Hir'd to it by your brother, Bora. In any thing that I do know by her. Dogb. Moreover, sir, which, indeed, is not under white and black, this plaintiff here, the offender, did call me ass: I beseech you, let it be remembered in his punishment. And also, the watch heard them talk of one Deformed: they say, he wears a key in his ear, and a lock hanging by it, and borrows money in God's name; the which he hath used so long, and never paid, that now men grow hard-hearted, and will lend nothing for God's sake. Pray you, examine him upon that point. Leon. I thank thee for thy care and honest pains. Dogb. Your worship speaks like a most thankful and reverend youth, and I praise God for you. Leon. There's for thy pains. Dogb. God save the foundation! Leon. Go: I discharge thee of thy prisoner, and I thank thee. Dogb. I leave an arrant knave with your worship; which, I beseech your worship, to correct yourself for the example of others. God keep your worship; I wish your worship well: God restore you to health. I humbly give you leave to depart, and if a merry meeting may be wished, God prohibit it.-Come, neighbour. [Exeunt DOGBerry, Verges, and Watch. Leon. Until to-morrow morning, lords, farewell. Ant. Farewell, my lords: we look for morrow. D. Pedro. We will not fail. Claud. you to To night I'll mourn with Hero. [Exeunt Don PEDRO and CLAUDIO. or contract, and Margaret, one party to the "pact," is spoken of as the contract itself. The common, but erroneous, reading is the verb packed. Leon. Bring you these fellows on; we'll talk with Margaret, How her acquaintance grew with this lewd fellow2. SCENE II. [Exeunt. LEONATO'S Garden. Enter BENEDICK and MARGARET, meeting. Bene. Pray thee, sweet mistress Margaret, deserve well at my hands by helping me to the speech of Beatrice. Marg. Will you, then, write me a sonnet in praise of my beauty? Bene. In so high a style, Margaret, that no man living shall come over it; for, in most comely truth, thou deservest it. Marg. To have no man come over me? why shall I always keep below stairs? Bene. Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth; it catches. Marg. And your's as blunt as the fencer's foils, which hit, but hurt not. Bene. A most manly wit, Margaret; it will not hurt a woman and so, I pray thee, call Beatrice. I give thee the bucklers3. Marg. Give us the swords, we have bucklers of our own. Bene. If you use them, Margaret, you must put in the pikes with a vice; and they are dangerous weapons for maids. 2 this LEWD fellow.] "Lewd" has three meanings, lustful, ignorant, and wicked. The last is the sense in this place, and not ignorant, as Steevens contended. The 3 I give thee the bucklers.] To give the bucklers, was to yield the victory; by which an enemy obtained his adversary's shield, and retained his own. phrase became proverbial. Marg. Well, I will call Beatrice to you, who, I think, hath legs. Bene. And therefore will come. The god of love, [Exit MARGARET. [Singing.] That sits above, And knows me, and knows me, How pitiful I deserve1, I mean, in singing; but in loving, Leander the good swimmer, Troilus the first employer of panders, and a whole book full of these quondam carpet-mongers, whose names yet run smoothly in the even road of a blank verse, why, they were never so truly turned over and over as my poor self, in love. Marry, I cannot show it in rhyme; I have tried: I can find out no rhyme to "lady" but "baby," an innocent rhyme; for “scorn,” “horn," a hard rhyme; for "school," "fool,” a babbling rhyme-very ominous endings. No, I was not born under a rhyming planet, nor I cannot woo in festival terms.— Enter BEATRICE. Sweet Beatrice, would'st thou come when I called thee? Beat. Yea, signior; and depart when you bid me. Beat. "Then" is spoken; fare you well now:-and yet, ere I go, let me go with that I came for; which is, with knowing what hath passed between you and Claudio. Bene. Only foul words; and thereupon I will kiss thee. Beat. Foul words is but foul wind, and foul wind is 4 How pitiful I deserve,] The beginning, says Steevens, of an old ballad by William Elderton. A song to the same tune is to be found in "The Handful of Pleasant Delights," 1584. 5 Let me go with that I came FOR,] "For," which is necessary to the sense, was first inserted by Rowe. but foul breath, and foul breath is noisome; therefore I will depart unkissed. Bene. Thou hast frighted the word out of his right sense, so forcible is thy wit. But, I must tell thee plainly, Claudio undergoes my challenge, and either I must shortly hear from him, or I will subscribe him a coward. And, I pray thee now, tell me, for which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me? Beat. For them all together; which maintained so politic a state of evil, that they will not admit any good part to intermingle with them. But for which of my good parts did you first suffer love for me? Bene. Suffer love! a good epithet. I do suffer love, indeed, for I love thee against my will. Beat. In spite of your heart, I think. Alas, poor heart! If you spite it for my sake, I will spite it for yours; for I will never love that which hates. my friend Bene. Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably. Beat. It appears not in this confession: there's not one wise man among twenty that will praise himself. Bene. An old, an old instance, Beatrice, that lived in the time of good neighbours. If a man do not erect, in this age, his own tomb ere he dies, he shall live no longer in monument, than the bell rings, and the widow weeps. Beat. And how long is that, think you? Bene. Question: why an hour in clamour, and a quarter in rheum: therefore is it most expedient for the wise, (if Don Worm, his conscience, find no impediment to the contrary,) to be the trumpet of his own virtues, as I am to myself. So much for praising myself, who, I myself will bear witness, is praiseworthy. And now tell me, how doth your cousin? Beat. Very ill. • An old, an old instance,] The words "an old," are repeated in the 4to. as well as in the folios, for the sake of greater emphasis. Bene. And how do you? Beat. Very ill too. Bene. Serve God, love me, and mend. There will I leave you too, for here comes one in haste. Enter URSULA. Urs. Madam, you must come to your uncle. Yonder's old coil at home': it is proved, my lady Hero hath been falsely accused, the prince and Claudio mightily abused; and Don John is the author of all, who is fled and gone. Will you come presently? Beat. Will you go hear this news, signior? Bene. I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, and be buried in thy eyes; and, moreover, I will go with thee to thy uncle's. [Exeunt. SCENE III. The Inside of a Church. Enter Don PEDRO, CLAUDIO, and Attendants, with music and tapers. Claud. Is this the monument of Leonato? Atten. It is, my lord. Claud. [Reads.] EPITAPH. Done to death by slanderous tongues Was the Hero that here lies: 7 - Yonder's OLD coil at home :] "Old" was a very common augmentative in the time of Shakespeare : " old coil means great bustle or confusion. 8 I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, and be buried in thy eyes ;] The Rev. Mr. Barry suggests to me that the words "heart" and "eyes" have in some way changed places in the old copies. Atten. It is, my lord.] In the old copies these words are given to a "lord,” and it is not stated whether the "Epit ph " was to be read by him or by Claudio; doubtless by the latter, who, after he has read it, directs the music to sound for the "solemn hymn." |