Pedro. But, foft you, let be; pluck up my heart and be fad: Did he not fay, my brother was fled ?

Dogb. Come, you, fir; if juftice cannot tame you, fhe fhall ne'er weigh more reafons in her balance: nay, an you be a curfing hypocrite once, you must be look'd to.

Pedro. How now, two of my brother's men bound! Borachio, one!

Claud. Hearken after their offence, my lord.

Pedro. Officers, what offence have these men done? Dogb. Marry, fir, they have committed falfe report; moreover, they have fpoken untruths; fecondarily, they are flanders; fixth and lastly, they have bely'd a lady; thirdly, they have verify'd unjust things and, to conclude, they are lying knaves,

Pedro. First, I afk thee what they have done; thirdly, Iafk thee what's their offence; fixth and lastly, why they are committed; and, to conclude, what you lay to their charge?

Claud. Rightly reafon'd, and in his own divifion; and, by my troth, there's one meaning well fuited.'

Pedro. Whom have you offended, masters, that you are thus bound to your anfwer? This learned conftable is too cunning to be understood. What's your offence?

Bora. Sweet prince, let me go no further to mine anfwer do you hear me, and let this count kill me. I have deceiv'd even your very eyes: what your wifdoms could not difcover, thefe fhallow fools have brought to light, who in the night overheard me confeffing to this man, how Don John your brother incens'd me to flander the lady Hero; how you were brought into the orchard, and faw me court Margaret

9 one meaning well fuited.] That is, one meaning is put into many different dr fjes; the prince having asked the fame question in four modes of fpeech. JOHNSON.

in

in Hero's garments; how you difgrac'd her, when you should marry her: my villainy they have upon record; which I had rather feal with my death, than repeat over to my fhame; the lady is dead upon mine and my master's false accufation; and briefly, I defire nothing but the reward of a villain.

Pedro. Runs not this fpeech like iron through your

blood?

Claud. I have drunk poifon, while he utter'd it.
Pedro. But did my brother fet thee on to this?
Bora. Yea, and paid me richly for the practice of
it.

Pedro. He is compos'd and fram'd of treachery; And fled he is upon this villany.

Claud. Sweet Hero! now thy image doth In the rare femblance that I lov'd it first.

appear

Degb. Come, bring away the plaintiffs; by this time, our fexton hath reform'd fignior Leonato of the matter. And, mafters, do not forget to fpecify, when time and place fhall ferve, that I am an afs. Verg. Here, here comes mafter fignior Leonato, and the fexton too.

Enter Leonato, and Sexton.

Leon. Which is the villain? Let me fee his eyes; That when I note another man like him,

I may avoid him: Which of thefe is he?

Bora. If you would know your wronger, look on

me.

Leon. Art thou, art thou the flave, that with thy

breath

Haft kill'd mine innocent child?

Bora. Yea, even I alone.

Leon. No, not fo villain; thou bely't thyfelf;
Here ftand a pair of honourable men,

A third is fled, that had a hand in it :-.
I thank you, princes, for my daughter's death;

Y 2

Record

Record it with your high and worthy deeds;
'Twas bravely done, if you bethink you of it.
Claud. I know not how to pray your patience,
Yet I must speak: Chufe your revenge yourself;
Impofe me to what penance your invention
Can lay upon my fin: yet finn'd I not,
But in miftaking.

Pedro. By my foul, nor I;

And yet, to fatisfy this good old man,
I would bend under any heavy weight.

That he'll enjoin me to.

Leon. You cannot bid my daughter live again,
That were impoffible; but, I pray you both,
Poffefs the people in Meffina here

How innocent fhe dy'd: and, if your love
Can labour aught in fad invention,
Hang her an epitaph upon her tomb,
And fing it to her bones: Sing it to night;
To-morrow morning come you to my house,
And fince you could not be my fon-in-law,
Be yet my nephew; my brother hath a daughter,
Almoft the copy of my child that's dead,

And the alone is heir to both of us;

Give her the right you fhould have given her coufin, And fo dies my revenge.

Claud. O noble fir,

Your over-kindness doth wring tears from me!
I do embrace your offer; and difpofe

For henceforth of poor Claudio.

Leon. To-morrow then I will expect your coming, To night I take my leave. This naughty man Shall face to face be brought to Margaret,

And he alone is heir to both of us;] Shakespeare feems to have forgot what he had made Leonato fay, in the fifth fcene of the first act to Antonio. How now, brother; where is my coufin your fon ? bath be provided the mufick? ANONYMOUS.

Who,

Who, I believe, was pack'd in all this wrong,
Hir'd to it by your brother.

Bora. No, by my foul, she was not;

Nor knew not what she did, when she spoke to me?
But always hath been just and virtuous,
In any thing that I do know by her.

Dogb. Moreover, fir, (which indeed is not under white and black) this plaintiff here, the offender, did call me afs: I befeech you, let it be remembred in his punishment: And alfo the watch heard them talk of one Deformed: they fay, he wears a key in his ear, and a lock hanging by it; and borrows money in God's name; the which he hath us'd fo long, and never paid, that now men grow hard-hearted, and will lend nothing for God's fake. Pray you, examine him upon that point.

Leon. I thank thee for thy care and honeft pains. Dogb. Your worship fpeaks like a most thankful and reverend youth; and I praise God for you. Leon. There's for thy pains.

Dogb. God fave the foundation!

Leon. Go, I discharge thee of thy prifoner, and I thank thee.

2 be wears a key in his ear, and a lock hanging by it, and borrows money in God's name ;] There could not be a pleasanter ridicule on the fashion, than the constable's defcant on his own blunder. They heard the confpirators fatyrize the fashion; whom they took to be a man firnamed, D formed. I his the conftable applies with exquifite humour to the courtiers, in a defcription of one of the most fantastical fashions of that time, the men's wearing rings in their ears, and indulging a favourite lock of hair which was brought before, and tied with ribbons, and called a love-lock. Against this fashion William Prynne wrote his treatise, called, The Unlovelynefs of Love-Locks. To this fantastick mode Fletcher alludes in his Cupid's Revenge-This morning I brought him a new perriwig with a lock at it And yonder's a fellow come has bored a hole in his car. And again in his Woman-Hater -If I could endure an ear with a hole in it, or a platted lock, &c.

Y 3

-

WARBURTON.

Dogb.

Dogb. I leave an errant knave with your worship which, I befeech your worship, to correct yourself, for the example of others. God keep your worship; I wish your worship well: God reftore you to health; I humbly give you leave to depart; and if a merry meeting may be wifh'd, God prohibit it. Come, neighbour. [Exeunt. Leon. Until to-morrow morning, lords, farewell. Ant. Farewell, my lords; we look for you to

morrow.

Pedro. We will not fail.

Claud. To-night I'll mourn with Hero.

Leon. Bring you thefe fellows on; we'll talk with
Margaret,

How her acquaintance grew with this lewd fellow.
[Exeunt feverally.

SCENE II.

A Room in Leonato's Houfe.

Enter Benedick, and Margaret, meeting.

Bene. Pray thee, fweet miftrefs Margaret, deferve well at my hands, by helping me to the fpeech of Beatrice.

Marg. Will you then write me a fonnet in praise of my beauty?

Bene. In to high a ftyle, Margaret, that no man living fhall come over it; for, in moft comely truth, thou deferveft it.

Marg. To have no man come over me? why, fhall I always keep below ftairs?

Bene.

3 Tohave no man come over me? why, shall I always keep below fairs? Thus all the printed copies, but, fure, erroneously: for all the jeft, that can lie in the paffage, is deftroyed by it. Any man might come over her, literally speaking, if fhe always kept

belir