ACT V. SCENE I. Before LEONATO's House. Enter LEONATO and ANTONIO. Ant. If you go on thus, you will kill yourself; And 'tis not wisdom thus to second grief Nor let no comforter delight mine ear, But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine: Whose joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine, Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine, But there is no such man; for, brother, men 3 And sorrow, wag! cry hem, when he should groan ;] This is the reading of the old 4to. and of the folios, which may be reconciled to sense, and therefore ought not be disturbed. The meaning is clear, though not clearly expressed. "And, sorrow, wag!" is and sorrow away! (for which indeed it may have been misprinted) similar to the exclamation "care away!" The reading substituted by the commentators has usually been- 66 Cry sorrow, wag! and hem, when he should groan ;" which has no warrant. Heath's suggestion of "And sorrowing, cry hem, when he should groan," is the most plausible emendation. Their counsel turns to passion, which before To be so moral when he shall endure The like himself. Therefore give me no counsel: Ant. Therein do men from children nothing differ. Leon. I pray thee, peace! I will be flesh and blood; For there was never yet philosopher, That could endure the tooth-ache patiently, Leon. There thou speak'st reason: nay, I will do so. My soul doth tell me Hero is belied, And that shall Claudio know; so shall the prince, Enter Don PEDRO and CLAUDIO. Ant. Here comes the prince, and Claudio hastily. Claud. Good day to both of you. Leon. Hear you, my lords,- We have some haste, Leonato. 1 And made a PUSH at chance and sufferance.] So the old copies, and so the interjection (which Gifford altered to pish, in Massinger's "Old Law," Act ii. sc. 1.) was constantly spelt. Many instances in proof of it might be collected from our old dramatists. It is used in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Maids' Tragedy," A. iii. sc. 1 (Dyce's edit.); in Chapman's "Gentleman Usher ;" and repeatedly in Middleton's plays. See Dyce's Middleton's Works, i. 29, ii. 24, iv. 259, and v. 45. Boswell would derive the expression from fencing, and tells us that "to make a push at any thing is to contend against it, or defy it." Shakespeare's meaning is quite evident, taking "push" as an interjection, and we need not resort to any misapplied ingenuity of explanation. VOL. II. S Leon. Some haste, my lord!—well, fare you well, my lord: Are you so hasty now?-well, all is one. D. Pedro. Nay, do not quarrel with us, good old man. Ant. If he could right himself with quarrelling, Some of us would lie low. Claud. Who wrongs him? Leon. Marry, thou dost wrong me; thou, dissembler, thou. Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy sword, 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 speak not like a dotard, nor a fool; As, under privilege of age, to brag What I have done being young, or what would do, I say, thou hast belied mine innocent child: Thy slander hath gone through and through her heart, O! in a tomb where never scandal slept, Leon. Thine, Claudio; thine, I say. D. Pedro. You say not right, old man. I'll prove it on his body, if he dare, My lord, my lord, Despite his nice fence, and his active practice, Claud. Away! I will not have to do with you. Leon. Canst thou so daff me? Thou hast kill'd child: If thou kill'st me, boy, thou shalt kill a man. Ant. He shall kill two of us, and men indeed : But that's no matter; let him kill one first:Win me and wear me,-let him answer me.— my Come, follow me, boy! come, sir boy, come, follow me. Sir boy, I'll whip you from your foining fence; Leon. Brother Ant. Content yourself. God knows, I lov'd my niece; And she is dead; slander'd to death by villains, That dare as well answer a man, indeed, Leon. Brother Antony Ant. Hold you content. What, man! I know them, yea, And what they weigh, even to the utmost scruple: Leon. But, brother Antony Ant. Come, 'tis no matter: Do not you meddle, let me deal in this. D. Pedro. Gentlemen both, we will not wake your patience. My heart is sorry for your daughter's death; But, on my honour, she was charg'd with nothing But what was true, and very full of proof. Leon. My lord, my lord!— D. Pedro. I will not hear you. Leon. Come, brother, away.-I will be heard.— No? Ant. And shall, or some of us will smart for it. [Exeunt LEONATO and ANTONIO. Enter BENEDICK. D. Pedro. See, see: here comes the man we went to seek. Claud. Now, signior, what news? Bene. Good day, my lord. D. Pedro. Welcome, signior: you are almost come to part almost a fray. Claud. We had like to have had our two noses snapped off with two old men without 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 high-proof 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. D. Pedro. As I am an honest man, he looks pale.— 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. 5 as we do the minstrels ;] i. e. As we bid the minstrels draw their instruments out of their cases. |