Bene. Like the old tale, my Lord, it is not fo, nor 'twas not fo ; but, indeed, God forbid it should be so. Claud. If my paffion change not fhortly, God forbid it fhould be otherwise.

Pedro. Amen, if you love her, for the Lady is very well worthy.

Claud. You fpeak this to fetch me in, my Lord. Pedro. By my troth, I fpeak my thought. Claud. And, in faith, my Lord, I spoke mine Bene. And by my two faiths and troths, my Lord, I fpeak mine.

Claud. That I love her, I feel.

Pedro. That she is worthy, I know.

Bene. That I neither feel how the fhould be loved, nor know how she should be worthy, is the opinion that fire cannot melt out of me; I will die in it at the ftake.

Pedro. Thou waft ever an obftinate heretick in the defpight of beauty.

Claud. And never could maintain his part, (8) but in the force of his will.

Bene. That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that the brought me up, I likewife give her moft humble thanks; but that I will have a recheate winded in my forehead (9), or hang my bugle in an invifible baldrick, all women fhall pardon me; because I will not do them the I will do my to mistrust wrong felf the right to truft none; and the fine is, (for the which I may go the finer,) I will live a batchelor. Pedro. I fhall fee thee, ere I die, look pale with love

any,

know not what Claudio can with not to be otherwife. The Copies all read alike. Perhaps it may be better thus,

Claud, If this were fo, fo were it.

Bene. Uttered like the old tale, &c1

(8)

WARBURTON,

Claudie gives a fullen anfwer, if it is fo, fo it is. Still there feems fomething omitted, which Claudio and Pedro concur in wifhing. but in the force of his will.] Alluding to the definition of a Heretick in the Schools. (9) but that I will have a recheate winded in my forehead,] That is, I will wear a born on my forehead which the buntfman may blow. A recbeate is the found by which dogs are called back. Shakespeare had no mercy upon the poor cuckold, his born is an inexhauftible subject of merriment. D 2

Bene.

Bene. With anger, with fickness, or with hunger, my lord, not with love: prove, that ever I lofe more blood with love, than I will get again with drinking, pick out mine eyes with a balladmaker's pen, and hang me up at the door of a brothel-houfe for the fign of blind Cupid.

Pedro.. Well, if ever thou doft fall from this faith, thou wilt prove a notable argument (1).

Bene. If I do, hang me in a bottle like a cat, and fhoot at me; and he that hits me, let him be clapt on the shoulder, and call'd (2) Adam.

Pedro. Well, as time fhall try; in time the favage bull doth bear the yoke.

Bene. The favage bull may, but if ever the sensible Benedick bear it, pluck off the bull's-horns, and fet them in my forehead, and let me be vilely painted; and in fuch great letters as they write, Here is good Horfe to hire, let them fignifie under my fign, Here you may fee Benedick the marry'd man.

Claud. If this fhould ever happen, thou would't be. horn-mad.

Pedro. Nay (3), if Cupid hath not fpent all his quiver in Venice, thou wilt quake for this thortly.

(1) (2)

notable argument.] An eminent fubject for fatire. and be that hits me, let him be clap d,on the Shoulder, and call'd Adam.] But why fhould he therefore be called Adam? Perhaps, by a Quotation or two, we may be able to trace the Poet's Allufion here. In Law Tricks, or Who would have thought it, (a Comedy written by John Dax, and printed in 1608) I find. this Speech. Adam Bell, a fubflantial Outlaw, and a paffing good Archer, yet no Tobacconist. By this it appears, that Adam Bell at that time of day was of Reputation for his Skill at the Bow. I find him again mentioned in a Burlefque Poem of Sir William Davenant's, called, The long Vacation in London. THEOBALD.

Adam Bell was a companion of Robin Hood, as may be seen in Robin Hood's Garland; in which, If I do not mistake, are these lines,

For be brought Adam Bell, Chim of the Clough,

And William of Cloudeflea,

To fboot with this forefter for forty marks,

And the forefter beat them all three.

(3) if Cupid bath not spent all his quiver in Venice,] All modern Writers agree in representing Venice in the fame light that the Ancients did Cyprus. And 'tis the Character of the People that is here alluded to.

WARBURTON.

Bene

Bene. I look for an earthquake too then.

Pedro. Well, you will temporize with the hours; in the mean time, good Signior Benedick, repair to Leanato's, commend me to him, and tell him, I will not fail him at fupper; for, indeed, he hath made great preparation.

Bene. I have almoft matter enough in me for fuch an embaffage, and fo I commit you

Claud. To the tuition of God; from my houfe if I had it,

Pedro. The fixth of July, your loving friend Benedick.

Bene. Nay, mock not, mock not; the body of your difcourfe is fometime guarded with fragments, and the guards are but flightly bafted on neither: ere (4) you flout old ends any further, examine your confcience, and fo I leave you. [Exit.

SCENE V.

Claud. My Liege, your Highness now may do me good.

Pedro. My love is thine to teach, teach it but how, And thou shalt fee how apt it is to learn

Any hard leffon that may do thee good.

Claud.. Hath Leonato any fon, my

Lord?

Pedro. No child but Hero, fhe's his only heir:

Doft thou affect her, Claudio ?

Claud. O my Lord,

When you went onward on this ended action,
I look'd upon her with a foldier's eye;
That lik'd, but had a rougher task in hand
Than to drive liking to the name of love;
But now I am return'd, and that war-thoughts
Have left their places vacant; in their rooms
Come thronging foft and delicate defires,
All prompting me how fair young Hero is;
Saying, I lik'd her ere I went to wars.

(4) ere you flout old ends, &c.] Before you endeavour to dif tinguish yourself any more by antiquated allufions, examine whether you can fairly claim them for your own. This I think is the meaning: cr it may be understood in another sense, examine, if your farcafms do not touch your felf.

D 3

Pedro.

Pedro. Thou wilt be like a lover presently,
And tire the hearer with a book of words.
If thou dost love fair Hero, cherish it,

And I will break with her,

And thou shalt have her.

and with her father

Was't not to this end,

That thou began'ft to twift fo fine a story?
Claud. How fweetly do you minister to love,
That know love's grief by his complection!
But left my liking might too fudden feem,
I would have falv'd it with a longer treatise.

Pedro. What need the bridge much broader than the
flood?

(5) The fairest grant is the neceffity:

Lock, what will ferve, is fit; 'tis once, thou lov'it;
And I will fit thee with the remedy.

I know, we shall have revelling to-night;
I will affume thy part in fome disguise,
And tell fair Hero I am Claudio;

And in her bofom I'll unclafp my heart,
And take her hearing prifoner with the force
And ftrong encounter of my amorous tale :
Then, after, to her father will I break;
And the conclufion is, the fhall be thine;
In practice let us put it presently.

Re-enter Leonato and Antonio.

[Exeunt.

Leon. How now, Brother, where is my coufin your fon? hath he provided this mufick?

Ant. He is very bufy about it; but, brother, I can tell you news that you yet dream'd not of.

Leon. Are they good?

Ant. As the event ftamps them, but they have a good cover; they fhow well outward. The Prince and Count Claudio, walking in a thick-pleached alley in my orchard, were thus over-heard by a man of mine: The Prince difcover'd to Claudio, that he lov'd my niece your daughter, and meant to acknowledge it this night in a dance; and if he found her accordant, he meant

(5) The fairest grant is the neceffity:] i. e. no one can have a better reafon for granting a request than the neceffity of its being granted. WARBURTON

to

to take the present time by the top; and inftantly break with you of it.

Leon. Hath the fellow any wit, that told you this? Ant. A good harp fellow; I will fend for him, andquestion him yourself.

Leon. No, no, we will hold it as a dream, 'till it. appear itself. But I will acquaint my daughter withal, that she may be the better prepared for anfwer, if peradventure this be true; go you and tell her of it. [Several cross the Stage here.] Coufin, you know what you have to do. O, I cry you mercy, friend, go you with me and I will use your skill. Good coufin, have. a care this busy time. [Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

Changes to an Apartment in Leonato's Houle
Enter Don John and Conrade.

Conr. What the good-jer, my lord, why are you thus out of measure fad?

John. There is no measure in the occafion that breeds it, therefore the fadnefs is without limit.

Conr. You should hear reafon.

John. And when I have heard it, what bleffing bringeth it?

Conr. If not a prefent remedy, yet a patient fuffe

rance.

John. I wonder, that thou (being, as thou fay'ft thou art, born under Saturn) goeft about to apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mischief: I cannot hide what I am I must be fad when I have caufe, and smile at no man's jefts; eat when I have ftomach, and wait for no man's leifure; fleep when I am drowfy, and tend on no man's bufinefs; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humour (6).

I cannot bide what I am:] This is one of our author's natural touches. An envious and unfocial mind, too proud to give pleasure, and too fullen to receive it, always endeavours to hide its malignity from the world and from itself, under the plainne fs of fimple honefty, or the dignity of haughty independence.

་་

(6) claw no man in bis humour.] To claw is to flatter, fo the pope's claw backs, in bishop Jewel, are the pope's flatterers. The fenfe is the fame in the proverb, Mulus mulum fcabit.

D 4

Conr.