Have vanquish'd the resistance of her youth, Claud. I know what you would say; if I have known her, You'll say, she did embrace me as a husband, No, Leonato, I never tempted her with word too large; Bashful sincerity, and comely love. Hero. And seem'd I ever otherwise to you? Claud. Out on thy seeming ! 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, Hero. Is my lord well, that he doth speak so wide? I stand dishonour'd, that have gone about Leon. Are these things spoken? or do I but dream? true. Bene. This looks not like a nuptial. Claud. Leonato, stand I here? Is this the prince? Is this the prince's brother? Leon. All this is so; but what of this, my lord? Claud. Let me but move one question to your daughter; And, by that fatherly and kindly power Claud. To make you answer truly to your name. Claud. Marry, that can Hero; Hero itself can blot out Hero's virtue. What man was he talk'd with you yesternight Hero. I talk'd with no man at that hour, my lord. D. John. Fye, fye! they are Not to be nam'd, my lord, not to be spoke of; Claud. O Hero! what a Hero hadst thou been, If half thy outward graces had been placed But, fare thee well, most foul, most fair! Farewell, And on my eye-lids shall conjecture hang, Leon. Hath no man's dagger here a point for me? D. John. Come, let us go: these things, come thus to light, Smother her spirits up. [Exeunt Don Pedro, Don John, and Claudio. Bene. How doth the lady? Beat. Dead, I think;-help, uncle; Hero! why,Hero!—Uncle!-signior Benedick;—friar! Leon. Ö fate, take not away thy heavy hand! Death is the fairest cover for her shame, That may be wish'd for. Beat. How now, cousin Hero? Friar. Yea: wherefore should she not? Hath drops too few to wash her clean again; Bene. Sir, sir, be patient! For my part, I am so attir'd in wonder, Beat. O, on my soul, my cousin is belied! Bene. Lady, were you her bedfellow last night? I have this twelvemonth been her bedfellow. For I have only been silent so long, And given way unto this course of fortune, Leon. Friar, it cannot be : Thou seest, that all the grace that she hath left, 7 Hero. They know, that do accuse me; I know none: If I know more of any man alive, Than that which maiden modesty doth warrant, Friar. There is some strange misprision in the princes. Bene. Two of them have the very bent of honour; And if their wisdoms be misled in this, The practice of it lives in John the bastard, Leon. I know not: if they speak but truth of her, Nor fortune made such havock of my means, And let my counsel sway you in this case. And publish it, that she is dead indeed: Leon. What shall become of this? What will this do? Shall come apparell'd in more precious habit, Than when she liv'd indeed :-then shall he mourn, No, though he thought his accusation true. Let this be so, and doubt not but success As secretly, and justly, as your soul Should with your body. Leon. Being that I flow in grief, The smallest twine may lead me. Friar. 'Tis well consented; presently away! For to strange sores strangely they strain the cure.Come, lady, die to live: this wedding day, Perhaps,is but prolong'd;have patience, and endure! [Exeunt Friar, Hero, and Leonato. Bene. Lady Beatrice, have you wept all this while? Beat. Yea, and I will weep a while longer. Bene. I will not desire that. Beat. You have no reason, I do it freely. Bene. Surely, I do believe your fair cousin is wrong'd. Beat. Ah, how much might the man deserve of me, that would right her! Bene. Is there any way to show such friendship? Beat. It is a man's office, but not your's. Bene. I do love nothing in the world so well as you; Is not that strange? Beat. As strange as the thing I know not. It were as possible for me to say, I loved nothing so well as you; but believe me not; and yet I lie not; I confess nothing,nor I deny nothing.-I am sorry for my cousin. Bene., By my sword, Beatrice, thou lovest me. Beat. Do not swear by it, and eat it. Bene. I will swear by it, that you love me; and I will make him eat it, that says, I love not you. Beat. Will you not eat your word? Bene. With no sauce that can be devised to it: I protest, I love thee. Beat. Why then, God forgive me! Bene. What offence, sweet Beatrice? Beat. You have staid me in a happy hour; I was about to protest, I loved you. Bene. And do it with all thy heart. Beat. I love you with so much of my heart, that none is left to protest. Bene. Come, bid me do any thing for thee! Beat. Kill Claudio. Bene. Ha! not for the wide world. Beat. You kill me to deny it. Farewell. Bene. Tarry, sweet Beatrice. Beat. I am gone, though I am here; there is no love in you.-Nay, I pray you, let me go! Bene. Beatrice, Beat. In faith, I will go. Bene. We'll be friends first. Beat. You dare easier be friends with me, than fight with mine enemy. Bene. Is Claudio thine enemy? Beat. Is he not approved in the height a villain, that hath slandered, scorned,dishonoured,my kinswoman? -O, that I were a man!-What! bear her in hand until they come to take hands, and then, with public accusation,uncovered slander,unmitigated rancour,O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the market-place. Bene. Hear me, Beatrice; Beat. Talk with a man out at a window? - a proper saying! Bene. Nay, but, Beatrice ; Beat. Sweet Hero!-she is wronged, she is slandered, she is undone. Bene. Beat Beat. Princes, and counties! Surely, a princely testimony, a goodly count-confect; a sweet gallant, surely! O, that I were a man for his sake! or that I had any friend would be a man for my sake! But manhood is melted into courtesies, valour into compliment, and men are only turned into torgue, and trim ones too: he is now as valiant as Hercules, that only tells a lie, | 2 Watch. This is all. and swears it :-I cannot be a man with wishing,there- Sexton. And this is more, masters, that you can deny. fore I will die a woman with grieving. Prince John is this morning secretly stolen away: Hero Bene. Tarry, good Beatrice: by this hand, I love thee. was in this manner accused, in this very mauner reBeat. Use it for my love some other way than swear-fused, and upon the grief of this,suddenly died.-Masing by it. ter constable, let these men be bound, and brought to Leonato's; I will go before, and show him their examination. [Exit. Bene. Think you in your soul the count Claudio hath wronged Hero? Beat. Yea, as sure as I have a thought, or a soul. Bene. Enough, I am engaged, I will challenge him; I will kiss your hand, and so leave you! By this hand, Claudio shall render me a dear account! As you hear of me, so think of me! Go, comfort your cousin! I must say, she is dead; and so, farewell! [Exeunt. SCENE II.-A Prison. Dogb. Come, let them be opinioned. Dogb. God's my life! where's the sexton? let him Enter DOGBERRY, VERGES, and Sexton, in gowns; and suspect my years? O, that he were here to write me. to examine. Dogb. Pray write down-Borachio.-Your's, sirrah? Con. Bora. Yea, sir, we hope. Dogb. Write down-that they hope they serve God: -and write God first; for God defend but God should go before such villains!-Masters, it is proved already, that you are little better than false knaves; and it will go near to be thought so shortly. How answer you for yourselves? Con. Marry, sir, we say we are none. Dogb. A marvellous witty fellow, I assure you; but I will go about with him.-Come you hither, sirrah; a word in your ear, sir; I say to you, it is thought, you are false knaves. accusers. Dogb. Yea, marry, that's the eftest way!-Let the watch come forth! - Masters, I charge you, in the prince's name, accuse these men! 1 Watch.This man said, sir, that Don John, the prince's brother, was a villain. down-an ass!-but, masters remember, that I am an ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass! No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness. I am a wise fellow; and, which is more, an officer; and, which is more, a householder; and which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh, as any is in Messina;and one that knows the law, go to; and a rich fellow enough, go to; and a fellow that hath had losses; and one that hath two gowns, and every thing handsome about him. Bring him away. O, that I had been writ down-an [Exeunt. ass! SCENE I. -Before Leonato's house. Leon. I pray thee, cease thy counsel, Bora. Sir, 1 say to you, we are none. Dogh. Write down-prince John a villain!- Why this is flat perjury, to call a prince's brother — villain. Bora. Master constable, Dogb. Pray thee, fellow, peace! I do not like thy look, I promise thee. Sexton. What heard you him say else? 2 Watch. Marry, that he had received a thousand Sexton. What else, fellow? 1 Watch. And that count Claudio did mean, upon his words, to disgrace Hero before the whole assembly, and not marry her. Dogb. O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this. Sexton, What else? Ant. Therein do men from children nothing differ. Ant. Yet bend not all the harm upon yourself: Make those, that do offend you, suffer too! Leon. There thou speak'st reason: nay, I will do so: And that shall Claudio know, so shall the prince, Enter Don PEDRO and CLAudio. Ant. Here comes the prince, and Claudio, hastily. D Pedro. Good den, good den! Leon. Hear you, my lords, D. Pedro. We have some haste, Leonato. Leon. Some haste, my lord!—well, fare you well, my Or some of us will smart for it. lord! [Exeunt Leonato and Antonio. Enter BENEDICK. D. Pedro. See, see; here comes the man we went to seek. Claud. Now, signior! what news? D. Pedro. Welcome, signior! You are almost come Thou, thou dost wrong me; thou dissembler, thou:-to part almost a fray. I fear thee not. Claud. Marry, beshrew my hand, If it should give your age such cause of fear: Leon. Tush, tush, man, never fleer and jest at me! I say, thou hast belied mine innocent child; Claud. We had like to have had our two noses snapped off with two old men withont teeth. D. Pedro. Leonato and his brother: what think'st thou? Had we fought, I doubt, we should have been too young for them. Bene. In a false quarrel there is no true valour. I came to seek you both. Claud. We have been up and down to seek thee; for we are highproof melancholy, and would fain have it beaten away. Wilt thou use thy wit? Bene. It is in my scabbard: shall I draw it? D. Pedro. Dost thou wear thy wit by thy side? Claud. Never any did so,though very many have been beside their wit. I will bid thee draw, as we do the minstrels; draw, to pleasure us! Thy slander hath gone through and through her heart, D. Pedro. As I am an honest man, he looks pale! And she lies buried with her ancestors: O! in a tomb, where never scandal slept, Save this of her's, fram'd by thy villainy, Claud. My villainy! Leon. Thine, Claudio; thine, I say, I'll prove it on his body, if he dare; If thou kill'st me, boy, thou shalt kill a man. Leon. Brother, Ant. Content yourself! God knows, I lov'd my niece; Ant. Hold you content! What,man! I know them, yea, Leon. But, brother Anthony,— Art thou sick, or angry? Claud. What! courage, man! What though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care. Bene. Sir, I shall meet your wit in the career, an you charge it against me:-I pray you, choose another subject! Claud. Nay, then give him another staff; this last was broke cross. D. Pedro. By this light, he changes more and more; Claud. If he be, he knows, how to turn his girdle. · Bene. You are a villain ;---I jest not:-I will make it good, how you dare, with what you dare,and when you dare:-do me right, or I will protest your cowardice. You have killed a sweet lady, and her death shall fall heavy on you: Let me hear from you! Claud. Well, I will meet you,so I may have good cheer. Claud. I'faith, I thank him; he hath bid me to a calf's head and a capon; the which if I do not carve most curiously, say, my knife's naught. Shall I not find a woodcock too? Bene. Your wit ambles well; it goes easily. D. Pedro. I'll tell thee, how Beatrice praised thy wit the other day: I said, thou hadst a fine wit; True, says she, a fine little one: No, said I, a great wit; Right, says she, a great gross one. Nay, said I, a good wit; Just,said she, it hurts no body: Nay, said I,the gentleman is wise; Certain, said she, a wise gentleman: Nay, said I, he hath the tongues; That I believe, said she, for he swore a thing to me on Monday night, which he forswore on Tuesday morning, there's a double tongue: there's two tongues. Thus did she, an hour together, trans-shape thy particular virtues ; yet, at last she concludedith a sigh, thou wast the properest man in Italy. Claud. For the which she wept heartily, and said, she cared not. D. Pedro. Yea, that she did; but yet, for all that, an if she did not hate him deadly, she would love him dearly the old man's daughter told us all. Claud. All, all; and moreover, God saw him when he was hid in the garden. D. Pedro. But when shall we set the savage bull's horns on the sensible Benedick's head? Claud. Yea, and text underneath, Here dwells Benedick, the married man? Bene. Fare you well, boy; you know my mind; I will leave you now to your gossip-like humour; you break jests, as braggarts do their blades, which, God be thanked, hurt not.- -My lord, for your many courtesies I thank you: I must discontinue your company:your brother, the bastard, is fled from Messina: you have, among you, killed a sweet and innocent lady; for my lord Lackbeard, there, he and I shall meet;and till then, peace be with him! [Exit Benedick. D. Pedro. He is in earnest. Claud. In most profound earnest; and, I'll warrant you, for the love of Beatrice. D. Pedro. And hath challenged thee? D. Pedro. What a pretty thing man is, when he goes Claud. He is then a giant to an ape: but then is an ape a doctor to such a man. D. Pedro. But, soft you, let be; pluck up, my heart, and be sad! Did he not say, my brother was fled? Dogb. Come, you, sir; if justice cannot tame you, she shall ne'er weigh more reasons in her balance : nay, an you be a cursing hypocrite once, you must be looked to. D. Pedro. How now, two of my brother's men bound! Borachio, one! Claud. Hearken after their offence, my lord! D. Pedro.Officers, what offence have these men done? Dogb. Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves. D. Pedro. First, I ask thee what they have done; thirdly, I ask thee what's their offence;sixth and lastly, why they are committed; and, to conclude, what you lay to their charge. Claud. Rightly reasoned, and in his own division; and, by my troth, there's one meaning well suited. D. Pedro. Whom have you offended, masters, that you are thus bound to your answer? This learned constable is too cunning to be understood. What's your offence? D. Pedro. Runs not this speech like iron through your blood? Claud. I have drunk poison, whiles he utter'd it. D. Pedro. But did my brother set thee on to this? Bora. Yea, and paid me richly for the practice of it. D. Pedro. He is compos'd and fram'd of treachery:And fled he is upon this villainy. Claud. Sweet Hero! now thy image doth appear In the rare semblance, that I loved it first. Dogb. Come, bring away the plaintid's; by this time our sexton hath reformed signior Leonato of the matter: and, masters, do not forget to specify, when time and place shall serve, that I am an ass! Verg. Here comes master signior Leonato, and the sexton too. Re-enter LEONATO and ANTONIO, with the Sexton. Leon. Which is the villain? Let me see his eyes, That, when I note another man like him, may avoid him! Which of these is he? Bora. If you would know your wronger,look on me! Leon. Art thou the slave, that with thy breath hast kill'd I Mine innocent child? Bora. Yea, even I alone. Leon. No, not so, villain; thou bely'st thyself; 1 thank you, princes, for my daughter's death; Claud. I know not how to pray your patience, D. Pedro. By my soul, nor I; Leon. I cannot bid you bid my daughter live, I Your over-kindness doth wring tears from me! Bora. Sweet prince, let me go no further to mine answer; do you hear me, and let this count kill me. I have deceived even your very eyes: what your wisdoms could not discover, these shallow fools have brought Bora. No, by my soul, she was not; to light; who, in the night, overheard me confessing Nor knew not what she did, when she spoke to me; to this man, how Don John, your brother, incensed me But always hath been just and virtuous, to slander the lady Hero; how you were brought into In any thing that I do know by her. the orchard, and saw me court Margaret in Hero's gar- Dogb. Moreover, sir, (which, indeed, is not under ments; how you disgraced her, when you should white and black,) this plaintiff here, the offender, did marry her: my villainy they have upon record; which call me ass: I beseech you, let it be remembered in his I had rather seal with my death, than repeat over to punishment! And also, the watch heard them talk of my shame: the lady is dead upon mine and my mas-one Deformed: they say, he wears a key in his ear, ter's false accusation; and, briefly, I desire nothing and a lock hanging by it; and borrows money in God's but the reward of a villain. name; the which he hath used so long, and never paid, |