Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

For I have only been filent fo long,

And given way unto this courfe of fortune,
By noting of the lady. I have mark'd

A thousand blushing apparitions

To start into her face; a thousand innocent fhames
In angel whitenefs bear away those blushes;
And in her eye there hath appear'd a fire,
To burn the errors that thefe princes hold
Against her maiden truth.-Call me a fool,
Truft not my reading, nor my obfervations,
Which with experimental feal do warrant
The tenour of my book; trust not my age,
My reverence, calling, nor divinity,
If this fweet lady lie not guiltlefs here
Under fome biting error.

Leon. Friar, it cannot be :

Thou feeft, that all the grace, that she hath left,
Is, that fhe will not add to her damnation

A fin of perjury; fhe not denies it:

Why feek'st thou then to cover with excuse
That, which appears in proper nakedness?

Friar. Lady, what man is he you are accus'd of?
Hero. They know, that do accufe me; I know

none:

5 Friar. What man is be you are accus'd of?] The friar had just before boasted his great skill in fishing out the truth. And indeed, he appears by this queflion to be no fool. He was by, all the while at the accufation and heard no names mentioned. Why then should he ask her what man she was accused of? But in this lay the fubtilty of his examination. For, had Hero been guilty, it was very probable that in that hurry and confufion of fpirits, into which the terrible infult of her lover had thrown her, he would never have obferved that the man's name was not mentioned; and fo, on this question, have betrayed herself by naming the perfon fhe was conscious of an affair with. The friar obferved this, and fo concluded, that, were fhe guilty, fhe would probably fall into the trap he laid for her.I only take notice of this to fhew how admirably well Shakespeare knew how to sustain his characters. WARBURTON.

If

If I know more of any man alive,

Than that which maiden modesty doth warrant,
Let all my fins lack mercy! O my father,
Prove you that any man with me convers'd
At hours unmeet, or that I yesternight

Maintain❜d the change of words with any creature,
Refuse me, hate me, torture me to death.

Friar. There is fome ftrange mifprifon in the princes.

Bene. Two of them have the very bent of ho

nour;

And if their wifdoms be mifled in this,

The practice of it lives in John the bastard,
Whose spirits toil in frame of villainies.

Leon. I know not: If they speak but truth of her, These hands fhall tear her; if they wrong her ho

nour,

The proudest of them shall well hear of it.
Time hath not yet fo dry'd this blood of mine,
Nor age fo eat up my invention,

Nor fortune made fuch havock of my means,
Nor my bad life reft me fo much of friends,
But they shall find, awak'd in such a kind,
Both ftrength of limb, and policy of mind,
Ability in means, and choice of friends,
To quit me of them thoroughly.
Friar. Paufe a while,

And let my counfel fway you in this cafe.
Your daughter here the princes left for dead;

Let

bent of honour,] Bent is ufed by our authour for the utmoft degree of any paffion, or mental quality. In this play before Benedick fays of Beatrice, her affection has its full bent. The expreffion is derived from archery; the bow has its bent, when it is drawn as far as it can be. JOHNSON.

Your daughter here the princes left for dead;] In former copies,
Your daughter here the princefs (left for dead;

But

Let her awhile be fecretly kept in,
And publish it, that she is dead, indeed:
Maintain a mourning' oftentation;
And on your family's old monument
Hang mournful epitaphs, and do all rites
That appertain unto a burial.

Leon. What shall become of this? What will this

do?

Friar. Marry, this, well carry'd, fhall on her be
half

Change flander to remorfe; that is fome good:
But not for that dream I on this ftrange courfe,
But on this travail look for greater birth.
She dying, as it must be so maintain'd,
Upon the inftant that she was accus'd,
Shall be lamented, pity'd, and excus'd,
Of every hearer. For it fo falls out,
That what we have we prize not to the worth,
Whiles we enjoy it; but being lack'd and loft,
Why, then we rack the value; then we find
The virtue that poffeffion would not fhew us
Whilft it was ours: So will it fare with Claudio:
When he shall hear fhe dy'd upon his words,
The idea of her life fhall fweetly creep

Into his study of imagination;

And every lovely organ of her life

But how comes Hero to start up a princefs here? We have no intimation of her father being a prince; and this is the first and only time fhe is complimented with this dignity. The remotion of a fingle letter, and of the parenthefis, will bring her to her own rank, and the place to its true meaning.

Your daughter here the princes left for dead;

i. e. Don Pedro, prince of Arragon; and his baftard brother who is likewife called a prince. THEOBALD.

8

9

oftentation ;] Show; appearance. JOHNSON.

we rack the value ;

-] i. e. We exaggerate the value. The allufion is to rack-rents. STEEVENS.

2

Shall

Shall come apparel'd in more precious habit,
More moving, delicate, and full of life,

Into the eye and profpect of his foul,

Than when she liv'd indeed.-Then fhall he mourn,
(If ever love had intereft in his liver)
And wish he had not fo accufed her;
No, though he thought his accufation true.
Let this be fo, and doubt not but fuccefs
Will fashion the event in better shape
Than I can lay it down in likelihood.
But if all aim but this be levell'd false,
The fuppofition of the lady's death
Will quench the wonder of her infamy.
And, if it fort not well, you may conceal her,
(As best befits her wounded reputation)
In fome reclufive and religious life,

Out of all eyes, tongues, minds, and injuries.
Bene. Signior Leonato, let the friar advise you:
And though, you know, my inwardness and love
Is very much unto the prince and Claudio,
Yet, by mine honour, I will deal in this
As fecretly and justly as your foul

Should with your body.

Leon. Being that I flow in grief,

The smallest twine may lead me.'

Friar. 'Tis well confented; prefently away;
For to ftrange fores, ftrangely they strain the

cure.

Come, lady, die to live: this wedding day, Perhaps, is but prolong'd; have patience and [Exeunt.

endure.

The fmalleft twine may lead me ] This is one of our authour's obfervations upon life. Men overpowered with diftrefs, eagerly liften to the first offers of relief, close with every scheme, and be lieve every promife. He that has no longer any confidence in himfelf, is glad to repofe his truft in any other that will undertake to guide him. JOHNSON.

VOL. II.

X

Manent

Manent Benedick and Beatrice. 2

Bene. Lady Beatrice, have you wept all this while?
Beat. Yea, and I will weep a while longer.
Bene. I will not defire that.

Beat. You have no reason, I do it freely.

Bene. Surely, I do believe, your fair coufin is wrong'd.

Beat. Ah, how much might the man deferve of me, that would right her!

Bene. Is there any way to fhew fuch friendship? Beat. A very even way, but no fuch friend. Bene. May a man do it?

Beat. It is a man's office, but not yours.

Bene. I do love nothing in the world fo well as you; is not that strange?

Beat. As ftrange as the thing I know not: It were as poffible for me to fay, I loved nothing fo well as you: but believe me not; and yet I lie not; I confefs nothing, nor I deny nothing. I am forry for my coufin.

Bene. By my fword, Beatrice, thou lov'ft me.
Beat. Do not fwear by it and eat it.

2 Manent Benedick and Beatrice.] The poet, in my opinion, has fhewn a great deal of addrefs in this scene. Beatrice here engages her lover to revenge the injury done her coufin Hero: and without this very natural incident, confidering the character of Beatrice, and that the ftory of her paffion for Benedick was all a fable, the could never have been eafily or naturally brought to confefs fhe loved him, notwithstanding all the foregoing preparation. And yet, on this confeffion, in this very place, depended the whole fuccefs of the plot upon her and Benedick. For had the not owned her love here, they must have foon found out the trick, and then the defign of bringing them together had been defeated; and fhe would never have owned a paffion fhe had been only tricked into, had not her defire of revenging her coufin's wrong made her drop her capricious humour at once. WARBURTON.

Bene.

[ocr errors]
« PředchozíPokračovat »