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 stayd 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

You kill me to deny IT.] The folio omits "it" which seems a proper, though not an absolutely necessary, part of what Beatrice says: it is inserted in the 4to, 1600. Shakespeare and other writers of his time, and afterwards, not unfrequently employ "deny," in the sense of refuse; and so it may be taken in the folio.

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, 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 tongue, and trim ones too: he is now as valiant as Hercules, that only tells a lie, and swears it.-I cannot be a man with wishing, therefore I will die a woman with grieving.

Bene. Tarry, good Beatrice. By this hand, I love thee.

Beat. Use it for my love some other way than swearing by it.

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 I leave you. By this hand, Claudio shall render me a dear account.

As you hear Go, comfort your cousin: I

of me, so think of me.

must say she is dead; and so, farewell.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

A Prison.

Enter DOGBERRY, VERGES, and Sexton, in

5

gowns;

the Watch, with CONRADE and BORACHIO.

Dogb. Is our whole dissembly appeared?

and

a goodly count, count confect ;] "Count confect" is the title Beatrice gives him in contempt. We still speak of "caraway confects." She first calls him "count," and then mentions his title, "count confect; a sweet gallant, surely!" This is the reading of the 4to, 1600, and of the folio, 1623.

6 Enter Dogberry, Verges, and Sexton,] In the course of the dialogue in

Verg. O! a stool and a cushion for the sexton.
Sexton'. Which be the malefactors?

Dogb. Marry, that am I and my partners.

Verg. Nay, that's certain: we have the exhibition to examine.

Sexton. But which are the offenders that are to be examined? let them come before master constable.

Dogb. Yea, marry, let them come before me.-What is your name, friend?

Bora. Borachio.

Dogb. Pray write down Borachio.-—Yours, sirrah? Con. I am a gentleman, sir, and my name is Conrade. Dogb. Write down master gentleman Conrade.— Masters, do you serve God?

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.

this scene, both in the 4to. and folio, the names of the actors Kemp (in one place misprinted Keeper) and Cowley are placed opposite what is given to Dogberry and Verges; thus affording clear evidence that they originally played the parts of the constable and his "compartner." Kemp must have quitted the company to which Shakespeare belonged not long after this play was acted; as, by Henslowe's Diary, it appears that he belonged to the company of Lord Nottingham's players in March, 1602.

7 Sexton.] He is called "town-clerk" in the old stage-directions, probably because, being able to read and write, he acted as clerk for the town, or for such of the inhabitants as had not his accomplishments.

• Marry, that am I and my partner.] The name of "Andrew" is placed before this speech, but it clearly belongs to Dogberry, performed by Kemp. We know of no actor of the Christian or sirname of Andrew in the company of the

Lord Chamberlain's players. Merry Andrew" may possibly have been a

nick-name of Kemp, but his Christian name was William.

9 before such villains !] The part of Dogberry's speech which precedes these words, and the answer of Conrade and Borachio, which produced Dogberry's speech, are omitted in the folio, 1623, in consequence, perhaps, as Blackstone suggests, of the stat. 3 Jac. I. c. 21, against the profane employment of the name of the Creator. The whole passage might be an interpolation by the actors, and it might therefore be excluded in the folio.

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.

Bora. Sir, I say to you, we are none.

Dogb. Well, stand aside.-'Fore God, they are both in a tale. Have you writ down, that they are none? Sexton. Master constable, you go not the way to examine: you must call forth the watch that are their

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.

Dogb. 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 ducats of Don John, for accusing the lady Hero wrongfully.

Dogb. Flat burglary as ever was committed.

Verg. Yea, by the mass, that it is.

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?

2 Watch. This is all.

Sexton. And this is more, masters, than you can deny.

1

that's the EFTEST way.] i. e. The quickest or readiest way.

Prince John is this morning secretly stolen away: Hero
was in this manner accused, in this very manner refused,
and, upon the grief of this, suddenly died. Master
constable, let these men be bound, and brought to
Leonato's: I will go before, and show him their
examination.
[Exit.

Dogb. Come, let them be opinioned.
Verg. Let them be in the hands-
Con. Off, coxcomb2!

Dogb. God's my life! where's the sexton? let him write down the prince's officer, coxcomb.-Come, bind them.-Thou naughty varlet!

Con. Away! you are an ass; you are an ass.

Dogb. Dost thou not suspect my place? Dost thou not suspect my years?-O, that he were here to write me 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 ass! [Exeunt.

2 Off, coxcomb !] The old copies here seem to have coupled two separate speeches. "Let them be in the hands of coxcomb" is the original reading; but Verges, probably, was interrupted, after he had said "Let them be in the hands"-by the exclamation of Conrade, "Off, coxcomb!" to the watchman who was endeavouring to pinion him. What immediately follows fully supports this lection, which was introduced by Theobald, and has since been invariably followed. Conrade's next speech, "Away! you are an ass; you are an ass," both in the 4to. and folio, is erroneously assigned to Cowley, the actor of the part of Verges.