bene. Lady, were you her bedfellow last night?
Beat. No, truly, not; altho', until last night,
I have this twelvemonth been her bedfellow.

Leon. Confirm'd, confirm'd! O, that is stronger

made,

Which was before barr'd up with ribs of iron!
Would the two princes lie? and Claudio lie?
Who lov'd her fo, that, fpeaking of her foulness,
Wash'd it with tears? Hence from her; let her die.
Friar. Hear me a little;

4 But mine, and mine I lev'd, and mine I prais'd, And mine that I was proud on ;·

The fenfe requires that we fhould read, as in these three places. The reasoning of the speaker stands thus,-Had this been my adop red child, -his shame would not have rebounded on me. But this child was mine, as mine I loved her, praised her, was proud of her: confequently, as I claimed the glory, I must needs be fubjected to the shame, &c. WARBURTON.

Even of this fmall alteration there is no need. The speaker utters his emotion abruptly, But mine, and mine that I loved, &c. by an ellipfis frequent, perhaps too frequent, both in verfe and profe. JOHNSON.

For